From Queens Official site

UEFA Cup Announcement 2nd June 2008
Since qualifying for the UEFA Cup, club officials have been working closely with both UEFA and the SFA to understand the infrastructure that has to be in place to fulfil European fixtures at Palmerston Park.

The primary reason is that everyone involved with the club would wish to play home games in Dumfries. There is also a strong desire to ensure that, following on from the extraordinary demand for Cup Final tickets, we can accommodate as many Queen of the South supporters as possible over the course of our UEFA Cup campaign.

As this competition is overseen by UEFA it is necessary that all participating clubs follow their regulations, one of which states:

"Matches can only be played before seated spectators; with any sector for standing spectators kept closed. Bench seating of any description is prohibited and will be regarded as standing accommodation."

Additionally, temporary stands are not permitted.

Following discussions, it has been determined that no dispensation can be granted concerning the use of standing terraces at Palmerston Park and the club accepts this position.

This does however, limit the capacity for games played in Dumfries to 3,500 seated spectators. This is further reduced through the requirement to provide additional media workstations in the Main Stand, the segregation of supporters and, to accommodate additional guests of the club - effectively limiting the number of Queens supporters to less than 2,800.

For this reason, we have been in talks with clubs to determine the feasibility of their hosting our 'home' fixtures. Noting the fact that playing a home fixture in another country is also not permitted, a major consideration during these discussions has been accessibility for Queen of the South supporters travelling from Dumfries and Galloway.

In conclusion, an agreement has been reached that we will play our home UEFA Cup fixtures at the Excelsior Stadium - home of Airdrie United. The stadium has a capacity in excess of 10,000 and, it is anticipated that this should satisfy the demand for tickets.

Our thanks go to Jim Ballantyne and everyone at Airdrie United for their accommodating approach to this arrangement.

Ticket details will be announced around the time of the Second Qualifying Round draw, which is currently scheduled for 1st August.

However it should be noted that priority for UEFA Cup tickets will only be given to season tickets holders, prior to a general public sale.

Colin Rutherford

Not at all surprised by the decision, or the venue seen as it was discussed on here, and Davie Rae is close friends with Ballantyne the Airdrie chairman. As soon as it was clear that we wouldn't be allowed the terracing, playing at Palmy was never going to be a viable option, which is a shame because as my friend put it "a European night on the terracing at Palmerston would shít all over the atmosphere at Parkhead or Ibrox", but que sera sera.

I'm glad we have chosen a fellow SFL club to rent from and I'm glad we didn't choose Motherwell.

That seems fair enough. Much like the cup run I would imagine everyone that wants a ticket would get one. Also well done to Airdrie for allowing us to use their ground as well.

all round good fucking guys....don't break the seats.

edit to add

i'm not sure the stand to the left of the main behind the goals has a safety stertificate....maybe you lot are paying to fix it...cheers.

Remember to buy lots of pies and go for a few or more pints in the stadium bar before and after the game.

Good luck!

I liked this quote from the Queens Mad board

"Travelling to Airdrie will certainly be a good rehearsal for the tribulations of travelling into the deprivation of Eastern Europe"

which would be funnny had your mob not had to travel 100 miles to find adequate modern facilities...it's funny in a point and laugh sort of way I spose.

Why didn't they choose the Carlisle ground. It's closer (I think) and is a better stadium. I don't think there are any rules to state that you must play the game in this country, although I realise they would need FIFA to sanction the venue.

And remind me how much it cost Airdrieonians to build the stadium?

Thats right, their survival

Im pretty sure there'll be worse grounds in some parts of europe having european football playing on it this season than palmerston.

just trying to do the right thing and we were punished...treat it with care.

UEFA have come down like ton of bricks recently on clubs wanting to play games in neighbouring countries, including Andorra playing in Spain, a Belgian club playing in France. They don't like it.

Carlisle is considerably closer, but as stated we aren't allowed to play in England.

Also as there would be a serious likelihood that Queens fans would be met at Carlisle train station by an army of neds ready to fight I would say that in this case UEFA's decision is probably a good one!


There almost certainly will, but thems be the rules.

