The Queen of the South thread

[Otis Blue]

33 minutes ago, Monkey Tennis said:

Surely a Queens fan doesn't need told that proximity to the Central Belt, is no prerequisite for that particular disease to get a hold.

Aye, very much so. But believe me (as an ex pat) it's a lot worse the closer you get to Weegieland.

[Dougie Mills]

27 minutes ago, Otis Blue said:

Aye, very much so. But believe me (as an ex pat) it's a lot worse the closer you get to Weegieland.

Doubt it can be that much worse, 95% of folk at my work support one of the two cheeks.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Dougie Mills

[Monkey Tennis]

9 minutes ago, Dougie Mills said:

Doubt it can be that much worse, 95% of folk at my work support one of the two cheeks.

Yip, totally my experience.

You must genuinely see ten times as many Rangers tops as Queens one in and around the town.  The number of people who discuss the pair of them by referring to 'us' and 'we' is sickening.

I too genuinely doubt if it can be much worse elsewhere.

[third lanark]

5 hours ago, Doonhamer70 said:

Strange as McCall punted him few years ago.

It was Alan Archibald.  McCall wasn’t at Firhill when Muirhead was there

[Fae_the_'briggs]

6 hours ago, Otis Blue said:

Aye it was a shame.  Would have been a nice change and a welcome addition to next season to have 4 southern/border/Tory derbies (have I covered all the options there?).

I'm not really sure what clubs like EC, Kelty, Cove etc bring to our game given their limited potential to bring a reasonable fan base.  I know that sporting integrity and the pyramid structure necessitates that they have the same opportunity as any other club and that's hard to argue with.  However, for a small country like ours I've always thought that its good to have the larger sized towns and also the different regions of the country represented in the league - adding "village clubs" (such as Gretna, Kelty etc) and "minor city clubs" doesn't add a lot for me.

Not sure a Queens fan can be critical of clubs having poor fan bases considering the year on year decline in our core support. I doubt if many L1 clubs Treasurers will be exactly rubbing their hands at the prospect of the vast income from our massive travelling support either. 

[Manwithnoball]

What kind of players is everyone hoping WG signs.

We have Cowie, McKay, Todd, Gibson, Cochrane, McGrory, Mckechnie and Paton. 

Still waiting to hear about Connelly, Fitzpatrick and East wether they are staying or leaving. 

Muirhead was mentioned but he is reported to be Thistle bound. Moxon from Annan going down south. 

Gavin Reilly meant to be a target and would imagine he will score goals in League 1.

I have said I think East would be a good option at left back if he stays.

Getting someone who can score goals at this level is so important. Experience is important for us this year so whoever WG gets will increase out average age. 

I don't think McKenna that was released by Thistle would be a bad shout. Let's just hear people's thoughts 

 

[Otis Blue]

16 hours ago, Fae_the_'briggs said:

Not sure a Queens fan can be critical of clubs having poor fan bases considering the year on year decline in our core support. I doubt if many L1 clubs Treasurers will be exactly rubbing their hands at the prospect of the vast income from our massive travelling support either. 

Well, I was trying to post from the standpoint of a non-aligned supporter (which of course I'm not as you know) and give an attempted objective view of the benefit or not to our senior game of bringing in "village" sized clubs or clubs from the cities where the football public already have their long-entrenched allegiances to the big city clubs.  I've always just had this view that the game here should have representation from the wider geographical area and also focused on the larger towns.  Granted, its a personal view and that's all it is.

You're totally correct of course in your observation that Queens fan base has declined badly over the past few seasons (due to the crap cheap as chips squads we've assembled).  That said (at the risk of going all "Falkirk" here) Dumfries is one of the larger (non-city) towns in Scotland, is the largest town in Southern Scotland (excluding Ayrshire), and has the benefit of not being crowded by other nearby large towns so we also have a decent catchment area.  It wasn't that long ago that we had over 6,000 at Palmy for a third tier end of season game to celebrate winning the league (hardly a huge crowd but decent in Scottish diddy league terms).  So I'm sure there still is potential for a decent QOS side - the trick is putting a team on the park that is worth watching, and the fans will follow.  Simples, eh?

Edited May 15, 2022 by Otis Blue

[Greenacres]

13 hours ago, Manwithnoball said:

What kind of players is everyone hoping WG signs.

We have Cowie, McKay, Todd, Gibson, Cochrane, McGrory, Mckechnie and Paton. 

