The Big Queen's Park FC Thread

[mcjameos]

16 minutes ago, The Ghost of B A R P said:

Good to see Davidson start by addressing the problem that doesn’t really exist, while ignoring the problem the rest of the division clocked last March… and which has got a lot worse since then.

I’m sure there’ll be more signings, but, at this stage, it seems rumours of QP’s recovery may have been somewhat exaggerated…

[Bring Your Own Socks]

13 hours ago, HoustonSpider99 said:

For those attending the AGM, I’d appreciate a rundown of the main topics discussed. Unfortunately us non-members are still in the dark.

The Tteasurer asked that the detail of the meeting was confidential and expressly mentioned Pie and Bovril to not be used. That’s right and fair, especially as we’ve seen recently how the printed media can distort a story and the gossip that flows from people reading what they want to see. So here’s a synopsis of the key points, without detail.

The biggest takeaway is that of the four committee places being voted for, two former presidents have now left the committee and are replaced by a former committee member, regarded as fan-facing who has returned to “shake things up” and a completely new committee member who was heralded as the club’s first women committee member, which she is, but I would rather describe her as a very confident and competent businesswoman who’s sole agenda is to make life better for fans at the club. Not quite a revolution but a very good step in the right direction. Congratulations to both.

A new President has been installed and the Treasurer position remains with the same person. I sensed that the Immediate Past President still has a critical relationship role to play. The club are conscious of the dependency on their major sponsor. The office bearers were reminded, and accepted, that we are now in year five of their ten year plan towards self-sustainability.

Club operations on the football side are all in good order. There seemed a tacit acceptance that the back-of-house organisation needs improvements to catch up with the football department but the new President has no plan in his diary for reform. Hopefully the new committee members can help remind him. Finances are in good order, subject to the current financial support arrangements. 

Recent departures were mentioned with a mixed outcome. Beuker everyone knows about. Veldman was described as “not having the performance as expected”. Dempster, like the press briefing, was praised by the President for the Elite Academy status and her work for the Foundation but was later criticised by some members, for the community football programme set-up not operating as advertised. In a private conversation later, a senior figure at the club advised me that Ms Dempster and her partner have been developing a small private business away from football over the last year or so. The CEO salary info was also listed in the financial report. Decisions on how to conduct this role in future are still being discussed.

Explanations were offered for a variety of things that have niggled fans recently, such as the strip, change of dugout, change of shooting direction etc. plus the lack of clarity when Paul Nuitjen was introduced as manager. I’m not repeating the detail but all were separate events where individuals on the football staff made decisions for what they saw as good reasons, with the exception of the strip. Adidas have provided a first-class comprehensive package including all the training and coaching equipment. The compromise was accepting a template shirt. Discussions are already underway re next season and the members collective contempt for the current product noted. Furthermore, details were also shared regarding “dressing” of both the McAlpine and Lochinch with Queen’s Park branding and livery. Rollout of that is imminent.

Edited January 12 by Bring Your Own Socks

[Hampden Diehard]

16 hours ago, EaglesandSpiders said:

 Is that Keith cursing the linesman? 

 

I remember a famous referee of the past  (Bob Valentine?) saying that he hated officiating at "wee" games as he heard the individual shouts of abuse. He didn't bother about 30,000 chanting he was a b*****d but one guy down the front of an empty stadium questioning his sexuality or calling his wife an ugly cow hit home.

[Hampden Diehard]

14 hours ago, Central Belt Caley said:

Heard Welsh has cut his hand signing the contract and out for 4 weeks 

Memo to self - cut n paste this comment for repeating when Welsh scores hat trick against ICT.

[Arachnophile]

27 minutes ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

The Tteasurer asked that the detail of the meeting was confidential and expressly mentioned Pie and Bovril to not be used. That’s right and fair, especially as we’ve seen recently how the printed media can distort a story and the gossip that flows from people reading what they want to see. So here’s a synopsis of the key points, without detail.

The biggest takeaway is that of the four committee places being voted for, two former presidents have now left the committee and are replaced by a former committee member, regarded as fan-facing who has returned to “shake things up” and a completely new committee member who was heralded as the club’s first women committee member, which she is, but I would rather describe her as a very confident and competent businesswoman who’s sole agenda is to make life better for fans at the club. Not quite a revolution but a very good step in the right direction. Congratulations to both.

A new President has been installed and the Treasurer position remains with the same person. I sensed that the Immediate Past President still has a critical relationship role to play. The club are conscious of the dependency on their major sponsor. The office bearers were reminded, and accepted, that we are now in year five of their ten year plan towards self-sustainability.

Club operations on the football side are all in good order. There seemed a tacit acceptance that the back-of-house organisation needs improvements to catch up with the football department but the new President has no plan in his diary for reform. Hopefully the new committee members can help remind him. Finances are in good order, subject to the current financial support arrangements. 

