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Queen's Park 2019/20


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6 minutes ago, the_bully_wee said:

All the very best to the all-too-small contingent of the QP support voting to preserve the club's raison d'être. It would be a crying shame to piss away 150 years of history (admittedly, the past 20 have been questionable in terms of staying true to the club's roots) just to remain in a less-shite league.

We all have to find ways to preserve our league status. Some of us change our status, others sign a rapist when sitting in the danger zone during the winter window. Many ways to address these scenarios. 

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5 minutes ago, an86 said:

We all have to find ways to preserve our league status. Some of us change our status, others sign a rapist when sitting in the danger zone during the winter window. Many ways to address these scenarios. 

In a society shorn of morality, it would be a tragedy to see such a bastion of it wilting irretrievably. 

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In a society shorn of morality, it would be a tragedy to see such a bastion of it wilting irretrievably. 
Wilting but not withering; no one wants to be moral crusaders in a league with Caledonian Braves, Stirling Uni and the like. Feck that.

The trick will be to retain what we think we have in terms of an ethos without the amateur bit. Bringing the youngsters on to be decent human beings and, hopefully, still treating players well.
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14 hours ago, Hampden Diehard said:

Wilting but not withering; no one wants to be moral crusaders in a league with Caledonian Braves, Stirling Uni and the like. Feck that.

Just having a wee review there of the current LL standings. It was just a few years ago (maybe even a couple) that Spartans and East Kilbride were nominated as the two most likely to go up next but even they are being overran by the former Junior teams who switched affiliations. For clubs coming down, Berwick are still having an adjustment but Shire seemed to have reacted and are currently in third. BSC Glasgow and Civil Service Strollers are the only other two having a go.

At the bottom half of the league lies the teams who traditionally have always played in this league and it's EoS predecessor. Vale of Leithen, Gala Fairydean, Dalbeattie Star, Gretna etc. The sixth tier below them splits to the EoS and SoS leagues, reflecting the relatively high number of clubs and geographical spread. This is where it gets slightly confusing as both of these leagues are affiliated to the SFA (hence inclusion in the Scottish Cup) but to get promotion to the Lowland League clubs have to join the SPFL as full members and this is where the ground regulations kick-in.  EoSFA members include Hearts, Hibs and Edinburgh City.

Over the last 15 years the pack has shuffled quite a bit but it took a seismic shift in 2017 when almost all the best clubs in the EoS Juniors switched to join the EoSFL which is the feeder to the Lowland. There can be only one good reason for that. And here's the rub. Whilst the Lowland league at the moment  has just a few teams at the top who look likely to join the senior leagues, tier 6 has a raft of well established ex-Junior clubs 9including cup giant-killers Broxburn and Penicuik) building up momentum and in another five years it's likely to see several of these in the Lowland with those rural towns like Gala and Dalbeattie dropping down. Factor in another couple of senior teams dropping down to the Lowland in that timescale and it's not difficult to see that in a handful of years (it's been seven years since our horror season and that's very fresh in the memory) that the Lowland will be a robust league on a par with the bottom half of L2 at the moment.

If we stay as we are, not only is Lowland league level inevitable, crowds at home of 100 souls watching QP v Vale of Leithen in tier 6 won't be far behind. And our legendary youth system will be a distant memory.

Footnote 1: QP youth development player Robert Griffiths, who had a couple of runs for our first team at the start of the season, moved to Shire at the end of October. Shire website reports he "impressed recently when Queen's Park reserves played against The Shire". So it's not just the big and wealthy who can easily steal our talent. It's the equivalent of leaving all your wages on the kitchen table and leaving the front and back door wide open.

Footnote 2: there's a definite trend also that teams within or close to major cities are thriving and rural teams are curling up. Glasgow is a really good place to be. Kelty and Bonnyrigg have yet to be measured.

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29 minutes ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

This is where it gets slightly confusing as both of these leagues are affiliated to the SFA (hence inclusion in the Scottish Cup) but to get promotion to the Lowland League clubs have to join the SPFL as full members and this is where the ground regulations kick-in. 

On a recent visit to the ancestral home I noticed the local paper reporting that East Lothian Council have given funding to three ex-Juniors teams (Musselburgh Athletic, Haddington Athletic and Tranent Juniors - who are still calling themselves Juniors despite having switched to the East of Scotland League) to install floodlights.  So its not just the traditionally 'big' teams in the area that are eyeing new horizons.  Things are going to change massively, QP have to be ready to meet the new challenge.

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42 minutes ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

 

Footnote 1: QP youth development player Robert Griffiths, who had a couple of runs for our first team at the start of the season, moved to Shire at the end of October. Shire website reports he "impressed recently when Queen's Park reserves played against The Shire". So it's not just the big and wealthy who can easily steal our talent. It's the equivalent of leaving all your wages on the kitchen table and leaving the front and back door wide open.

