The Big Queen's Park FC Thread

[Velvet Donkey]

25 minutes ago, Skeletar Spider said:

Understandably, perhaps because the entire construction project has been managed by the club with such spectacular levels of incompetence

I've tried to take a balanced view of it considering the very real material supply chain and contractor problems UK-wide. Despite the wait, at least we have our own brand-new fit-for-purpose stadium. But it's very far from that, and that's been a series of errors and missed opportunities. It's going to take even more spend and disruption to make it suitable even for the Championship.

It's the Royal Box and the mess of the west side that disgusts me.

[QPSpider1867]

41 minutes ago, Skeletar Spider said:

Just back from a stroll around Lesser on my lunch break. I live locally, and I've been around that way probably once a week since construction began, so I've been able to get a decent idea of what progress was (or wasn't) being made, but it's only now it's nearing completion that it's starting to dawn on me just how farcically wee it is.

It goes without saying that it's far too small for the Premiership (a realistic consideration for a team two points off the top at the end of the calendar year with a game in hand, even if it still seems hard to believe), but it's also nowhere near big enough for the Championship. Take our games against Thistle, for example. Assuming neither ourselves nor Thistle get promoted, we'll have two home games against them next season. The last time we were in the same league as Thistle - when we actually had our own stadium - the crowds were around 4,000 for both games. As it is we'll be looking at what when we play them next year at Lesser, 800? 900? You could make a case that those games are exceptions, but if it's going to mean missing out on even a couple of thousand people through the gate (twice) then it's a ludicrous oversight on our part. And that's before you get onto cup ties against bigger teams, or the fact that our games against Ayr, Dundee and Raith so far this season would have been near or above what Lesser's capacity is going to be, at least in the immediate term.

Understandably, perhaps because the entire construction project has been managed by the club with such spectacular levels of incompetence, the fact that the end product is also going to be woefully inadequate has flown under the radar to a certain extent. But it will be all too clear whenever it is we do get around to playing our first game there.

They've been obsessed with growing the fan base and getting more supporters through the gates. It's all absolutely pointless if there isn't a seat to sit on. They done well to get over 3000 in Hampden but for what? We won't be able to do that again with our little stadium, especially if we're playing a bigger side. It's all very amateur.  

Posting free tickets through a school letter box is easy, building a proper stadium was the hard bit. They're hopeless. 

 

[Arachnophile]

36 minutes ago, QPSpider1867 said:

They've been obsessed with growing the fan base and getting more supporters through the gates. It's all absolutely pointless if there isn't a seat to sit on. They done well to get over 3000 in Hampden but for what? We won't be able to do that again with our little stadium, especially if we're playing a bigger side. It's all very amateur.  

Posting free tickets through a school letter box is easy, building a proper stadium was the hard bit. They're hopeless. 

 

It seems to me that the initial idea when we decided to go professional was to avoid the drop to the Lowland league at all costs and probably establish ourselves as a "solid" division one club with perhaps an occasional sniff at the Championship. A stadium with a capacity of around 3,000 would be perfectly fine for that.

At some stage, the club's ambitions were raised and it became clear that Championship/premiership football was the aim, but unless there are secret plans that us plebs are unaware of, there appears to have been no thought given as to how we would accommodate the additional fans that would inevitably be attracted. It's difficult to see what the solution is - the Royal Box Folly makes it impossible to envisage a final capacity of more than about 2,500 to 3,000.

[an86]

https://queensparkfc.co.uk/fixture-update-from-the-president/
 

Cove away, Inverness away twice and Dundee away in January. Brutal. 

[Anonymous Spider]

Far from ideal. 

[Spider Rico]

Having to switch a game home/away is a new one for the off field banter catalogue

Presumably Cove were offered the Friday night and quite rightly told us to ram it.

Also a one sentence update on Lesser Hampden given that it is the root cause of this fiasco…….seriously?

[an86]

25 minutes ago, Anonymous Spider said:

Far from ideal. 

North of £150 per skull in tickets and buses the month after Christmas, should you be in the fortunate position to be able go to all of the away games. The fixtures fall they way the fall, except the Cove one didn’t. That’s another consequence of the Lesser Hampden shambles that is hitting fans in terms of convenience or finance, through no fault of our own. The club should be stepping in to at very least heavily subsidise travel to that one.

Edited December 20, 2022 by an86

[CathcartSkins]

17 minutes ago, an86 said:

https://queensparkfc.co.uk/fixture-update-from-the-president/
 

Cove away, Inverness away twice and Dundee away in January. Brutal. 

Credit card taking a hammering this year. Hopefully the RMT will step up, announce a few more days of action and save my financial woes.

[Grumpy Soo-sider]

Anyone know what the current 'vision' for the completed stadium is? I know there are plans for a south stand (and there appears to be some detail on the council planning site about that). Other than this, is the west side, which, with the natural slope, has the best views of the pitch just going to house a forty seater executive box? The original plan for the west stand was way better than what we now have.

How about the north end - anything planned for there?

This whole episode has been so disappointing - I just wish the club would pass on more information. Why all the secrets?

[Spider Rico]

Just to add to the fun

Our next two scheduled home games after these ones are the 4th Feb (Ayr) and 18th Feb (Raith) with maybe a Scottish Cup tie in between.

And yes you guessed it, Stenhousemuir are at home on both those dates

 

[CoveRangers1922]

32 minutes ago, an86 said:

https://queensparkfc.co.uk/fixture-update-from-the-president/
 

Cove away, Inverness away twice and Dundee away in January. Brutal. 

