Allan Ball has played more games for Queen of the South than any other player in the club's history. In a career at Queens lasting from the early 60s to the early 80s, Ball played in goals for Queens’ first team on 819 occasions (731 games were league and cup, the rest were challenge games and testimonials). As well as being a key member of the promotion-winning team of 1981, Ball also enjoyed many great personal moments in a career with Queens that continued well beyond the day he hung up his gloves.

(Allan Ball at his second testimonial game. Back row - Muir, Cloy, McMinn, Davidson, Cochrane, Parker, Hamilton, G Robertson.

Front row - Cooper [Rangers], MacKay [Hearts], Alexander [St Mirren], McGrain [Celtic], Clark, McChesney.)

Allan Ball contributed to this article with an interview in December 2008.

Early years

Allan Ball is from Hetton-le-hole in County Durham, a place described simply by Ball as, “A mining village”. His life in football didn’t start as a goalkeeper. As Ball says himself:-

“I started out as an inside forward, playing at school and gaining representative honours. I actually went in goal when Jimmy Montgomery who played for Sunderland got hurt and I went and played in goal instead of him. When I went back to school they said, ‘Well that’s where you are playing from now on’. I was signed with Burnley at the time as an inside forward as a school boy, but, I’ve never regretted it, it was a tremendous transformation. Jimmy didn’t get back in the team after that but to be fair his arm was injured so I suppose if he had been fit it would never have happened, so he did me a good turn”.

Jimmy Montgomery went on to give a memorable performance in keeping out Don Revie’s Leeds when Sunderland won the 1973 FA Cup final. Ball recalled of the others he played with as a County Durham schoolboy:-

“Ralphy Coates went and played for Tottenham and England. Ralphy and I went to school together. There was a lad called John Sproates who played for Sunderland as well. A lot of players that were fantastic at 15 year old, they disappeared. There’s only 1 or 2 out of the team that continued to play. They were all signed by league teams but there’s not a lot made the grade unfortunately.

On himself, Ball articulated the next step in his career.

“I was playing at Blackpool at the time as a boy. I was offered a contract there. When the contract came to fruition it wasn’t what they said it was so I actually walked away from Blackpool. They said I couldn’t play for another English team because they held my registration.”

“Queen of the South came in and I didn’t even know where they were, I didn’t even know where Queen of the South was. I signed for them when I was still working at the pit. I was electrician to trade but we were working on the coal face because we had to maintain the machinery. It was hard work. Now you hear about footballers being tired; I used to work a shift, not just myself, a lot more players, started at 11 o’clock at night and finish at 7 o’clock in the morning, go to bed for a few hours and go then go and play football. Never once did I feel tired, you only get out of it what you put in to it.”

Queen of the South

“Willie Harkness and his brother Sam and a scout called John Carruthers from Carlisle [the place, not the team] signed me at the Pit Head at 2 o’clock in the morning. I was working at the pit and they came and they signed me in the canteen over a roll.”

Joining in season 1963/64, Ball’s first manager at Queens was ex Scotland international George Farm, a player for who Ball clearly had a great deal of respect.

“Player, manager and goalkeeper, I liked Mr Farm as I used to call him but I’ll never forget the day I met him. He met me at the railway station when I got off the train and we were walking down towards the Cairndale. He said, ‘Well I hear you’re a good goalkeeper but let me just tell you right now; I’m the number one keeper here and that’s the way I intend keeping it’. I played on the Saturday and we got beat 6-3 but believe it or not with that score-line I played well.” Ball then joked briefly, “You try and tell that to anybody who let six goals in”. Ball then gave more detail on the circumstances of his debut. “I played ever since. They day I arrived I played against Falkirk. He left himself out or whether he was told to leave himself out I don’t know. He was good to me, he was just a one off, George Farm. You either liked him or you hated him, I liked him because he talked to me a lot, told me a lot and I think I learned a few things from him.”

If the result on Ball’s debut wasn’t what he had hoped for, his second game was the small matter of an away league match against Celtic. Welcome to the Jungle.

“I’d never been to Glasgow in my life. I phoned the secretary when I got the telegram on the Monday that said report to Parkhead. I didn’t even know how to get to Parkhead. Anyway he told me what to do, I got off the train at Glasgow, I gets into a taxi. The taxi driver said, ‘Where are you going?’ I said ‘Parkhead’. He thumped the brakes on and he said, ‘What are you doing at Parkhead? What are you going to Parkhead for?’ I said, ‘I’m going to play football for Queen of the South.’ He said, ‘Oh, are you this English keeper they’ve signed?’ I said, ‘That’s right’. I then said, ‘Will you pick me up after the game?’ He said, ‘Oh, it depends, it depends’. I said, “What do you mean it depends?’ He said, ‘If you win, we’ll be there.’”

Ball’s memories of events on the pitch in that game:-

“Under pressure all the time, but I enjoyed it. When you are playing against good teams and you are under pressure then the goalie should have the opportunity to shine. I enjoyed playing against big teams. The fans were good to me, if you played well they applauded you and if you made boobs, they let you know about it. I can’t understand people playing in front of big crowds and they can’t enjoy themselves. I’ve been in dressing rooms and some of the players are freezing before they went out, actually froze. I used to love it, the bigger the crowd the better it was.”

Welcome to the Jungle? No. Paradise City? Yes. Rocket Queens.

“We won. And of course I had been telling everybody in the dressing room about this taxi driver. They all said, ‘The driver would be a Rangers fan and that’s why he’ll be picking you up’. And within 10 minutes of the game finishing he was there knocking on the dressing room door for me. I hadn’t a clue then what it was all about, you know, Rangers Celtic.”

From the team that Ball played beside in Scotland’s top division he mentioned Ernie Hannigan (“Fantastic player”) and said of the team in general, “Queen of the South had a good team considering we were part timers. But unfortunately we weren’t good enough and we went down at the end of the season to the old second division.”

Queens challenged for promotion in the first two seasons outside the top flight, missing out on promotion by one place each time, finishing third. Ball remembered, philosophically and candidly, “We lost games that we should never have lost and we won games we should never have won. Unfortunately for us we were just pipped both times. We had been promised that if we got back into the big league we would go full time. This was obviously my ambition and a lot more of the players but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. We were unlucky if you want to put it that way but at the same time if you don’t score goals, you don’t win games. Simple as that”

Ball remembered his team mates from the sixties with affection. “Billy Collings, my best mate to this day, Bill was a different class. He was a great old style right half if you want to call it that. He had a lot of brains and a lot of flair, he was a fantastic player. Arnold Coates, a centre forward from the North East of England, he was another good player. The Law brothers, Jackie and Lex who came a couple of years later, and Iain McChesney. But the best of the lot was a lad called Michael Barker, a full back, another from the North East of England. He was different class, a fantastic player. Michael unfortunately broke his leg twice. He was one of these players who played better if he’d had a pint the night before, he would tell you this, he was a typical North East miner. He just loved his football and he was a natural player. But, unfortunately for Michael, he broke his leg twice.”

In 1969/70 Ball was part of a Queens side that narrowly missed out on promotion again with another third place finish. Ball commented on player turn over, again with happy memories. “In the early 70s, there was practically a complete turnaround, but they were all good teams. Somebody said to me about 4 or 5 weeks ago, ‘Pick a team, and I’ll let you pick yourself, from the 44 years you’ve been connected with the club and see what your best team is’. I picked 16 players and the only player from the last 20 years that was in the team was Andy Thomson. We had some fantastic players; Tommy O’Hara, Mike Jackson, George Dickson, Jimmy Robertson, Ian Reid, Peter Dickson, these were all fantastic players.”

Three of Ball’s most memorable performances came in cup games in season 1975/76. First was a League Cup quarter final game against Rangers with the first leg at Ibrox:-

“That was one of the highlights of my career. I played really, really well that night, but again we were under a lot pressure, so again the keeper does have the opportunity to shine if he can control his nerves. I was lucky, as soon as I touched the first ball, if I got it clean, I was OK, I didn’t have a problem. We were robbed that night for all we got beaten 1 – 0. We had a glaring penalty, I always remember Alex Miller pulled down Lex Law. It was a certain penalty, but the referee waved play on and they beat us 1 – 0. We played the 2nd leg a week later, two weeks later or whatever and it was a horrible, horrible night. We actually beat them 2-1 on the 90 minutes. We were the first team to beat them that season over 90 minutes. Unfortunately in extra time, wee Alex MacDonald - I won’t tell you what I called him - scored the winning goal. It didn’t even touch the back of the net, it just trundled over the line. It was a horrible, horrible night, conditions were heavy, it probably suited us. We had a lad then called Tommy Bryce, not the Tommy Bryce [Mk II], Tommy Bryce Mk I, left sided player, as hard as nails. He was crunching them, I don’t think Rangers’ players had ever seen anything like this fella, a good lad and a good player. I had the pleasure of his company eight weeks ago and he was also at the cup final. But the 70s game is a game we should have won really, but it was not to be.”

