Spidersmad

Why are some Morton fans on P&B in a state of permanent seethe? You'd think they'd be happy with a fightback from 2-0 down, but no, on and on they rage. Worse than Dundee, maybe even rivalling The Rangers for tears and snotters tantrums. You're right up there in a promotion race guys, so lighten up and let's have a smile!

Couldn't be bothered getting it out of my pocket. The materials towards the outside of the turnstile block look incredibly cheap as I could see only corrugated metal cladding of some kind and plywood. Wish I'd taken a photo now.

Not long back from a walk over to Lesser. Activity going on, diggers being driven around and the shell of the southeast corner turnstiles / bogs / food counter building looks not far off ready (no turnstiles yet) but the interior needs lots of work. The Royal Box looks ever more ludicrous as it is a very bulky building but will hold only forty odd spectators. I'm guessing the catering staff (cooks, barstaff, servers, cleaners, grape peelers, foot masseuses, etc) will number more than that. Nothing like a bit of pampering while you watch the game. As for the east stand, the narrow passageway between the back of the stand and the boundary wall looks like a potential death trap so I suppose the emergency evacuation plan will simply be "everyone run onto the pitch." At the north end probably only the north east corner offers the possibilty of building a small block of flats or a small boutique hotel (with no car parking provided). But that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Hotel Splendido, Somerville Drive . Good luck in getting planning permission for that. While I don't believe this chat, it does point up the fact that The Committee went into a stadium development with no overall plan for what the completed stadium would look like, hence the years of chaos and shedloads of wasted money around this project. I would quite like a stand to be built at the north end of the ground but perhaps t'committee may be looking to a fanless future for the old QP.

Probably, but I think we should check the SPFL rulebook just in case.

Thought Oakley was excellent last night, both in defence and attack. He's obviously a class act. Although overall Queen's were the better team, Ayr still had their chances and the result could have turned out differently. A much needed morale booster after the off the field antics.

Can't wait for the prematch interviews on BBC Scotland on Friday night. Maybe a half time special feature?

Sometimes derision is the only possible reaction. I wonder if there will be a grand opening ceremony to hansel the new stadium? Will the new stand be given a name? I walked past Lesser yesterday and there was plenty of activity on site. The 4th floodlight pylon was in position and I began to wonder if they'll actually open during February. The place is still a building site though, so I'm not banking on it.

Back to the sheepshaggers' league with your mutant artificial creation.

No to Manager of the Month, thank you. We are all familiar with the Curse of the Manager of the Month which guarantees at least a month of abject failure to the winner. Give it to McCall.

Of course the crowd of over 3,000 for the Hamilton league game can't be taken as a measure of the size of support due to the number of freebies but the fact that over 1,000 turned out for the Challenge Cup game v Montrose points to a potentially bigger support than we've been used to for decades. I remember at the open meetings held by the QP regarding the move to professionalism in 2019 that Gerry Crawley said the club hoped to grow the support to 1200 (i.e. double what it was back then) but with the progress made on the field thanks to Beuker, Coyle, Stewart and the players, we really need to be looking beyond that. BTW 1200 was roughly the average attendance when I started supporting Queen's. but many of them are now in the celestial North Enclosure.

The QP committee back in 1889 had more of a clue on how to build a stadium. Perhaps we should get in touch via a seance? They certainly couldn't do any worse.

Actually I made it 960 using my photo and yours! All a bit approximate but here's my working - 5 large blocks of seats at 168 seats each (6 rows of 28 seats) = 840, plus 2 small end blocks of seats at 88 seats each = 1016. However 2 rows at the back of one of the larger blocks have been removed for wheelchairs so that's 56 seats less, giving a total of 960. I believe it's 6 rows of seats but the front row isn't visible in our photos. Should be some view from them. The view from the air below shows that there is now space for a similar stand on the south side of the pitch. If both stands had been built simultaneously then Lesser could have opened with a capacity of 1400 - 1500. From the dreaded FollowFollow:

A bit optimistic there, I fear. From looking at photos of the new stand I make the capacity to be under 1,000. When it does open I don't see there being any room for away supporters. I don't think that will go down too well with the SPFL. This was taken on Friday on my phone:

Didn't the club used to punt the line about it being the oldest building in current use by a football club, or some such bollocks? As you say, an86, Lesser wasn't built until the 1920s and the old farmhouse underwent various changes over the years so that all that remained was the outer shell (and even that had been altered) and part of the adjoining byre. I guess Queen's should have set up a heritage farm centre complete with a flock of sheep instead of trying to build a fit for purpose stadium. Mind you, t'Committee have managed to make a complete mess of that side of the stadium anyway what with the Royal Box and demolishing a partly built new stand.

Just great to have the Queen's Park back in the South Side and well done to the club for turning it into a grand day out for the weans and the wider community. It was surreal rolling up to Hampden as part of a decent sized crowd for a QP league game. I felt Queen's weren't quite at their best for most of the match and indeed Accies were looking the more likely to score until Grant Savoury got the first. Thereafter there was twenty minutes of mayhem for the Hamilton rearguard as 3 more absolute peaches followed. Second half was an anticlimax but overall an enjoyable day. That was only my second game this season and my first sight of Mal Boateng. He's an absolute player and Haughey should offer him the sun, the moon, and the stars to stay. Don't think it'll happen though as he's obviously capable of playing at a higher level than the Scottish Championship or a relegation dogfight in the Scottish Premier. Would love him to stick around as we will be weaker without him. Now what do we do about the New Year game v Patrick Sizzle? Even if Lesser stage one were to be ready (and I doubt that it will be) it would only have a capacity of around 1,000. Clearly not enough.

