The Queen of the South thread

[Frankie S]

4 hours ago, KingfaetheSooth said:

I would imagine that the lessons under his stewardship when communication with the fans was via a Rangers supporting Director have also played a part in where we are now.

Being lectured by a Rangers season ticket holder as to who counted as 'a real Queen of the South supporter', after the reprehensible decision to vote in favour of the admission of Sevco to Division One of the SFL, was the final straw for me, after supporting the club for 40 years prior to that disgraceful episode. If Robertson was still on the board, wild horses would have been unable to drag me back. 

[die hard doonhamer]

It didn't all need to be done.

This is true. There was that one decision that was just plain wrong.

[Skyline Drifter]

4 hours ago, KingfaetheSooth said:

it remains a disappointment that Queens also managed to get into financial difficulties when 'living the dream' under Davie Rae as Chairman. I would imagine that the lessons under his stewardship when communication with the fans was via a Rangers supporting Director have also played a part in where we are now.

 

3 hours ago, palmy_cammy said:

It was Billy Hewitson that brought Mark Robertson on board was it not?

Billy brought him in but Davie was still chairman at the time. There was briefly a time of six directors before Colin Rutherford, Tommy Harkness and Davie Rae all stepped down. However Mark Robertson played a big part in helping to turn the club around. He wasnt without his faults of course, few are, but he came in, did the job he was there to do and left again.

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, paulbrucerick said:

Interesting reading about Gretna here. Did many folk go from Dumfries to Raydale and was it really a big threat?

Yes and yes.

As I said in the earlier post Gretna gave hundreds of free family tickets for distribution through Dumfries schools every week and lots of families used them. In hindsight it was a short term boom and bust thing but at the time it genuinely felt like they were stealing an entire generation of fans from us and had it gone on a decade or so rather than the three years it actually lasted then it would have set us back a long way. As I sad though, the galvanised response from both fans groups and then the club itself has been hugely beneficial in the long term.

[TeeMan]

55 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Yes and yes.

As I said in the earlier post Gretna gave hundreds of free family tickets for distribution through Dumfries schools every week and lots of families used them. In hindsight it was a short term boom and bust thing but at the time it genuinely felt like they were stealing an entire generation of fans from us and had it gone on a decade or so rather than the three years it actually lasted then it would have set us back a long way. As I sad though, the galvanised response from both fans groups and then the club itself has been hugely beneficial in the long term.

This. We were lucky things went wrong so quickly and whilst some were pointing out the unsustainability of the whole thing at the time it seemed to only be Queens fans who were saying that any long term strategy they had (and the plan for their "community" work)  was based on essentially strangling us like some invasive weed.

[TeeMan]

On 9/27/2016 at 21:33, Grant228 said:

Is that much of a rivalry/derby? With the size of the respective clubs I didn't think there'd be much to it.

 

Just curiosity, it's often said that while some teams have a hatred of others of others they wouldn't like them to go under due to missing the games and all that associated stuff, for example I'd be very sad to see Raith or Falkirk hit the skids. I suppose with how quickly it all came about it must have been different.

Remember that in the lifetime of most posters on here, apart from the last 10 years or so, Stranraer were always about the same level as Queens or above - we scraped around the lower reaches of Scottish football for a long time. And there is a definite local element to it, just in these rural parts local has a slightly looser definition - the Cleyholers have a definite chip on their shoulder 

As SD and others have said the difference with Gretna is that they weren't just a local rival, their whole plan was an existential threat to Queen of the South FC which is why we were so riled by the whole thing.

Edited September 28, 2016 by TeeMan

[WILLIEA]

17 minutes ago, TeeMan said:

This. We were lucky things went wrong so quickly and whilst some were pointing out the unsustainability of the whole thing at the time it seemed to only be Queens fans who were saying that any long term strategy they had (and the plan for their "community" work)  was based on essentially strangling us like some invasive weed.

I think that although rationally we all knew the whole edifice was built on quicksand there was, for me a worrying little period.

That was when they were promoted to the SPL and were looking for a ground. I was worried that their media pals would have been pushing for Palmy, and even although deep down I knew Queens wouldn't entertain it I still had a nagging worry

[TeeMan]

3 minutes ago, WILLIEA said:

I think that although rationally we all knew the whole edifice was built on quicksand there was, for me a worrying little period.

That was when they were promoted to the SPL and were looking for a ground. I was worried that their media pals would have been pushing for Palmy, and even although deep down I knew Queens wouldn't entertain it I still had a nagging worry

Yup.

School kids from Dumfries and the surrounding area getting bussed down to Raydale with free tickets 

[kleinfaethetoon]

I think that although rationally we all knew the whole edifice was built on quicksand there was, for me a worrying little period.

That was when they were promoted to the SPL and were looking for a ground. I was worried that their media pals would have been pushing for Palmy, and even although deep down I knew Queens wouldn't entertain it I still had a nagging worry

I recall a local businessman who was well suckered in by all things Gretna and wore his black and white scarf with pride touted this ground share fantasy at every opportunity then to great amusement out came the blue and white scarf when things went tits up in the village !!! P@@@k !!!