Still waiting to hear about Connelly, Fitzpatrick and East wether they are staying or leaving. 

Muirhead was mentioned but he is reported to be Thistle bound. Moxon from Annan going down south. 

Gavin Reilly meant to be a target and would imagine he will score goals in League 1.

I have said I think East would be a good option at left back if he stays.

Getting someone who can score goals at this level is so important. Experience is important for us this year so whoever WG gets will increase out average age. 

I don't think McKenna that was released by Thistle would be a bad shout. Let's just hear people's thoughts 

 

Cooper offered a deal as well  suppose WG will have to wait to see if any of the 4 offered deals will be back .

Gavin Reilly has to be at the top of WG list but will be difficult to get as other clubs will be  interested .

Muirhead would have been perfect for us a aggressive centre half but he looks like he is going to Partick .

Fleming at Annan he  will want to stay part time but surely we could work something out .

Try and persuade Moxon at Annan to sign again that will be difficult as he will have a few offers .

Hopefully WG can get his squad signed get players he wants   not go down the route of gambling on trialists in the hope he finds a decent player 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Greenacres

[Otis Blue]

13 hours ago, Manwithnoball said:

What kind of players is everyone hoping WG signs.

We have Cowie, McKay, Todd, Gibson, Cochrane, McGrory, Mckechnie and Paton. 

Still waiting to hear about Connelly, Fitzpatrick and East wether they are staying or leaving. 

Muirhead was mentioned but he is reported to be Thistle bound. Moxon from Annan going down south. 

Gavin Reilly meant to be a target and would imagine he will score goals in League 1.

I have said I think East would be a good option at left back if he stays.

Getting someone who can score goals at this level is so important. Experience is important for us this year so whoever WG gets will increase out average age. 

I don't think McKenna that was released by Thistle would be a bad shout. Let's just hear people's thoughts 

 

I liked the look of Innes Murray playing for Edinburgh City the other night, attacking midfielder, direct, pacy with loads of energy - albeit he is still a Hibby and so a loan might be the only option there if available.

[Monkey Tennis]

2 hours ago, Otis Blue said:

It wasn't that long ago that we had over 6,000 at Palmy for a third tier end of season game to celebrate winning the league (hardly a huge crowd but decent in Scottish diddy league terms).  So I'm sure there still is potential for a decent QOS side - the trick is putting a team on the park that is worth watching, and the fans will follow.  Simples, eh?

That crowd turned out 20 years ago.

11 years later, in an equivalent game, when we had a very attractive, all conquering side, we got just over 3,000, despite the fact that in the meantime we'd twice taken inexplicable numbers to Hampden.

A better side would obviously help, but I think there are more fundamental shifts in play too.  The fact is that even in Dumfries, being a Queens fan is regarded as bordering on the eccentric.

[ALOREBURNE]

On 09/04/2022 at 09:15, cb_diamond said:

Remember at the start of the season when we tried to warn you that Ally Roy was a diddy and worse than a man down at times? Then he had his one storming league cup game per season (against us ironically) and the Queen's fans were all "haha GIRFUY Airdrie fans", "Ally's the boy" etc etc. Well...

Karma for you in particular @ALOREBURNE

 

[cb_diamond]

7 minutes ago, ALOREBURNE said:

 

See you in the midtable scrap next season

[Otis Blue]

4 hours ago, Monkey Tennis said:

That crowd turned out 20 years ago.

11 years later, in an equivalent game, when we had a very attractive, all conquering side, we got just over 3,000, despite the fact that in the meantime we'd twice taken inexplicable numbers to Hampden.

A better side would obviously help, but I think there are more fundamental shifts in play too.  The fact is that even in Dumfries, being a Queens fan is regarded as bordering on the eccentric.

Yes, that was indeed a crowd that came out to witness a league championship, so somewhat unique and perhaps not the best example.  But the point stands that there is a potential for a respectably supported club in Dumfries compared to what the "village" sides could add.  I've never understood why Dumfries can't replicate what has been done by the likes of Inverness, Livingston, Hamilton, Kirkaldy or even Ayr (albeit in many years gone by) - I won't include Dingwall because of the obvious moneybags factor.  It would be a breath of fresh air to the game here.  Of course the creation of the top league cartel drastically reduces the possibility nowadays.

[Otis Blue]

So L1 next season is now confirmed as:

Falkirk (FT) - joint title favourites?

Dunfermline (FT) - joint title favourites?