Recent departures were mentioned with a mixed outcome. Beuker everyone knows about. Veldman was described as “not having the performance as expected”. Dempster, like the press briefing, was praised by the President for the Elite Academy status and her work for the Foundation but was later criticised by some members, for the community football programme set-up not operating as advertised. In a private conversation later, a senior figure at the club advised me that Ms Dempster and her partner have been developing a small private business away from football over the last year or so. The CEO salary info was also listed in the financial report. Decisions on how to conduct this role in future are still being discussed.

Explanations were offered for a variety of things that have niggled fans recently, such as the strip, change of dugout, change of shooting direction etc. plus the lack of clarity when Paul Nuitjen was introduced as manager. I’m not repeating the detail but all were separate events where individuals on the football staff made decisions for what they saw as good reasons, with the exception of the strip. Adidas have provided a first-class comprehensive package including all the training and coaching equipment. The compromise was accepting a template shirt. Discussions are already underway re next season and the members collective contempt for the current product noted. Furthermore, details were also shared regarding “dressing” of both the McAlpine and Lochinch with Queen’s Park branding and livery. Rollout of that is imminent.

Many thanks for the update and whilst I appreciate the club's reluctance to have the details splashed over P&B, there would be no need for this if the club were more open with the fans. Was there any sense that communication is likely to improve?

[RichRJohnstone]

Just now, Hampden Diehard said:

I remember a famous referee of the past  (Bob Valentine?) saying that he hated officiating at "wee" games as he heard the individual shouts of abuse. He didn't bother about 30,000 chanting he was a b*****d but one guy down the front of an empty stadium questioning his sexuality or calling his wife an ugly cow hit home.

I remember an away game of ours that Willie Young was the referee for - might it have been Grenta away? - where I'd been in the high street pie shop before kick off and they told me the referee had been in earlier. Perhaps not the most athletic pre-match sustenance, but pretty much what you'd expect of Young at that stage if his career.

When the teams came out, I shouted 'Did you enjoy your pie, Willie?', and, fair enough, he turned round and gave me a big thumbs up.

[RiG]

Sean Welsh has made the following league appearances for us since signing (including sub appearances):

2018/19 28 games out of 36 (78% of games)
2019/20 5 games out of 27 (18% of games)
2020/21 21 games out of 27 (78% of games)
2021/22 28 games out of 36 (78% of games)
2022/23 21 games out of 36 (58% of games)
2023/24 6 games out of 20 (30% of games)

He did have a couple of seasons where he was relatively injury free but even those saw him miss some game time for knocks and niggles. He had a bad metatarsal injury in 2019 which saw him miss large chunks of the following season and the less said about the most recent two campaigns the better. I can see the logic in letting him move on but I am a little concerned about who we will be able to get in to replace him.
 

[Hampden Diehard]

14 minutes ago, Arachnophile said:

Many thanks for the update and whilst I appreciate the club's reluctance to have the details splashed over P&B, there would be no need for this if the club were more open with the fans. Was there any sense that communication is likely to improve?

The new President has already taken a initial step to look at improving fan engagement and hopefully he'll follow it through.

Communication has always been very poor and my impression is that no one really has had this under their remit of late. Should it have been the President, the Secretary or the CEO? 

My take on the AGM  was that it was relatively successful in terms of telling the members what was going on.  I think we all understand that the Willie Haughey involvement brings a more "complex" dynamic to the club and we'll just have to roll with it and hope that this involvement is, overall,  a positive one. Without it, I honestly think we'd be jookin' it out with Berwick and Cowden to be the best of the ex-SPFL clubs in the Lowland League.

Hopefully the change in committee personnel will give the place the shake up that's needed in terms of listening to the paying punters.

[Stuntiethumper]

1 hour ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

The Tteasurer asked that the detail of the meeting was confidential and expressly mentioned Pie and Bovril to not be used. That’s right and fair, especially as we’ve seen recently how the printed media can distort a story and the gossip that flows from people reading what they want to see. So here’s a synopsis of the key points, without detail.

The biggest takeaway is that of the four committee places being voted for, two former presidents have now left the committee and are replaced by a former committee member, regarded as fan-facing who has returned to “shake things up” and a completely new committee member who was heralded as the club’s first women committee member, which she is, but I would rather describe her as a very confident and competent businesswoman who’s sole agenda is to make life better for fans at the club. Not quite a revolution but a very good step in the right direction. Congratulations to both.

A new President has been installed and the Treasurer position remains with the same person. I sensed that the Immediate Past President still has a critical relationship role to play. The club are conscious of the dependency on their major sponsor. The office bearers were reminded, and accepted, that we are now in year five of their ten year plan towards self-sustainability.