[paulbrucerick]

3 hours ago, 19QOS19 said:

 

 

Overthetop has brushed on the point I'm about to make. I think the majority of people who follow Scottish football had a dislike for Gretna but I had a genuine hate for them. A lot of it was down to the fact people from Dumfries would go to their games to watch a winning team rather than actually follow a well run team from their own town. Needless to say they soon slithered back under their rocks when the inevitable happened.

 

 

I remember saying to the fairytale believers, "Wait until they are in your league!" Me and my mate were the only ones in the pub cheering on Hearts in that cup final!

[paulbrucerick]

2 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

I don't know if it reflected even a germ of truth, but remember that people used to say that Georgetown was full of Gretna fans.

I never saw Gretna as an existential threat to Queens, but there's no doubt that they were aggressively making inroads on where we would hope to draw our support from.  Even that isn't really so terribly wrong I suppose.  The focus on community even had some admirable elements.  The point was though that it was such a nonsense, such a vanity project and it inspired such hubris.  

The dishonesty of the pretence that titles had been anything other than bought, was nearly as nauseating as the largely unchallenged fairytale narrative, peddled by the media.

I still didn't take much joy in their collapse though.  All it meant was that a handful of local supporters saw their team hijacked and driven at high speed to its death.  Meanwhile, a bunch of daft wee fannies that were only interested in pursuing glory, dismounted unbruised and found a new fad.

A really strange episode from which, as others have said, we strangely benefited.

Funnily enough I lived in Georgetown for seven years. Black and white trailblazer!

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, TeeMan said:

Remember that in the lifetime of most posters on here, apart from the last 10 years or so, Stranraer were always about the same level as Queens or above - we scraped around the lower reaches of Scottish football for a long time.

Your general point is absolutely correct. Stranraer spent the vast majority of the period from early 60's to 2002 at the same level as us. I think they had maybe one or two seasons above us in that time though. We had as many above them.

They have had only two seasons at even the same level since 2002 I think. One of which was our all conquering Div 2 Championship season. The other the Great Escape Mark I (Allan Jenkins giveaway).

[happysouth]

I remember saying to the fairytale believers, "Wait until they are in your league!" Me and my mate were the only ones in the pub cheering on Hearts in that cup final!

I watched that cup final in a pub in dumfries and apart from me and 1 other guy everybody was wanting them to win it. [emoji17]

[Tam]

12 hours ago, paulbrucerick said:

I remember saying to the fairytale believers, "Wait until they are in your league!" Me and my mate were the only ones in the pub cheering on Hearts in that cup final!

I was in the Hearts support with my son at that final. While I had respect for the Gretna players, I was desperate for them to lose. When it went to penalties, I couldn't help think of the film "Shot at Glory". I didn't want Degsy to miss his pen for old times sake.

Thank the football gods and the nerves of a young Robbie Neilson and others, Hearts took an excellent set of pens. Am I right in thinking one Gavin Skelton missed a pen in that shoot-out too?

[Tam]

12 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Your general point is absolutely correct. Stranraer spent the vast majority of the period from early 60's to 2002 at the same level as us. I think they had maybe one or two seasons above us in that time though. We had as many above them.

They have had only two seasons at even the same level since 2002 I think. One of which was our all conquering Div 2 Championship season. The other the Great Escape Mark I (Allan Jenkins giveaway).

Through my boyhood and teenage years in Dumfries ( 60s to early 70s) I don't recall Stranraer having much, if any, joy against us. We were in the same league but seemed to cuff them on a regular basis. Different after that though tbf.

[Sloop John B]

Through my boyhood and teenage years in Dumfries ( 60s to early 70s) I don't recall Stranraer having much, if any, joy against us. We were in the same league but seemed to cuff them on a regular basis. Different after that though tbf.

Wasn't his the decisive one, putting his place in the QOS hall of fame right away IMO

[die hard doonhamer]

The penalties were missed by Derek Townsley (penalty 3) and Gavin Skelton (penalty 4). The Gretna goal was scored by Ryan McGuffie.

[Tam]

Thanks, diehard doonhamer. Yes, poor Townsley did indeed miss but I wasn't sure about our manager. Yes, he is on the way to being a real favourite at Palmerston now.

[Broony88]

2 hours ago, die hard doonhamer said:

The penalties were missed by Derek Townsley (penalty 3) and Gavin Skelton (penalty 4). The Gretna goal was scored by Ryan McGuffie.

Gavin smashed his off the bar if I remember correctly and was the deciding pen I think.

Guffs goal in the final was the rebound from his missed penalty also iirc. Scary thought that a division two team almost won the cup. 

 

[RUSTY1111]

Gavin smashed his off the bar if I remember correctly and was the deciding pen I think.

Guffs goal in the final was the rebound from his missed penalty also iirc. Scary thought that a division two team almost won the cup. 

 

The Gretna vs. Hearts Scottish Cup Final highlights were on Scotland's Game the other week and it was indeed Skelton's penalty that crashed off the crossbar.