We are actually allowed to use Palmerston but with a vastly reduced capacity because we can't use the terracing. This would obviously restrict the number of fans who could see the game and the revenue produced, etc.

It´s a shame Palmerston isn´t usable but it was inevitable really. At the end of the day, Dumfries being where it is, if you are going to have to travel an hour to get to an alternative stadium it doesn´t really make much odds if it´s an hour and a quarter or whatever. Airdrie will be fine. Better a 10k capacity stadium relatively full than a 20k stadium rattling around mostly empty.

What about Gretna's "Eco-Stadium"?

It must be just about ready, and just along the road.

Games must be played in the same country.

Good luck in Europe Queen of the South. Hope you do well and better than our bunch of losers!

Hahahahaha, clown

We played an Oirish side in Liverpool

gad! r we nt goin 2 b goin 2 the fuckin slums (wonderful as they are) enough this season?

thought that Rugby Park was going to be used?

That stand was used for the diddy cup final. I remember a load of previously broken seats being replaced at the time.

Here's hoping for a good draw anyways. It would be good to see a decent crowd in the place.

Yes, I was thinking about that game. It was over a decade ago though and, as someone says elsewhere, theyve obviously tightened up since.

Did you not go about three down at Tranmere, before recovering?

Aye, don't remind me

At least they've gone for one of the most intimidating locations in this country, not that it'll help I don't think.

What's so funny about that, any idiot knows that a terracing like the one at Palmerston generates far more atmosphere than an open stand in an all seater stadium!

Just because you have a bigger stadium doesn't mean you will have a better atmosphere!

Your fans certainly dont know how to generate an atmosphere, as proven at Hampden .

Fantastic, this must have KingfaetheSooth so so so pissed off.

I may attend this game

what about all these wee scandanavian and eastern european clubs that use terracing? or have they all had to use other grounds as well?

total farce if you ask me, if palmerston has a safety certificate then what's the problem? i could almost understand it if they made it to the group stages, but in the qualifiers?

the fact that they cant use carlisle's ground is also a joke. what does it matter if they play in a different league?

Pretty sure I read somewhere that if the ground has no seating facilities then terracing etc. is fine, (is there not a ground that Scotland have played at recently where it is basically a grassy bank the fans sit on, Faroes perhaps?).

If the ground is a mixture of seating and non-seating, like Palmerston, then only the seats can be used.

It's another one to look at retrospectively, like our cup final ticket allocation which turned out to be embarrasingly unfair. Even with the terracing Palmy holds just over 6400, probably a bit less with segregation. Airdrie will be around the 10,000 mark. If our home tie has a crowd of less than 6400 we can have reason to be annoyed, if it is over that then we have made the right decision. If it is 3500 (the number of seats at Palmerston) or under, then we have even more reason to be annoyed!

The motives to move to Airdrie are quite clear and at this moment in time seem sensible. Allow extra fans to get to the game, thus increasing revenue and keeping interest in the club, which is at an unusual high just now, as high as possible.

I am actually a little concerned that our crowd will be disappointing. A midweek tie against an unknown team (who are still likely to beat us despite not being a big name) isn't going to be the same attraction to the bandwagon-jumpers as an all day booze session en-route and in Glasgow, followed by a trip to Hampden is. I think we will find the usual die-hards in attendance, a few fans who have rekindled their love for the club after last seasons triumphs, and then a fair number of neutrals such as Lord Haw Haw and perhaps some Airdrie fans.

I think you could be right. It would be sad if we did not attract at least four or five thousand, although as you say, most of the day trippers will not be there, although I would hope for a historic match it would still draw reasonable interest.

If that is true then its beyond ridiculous.
Theres nothing wrong with terracing and it should be allowed regardless.

Assuming that Queens are making the game(s) all ticket, are they making any provision for any neutral who may want to take in the game(S)?

I might just want to gloryhunt and 'live the Euro dream'.

Presuming it will be similar to our Scottish Cup ticket sales, there will be a couple of days of sales to season ticket holders only, followed by a public sale.

Tickets can be bought over the phone and posted out to you.

I'd think you are right, especially as next years season ticket book has 4 cup vouchers in it.