Club operations on the football side are all in good order. There seemed a tacit acceptance that the back-of-house organisation needs improvements to catch up with the football department but the new President has no plan in his diary for reform. Hopefully the new committee members can help remind him. Finances are in good order, subject to the current financial support arrangements. 

Recent departures were mentioned with a mixed outcome. Beuker everyone knows about. Veldman was described as “not having the performance as expected”. Dempster, like the press briefing, was praised by the President for the Elite Academy status and her work for the Foundation but was later criticised by some members, for the community football programme set-up not operating as advertised. In a private conversation later, a senior figure at the club advised me that Ms Dempster and her partner have been developing a small private business away from football over the last year or so. The CEO salary info was also listed in the financial report. Decisions on how to conduct this role in future are still being discussed.

Explanations were offered for a variety of things that have niggled fans recently, such as the strip, change of dugout, change of shooting direction etc. plus the lack of clarity when Paul Nuitjen was introduced as manager. I’m not repeating the detail but all were separate events where individuals on the football staff made decisions for what they saw as good reasons, with the exception of the strip. Adidas have provided a first-class comprehensive package including all the training and coaching equipment. The compromise was accepting a template shirt. Discussions are already underway re next season and the members collective contempt for the current product noted. Furthermore, details were also shared regarding “dressing” of both the McAlpine and Lochinch with Queen’s Park branding and livery. Rollout of that is imminent.

Thank you for taking the time to keep us in the loop. Much appreciated.  Was there any mention of future developments at Lesser? i.e. do we expect to do further work to make it fit for purpose and might we be there next season?

[Bring Your Own Socks]

1 hour ago, Arachnophile said:

Many thanks for the update and whilst I appreciate the club's reluctance to have the details splashed over P&B, there would be no need for this if the club were more open with the fans. Was there any sense that communication is likely to improve?

That was covered under the request to the new President for reform of the inner workings. . Examples were given of how, for various reasons, public announcements couldn’t be made. As an aside, there was a protracted and slightly terse exchange about the social club and QPSA events where the new President displayed his skill of always being defensive. My personal opinion is that much of what is hidden isn’t poor comms, they are simply uncertain in this new world and possibly nervous of how their major sponsor might view them. It’s really a lack of transparency that’s the root problem. Work in progress I’m afraid.

Edited January 12 by Bring Your Own Socks

[Bring Your Own Socks]

10 minutes ago, Stuntiethumper said:

Thank you for taking the time to keep us in the loop. Much appreciated.  Was there any mention of future developments at Lesser? i.e. do we expect to do further work to make it fit for purpose and might we be there next season?

Everything as is. The draft work on temporary stands, either one or two, is on file. All dependent on a) what league we are in next year and b) ongoing relationship with the SFA. At the moment, both sides appear to be comfortable with the current arrangement. 

Re other QPFC teams playing there more; wear and tear on the pitch cited plus the need to use it as a revenue stream, so status quo for the foreseeable.

[Skyline Drifter]

On 10/01/2024 at 17:21, velo army said:

Disappointed by the McKenna news. There isn't a single Scottish player not named Billy Gilmour I can think of who left Scotland at a young age and had a good career. 

There's nothing that we can do though as, to a 17 year old the money offered by Man U will be life changing.

Grant Hanley (left us at 16 for Crewe)
Jay Fulton
Stephen Kingsley
Ben Doak (early days, but no sign yet that he's failing)
Ryan One (also early days but already on the fringes of Sheffield United's first team)
Murray Wallace
Siriki Dembele

If you want to delve further into history, Colin Calderwood, Graeme Souness, John McGovern, etc

Just off the top of my head.

Edited to add - Very early days but Rory Wilson at Aston Villa seems to be causing some heads to turn too.

Edited January 12 by Skyline Drifter

[Gall09]

3 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Grant Hanley (left us at 16 for Crewe)
Jay Fulton
Stephen Kingsley
Ben Doak (early days, but no sign yet that he's failing)
Ryan One (also early days but already on the fringes of Sheffield United's first team)
Murray Wallace
Siriki Dembele

If you want to delve further into history, Colin Calderwood, Graeme Souness, John McGovern, etc

Just off the top of my head.

[Dti]

1 hour ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

Everything as is. The draft work on temporary stands, either one or two, is on file. All dependent on a) what league we are in next year and b) ongoing relationship with the SFA. At the moment, both sides appear to be comfortable with the current arrangement. 

Re other QPFC teams playing there more; wear and tear on the pitch cited plus the need to use it as a revenue stream, so status quo for the foreseeable.

New president looked a bit rattled and dismissive of criticism. 
hopefully just nerves. 
im sure our new committee member will keep him on his toes. 