The Shire's improvement this season is down to a new American owner and increased spending on their player pool. Being 3rd won't satisfy the new owner. Expect further investment in the next few transfer windows. They are one of the clubs eyeing our SPFL spot!

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On 11/11/2019 at 12:48, QPSpider1867 said:

It's alarming how close we are to voting yet there are still so many that haven't researched or fully understand the position. I don't think anyone is to blame for that except those who don't invest time to listen. Scary considering the magnitude of the decision. Hopefully Glasgow1999 listens to what is being discussed and has a change of heart and mind. For the clubs sake. 

The scarier thing for me is that there are members who are fully aware of the position and know fine well how we're planning to fund our playing budget, yet they are still dead against it.  Which imo shows they do not have the best interests of the club at heart (sorry but you don't) which should surely be a prerequisite of being a full member in the first place. Their vote will be solely based on some misty eyed romantic idea of the senior game that doesn’t exist anymore. 

Of course turning pro doesn't guarantee a thing (nobody has ever said on here that it does) but let's get this done so we can at least give ourselves the best opportunity to remain and progress within the SPFL. We'll eventually end up one day in the South of Scotland league, never mind the Lowland League, if we stay as we are. 

 

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First post for some time, some of you will remember I used to post reports on Strollers/Reserves/U20's . Although, been a supporter for over half a century have not been a member at any stage (despite being season ticket holder for many years) so unfortunately not got a vote this week. For a time I would rather watch the 2nd eleven and worried that going pro might lead to it being sacrificed but with these worries now satisfied we have to go pro, to protect the young guys coming through and keep them longer.   Like others I worry that some members are so entrenched in sticking to their own personal feelings and are not going to vote with the good of the club at heart. I appeal to these guys to put their own feelings to one side and vote for the good of the club and preserve our future. We will always have our history but we have to move forward or amateur leagues here we come.

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I get that people would be wary of breaking with tradition and what that means to them and the club, however wouldn’t the move away from Hampden be exactly the time to do this?
To modernise the club, move to a more appropriately sized stadium and build towards a new more prosperous future? Engage with the local community and try and build upon the existing fan base, market themselves as a club for the south side of Glasgow, a real alternative to Celtic and Rangers and all the crap that comes with them.
Rather than a club who from my perspective as a local who goes along occasionally, hides away in Hampden and people mere streets away aren’t even aware they’re playing.

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30 minutes ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

This is where it gets slightly confusing as both of these leagues are affiliated to the SFA (hence inclusion in the Scottish Cup) but to get promotion to the Lowland League clubs have to join the SPFL as full members and this is where the ground regulations kick-in.  EoSFA members include Hearts, Hibs and Edinburgh City.

No, clubs must become full members of the SFA by satisfying entry level club licensing requirements. This gets them into the Scottish Cup and makes them eligible for promotion to the LL. The only extra requirement for the SPFL is to win the play-off and have slightly better floodlights. Tier 6 clubs must otherwise win their league or a non-members cup to get into the Scottish Cup

55 minutes ago, Bring Your Own Socks said:

If we stay as we are, not only is Lowland league level inevitable, crowds at home of 100 souls watching QP v Vale of Leithen in tier 6 won't be far behind. And our legendary youth system will be a distant memory.

If you somehow dropped down to tier 6 in the next few years you wouldn't be playing teams from the east - it would be the likes of Wigtown and Bladnoch in the South of Scotland League! Unless of course the west juniors get their act together and come onboard as the west feeder, then it wouldn't be so bad as you'd have a southside derby with Pollok.

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If you somehow dropped down to tier 6 in the next few years you wouldn't be playing teams from the east - it would be the likes of Wigtown and Bladnoch in the South of Scotland League! Unless of course the west juniors get their act together and come onboard as the west feeder, then it wouldn't be so bad as you'd have a southside derby with Pollok.

Glad you got that out of your system friend. The punchline is still the same. Whatever the teams are, we want to be well above it. I'd like Partick Thistle to be our Derby.
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I was really critical of how the Club handled the Hampden negotiations but I think the level of engagement throughout his process has been excellent.

I went to the first sessions deeply opposed to changing status but have been convinced because of the clarity of the argument put forward.

I trusted the Club could balance the books so never shared the reservations about funding that some seemed to have. I take it that the recent correspondence has satisfied anyone who was concerned on that score?

If any Members have engaged with the full process and still want to remain amateur out of principle, I can genuinely respected that, but they need to fully accept the consequences of that decision: unsustainable youth set up, smaller scale Lesser Hampden development, managed decline and an altogether uncertain and diminished future.

I’m not on here all that much and I don’t know if anyone’s still on the fence. It’s obvious that tensions are running high, though, and I wonder if any folks still have questions they don’t want to ask in a public forum.

I think/hope the Club would be open to discussions but I’d also say please feel free to reach out to me or anyone else on here for a private chat / coffee / pint / whatever, if anyone wants more info.

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