There was also the Scottish Cup tie against Ayr United:-

“I’ll never forget it; I played that first game up at Ayr. We were 2 – 0 down and I got an injury. I just thought it was a wee ankle strain. At half time we went off and Jimmy Anderson, the trainer, was taking my boot off to have a look at the ankle. The chairman was there and he said to the trainer, ‘What are you doing?’ and the trainer said, ‘I’m taking his boot off to take a look’. The chairman said, ‘Don’t take his boot off or you’ll not get it back on. He’ll not be able to go back out’. The doctor looked at it and he says, ‘I think it’s broken’. I said to them, ‘Just strap it up, just strap it up’, so they strapped it up. I got some pain killers and it was fine for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, then it started to wear off and I was hobbling about. We equalised, 2-2, then they got a penalty with eight minutes to go. I always remember Johnny Graham took the kick. Hobbling about, I could only go one way. I went to go left as if I was going to go that way and then I went right. It made it look a fantastic save, but I could only go right. Their player should have been flogged because if he put it left I just couldn’t put any weight on it. So we drew 2-2 and the replay we won 5-4. I was sitting in the dug-out with crutches. The game was the best I’ve ever watched except the Aberdeen semi final. 5-4 and we were never in front until we scored the winning goal, Peter Dickson, fantastic. Nine goals, end to end stuff, it was a fantastic game. People always talk about it at dinners, it was a fantastic occasion.

Ball then gave his memories of the promotion season in 1980-81 when Queens were promoted into the middle of Scotland’s then three leagues:-

“That was drawing near to the end of my career. I was 39 then. I felt we were the best team in the league and I couldn’t see us not getting promoted. It was tight but eventually we secured promotion, it was a lovely feeling, it was really the first thing we’d won in my time. I played in a few reserve games where we won this and won that, the Wigtownshire Cup and all that but really, really, I was chuffed to bits with the promotion because I thought at least I’m going to go out with something. Jimmy Robertson, he was a fair player, they were all fairly good players, but Jimmy Robertson I think is probably one of the best left wingers we’ve had. I really rated him, fantastic player. Ches [Iain McChesney] to me is an unsung hero at Queen of the South. He played in every position apart from goalkeeper and if the manager had picked him to play in goal he would have played in goal, a fantastic lad. He’s still connected with the club, he goes and watches the team we’re playing the next week, he does all the analysis. A great, great Queens man. Ches looks as fit now at the ripe age of 63, 64, as he did back then. He still works, he still climbs up the floodlights and does them [McChesney as an electrician is employed to do so]. A fantastic club man, I don’t think there’s been any better.”

McChesney similarly holds in his ex-teammate in high regard. “Bally, one of the best keepers ever, one of the best keepers we ever had. The only thing was he always wanted to play outfield, he started off he played outfield”, laughed McChesney as he relayed the episode in Ball’s teens listed above that led to Ball becoming a goallie. McChesney then continued, “His handling was good, he was a good shot stopper, he had loads of confidence, that was the thing, plus he was good at communicating with his back four.”

During his career Allan Ball picked up a solitary booking when he was cautioned by referee Tiny Wharton for incredulously of all reasons - blaspheming in a game at Christmas.

Ball was awarded 2 testimonials in recognition of his long service to Queens:-

“The first one was against Carlisle, it was great, I thought thanks very much to the club. I’d never have thought for one moment I’d still be playing another 10 years later. Then for the second one, it was against Man City. It was originally going to be Celtic. Billy McNeil and I are very good friends, we spoke and he said he’d bring a Celtic team down but he moved to Man City. I spoke to him and he said, ‘As soon as the fixtures come out and we play Newcastle on the Saturday, we’ll come up and stay the Saturday night and play the testimonial on the Sunday’, and it happened in the September. It was a fantastic occasion but it was a hell of a day for me to cope with because it was really the end for me."

"The first half I played in it, I knew it was the end - the balls were flying like bullets and the reactions just weren’t there. It was a fantastic feeling though, there were some great players there. Danny McGrain who is still a good friend, and the Tin Man. Danny McGrain made Ted McMinn that day, telling him what to do. And a few weeks later Ted signed for Rangers and went on to do very, very well.” Others guesting for Queens that day were Davie Cooper of Rangers, Gary Mackay of Hearts and Ball’s ex Queens team mate Rowan Alexander, then of Morton."

Later playing career

I went down to Gretna. I was actually going to sign for Bishop Auckland in the Northern League, one of my first teams 20 odd years before that. I actually went down and played for Bishop in a pre season friendly against Gretna. I basically agreed I would sign for Bishop. The next morning the phone rings and it was the chairman of Gretna, Keith Rhodes, who I’d never heard of. He said, ‘Can we come and speak to you?’ I said out of courtesy, ‘Yeah but I’ve got a contract in my pocket to sign.’ Anyway, he came over and he just blew me away. At my age 40, coming 41 they offered me a fantastic deal and it was handier for home and I signed for them.

The second game of the season was Bishop Auckland away and we beat them 1-0, again under pressure. I had a good game and I was quite chuffed. My family wasn’t too keen because they would have seen me more if I was down there playing for Bishop, I would have been down there practically every second week but I never regret going to Gretna, it was a good little club. I was there a season and a half. I always said I would pack in football when I didn’t enjoy training.

The Northern League was a lot harder than the Scottish League for rough and tumble. I was getting knocks on the Saturday and it was taking me to Thursday to recover, I was 42. I remember coming in saying to the wife one night, ‘Been down at Gretna for training and I’d done very little cause the thighs were sore, everything was sore, getting treatment. I’m going to pack in because I said when I don’t enjoy training I would give it up and right now I can’t train.’ I’d gone 4 weeks and played, but basically never trained. As a goalkeeper I wasn’t even getting 20 minutes non-stop training work because I couldn’t cope with it. I said to Gordon the manager, ‘Try and get another keeper’. He said, ‘Ah, you’re doing great’. I said, ‘I’m not doing myself any justice, I can hardly walk on Sundays, this, that and the other’. I played for another four or five games until they got somebody else. I played a couple of times more for them later when they had problems. At the finish up I played for Dalbeattie Star for two or three games when I helped out Dick Shaw, and that was it.”

Ball’s passion for football as well as his humour came through in his next comments:-

“I still miss it. I still sit in the stand thinking I’m the best goalkeeper. In fact I’m the best centre forward. It never dies away from you. I still think I can play but at 65 it’s not the case now.

Honorary director

On 11th December 2001 Ronnie Bradford and his board announced the following:-

"Last night Queen of the South created a new position when former goalkeeper Allan Ball was made Honorary Director”.

Ball said:-

“That was a very proud day for me. Queen of the South has been my life. I’ve probably thought more of Queen of the South at times than I should have done. When I’ve put Queen of the South first, my wife has backed me 100%. It was a fantastic feeling and I loved it and I still love it. I do whatever they ask me to do within reason. I was chuffed to bits to be honest, chuffed to bits.”

With his new role at Queens, Ball has been able to enjoy more great days with the club:-

“I remember going to Forfar for the winning game of the Second Division in 2002, that was fantastic, that was a highlight of my whole time with Queens, watching them win the division, something I never achieved, even though I played in the ’81 promotion team. It was nice to get back up a division. And the Challenge Cup Final [in Autumn of the same calendar year].

“Then of course the last eight months, nine months. When we played Dundee in the quarter final of the Cup at Palmerston, a full house, and beat them 2-0. I thought that’s it, we won’t repeat that. Then we were drawn against Aberdeen in the semi final at Hampden. The town was going mental. We went up there, we sold out 9500 tickets, and of course the result, winning 4-3, I’ll be honest with you, I thought I was having a heart attack when the assistant put up 4 minutes injury time, I thought I can’t believe this, but we went on to win 4-3.

That was really every body thinking that was our cup final. Playing Rangers in the final, to be fair I don’t think we turned up in the first half. Rangers were complaining about playing too many games, we hadn’t played for four weeks and I think we lacked a little bit. But when we come out in the second half, and 15 minutes later 2-2, I thought we were going to go on and win, I really did.

I spoke with Walter Smith after the game and he said, ‘The last thing I said to my players at half time, “go out, weather the storm for the first 15 or 20 minutes because they’ll come at you, and you’ll go on and win by 5 or 6.“’ He then said to me, ‘At 2-2 I really thought that we would get beat, you deserved something out of the game. Our supporters, Rangers supporters, applauded you throughout the game and at the end of the game and you don’t often see that. Fantastic. As a Queen of the South man you should be proud of yourself’, which I am”.

“My wife and I went to Denmark. It’ll be a common affair for some clubs, but to us, and to take 900 people there, supporters, and not one ounce of bother, the police there thought it was fantastic. We were all based in a pub called the Dubliner, I was there, ‘PRing’ if you want to put it that way, the police would appear, [there was] no bother, and it was great. We lost our chance up at Airdrie in the first game when we got beat 2-1. But we scored in the first few minutes over in Denmark, we could have been three up at half time. We only got beat 2-1 because in the last 15 minutes we had to go for it. We could have won 1-0 but it wouldn’t have meant anything, we still would have been out. They got 2 goals when we had to throw everything into attack. But it was a fantastic occasion; it must be a lovely, lovely feeling to look forward to something like that again.”

Going back to the conversion from inside forward to goalie, Ball remarked, “I never regretted it. It’s coming up to 45 years to be connected with the club, I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.”

Kirk McLean

 

Jimmy Binning (born July 25, 1927) was a left back who played 288 games for Queen of the South. As well being capped by the Scottish League, Binning is the only Queens player to be selected for the finals squad of a major international football tournament while still at Palmerston.