[QP's in my DNA]

Just like to add my thanks to BYOS for taking the time to update us on the AGM, and subsequent posts on clarity.

Just as we're being positive about our new first team coach, let's hope the changes within the committee are just as positive.

[Arachnophile]

2 hours ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

 

Re other QPFC teams playing there more; wear and tear on the pitch cited plus the need to use it as a revenue stream, so status quo for the foreseeable.

Not sure i understand this  - the team most often suggested as benefitting from playing at Lesser is QP women.  they only play 28 league games in a season  - so 14 at home.  They are presumably paying Benburb for the use of their pitch so right away "revenue stream" would improve if they played at Lesser.  in addition it is reasonable to assume that more folk would pay to  see them if they were playing there.  I don't get the impression that Lesser is being used so much that they couldn't squeeze our women in. Of course, maybe the women are not a priority

[an86]

Pleased to see a wee bit of progress in terms of elections to the committee. I hope it can open the door to greater discussions around structure and transparency. The days of electing people to hide away in a room without involving the wider support have to come to an end. 
 

I’ve said from the very beginning of the huge change around Queen’s Park, that we couldn’t truly grow until it took the people who already care about the club along with them. That hasn’t happened. It’s still an imperative in terms of any success we might have in the future. This can still work, but it has to feel inclusive. 

[velo army]

2 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Grant Hanley (left us at 16 for Crewe)
Jay Fulton



Murray Wallace
Siriki Dembele 

If you want to delve further into history, Colin Calderwood, Graeme Souness, John McGovern, etc

Just off the top of my head.

Edited to add - Very early days but Rory Wilson at Aston Villa seems to be causing some heads to turn too.

I took out the players who don't have any sort of career yet, as my point was about going on to have a successful career. If Doak and Wilson end up having great careers then I'll happily change my mind. I also took out Kingsley as he played 100 games for Falkirk. In my initial post I didn't clarify that. I did in a later post but I appreciate you didn't read that. There are many Scottish players who left after 100 games up here and went on to be successes. My point is about youngsters with little to no first team appearances leaving to go south for the money and end up grinding to a halt.

I appreciate that over several decades we can find a few exceptions to this rule (6 according to your post as Dembele isn't Scottish and McGovern moved with his family to Hartlepool when he was 7, so doesn't count as such) but in general it's a move which leads to short term financial gain but long term career stagnation or even cessation. 

[EaglesandSpiders]

3 hours ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

Re other QPFC teams playing there more; wear and tear on the pitch cited plus the need to use it as a revenue stream, so status quo for the foreseeable.

That's like the worst excuse I have heard. Utterly shameful! How can we expect to attract talent (men & women) when we don't offer them, and the fans who want to watch them perform, a decent place to play in? Unbelievable! 

[Skyline Drifter]

35 minutes ago, velo army said:

I took out the players who don't have any sort of career yet, as my point was about going on to have a successful career. If Doak and Wilson end up having great careers then I'll happily change my mind. I also took out Kingsley as he played 100 games for Falkirk. In my initial post I didn't clarify that. I did in a later post but I appreciate you didn't read that. There are many Scottish players who left after 100 games up here and went on to be successes. My point is about youngsters with little to no first team appearances leaving to go south for the money and end up grinding to a halt.

I appreciate that over several decades we can find a few exceptions to this rule (6 according to your post as Dembele isn't Scottish and McGovern moved with his family to Hartlepool when he was 7, so doesn't count as such) but in general it's a move which leads to short term financial gain but long term career stagnation or even cessation. 

Didn't actually appreciate Kingsley had played anywhere near that many for Falkirk to be fair. I was trying to avoid names who had been first team regulars before moving as I appreciated the point you were making. Hence I didn't include the likes of Calvin Ramsay, either.

I do think Doak at least has already done enough to prove he's not got "lost" in the English system. I accept it's earlier in the process for One and Wilson.

Dismissing Dembele as "not Scottish" is somewhat disingenious. He is Ivory Coast born but moved to Scotland at 13, went through Scottish secondary education, and was in Academy football at Dundee United and Ayr United before moving into professional football down South. The path is the same.

It also wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list, just a list of names off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure if I took an hour or two to research I could come up with a lot more. I take the point, there are a lot of people do the Aidan Fitzpatrcik thing and just disappear. In fact to be fair, Fitzy's not the greatest example. it's not worked out for him immediately in England but he's back up here playing regular Championship football, first for us and now for you and any time I've seen him for you he's looked capable of playing higher level. There's a career to be had there. But there's also hundreds of youngsters go sign for Rangers or Celtic or HIbs or Hearts Academies and disappear too. It's not peculiar to the English system and it's not quite as much as guarantee of failure as your original "nobody except Billy Gilmour ever made it" post implied.

Edited January 12 by Skyline Drifter