I'm not particularly happy with this decision but hey ho. I've still not got little time for Ballantyne, Airdrie United football club or the very small minority of your fans who wave union flags and behave like thugs. (waves to the Section B fuds) You do have a lot of decent fans too though.

I'll be there though, as no way would I miss Queens playing in Europe. I'll probably still attend a Clydebank game in the Juniors this season rather than going to the Excelsior for a AU v QOS game though.

Just to correct some people, terracing is not allowed at all in the UEFA Cup or Champions League (small areas, amounting to 15% of capacity, are allowed in Intertoto). This applies to all nations.

I wondered if Firhill might have been a better choice. Not significantly further away than Airdrie, easier to get to by public transport, a more attractive location for 'an all day boozy session', a large pool of Dumfries expats/floating fans living nearby, and a higher population of local neutrals around who might be interested in going.

Are you one of those tossers who said that they would rather see Hampden full of Rangers season ticket holders than Queens glory hunters. It does not mater whether they are your so called 'die-hards', full timers, part-timers, three quarter timers as long as they are supporting Queens. They are all welcome in my book.

Are you that guy from Dalbeattie Road who used to run about in a Saab convertible in the rain with the top down?

A man of integrity whom stands by his principles no matter what then, eh ?

Do you have a link?

It does seem daft that a ground with a small capacity (e.g. 10,000 or less), which includes some terracing can't be used.

Rovers used Starks Park, when it was mainly terracing, that was in 1995. The games were all ticket with reduced capacity on terracing, so capacity was 5,200.

What's changed since then?

The rules.

Hypocrite. Why does the waving of your own country's flag annoy you so much?

Perhaps, certainly easier for me, although I think it was Davie Rae's friendship with the Airdrie chairman that swung it.

I have also seen talk of the pitch at Airdrie having similar dimensions to Palmy which might make it "feel like home" but that could be utter bullshít, I think it was on the MAD board I read it!


Nope not me, I want as many people from Dumfries supporting Queens as possible, you'd have to be insane not to. My only comment about "non-regular attenders" (is that a more pleasing term than glory-hunters? I think the term I actually used in this thread was band-wagon jumpers, but I digress..) was my concern that once the dust had settled on the Cup Final they would be back to doing whatever it is they do on a Saturday afternoon that doesn't involve going to Palmerston.

My point in this thread is that the extra fans we took to Hampden might not be as motivated to go to Airdrie for a midweek tie against an unknown Scandinavian outfit who will have a high chance of beating us.

It's a hard one to call because the people of Dumfries are strange. The Sunday after the Cup Final was fantastic, absolutely unbelievable. The town was the busiest it has probably ever been on a Sunday, certainly in my lifetime anyway, and every single person was wearing some sort of Queens merchandise, be it tops, scarfs or t-shirts, and looking genuinely proud of the Town, and the clubs achievements.

Sadly it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of people were just on the bandwagon (oops used that word again) for something a bit different to do of a weekend and the merchandise will go to the back of the cupboard and normality will resume once the Cup Final is just a happy memory from a couple of months back. The attendance for the Partick game the Wednesday after our Semi Final supports this view slightly.

Like I say you really can't tell how your average Doonhamer is going to react. I'm sure we will gain some extra fans next year, especially for the bigger games, but perhaps a disappointing percentage from the 15,000 we had on the big day.

As for the Saab, definitely not me, sadly my car is like chalk and cheese to a Saab.

If you've not got little then you've got lots!

Yeah, that's spot on. The attendance against Thistle midweek after the semi was pitiful. The fact it was cold barely qualifies as mitigating, and the fact that a rival game was on Setanta is just too depressing to contemplate as an excuse.
I've no idea what sort of gate(s) we'll get in Airdrie, but it's difficult to see the pubs all booking buses which did so much to swell the Hampden gates.
I'd love to be wrong here, but I think tickets will be terribly easy to come by.

Ah! Why, was there another disaster that I missed?

Nope, my principles are intact: I've always said that I will never give a penny of my hard earned cash to Airdie United. That will not be compromised. None of the gate receipts will go to your club, though no doubt there will be a payment to the owners of the Excelsior stadium by Queen of the South for the hire. The Queen of the South Chairman obviously has not got my integrity when he chooses his friends in Scottish football.