From season 1948-49 until his departure Jimmy Binning scored six goals in his 84 league games for Arbroath. He was remembered by future QoS team mate, Bobby Black:-

"I remember him in the days he played for Arbroath  because I used to play for East Fife in those days. He was a good player, I played directly against him then."

In 1951 Binning was a close season signing for newly re-promoted Queen of the South. Binning debuted impressively in the pre season St Mungo Cup 3-0 win over East Fife. All of the most notable results in Queens’ 10^th placed first season return to the top flight were at home; Draws against Rangers (2-2) and Hearts (1-1), the 4-0 win against Celtic but the best by a mile was the 5-2 triumph against the Hibs side that motored on to their third title in five years.

The next season (1952-53), Queens signed Bobby Black who said this of Binning:-

"He was a star man, Jimmy Binning. Jimmy was a quiet man. But on the park he could make some amazing sort of… He’s a bit like some of these modern left backs now who resort to run down the wing, don’t they. He was capable of doing that, he used to bring the ball from his own half into the opposing half."

Black added, "He seemed to develop, he seemed to pick and chose the times to do it. I can never remember him leaving the team in trouble. I think there was an understanding developed between him and the rest of the defence that when he set off on one of his forays they covered it. He was a good player He was one of the most difficult backs to play against at that particular time. He got a Scottish League cap so he couldn’t have been a mug."

That season Queens again finished tenth, again picking up some notable results along the way. 3 points out of four were taken from Celtic, Hearts were beaten 4-2 and Aberdeen 4-0. Queens had an impact on the destiny of the two horse championship race. Queens had taken 2 points out of four from reigning champions Hibs with a 3-1 win. Rangers had beaten Queens at Ibrox earlier in the season and travelled to Palmerston for the last game of the season, a fixture re-arranged to May 7^th that had become the championship decider. Queens were ahead until Rangers equalised 17 minutes from time giving them a finish equal with Hibs on 43 points. As with Hearts in 1965, the stronger-in-attack Edinburgh side lost out on goal average (goal average as a tie breaker favoured defensively stronger teams). The 1965 title race led bitterly disappointed Hearts to drive strongly the rule change for goal difference to be the decider in the event of a level-on-points finish. With massive irony in Hearts strongest league campaign since (1985-86), if the goal average tie break rule had remained then Hearts would have been champions. As it was two goals by Albert Kidd conceded with seven minutes of the season to go cost Hearts the title on goal difference.

And so to 1953-54, a World Cup season. The first half of the season saw the best start to a league campaign in Queens’ history. After four games Queens were not only league leaders, they were the only team with a 100% record. Hearts had been despatched 4-1 at Tynecastle and Partick Thistle 2-1 at Firhill. At home Stirling and St Mirren had each also been sworded to the tune of 4 goals, with only 1 Stirling goal in reply. After 9 games Queens were 4 points ahead of the pack on 15 points with 26 goals scored. Hibs had been beaten 3-2, Celtic 2-1 and in a defence-terrifying display of biblical proportions against Raith, rocket Queens scored 5 and hit the woodwork the same number of times. Rovers notched one goal in reply. On December 12^th it was the turn of reigning champions Rangers to visit the upstarts from the South.

It was 0-0 at half time. Early in the second half Jackie Brown had a header cleared away by George Young with Bobby Brown beaten in the Rangers goal. However Jackie Brown was not to be denied and four minutes after the restart he had Queens ahead. A minute later, Rangers equalised through future Scotland manager Ian McColl. In the 58th minute Jackie Brown capitalised on a defensive mistake from Willie Woodburn to round the keeper and slot home. Final score, 2-1 to Queens.

Fifteen games played, 22 points on the board, three ahead of second placed Hearts. For the only time in history when Santa was on his annual round and knocking back the sherries, he was able to toast Queen of the South as leaders of the Scottish football league pyramid.

It was great while it lasted, but Hearts soon overhauled the Doonhamers as Queens’ league form fell away.

Queens played East Fife in the Scottish Cup in January. Despite the Methil men’s impressive cup pedigree of the time, Queens notched an excellent 3-0 win against that season’s League Cup winners. Forfar were despatched by the same score line bringing the next round visit of high flying Hearts.

In a game of plenty of action Queens were very much on top in the first half but failed to fully capitalise on the many chances created. Queens scored with Jimmy Greenock dispossessing Jimmy Wardhaugh. Bobby Black and Jackie Brown were then involved in the build up before Wattie Rothera howitzered in a 12 yarder that only ever had one outcome. It stayed 1-0 to QoS at half time. Hearts’ John Cumming shot against Roy Henderson’s cross bar in 57 minutes. In 61 minutes Hearts equalised with Wardhaugh’s header atoning for his earlier error. A minute later Hearts hit the bar again this time from ex Hibs’ Jim Souness. Hearts took the lead in the 79^th minute with Willie Bauld setting up Wardhaugh again. Jackie Oakes then hit the bar for Queens but Hearts went through 2-1.

Queens eventually finished the league in 10^th place for the third straight season. In a tight finish to the middle section of the league table, Queens were only 2 points behind fourth placed Rangers and only one further behind third placed Partick Thistle.

Queens’ first half of the season form had been eye catching. However in terms of player world cup selection it was the half furthest from the World Cup. Of the 6 players of the Queens early 50s to attract the attention of international selectors Billy Houliston had retired. Dougie Sharpe, Bobby Black and Jim Patterson all represented Scotland once each below full international level. However the player who could have felt genuinely aggrieved at his omission from the 1954 Scotland World Cup squad was Roy Henderson.

Two years has passed since the last of the 25 caps of Jimmy Cowan, the most capped Scottish keeper of his generation. Cowan’s spot in the international side went to the reliable and commanding George Farm. However Farm’s international career was put on hold in April ‘54 after the first game of new manager Andy Beattie. Tommy Younger of Hibs and Liverpool didn’t break through as Scotland goalie until season 1955/56. Rangers offered no keeper for the squad as they declared all their players unavailable due to a club tour to North America. Similarly Hearts were on tour in South Africa.

Scotland selected two keepers for the three pre-finals warm up games who both like Henderson were uncapped at the time. Aberdeen’s Fred Martin played in the home and away games against Norway. In a trip to the far side of the Baltic, John Anderson of English Division 2 champions Leicester City earned his only cap against Finland. Martin and Anderson were selected as the goalies for the 22 man finals squad. Martin is fondly remembered at Aberdeen for the fine club performances he put in there. It didn’t work out for him like that playing for Scotland. Martin played in the finals and was adjudged to have been at fault for three of Uruguay’s seven goals. Earning six caps in all, Martin also conceded seven for Scotland against England.

Thus the Queens player to receive the greatest recognition that season was Jimmy Binning. Binning was was given a Scottish League cap on 28th April 1954 against the English League at Stamford Bridge. Binning was then selected shorlty after for the 22 man squad for the 1954 FIFA World Cup. However he was among those denied a trip to the finals by one of the most gargantuan pieces of baffling blundering buffoonery in Scottish Football history - the Scottish Football Association only taking 13 players to the finals in Switzerland. Binning was one of the players who stayed at home on reserve.

Binning’s fellow selected compatriots makes interesting reading.

Celtic over took Hearts in the run in to lift the 1954 title. Adding the Scottish Cup to their season’s trophy haul, the double winners provided three players of the 22 in Bobby Evans, Neil Mochan and Willie Fernie (all three travelled, Evans was one of two players who travelled to Switzerland who did not play).

With their ‘terrible trio’ strike force (Willie Bauld, Alfie Conn and Jimmy Wardhaugh) Hearts were a match for anyone throughout the 50s never finishing outside the top four. The establishment of Dave Mackay (half Zidane, half The Terminator) in the side in 1954/55 catalysed the side into trophy winners (seven in nine seasons including 2 league titles, one title that included a scorching 132 goals). Hearts’ tour to South Africa didn’t help the Scotland cause – no Hearts players were available for the World Cup squad.

Third placed Partick Thistle did not finish outside Scotland’s top 9 in the 1950s. 1954’s third place equals their best ever finishes (1948 and 1963). Also that season’s League Cup runners up, The Jags contributed three players – Jimmy Davidson, John MacKenzie and non traveller Davie Mathers. Another Glasgow side, Fourth placed Rangers supplied no players but if available George Young would have been a certainty to travel as captain (a true giant of the Scottish game, of his 53 caps Young was captain in all but the first five). However, the history books clearly state that Queen of the South provided more players in 1954 for the Scotland 22 man World Cup squad than Rangers and Hearts combined.

Fifth placed Hibs were one of four teams to equal Rangers on 34 points. Of their ‘famous five’ internationalist forward line Willie Ormond and Bobby Johnstone were selected to travel but Johnstone was denied by injury from a warm up match at Ayr. Lawrie Reilly (only Hughie Gallacher has a more prolific Scotland goal scoring record than Reilly) missed out through long term illness (pleurisy). The remarkable Gordon Smith (Smith won Scottish Championships with three clubs - all non ‘old firm’; Hibs, Hearts and Dundee) missed out through a long term injury. Eddie Turnbull had been overlooked for over three years after a disagreement with an international selector. Hibs half back Bobby Combe was also selected in ‘54 as a non traveller.