QOS (FT)

Airdrie (Hybrid FT/PT)

Kelty Hearts (£££ - so maybe Hybrid FT/PT?)

Edinburgh City (do they have a rich sugar daddy backer?  Not sure)

Montrose (PT)

Peterhead (PT)

Alloa (PT)

Clyde (PT)

Never been to Kelty (obviously), never been to Peterhead's ground (but used to work up there in the 80s), think EC are returning to Meadowbank (seen Queens there in the cup a few years back - think Meadowbank is gaining a new stand) and haven't been to Montrose since the 70s. So room for some fresh exploring, bit of a change of scenery and all that.

Hopefully we can assemble a squad capable of troubling the right end of the table next season for a change - we should have some idea by July.

[Monkey Tennis]

32 minutes ago, Otis Blue said:

Yes, that was indeed a crowd that came out to witness a league championship, so somewhat unique and perhaps not the best example.  

Both games were.  

When playing Morton in 2002, we had already clinched the title, but were getting presented with the trophy.

In playing East Fife in 2013, the circumstances were the same, but the crowd was half the size.

 

Now you could argue that the first carried more novelty value, but a decline in interest was clearly in evidence.

Even when we played Rangers in a Premier League play-off 2 years later, the turnout of home fans was not huge.

The poor stuff we've watched in recent seasons is obviously a factor in declining gates.  All I'm saying is that it appears not to be the only one.

[Slipmat]

57 minutes ago, Otis Blue said:

So L1 next season is now confirmed as:

Falkirk (FT) - joint title favourites?

Dunfermline (FT) - joint title favourites?

QOS (FT)

Airdrie (Hybrid FT/PT)

Kelty Hearts (£££ - so maybe Hybrid FT/PT?)

Edinburgh City (do they have a rich sugar daddy backer?  Not sure)

Montrose (PT)

Peterhead (PT)

Alloa (PT)

Clyde (PT)

Never been to Kelty (obviously), never been to Peterhead's ground (but used to work up there in the 80s), think EC are returning to Meadowbank (seen Queens there in the cup a few years back - think Meadowbank is gaining a new stand) and haven't been to Montrose since the 70s. So room for some fresh exploring, bit of a change of scenery and all that.

Hopefully we can assemble a squad capable of troubling the right end of the table next season for a change - we should have some idea by July.

The farcical nature of the play-offs has reared it's ugly head again as a team that finished 21 points behind the second placed club gets promoted.  Maybe we only need to assemble a squad that is capable of winning less than one in three league games and finishing fourth and we're looking at a possible immediate return to the Championship 

[19QOS19]

Probably better that QP went up ahead of Airdrie really. I mean QP are filled with complete jobbers but they have the money to improve. I think Airdrie will be less likely to do that. It'll certainly be a tricky division next season and I'll be delighted with a play-off spot.

[Kunter]

22 hours ago, Manwithnoball said:

What kind of players is everyone hoping WG signs.

We have Cowie, McKay, Todd, Gibson, Cochrane, McGrory, Mckechnie and Paton. 

Still waiting to hear about Connelly, Fitzpatrick and East wether they are staying or leaving. 

Muirhead was mentioned but he is reported to be Thistle bound. Moxon from Annan going down south. 

Gavin Reilly meant to be a target and would imagine he will score goals in League 1.

I have said I think East would be a good option at left back if he stays.

Getting someone who can score goals at this level is so important. Experience is important for us this year so whoever WG gets will increase out average age. 

I don't think McKenna that was released by Thistle would be a bad shout. Let's just hear people's thoughts 

 

 

Imo we have to assemble a championship level of quality squad. 

Vital it has experience in there. 

Can't afford to be signing "oh he looks good" from Annan types. We need proven not potential. 

We'll be doing seriously well to get out of this division at the first time of asking. obviously not assembled a squad yet but roughly guessing how many teams from that list could we expect to beat. Literally two. 

[queenslad]

51 minutes ago, Kunter said:

 

 

We'll be doing seriously well to get out of this division at the first time of asking. obviously not assembled a squad yet but roughly guessing how many teams from that list could we expect to beat. Literally two. 

What makes you think it will get any easir 2 or 3 years down the line. There may be more Bonneyrigg Rose as well as potentially Mortons/Ayr of this world coming down

[Manwithnoball]

O'Connor released by Motherwell I think him and McKay would be a good pairing but imagine he will get championship offers