Jamie Moffat had wanted to sell his shareholding

Moffat had announced in the summer that he wished to sell his shareholding but efforts to attract new investment failed to materialise.

General manager Dave MacKinnon said it was "fantastic news" that Moffat will continue work that has "cut �3m" off the club's loss in the last year.

Moffat has, meanwhile, called for the fans to turn out more often for the club's matches.

I will continue to work with our advisors and the bank Killie chairman Jamie Moffat

The travel tycoon announced in August that he would be willing to sell his stake in the club to an investor committed to maintaining its current top-flight status.

No deal has been struck, although four Ayrshire business figures - Alastair Crabb, Jim Torbett, Alistair Patterson and Lorraine Hoyland - have agreed to form a management committee think tank.

They will offer their expert opinion wherever possible, but Moffat was looking for a greater contribution from fans in the absence of a buyer for his family shareholding.

"I announced last year of my intentions to put the club up for sale," he said.

"At this time, I can advise that, despite several genuine enquiries, no agreements were concluded therefore I will continue to work with our advisors and the bank to produce a plan to secure the way forward.

Sir Elton John is being lined up for an Ayrshire gig

"It is imperative that we continue to improve the club's finances and I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to all Kilmarnock supporters to consider how they can help in supporting the club.

"Each visit to the hotel or sports bar, each visit to the shop or attendance at a game will support the club through this testing period in our history."

Kilmarnock won the Scottish Cup win in 1997.

"Over 25,000 Killie fans travelled that day and, as I looked around the stadium as another cup campaign begun, it was sad to see that just 3,500 Killie die-hards had made the choice to come and cheer on the team against Motherwell," complained Moffat.

"I fully understand that supporting your club these days can be an expensive business and, with our various discounted season ticket offers and reduced kids prices, we've tried to address this issue.

"To help further, we have decided to subsidise buses to our next cup game."