6^th placed East Fife provided no players for the finals despite having been a solid source of internationalists in the post war decade. One of their ex players, Allan Brown of Blackpool did play in Switzerland. The successful Blackpool side of the era contained three other Scottish internationals. The 1954 and 1958 finals both passed before George Farm regained his international place. Jackie Mudie’s international debut did not arrive until 1956 (Mudie played in the finals in 1958 and in total scored nine goals in 17 Scotland internationals). Hugh Kelly gained a solitary cap in 1952.

1954 Scottish Cup runners up were Aberdeen (they had beaten Rangers by a jaw dropping 6-0 in the semi final). League champions the season after, Aberdeen, provided 2 players. They were Fred Martin and ex Queens George Hamilton. Like Martin, Hamilton travelled to witness the appallingly prepared Scottish venture first hand. Further info on the 1954 Scotland world cup expedition is contained in the ‘Queen’s Legends’ article on George Hamilton.

Raith Rovers were ever present in the top flight in the 50s, their finest decade. They provided one player for the 22 in Ernie Copland, another non traveller. With Binning, Copland was the only other in the squad who never gained a full international cap. Another Raith player, Willie McNaught from Dumfries, was out of favour internationally at the time of the finals. McNaught is one of three players from Dumfries to represent Scotland at left back (the others are Bobby Ancell of Newcastle United in the late 1930s and Dominic Matteo of Leeds United in the early part of the current millennium). The young McNaught was spotted playing army football during the war by a Rovers official who promptly signed him. McNaught is the Raith Rovers record appearance holder with 657 games. Willie Bauld of Hearts said it was McNaught who was his most difficult opponent. Willie’s son Ken McNaught was a 1981 European Cup winner with Aston Villa. Jock Aird of Burnley was the left back who played in the ’54 finals for Scotland.

Of the other ‘anglos’ in the squad 2 were from FA Cup finalists Preston (Half back Tommy Docherty and right back Willie Cunningham) and 2 were from Portsmouth. The Portsmouth side of the time had clearly peaked with the back to back league titles of 1949 and 1950. However the South coast club finished third the season after the World Cup. Their two players for the ‘54 squad were both non-travelling; Jackie Henderson and Alex Wilson.

Jimmy Binning gave Queen of the South seven years great service. He was part of the 1955/56 campaign when Queens finished in their post war best – sixth. Details of the 1955/56 season are listed in the Queens Legends feature on Dougie Sharpe. Binning played 288 senior games for Queens - this places him 20th in the club's appearances list. This included 221 league games (scoring once) with the Doonhamers in the top tier throughout. His full back partnership with Dougie Sharpe is arguably the finest in the club’s history.

Kirk McLean

On the evening of Queen of the South’s 90th anniversary, March 21st 2009, Bobby Black from Thornhill was sitting with a small group of family and friends round a table at Palmerston Park. Bobby was approached and asked if he would be OK to give an interview for qosfc.com. Quick as a flash, one of the ladies sat with Bobby replied, “You’d better watch yourself, he swears a lot”, to a cackle of universal laughter from those round the table. As the interview progressed Bobby was approached numerous times as the clock ticked on, with reminders from friends that it was time to go. Bobby’s reaction to these reminders was repeatedly the same throughout, “I’ll only be five minutes”. As Bobby said himself early in the interview, “I thought that mid 50s team was the team that I was likely to meet today. Who turned up? Jim Patterson and myself, we apparently are the only remaining survivors of that team. I’m 82, there’s a lot of things that I know from then and I welcome this opportunity to unburden myself.” Five minutes after five minutes became an hour.

Bobby Black is the second highest goal scorer in Queens history with 120 goals from his 346 appearances. He also played for an East Fife side that at the time were a trophy winning power in Scottish football. Playing in the fine Queens team of the 50s, Black was also capped by the Scottish League. He is intelligent, articulate, eloquent, sometimes philosophical and with a streak of cheeky humour that is never far away, he’s also good fun. This is the story in his own words of the sporting career of Bobby Black.

(We three kings - On the left is Bobby Black on his return to Palmerston Park for Queens' 90th anniversary, 21st March 2009. With Black is his fellow ton up club members, Andy Thomson [centre] and Jim Patterson [right]).

Bobby Black – “I played with Queen of the South as a boy when I was 15 during the war when they were defunct. They used to occasionally raise a team and played under the Queen of the South colours and played against visiting services teams. The aerodrome at Heathhall in these days had a lot of top class international players. I did quite well for them and that’s what started me off.”

KM – “How come you ended up at East Fife rather than starting off at Queens?”

Black – “My mother liked the approach of the chairman of East Fife. John McArthur was the President of the SFA. He had this sort of Presbyterian attitude to life and my mother was a church goer and she thought, “He’s a nice man, he’ll look after my boy”. She said, “I would recommend you went to East Fife.” I played trials for Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield and what not but I was quite happy to go for East Fife. My team, Connell Park Rangers, were threatened with legal action by John McArthur, the President of the SFA as I’ve told you, that I had made the seemingly princely sum of thirty pounds for signing for East Fife, which I regretted later when I could have had £2000 for signing for Fulham.”

Bobby Black debuted for East Fife playing in the war time league scoring in a 6-1 home win against Dundee United. The date was May 12th 1945. Over the next three seasons the teenager played only occasionally for the first team while he still developed.

Black played at East Fife during undoubtedly the best decade in the club's history when teams who under-estimated them were made to suffer. One of the greatest club managers in Scottish football history, Scot Symon, landed his first managerial appointment in June 1947 at East Fife. The club was immediately transformed. As Black said himself, “There was a time when East Fife had the best winners record in the League Cup of any team in Scotland”. The Scottish League Cup was started after the Second World War. In 1954 East Fife became the first team to win the trophy three times.

The Methil side also achieved consistent high placed finishes in Scotland’s top league. They produced a conveyor belt of internationals who played for Scotland while with the club; Allan Brown (a future team mate of George Farm at Blackpool), Henry Morris, George Aitken, Davie Duncan, Charlie Fleming and Andy Matthew.

The start of Black's breakthrough to the first team came at the end of Symon's first season in charge. Black played in two league games, both in April, a 4-0 win at home against Stenhousemuir and scoring in a 4-3 win at Stirling. East Fife romped away to win the B Division title by 11 points. The Fifers were promoted to the top division of Scottish football.

East Fife finished 1948/49 in fourth place with Black a first team regular in Scotland's top tier. Black scored in a 3-2 home league win against Celtic and played in the Scottish Cup quarter final 2-0 win away against Hibs. He also played in the semi final defeat to Rangers.

Queen of the South and East Fife both made the 1950 Scottish Cup semi finals. In a semi against Partick Thistle in front of 42,000 fans, East Fife made it to the final with a 2-1 win. The opponents of the Fifers in the final at Hampden in front of over 118,000 fans were Rangers, semi final replay conquerors of Queens.

Black - “When we played in the 1950 Scottish Cup Final against Rangers, we lost the services of our regular goalkeeper, John Niven, and the services of our reserve team goalkeeper on the same Saturday, which is quite unique. We were unfortunate enough to lose both our goalkeepers. The wisdom of the selectors decided that they would play the youth team goalkeeper. He’d never played a senior game of football in his life and he got a Scottish Cup Final medal. He was no match for Rangers in those days. But I believe, and I still believe to this day that had we had our regular or even our second team goalkeeper, we would have beaten Rangers. We had already beaten them that year in the Scottish League Cup.” They had also drawn 2-2 in the league at Ibrox two weeks before the final. But against depleted East Fife goalkeeping, Rangers ran out 3-0 winners to lift the oldest trophy in world football.

Black won a League Cup medal with East Fife in that season of 1949-50. Hearts were among those taken care of in the group phase by Black’s team. When the semi final draw was made the two strongest sides in Scottish football of the era, Rangers and Hibs were drawn apart. East Fife knocked out Rangers in the 2-1 victory that Black referred to above. In the other tie Dunfermline also won 2-1 in eliminating Hibs to give the shock result of the tournament. It was to be an all Fife final. In the final there was no slip up from the Methil side in the way Hibs had banana skinned against the Pars - a 3-0 victory took the trophy to Bayview for the second time in three seasons.

In his most eye catching league result that season, Black scored as Celtic were thumped 5-1 at Bayview. Black and East Fife finished fourth in 1950 for the second year running. The season after showed how far they had come when a tenth placed finish was a disappointment (a mid season results slump was the source of the club’s woes). Black was again a first team regular throughout.

Things were very different for Black in 1951/52 – he played in only four games all season.

Black - “In these days East Fife were called the Bank of England team. There was a circular sent out by Scot Symon, who later became the manager of Rangers, he was manager of East Fife at the time, and he wrote this letter to say that we were called the Bank of England team because there were so many English teams on the track of various players. I was one of them that could have made quite a lot of money, but I got an injury that kept me out the game for a year. The club doctor confidentially advised the directors of the club that I was finished because of an injury. Nobody knew about that, Queen of the South didn’t know about that.”
 
In 78 league games for East Fife (nearly all in Scotland’s top division), Bobby Black scored 23 goals. His time in Methil hadn’t ended the way he would have liked but there was still many a happy memory stashed away. But as Black said when it was time to move on:

“I’m a Doonhamer by birth, I’ve been a Doonhamer ever since. I was only too happy to get back to Dumfries, I identified with the place. I read the local papers and I read the national papers, I’m still a Doonhamer and interested in Queen of the South.”