This is déjà vu. Happened last year too. We had that 4 straight away run late on last year. Definitely brutal but Spiders should be well enough placed to pick up points 

[Bring Your Own Socks]

12 minutes ago, GM1867 said:

Anyone know what the current 'vision' for the completed stadium is? I know there are plans for a south stand (and there appears to be some detail on the council planning site about that). Other than this, is the west side, which, with the natural slope, has the best views of the pitch just going to house a forty seater executive box? The original plan for the west stand was way better than what we now have.

How about the north end - anything planned for there?

This whole episode has been so disappointing - I just wish the club would pass on more information. Why all the secrets?

It was generally accepted that the South stand was to be built along with the East and had it been it would be getting finished just now. I’ve heard whispers of “being built next summer” or “built by next summer”. Neither of these make sense and clarity will be sought at next week’s meeting. Given the amount of money spaffed there has to be a concern about cashflow. The fact these two stands haven’t been built in tandem is the most obvious sign of how incompetent the construction team have been.

The North has always been in abeyance as the land area there merits a partial sale or property development to provide residual income. That said, we are now 3 years (on Friday precisely) since planning consent so progress should be getting made. The words back in the summer were “once we get this bit (East stand) built we can start looking at the North” pretty much indicates where the problems have come from. 

[Bring Your Own Socks]

15 minutes ago, CoveRangers1922 said:

This is déjà vu. Happened last year too. We had that 4 straight away run late on last year. Definitely brutal but Spiders should be well enough placed to pick up points 

Aye, really slowed you down, eh?

[Bring Your Own Socks]

33 minutes ago, Spider Rico said:

Having to switch a game home/away is a new one for the off field banter catalogue

Presumably Cove were offered the Friday night and quite rightly told us to ram it.

Also a one sentence update on Lesser Hampden given that it is the root cause of this fiasco…….seriously?

Don’t think it qualifies as an update. More like an echo.

[CoveRangers1922]

10 minutes ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

Aye, really slowed you down, eh?

We managed to scrap out some results in that run which were fortunate to say the least. You lads, after a fantastic first half of the season, have a chance to do the same thing this year and take the ultimate step to the top tier

Edited December 20, 2022 by CoveRangers1922

[Bring Your Own Socks]

On 16/12/2022 at 08:20, Anonymous Spider said:

Ha. Hadn’t thought of this.. we got a ponchos and poshos situation?

Took this at Starks a few weeks ago. Have a guess why the concrete in the lower half is darker than the upper half? 

[NavyBlueArmy1876]

22 hours ago, Arachnophile said:

It seems to me that the initial idea when we decided to go professional was to avoid the drop to the Lowland league at all costs and probably establish ourselves as a "solid" division one club with perhaps an occasional sniff at the Championship. A stadium with a capacity of around 3,000 would be perfectly fine for that.

At some stage, the club's ambitions were raised and it became clear that Championship/premiership football was the aim, but unless there are secret plans that us plebs are unaware of, there appears to have been no thought given as to how we would accommodate the additional fans that would inevitably be attracted. It's difficult to see what the solution is - the Royal Box Folly makes it impossible to envisage a final capacity of more than about 2,500 to 3,000.

 

21 hours ago, GM1867 said:

Anyone know what the current 'vision' for the completed stadium is? I know there are plans for a south stand (and there appears to be some detail on the council planning site about that). Other than this, is the west side, which, with the natural slope, has the best views of the pitch just going to house a forty seater executive box? The original plan for the west stand was way better than what we now have.

How about the north end - anything planned for there?

This whole episode has been so disappointing - I just wish the club would pass on more information. Why all the secrets?

I'm not connected to the club in any way but reckon you could end up with something like this which would be a tidy little stadium

You are correct that without redevelopment of the west side it would be very difficult to get up to a capacity of around 5k. I'm not sure why the directors box hasn't been designed with expansion in mind but it could still be changed in the future to give you a stand the length of the pitch.

 

[Arachnophile]

57 minutes ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:

 

I'm not connected to the club in any way but reckon you could end up with something like this which would be a tidy little stadium

You are correct that without redevelopment of the west side it would be very difficult to get up to a capacity of around 5k. I'm not sure why the directors box hasn't been designed with expansion in mind but it could still be changed in the future to give you a stand the length of the pitch.

 

You've got the job.  When can you start?

[Burnieman]

Are QP really going with a 1k capacity?  that's amongst the lowest of any SFA licenced club, even in the depths of the WoS and EoS Leagues.

Surely they're having some form of standing around the undeveloped areas a bit like the new Meadowbank?  That Royal Box is farcical.

[G_&_T]

6 hours ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:

 

I'm not connected to the club in any way but reckon you could end up with something like this which would be a tidy little stadium

You are correct that without redevelopment of the west side it would be very difficult to get up to a capacity of around 5k. I'm not sure why the directors box hasn't been designed with expansion in mind but it could still be changed in the future to give you a stand the length of the pitch.

 

Would that not mean demolishing the current dressing rooms? Also isn't there now a water tank on the west side? I like the idea, but don't think it's likely, from what I've seen and heard.

The problem is the club designed a stadium fit for the bottom two tiers, but when fully professional which surely implies aspirations of the top two tiers. Could it be the club didn't envisage such on-the-field success so quickly?