Rumours? Normally I like a guessing game but this is going too far. Whatever the rumours may be the present day reality is grim and at its root lies a trail of unbelievable incompetence which could well sink the club. The whole saga needs to be laid bare, starting with the initial construction contract which ended in dispute and cost the club over £800,000 with nothing to show for it, and then the continuing neverending clownshow with the royal box and the miserable East Stand which is still not complete and now seems to be badly flawed.

As a profound sceptic regarding the whole monarchical circus I found the three letter post trite, infantile and merely attention seeking. It certainly didn't show a "deep understanding" of what the Monarchy, etc are really about, to paraphrase BYOS. BTW a good first step towards such understanding is to watch a documentary called "The Spider's Web." Coincidence? I think not! Agree that the cancelling of the fitba' is over the top. HibeeJibee did a good post on the historical context of reactions to the death of a monarch. Mass mourning promoted by a hysterical mass media seems to be a comparatively modern phenomenon. Right, that's my tuppence worth, now it's time to get back to avoiding the BBC.

The unholy mess of the redevelopment of Lesser has pretty much limited the potential of what may or may not eventually emerge on what was already a confined site. I guess the towering East Stand with its three rows of seats may hold around 1,000 (and that's being optimistic) with perhaps 500 tops in the similar South Stand (optimistic again). The north side has space for a larger stand but will it end up as just a mirror of the South Stand? The West Side of the ground will be devoted to a pavilion with seating for 40 "directors" and sponsors but at least they're getting their own dedicated kitchen and hospitality. If the thing ever gets finished we're probably looking at a capacity of not much over 2,000, or likely less. Basically it's an upmarket Lowland League stadium. There was room on the site for a 3,000 seater stadium at least which could easily have catered for Queen's needs as a prospective Championship club with ambitions to grow the support from the surrounding community plus have space for larger visiting supports. A move to a lego stadium beside some motorway junction in the middle of nowhere would pretty much sever the club from its community and make growing the support impossible. Ach well.

It's not a real QP game without a desperate last stand round the flag. Will it be Rorke's Drift or the Little Big Horn?

Here's the text of the release put out by Fear PR on QP and scotts. There are also photos of Owen Coyle and the new home and away tops. I didn't realise that QP are now achingly hipstertastic. MENSWEAR SPECIALISTS SCOTTS LOOK AHEAD TO THE NEW FOOTBALL SEASON WITH A SHORT FILM EXAMINING QUEEN’S PARK F.C. SCOTTS SPONSOR THE CLUB’S HOME AND AWAY SHIRTS Menswear specialists scotts are the proud sponsors of Queen’s Park’s home and away shirts this season. They now continue to celebrate their partnership by today sharing a short film which examines both the club’s storied history and looks ahead to their immensely promising future. The film features interviews with several key figures at the club, who discuss their vision for their long-term future as well as aspirations for the coming season. These include the newly-appointed First Team Head Coach Owen Coyle, who brings a wealth of experience having managed in the top flight in both Scotland and England. Coyle is joined by Chief Executive Leeann Dempster, who has played a pivotal role in their recent rise, as well as Coyle’s assistant Sandy Stewart, defender Lee Kilday, and Sports Scientist Sam Harrison. The video also discusses the club’s new focus on youth development via their Young Queen’s Park squad, who are represented by defender Archie Graham. In the film, Owen Coyle discusses his ambitions for the club. “It’s exciting what’s happening at Queen’s Park and that’s obviously why I came onboard, to hopefully fulfil the ambitions and the plans that everybody’s got for the club. At the outset of football in Scotland, they were the main club; not Glasgow Celtic, not Glasgow Rangers, but Queen’s Park. We feel we have the opportunity to take Queen’s Park back, ultimately, in time to the highest level possible.” scotts have released the film as Queen’s Park prepare to commence the Scottish Championship season tomorrow with an away game at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The new scotts-sponsored shirts proved to be a good omen when they were first worn by Queen’s Park, as they triumphed 5-2 versus Stanraer and then 4-1 against Forfar Athletic in the Premier Sports Cup. The retailer specialises in casual sportswear for a young, fashion-forward demographic with a carefully curated mix of timeless brands such as adidas Originals, Lacoste and Fred Perry. The retailer has 15 stores across the UK, including a destination at Glasgow Fort, as well as a strong online presence. scotts also sponsors England’s oldest club, Sheffield FC, and has a strong association with the music industry too. Their social media content has featured collaborations with artists such as Sam Fender and Jake Bugg, and they often collaborate on events with the rock ‘n’ roll tastemakers and record label This Feeling. The new Queen’s Park home and away shorts, sponsored by scotts, are manufactured by Macron and will go on sale soon.

scotts are publicising their link to Queen's. I run a specialist music blog (under a different pseudonym from "Spidersmad") and receive regular unsolicited PR releases concerning music, the arts, fashion, etc. Usually I bin them straightaway but you could have knocked me over with a feather when one of those PR firms sent me an article on scotts and QP 2 weeks ago. It's centred on the promotional video scotts put up on YouTube and is accompanied by a short but nicely written article on the partnership. It's a different article from the one on their blog and is mistake free. BTW their blog article mistakenly shows a picture of Eglinton Street instead of Eglinton Terrace (now part of Vicky Road) to illustrate where Queen's were founded.

Ayr absolutely deserved it in that 2nd half. Faster, fitter, stronger, better organised than a shambolic QP side who simply fell apart. I’ve no idea what the penalty was for as the, ahem, coverage was of the spot the ball variety. Queen’s must be favourites for relegation after that. I was genuinely impressed by the number of ways we found to give the ball away though.

We are entering the Kjartan Finnbogason dimension ...