Still not fully recovered from the injury, “The first season I played for Queens, my form was a bit, I can only describe as ‘indifferent’,” laughed Black acknowledging that the standard of his performances weren’t what he wanted them to be before adding, “But things got better. And when they signed….”

Black continued, “I remember playing against Berwick Rangers for Queen of the South. And Walter Johnstone, the chairman of Queen of the South, he came in to the changing room to congratulate me on my, either equaliser or winning goal, I think it was the winning goal [Queens won the Scottish cup tie 3-2 on Feb 7th 1953 with a last minute winner]. At that time Billy Houliston, Queens legend, he was playing for Berwick. I was so influenced by one of the Berwick Rangers players. I said, ‘Sign that bloke that was playing, a bloke called McGill’”. Jimmy McGill signed for Queens the following September.

Black - “Without McGill I wouldn’t have been what I was. I made my name with more than assistance, we had a wonderful understanding, we could read each other’s minds. I still believe he played a major role in the success of Queen of the South at that time.”

KM – “That season Queens were top of the league at Christmas?”

Black’s reply was completely compelling to listen to, not just for what he said but also for the way he said it. For nearly all of this interview Bobby Black had the tone of someone who clearly loved life, and who always gave the impression that he would be more than happy to reflect on the humorous side of pretty much anything he’d been involved in. That wasn’t the case for the next few sentences; his voice had the tone of 100% respectful sincerity:

“That particular year, we were clear top at Christmas time. This wasn’t the Premier League, it was the old first division, it included Celtic, Rangers, Hibs and all that, and we were a top class club. At that time, I thought we were really good, I actually believed it and we actually believed it, it was just a question of going out on the park and playing as well as we could and we would win again. Unfortunately it all went…”

He continued, “I’ve got my opinion on what went wrong, it’s just my opinion. Nearly 20 years as a professional footballer. You can’t win them all, and you’re just as often wrong as you’re right. I had many happy recollections of that time. Most of the times you’ve got to depend on the press and the press’ opinion. I’ve got things in my scrap book that say, “Queen of the South don’t realise how good they are, they only need somebody to convince them that they are.” I thought that’s a real tribute, it wasn’t just one pressman that said that, there were several of them said they [i.e. QoS] just need somebody to tell them,” laughed Black now back in cheerful tone.

KM – “If I was going to put you on the spot, who do you think were the best players in that Queens team?”

Black - “That’s an extremely difficult question. I mean who could surpass Roy Henderson as a goalkeeper anywhere in Scotland? If I was to single out individuals it would be a disservice to the other players because we were a good team. The team was the thing because for some reason, and I don’t know who was responsible for putting the team together but we all got on well with each other, we all had the confidence and whatever. I mean McGill was a great player as I told you earlier on. When we signed him from Berwick Rangers, that really coincided with what they called the great team that we had. Up until then I’d been playing sort of semi injured following the transfer from East Fife. Then when they switched me to on to the wing and then introduced McGill we seemed to take off. And Wattie Rothera of course was a wonderful player and a great strategic sort of player. So we had, and it wasn’t only my opinion, it was the opinion of lots of prominent players in Scotland at the time that Queen of the South were a force to be reckoned with. As the press said, ‘This Queens team really don’t know how good they are’.”

KM - “What about another of your comrades in arms on the right hand side, Dougie Sharpe?”

“Brilliant; brilliant; brilliant;” said Black as his face was overcome with a look of complete admiration. After gathering his thoughts he then added, “Sharpe would have the ball, he was a right back, I’d be lying spare 20 yards up the wing. If you were watching say Manchester United, or any of these teams on television today, the right back would have given it to the winger. Sharpe belted it up the park to nowhere. So once I got to know him well enough I said to him, I used to play golf with him as well, ‘Why don’t you just use the side of your foot and give me possession of the ball and see what I can do with it?’ ‘If I do that’ he said, ‘Somebody called Jock Smith on the committee, he says he’ll destroy me, he told me you can’t play football in your half of the park, you can only play it in the other half of the park’. And I thought what an extraordinary attitude to take towards football, cause that isn’t the way I saw it, cause I was a ball player, and when they signed McGill we were ball players. It didn’t matter whether you got territorial advantage with a long ball or not.”

Black again – “What we tried to do, McGill and I used to try and out psyche the left side of their defence. So as the match wore on, you could maybe take them to the cleaners. But right from the start, you didn’t start that ‘cause that’s the way you got kicked off the park, and we used to work on that. It was a planned approach to the game. We’d inter pass, we would inter change positions and one thing and another. It was the sort of game I used to play with East Fife. That was completely opposite to the McKinnells coaching at Palmerston. And we found a sympathiser in Rothera who was a great player. And I think that’s because we had suddenly found we had three ‘footballers’ and I still maintain to this day you need skill but you also need the tenacity to go with it. You need the combination of the two. You can’t get by with one thing or the other, you need a combination of several qualities to make it. I mean I wasn’t a big man and I wasn’t going to try and wrestle a 16 stone left back who’d kick me off the park. So you had to try and do it some other way, I used to try and make him look a bit foolish until he lost his cool, tempt him into these rash sort of things. I think that had a lot to do with it. Or at least I’d like to claim that. Whether it was successful or not I don’t know, history will judge us. It already has. I’ve been in Bristol bowling club and guys have come in shouting, ‘Black and McGill’. ‘Where do you come from?’ ‘We come from Lochmaben.’ It’s quite gratifying still to be remembered.”

Black - “I do feel a bit sorry for a guy that we had in that particular year. He’s never mentioned in despatches anywhere. He played in all the games that Queens played that year. I feel that nobody has ever remembered the important part that Jackie Brown played in the success of that team, because he was another ‘footballer’. I just feel a bit sorry that Jackie Brown was never mentioned in the same way that McGill, Rothera and I have been mentioned. Brown was the most under rated player that Queens ever had in my opinion.”

And the primary beneficiary of the service from Black, McGill, Rothera & Jackie Oakes in what is often lauded as the finest front five in Queens history:

Black - “Jim Patterson’s a great bloke, he’s a magic bloke, great company. I wouldn’t have classed Jim as a ball player, he was a bustler, and played an important part. He had his own particular skills with obviously being the highest scorer that Queens have had over the years, and Jim was good at it. I sat beside him today and I dearly love the bloke. I dearly love Jim and recognise all of his qualities.”

KM - “For sheer consistency, the greatest Queens team of all time.”

Black - “I’m not going to disagree with that because I’m just proud to have been part and parcel of it. None of us were stars.”

KM – “You’re being modest. It was a good team but to be a good team you’ve got to have good individuals.”

Black - “I don’t doubt for one minute your philosophy but I’ve seen teams of stars who’ve never done anything. As soon as they begin to think they are stars it spreads through the ranks. It’s just the same as one man in the team, and somebody finding out he’s being paid two pounds a week more than somebody else, that can cause a lot of damage, someone finding out there’s somebody in the team being paid more. We’re all Jock Tamson’s bairns, you play for each other and you get your kicks out of winning. As long as you’re winning, that’s the main thing.”

KM – “Any games from that run stick out in your mind or any goals that stick out? You did score a lot of goals.”

Black - “I was surprised to find later on that I, being a winger, you’re not normally a goal scorer but I used to sort of wander out of position. I wouldn’t get a game in today’s football.”

KM – “You’re very modest describing it as wandering out of position, that’s the killer instinct that is!”

Black - “I don’t know, it’s just a feeling that you’ve got. I mean when I got my two goals against the League of Ireland, I’d wandered out of position as well. The purists would have been saying, ‘get out on the wing, get out on the wing’.”

KM - “Total football!!”

“Total football”, Black laughed back.

KM - “Hungary would have been proud of that, you should have been lining up beside Puskás and the like.”

Black - “How could I score goals out on the wing? I always had it, I always had it, even as a young man in minor football, I could score goals. I used to find sort of blank situations where there was nobody there and I thought, well if the ball does go in there and I’m the only one near it, I’ve got a chance. But you’re taking a chance. But it worked, because that’s what happens in football. It’s these unprotected situations, quite often where the ball arrives and all theorists in the world…. Instead of marking men, defenders marked the zone. I just sort of said if there’s nobody there, why don’t I get in there? The story that’s told to me, next to Jim Patterson, I’m the next man in line as goal scorers for Queen of the South. I didn’t know that at the time, I didn’t count my goals up every week.”

KM – “And there’s only three of you scored more than 100 goals for QoS.”

Black - “It’s one of these things, I just enjoyed my football.”

KM – “In your game for the Scottish League [a 3-1 win, managed by Dave Halliday with Black scoring two goals], someone else who played in that game was another player from Dumfries, Willie McNaught of Raith Rovers.”

Black - “Willie and I were great friends then. We were opponents because of the local derby between East Fife and Raith Rovers. Willie played with Raith Rovers and I played with East Fife. So it was that tussle that we had then. I got on well with Willie McNaught, I think he was a fabulous player, he was another great Doonhamer.” McNaught picked up five full Scotland caps.

KM – “I read that Willie Bauld, King of Hearts, he said that the best player that he ever played directly against was Willie McNaught.”

Black - “I wouldn’t be at all surprised. And Willie Bauld, they were a great team in Edinburgh in those days with Bauld, Conn and Wardhaugh, they were great players. My philosophy with football was there are only a few bad players, most of them are good players, they are all doing their best.” Laughed Black yet again, “Some of them happened to get written up in the Sunday newspapers.”

KM – “What about personal memories with Queens?”

Black - “I always imagined, if you were a Kilmarnock supporter and Jimmy Brown was the goalkeeper, they always thought if there’s a bogeyman it was me. In all the important games, two cup ties against Kilmarnock, I scored the winner [in both 1956 & 1958 Queens drew 2-2 at Rugby Park before winning 2-0 and 3-0 respectively at Palmerston]. When we were struggling against relegation the same year [’58 – Queens finished sixth in ‘56], and we had no less a person than Willie Waddell of Rangers who was a newspaper man, he said Black was responsible for the demise of Kilmarnock. And being an ex East Fife player it relegated East Fife to the second division.”

KM – “Irony.”

Black - “It was ironic”, said Black before continuing, “For some reason against Kilmarnock, not that I played great, but for some reason it fell to me to deliver the winning goal or something like that.”

KM – “I approached a man a little while back about Queens, and he replied, Sir Alex Ferguson. He talked about a game….”

Black - “Queens Park, he was an amateur. I meant to say, well I wouldn’t like to tell you exactly what I said to him, cause I didn’t know whether to call him Sir Alex or Alex,” laughed Black.

KM – “When was this?”

Black - “Back about two years ago. I met him. This is the only time I’ve met him. My mate had the pub. I live in Somerset. My mate, my best mate, he’s Somerset born and bred, he’s not a football supporter, he’s a rugby man, he had the pub and he said, ‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow and bring you up to the pub’. I said fair enough. He said, ‘Don’t tell anybody you’re coming up.’ I thought this is kind of strange. So when I got up to the pub I said, ‘Come on then, let me into the secret’. He said, ‘We’ve got Alex Ferguson coming tomorrow’. I said, ‘The Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United?’ He said, ‘Yes, he’s coming’. I think he’s got a couple of horses, Paul Nicholls the trainer, he’s about three miles from where I live. Anyway, to cut a long story short he came over to me and he said ‘Hiya Bob’. As I said I didn’t know whether to call him Sir Alex or Alex so anyway I called him Alex. I said, ‘You won’t know me, I was long before your time’. ‘No you weren’t,’ he said, ‘I remember you played for Queen of the South, didn’t you?’ I said, ‘Yes’. He said, ‘I can remember playing against you’. He excused himself, ‘I was only 17 at the time,’ he said, ‘You had the oldest forward line in Scottish football’”, followed by yet more laughter from Black, “He named the five. As a bit of an after thought, I thought I’d try him out. I didn’t know what his sense of humour was. I said, “You can’t remember the score, can you? We beat you 5 nil.”

KM –“Do you know what the score was when you played him at Palmerston?”

Black replied, “No I don’t.”

KM – “Boxing day 1959?”

Black (intrigued) – “No?”

KM – “You scored.”

“Did I?” asked Black with uncertainty.

KM – “Queen of the South 7, Queens Park 1. He [Sir Alex] named the 5 in the reply he sent back to me; Black, Broadis, Patterson, Dunlop and Oakes. Ivor Broadis scored 4, you got 1 and Percy Dunlop scored 2. He scored the Queens Park goal”

“Not bad for the oldest front 5 in Scotland,” said Black enjoying himself with his biggest laugh of the interview, “I wish I’d known that at that time because there would’ve been a substantial amount of taking the mickey. I started laughing at the time, I know you laugh at your own jokes but I thought it was quite humorous. He was a nice a bloke, and quite modest.”

KM – “How come you moved down to Somerset after Queens? Did you get a game of football down there or something?”

Black - “Bath City offered me £20 a week. When I got a free transfer from Queens I needed some money because I had a family in Scotland to support. That helped, I had enough to be able to send money back to the family. An old football acquaintance of mine, Charlie Fleming was playing down there [player manager]. He’d played for East Fife with me down the right side [Fleming scored two goals on his only full Scotland international, a 3-1 win against Northern Ireland]. At the end I finished up playing for a team called Bridgwater Town. They weren’t even rated as a substantial non league club, they were lower than that, they were in what was called the Western League. I had a reasonable job with Clarks Shoes. I was a Management Accountant, I became Divisional Analyst.”

Black added, “I’ve always been a sportsman. I was a golfer. I was a big fish in a small pool, I won a few golf tournaments. I was into bowls. I had 78 appearances with Somerset in the Middleton Cup which is the English championship in bowls. I just had to find something that was competitive. I could no longer play football. I could no longer play golf because the hips and the knees had gone. I’ve had a new hip and 2 new knees. I’m ready for another hip again if I live long enough. I had a modest amount of success but I was a big fish in a small pool, I was never going to be a sort of international player. The last refuge of the ageing sportsman is bowls. But bowls is a highly competitive sport. I got 3 all England medals playing for Somerset alongside names like David Bryant.”

KM – “You played in the same team as him?”

Black - “It was only the other week I was talking to him. I’m proud to be able to claim an acquaintanceship with him because he’s a marvellous man. He’s a great, great sportsman and world champion bowler.”

KM – “He won it a numerous times did he not? He won it a few times?”

Black - “Oh aye, several times [Bryant in fact won 6 individual and 7 team world bowls titles]. He played in the same Somerset team as me. I always say as a Scotsman I was proud to play for Somerset.”

Bobby Black is down in football history as a League Cup winner with East Fife, a Scottish League internationalist, second in the Queen of the South goal scoring charts and thirteenth in the club’s appearances list. With his sense of humour, he would probably prefer to be described as, ‘The finest wanderer out of position in the history of the club’. And while certain words have been removed from this transcript in line with Queens’ status as a family club, despite the warning that was given, he doesn’t swear that much.

Kirk McLean

Crawford Boyd was a pivotal defender for Queen of the South in the 1970s. After leaving to spend a season and a half with Hearts, Boyd returned for the run in of the 1980/81 promotion campaign. In total Boyd made 321 QoS first team appearances.

Providing an interview for this article in June 2009, Crawford Boyd has been kind enough to assist since in finalising the feature and contributing photos. Boyd came across very much as measured, considered and objective. There was, without exception, a pause prior to every answer he gave so that each response was thought through. Boyd was also candidly honest in his assessment of himself. This is what he had to say about his career.

(Crawford Boyd collects the 1978/79 QoS Supporters Club player of the year award)

Boyd - “Born in 1952 in Kilwinning. The road to Palmerston was Boys Brigade, Port Glasgow Rangers, Largs Thistle, Queen of the South. I played a trial against Hurlford. It was like a Queens reserve team that was organised, I was playing in that. The manager was a guy called Jim Easton.”

KM – “Who was involved in your signing talks?”

Boyd – “Willie Harkness. Somebody must have had scouts in this kind of area, somebody must have recommended me to Queens.”

Boyd was offered terms, he signed on the dotted line, as simple as that.

Queens debut:-

Boyd – “1972, I got into the team right away and there was an old [format] League Cup section; Aberdeen, Hibs, Queens Park, Queen of the South; a wee kind of a difference from playing in front of 200 or 300 people to play in front of thousands.

Boyd then gave the low down on his favourite games as a Queens player.

Boyd – “Ayr United, the one that was in the Scottish Cup. Played them at Somerset, it was a draw and big Allan Ball got injured. Graham McLean came in on for the second game and it was 5-4. That was a game. Atmosphere was fantastic. Dixie Ingram, he broke my nose that night.”

KM – “Dixie Ingram? Alex Ingram?”

Boyd – “Alex Ingram, he was the centre forward. He elbowed me, oh aye. Most certainly intentionally. He looked down at me when I was lying there, the blood was……. ‘Are you all right son?’”

Boyd continued – “I didn’t miss him when we were going off the park at the end, I let him know what was. ‘We’re all right, we’re in the next round of the cup’.”

KM - "What did he say back about that?"

Boyd - “Never said anything back about that, there’s nothing much you can, you haven’t got an answer for that.”

When Jimmy Robertson was interviewed for Queens Legends he volunteered the description of Crawford Boyd as, “A bit of a hardie guy”. It seems JR’s description was pretty good.

Boyd – “We played Rangers in the League Cup, they beat us 1-0 at Ibrox, we won 2-1 at Palmerston and it went to extra time, they beat us [3-2 on aggregate]. The team played well that night. Parlane and Johnstone were their forward two. They were useful players, certainly useful players. And then they played us in the Scottish Cup and it just didn’t happen, they gave us a doing. Palmerston was sold out, I think it was just too big an occasion for everybody and Rangers just steamrollered us.”

Boyd added – “We went to Marbella after we played Rangers. He came as well, I don’t know whether they still use Gibson’s [buses], Jimmy Gibson. Jimmy Gibson got a holiday as well. The year we played Rangers three times, twice in the League Cup and once in the Scottish Cup, they must have made a lot of money. Also Willie Harkness took Ernie Walker, he was at Marbella as well. It was nice that Jimmy Gibson got to go.”

KM – “There was a game in Marbella???”

Boyd – “There was to be but it ended up, no, just a holiday, we played against waiters and that and that was a farce.”

(QoS in Marbella, 1975. Back, L to R: Mike Jackson, George Dickson, Billy McLaren, ? , ? , Jimmy Anderson, Willie Harkness, Ernie Walker, Billy Houliston, Jim Gibson (Coach Owner Driver), Crawford Boyd, Lewis Russell, Iain McChesney, ?

Front: Ian Mitchell, Jim Donald, Tommy O'Hara, Jim Miller, Tommy Bryce [mk I].)

Next was the League Cup 6-0 victory when Queens played against Dundee.

Boyd - “I was playing that night. That was great, just everything went right that night’, smiled Boyd. “You get some nights when you hit the ball, it just goes in and other nights people clear it off the line and that.”

KM - "Any memories of Strachan from that night?"

Boyd – “I’ve not any memories of any of them, they weren’t at the races that night.”

Boyd then generalised on his first Palmerston spell. “It was just good playing with somebody like big Bally behind you because there wasn’t much went past him. He was a great goalie, Allan. What stuck in my mind when I signed for Queen of the South, a couple of guys about 74, 75, two in particular, Tommy O’Hara from Celtic, and Jimmy Miller [signed from Aberdeen]; full time footballers, didn’t quite make it at the teams they were with, you could see the difference in part time football and full time football – they were just away ahead of everybody of else. They were playing the ball and not just standing admiring the passing; they played it and they were backing it up and running, running for a one-two. And Reid, Ian Reid was the same. Ian Reid had got a lot of stick from Jim McLean when he was at Dundee United. He actually told me that McLean was a bully, and Ian wasn’t the best of trainers.”

Richard Gough has commented in the past that Jim McLean had only one way of managing players. While Gough said that he personally didn’t mind McLean’s dominating style, he could see why some other players wouldn’t like it. Correspondingly of course is the likes of the description of McLean by journeyman forward Iain Ferguson as, ‘tactically the best manager I played for’. This is no surprise when McLean’s tactics took Ferguson and his Tannadice team mates to the 1987 UEFA Cup final.

Boyd continued making his point – “At that level of football, O’Hara, Miller, Reid, they had been full time footballers, and that’s what I’m trying to say, that the difference in the coaching from full time and only being part time and only meeting each other on a Saturday; I trained with Morton because I live in Largs so it was nice playing with guys like that.”

 

(Scottish Divisional Select squad, Dec 1974. The front row is Crawford Boyd, John Dempster and Jimmy Miller).

Boyd's performances at Queens as a class footballer allied to his toughness didn't go unrecognised by others. This included playing for a Scottish Divisional select side:-

Boyd - "Twice I was awarded player of the year by the Queen of the South supporters club and that was a great honour. 1973/74 and 1978/79. Also there was an international against the Italian under 25s in Pescara in Italy in 1974. I played centre half that night for the Scottish team. The score was nothing each, the game got abandoned in the 71st minute due to flooding. There was flash-floods, it was between Christmas and New Year the game. I played and Jim Miller played, and John Dempster was substitute. Wee Jimmy Coughlin who was later to go to Queen of the South from Albion Rovers, he was a substitute as well. I’ve got this book that my wife done for me, it’s just a wee thing with different teams I played with, kept all the different wee cut outs, a wee scrap book. I’m looking at a picture of myself, Jocky and Jim Miller just waiting in the players lounge kind of thing."

And to the best player played Crawford Boyd played directly against for Queens. “A guy at Motherwell, played with Liverpool and Coventry, Bobby Graham. He just had everything. People talk about guys scoring goals and Willie Pettigrew was a prolific goalscorer at that time. Who was the guy that played next to him? It was Bobby Graham that laid on all the chances for him, he was a superb player.”

Bobby Graham’s stats at Liverpool back up Boyd’s comments. A creative forward rather than a ‘fox in the box’ poacher, Graham chalked up 31 goals for himself in his 101 league appearances for Liverpool.

Boyd added, “There’s a difference, and I found that out when I went to Hearts. There’s a difference playing in the first division, after about five years I started to feel more comfortable. It’s like everything, it’s like somebody serving an apprenticeship, you get better. Then when I went to Hearts, they were in the first division and we won the first division, and I didn’t feel out of place, I was quite comfortable in their team. And then we were in the Premier League, you’re playing Rangers, Charlie Nicholas at Celtic, Gordon Strachan was at Aberdeen, they were a good team then. I just wasn’t good enough at that level. I could make excuses but that’s one thing, I would never lie or anything like that. We got a different manager. Willie Ormond was the manager that signed me. He got his books at the end of that season. A new man came in, Bobby Moncur, [ex EUFA cup winning Newcastle United captain]. I got on well enough with the guy - I just wasn’t good enough. There was a lot of other guys in the team who weren’t good enough either.”

KM - “Who else was there at Hearts? Drew Busby? I looked it up and I think you just missed each other?”

Boyd – “We missed each other. Jim Jeffries was the captain, Cammy Fraser, Willie Gibson, John Brough, he was the goalkeeper. It was fantastic to have achieved your life long ambition. My life long ambition was to be full time in football, and it happened for just under 2 years, it was great, it was fantastic. When I went to Hearts, I won a first division medal, I’ve got a first division winners medal in my trophy cabinet."

And the return to QoS.

Boyd – “It was after Christmas. It was nice, it was nice to get promotion and get a wee holiday in Portugal, that was nice as well. When I went back the second time I didn’t enjoy it as much though, it seemed different, but maybe I wasn’t as good going back the second time either, but it just didn’t work out. The couple of months that was left of the season and the whole of the next season. Then Drew Busby come in as the manager and I’d just started a new job and Drew said to me, ‘For training, Hamilton.’ I was working in Greenock. I said, “I can’t do that, I train with Morton, I’ve had that arrangement for years.” He said, “If you’re not going to come to Hamilton…’, so that’s what it came to.”

Life after Queens?

Boyd – “Irvine Meadow, I was there for about three years. I broke my leg twice. I came back too quickly first time and broke it again in the same place. I ended up I was the manager for about six months. I didn’t enjoy managing. It was one of those kind of ones where they said there was six on the committee and the six committee guys and me were going to pick the team. I said, ‘No, that’s the beauty of football, seven of us could watch a game of football with seven different opinions of who we would want to play’. I said, ‘I’m not going to be a figurehead for you.’ I thought I made that message quite clear to them that I wasn’t going to be a figure head. I said, ‘You can recommend guys to me but ultimately I’ll pick the team.’ And after six months….”

Boyd again – “I played away ‘til I was 43. I love football, it didn’t matter what level of football I was playing at, I just loved it.”

21st century Queens?

Boyd – “I went to the [Scottish Cup] final, we watched them in the final, they were brilliant that day. I was sitting in amongst the Rangers supporters; my oldest boy works with Hovis and he got a couple of tickets. To lose the goal just before half time; then when Queens scored the goal at the start and then they got the other goal, there was a deathly silence - [at the other end] the Queens supporters singing away. For fifteen minutes, Rangers were definitely very anxious. And then your man turns up again, Boyd, and gets the goal but Queens certainly didn’t disgrace themselves, I thought they were great.”

Boyd also watched the semi on telly. “Queens took their chances. They had a good run. You would think how unlikely would that have been in your life time or my lifetime, for Queens to get to the final of the Scottish Cup.”

Aye.

 

Best team mates at Queens – “Allan Ball, Tommy O’Hara, Jimmy Miller and I was very fortunate to play with a guy called Chris Balderstone, whose legs were done, but I’ve never seen anybody pass the ball so well. I had a broken leg the year that he was there, I watched him. He had a guy in the middle of the park beside him, Benny Ferrie, who wasn’t the best of players but Benny could run, Benny could move, he was the legs for this Chris Balderstone. Chris Balderstone was superb. John Dempster, he’s another one. Pace,  he scored a lot of goals. Jocky could play, there wasn't any doubt about that.”

Favourite game – “Ayr.”

Favourite memory – “I’ve got a lot of very happy memories, it was just great to go down to Dumfries to play, it was a lovely park, it was a treat to play on that park, a lovely playing surface. If I’d went to a bigger team I wouldn’t have got the chance right away likely, if I signed for a bigger team I wouldn’t have…. Then when you do get the chance you’ve got to be outstanding right away, if you’re with Rangers or Celtic or all these other bigger teams. Where as Queen of the South, they’ll persevere a wee bit, and give somebody a bit of time, and give somebody, and… I was lucky that way, and I was quite kind of fortunate in that I think Willie Harkness kind of liked me.”

Crawford Boyd has made the 18th highest number of  appearances in Queens history. Very much taking care of things at the back, he was never going to be a prolific goalscorer but he also pitched in with 6 goals in his 253 league appearances.

Kirk McLean

Ivor Broadis is the most distinguished non-Scot to have played for Queen of the South. As well as at Queens the popular Londoner achieved many points of note playing for Carlisle United, Sunderland, Manchester City and Newcastle United and in 14 appearances for England.

Early days

During the Second World War, Flight Lieutenant Broadis completed 500 flying hours on RAF Wellingtons and Lancasters, although he was never on a bombing mission. During the war he guested as an amateur for Tottenham Hotspur, among other clubs. It was at Tottenham that someone misread his real name (Ivan) as Ivor. Not so terrible. And so he inadvertently became known hence forth as Ivor Broadis.

Broadis vividly recalled to the Northern Echo how he was in Italy when news of the Japanese surrender arrived. "Next day we flew hundreds of troops back to England, some of whom hadn't had leave for five years. I was navigator, so I kept passing round notes telling them where we were. It was very emotional when we came over the white cliffs of Dover and you could see all the bonfires down below."
 
Carlisle United (1st spell)
 
At the end of the war Broadis was posted to Crosby-on-Eden. "Until after the war I'd never been so far north in my life, I thought I'd need a dog team to get up here," recalled Broadis. When Carlisle United heard how close he was they offered him the player/manager's position in August 1946. He was only 23. Broadis is still the youngest man to have been player/manager in the English Football League.

Broadis is the first ever manager to transfer himself to another club, when he sold himself to Sunderland in January 1949. As Broadis told the BBC, "Carlisle got £18,000 for me. It was an incredible amount in those days". Broadis was succeeded at Carlisle by Bill Shankly. However Broadis continued to live and train in Carlisle.

One day Broadis arrived late for training. Shankly said to Broadis: "What do you think you're doing? Who do you think you are? If you do the training we do, you can train with us and we'll play five-a-side, and you'll run your guts out as an example to everybody else".

Shankly never said that he made Broadis as a footballer, "But I made him realise what was needed to be a player, and Ivor Broadis was one of the strongest and most dangerous inside forwards that ever played." Heady praise from someone so qualified to comment.

Broadis' description of events with Shankly: "Bill always regarded himself as the man who saved me, really - the man who gave me to England. I would maybe be lapping round and I admit I could have put a lot more into it.

"You sort of take the routine from the club you are with and that was not good enough for Bill. I was doing what I thought Sunderland would be doing, the way they were doing it. And that wasn't Bill's way. You had to come off jiggered. So Bill regarded himself as putting me right and I think there's a lot of truth in that. His strength was not Liverpool. It was the strength he could give to anybody."

With Shankly's infectious enthusiasm he would ask Broadis, "Are you doing anything this afternoon? Aye, right then, if you're not, come down to the ground." They would upturn two chimney pots to each be a goal and play one-a-side.

Sunderland

Of his transfer to Sunderland Broadis remarked, "All I did was exercise the right to be transferred. Blackburn, Man City and Preston were interested but only Bill Murray, the Sunderland manager, came to see me. That's why I joined but it was the board who agreed the fee." On his £12 a week Broadis commented, "When I was playing, the only agent was Dick Tracy." Broadis went on to grace England’s top division for the next 6 and half seasons.

Sunderland's big-spending transfer fees on Broadis and others led to the club being known at this time as the "Bank of England" club. Alongside the likes of England internationals Len Shackleton, Dickie Davis and Willie Watson and Wales' Trevor Ford, Ivor Broadis scored 27 goals in 84 Sunderland appearances.

(Spurs 1, Sunderland 1, 23/9/50. Broadis scored in this game. The player on the right of the photo is Welsh international full back, Ron Burgess).

Broadis remembers his playing days with affection but not entirely without regret. The inside-forward lamented "The sad thing about that Sunderland side was that we should have won the League in 1950. They played me at centre-forward against a relegated Man City with three or four games to go and we lost. We finished third in the end. We should have won the league that year, it would have made such a difference."

The top scorer in England’s first division that season was Sunderland’s Dickie Davis with 25 goals. For the game Broadis refers to above, Davis was injured. As a press report of the game says:-

“No one could say Sunderland‘s rearranged forward line was a success. Kirtley at inside right was never in the game as a fighting force and as a result Broadis in the middle got little support. Out of it too was Tommy Wright on the wing. This game has probably cost the Wearsiders the title after looking good to take it."

Also missing was another key player, cultured wing half and club captain, Willie Watson (Watson was a double international – he represented England at Cricket as well as football).

After a dour first half the second half came to life. With Man City fighting for their top flight survival, the opener came in the 49th minute when Sunderland keeper Mapson appeared to have a cross from Westcott covered. Mapson was challenged for the ball resulting in a trundler of a goal. The challenging City player to get his name on the score sheet – Jackie Oakes; Queen of the South legend and future Palmerston team mate of Broadis.

On the hour mark City were 2 up thanks to a Clarke header. Stelling pulled it back from the spot in the 64th minute to 2-1 but that wasn’t his only involvement in penalties that day. He saw another saved by the remarkable Bert Trautmann. To Stelling’s relief, the referee adjudged the German goallie to have moved before the kick was taken - a re-take was ordered. Trautmann showed his class however with a fantastic save of Stelling’s shot. Sunderland had also lost 2-1 to Man City earlier in the season at Maine Road making them the only team to notch home and away league wins that season over Sunderland.

In Sunderland's highest post-war finish they ended up 1 point behind retaining champions Portsmouth and also runners up Wolves. This is Broadis’ highest ever league finish.

Later that year, Broadis played in, “A quite astonishing Boxing Day clash at Old Trafford”. Some further quotes from the match report in the Sunderland Echo:-

* “On the stroke of the half-hour Ivor Broadis – man-of-the-match by some distance – gave the visitors the lead with a great goal. From the inside-right position he created an opening for centre-forward Davis and when his shot hit the crossbar with Allen beaten, it was Broadis who nipped in to head home.”

* “A minute later and Broadis extended Sunderland's lead, driving a powerful shot home.”

* “Sunderland though went into the break two goals ahead of their opponents when Broadis scored with an opportunist strike, driving the ball in off the underside of the crossbar.”

* “Broadis linked up with Tommy Wright just after the hour and he back heeled to Davis who had the ball in the back of the net in an instant.”

The game ended Manchester United 3, Sunderland 5.

Manchester City
 
Broadis joined Trautmann at re-promoted Manchester City in October 1951, this time for a fee of £25,000. Signed by Manager Les McDowall, Broadis debuted the day after signing. The 2-1 victory was the first defeat of the season for Spurs.

As a natural ball player, Broadis’ trickery made him a hit with the fans immediately. Two weeks later McDowall signed the player he wanted to team up with Broadis to be the attacking nucleus of the side, Don Revie. It didn’t live up to McDowall’s expectations.
 
To quote Trautmann: "I don't know why the team did not reach the potential it should have done, to a certain extent we expected such a lot from Ivor and Don but things did not happen. I discussed this with Revie and he felt that their styles clashed, they both liked to play from deep positions and Don felt that they were getting in each others way, a conclusion I had reached. Les McDowall seemed to think that it would just sort itself out, but it was apparent to me that it would not. Ivor was a fast player where Don, on his own admission, needed time and space to play his own game.”

Revie himself described Broadis as having great ball control, explosive pace and ferocious shooting.

It was at Man City that Broadis gained his first England cap one month after joining (Broadis collected eight of his caps in his spell at Maine Road). It was also there that he penned his first newspaper column thanks to the Manchester Evening News.

Newcastle United

Newcastle United signed Broadis two years later for £20,000. The team already included players like Jackie Milburn, Len White, Scotsmen Bobby ‘Dazzler’ Mitchell and Frank Brennan and Welshman Ivor Allchurch. As at previous clubs Broadis was well received by the fans and is still warmly remembered. With Broadis at the club Newcastle won the F.A. Cup in 1955 - their last time to date. However Broadis didn’t play in the 3-1 final defeat of ex-club Man City after a disagreement with trainer Norman Smith. His days at St James’ Park were numbered.

International career

Broadis earned 14 caps for the England national football team, scoring 8 goals.

In both his England games at Hampden Park he played in front of crowds of over 130 000. In the first of these (in 1952) he played against Willie McNaught from Dumfries. In Broadis' three games against Scotland (twice against future Queen of the South team mate George Farm), Broadis was unbeaten (2 wins, 1 draw). Broadis scored 3 goals against Scotland, all with Farm in goals for the Scots.

In Florence, Broadis put England 1-0 ahead against Italy in a game that ended 1-1.

On a tour of South America, Argentina v England was abandoned at 0-0 after 22 minutes due to a torrential rain storm. Referee Arthur Ellis signalled to the players to head for the dressing rooms and joked to England’s Billy Wright, “If we stay out any longer we’ll need lifeboats’. Ellis’ humour was to come in handy - he later refereed BBC’s ‘It’s a knockout’ on TV. After England beat Chile 2-1 on the same tour, World Champions Uruguay played exhibition football and could have been six up instead of two in giving England the run around. To England’s credit they at least staged a late fight back with Broadis and Nat Lofthouse each hitting the post before Tommy Taylor made the final score 2-1 to Uruguay. This was not to be the last encounter Broadis was to have against the Uruguayans.

A week after the game in Uruguay, England played USA at the Giants Stadium in New York. With freak rain again intervening, the game was delayed 24 hours. With England keen to avoid a repeat of the 1-0 defeat of the 1950 World Cup finals, they laid siege to the American goal. Missing a train load of chances, England finally went ahead two minutes before half time thanks to Broadis’ opener. In the cavernous arena that lives up to its name, England ran out 6-3 victors in front of only 7,271 fans.

In a game of eight goals in Budapest on May 23rd 1954, Broadis was the only England player able to score. In reply the speed, skill and movement of the Hungary `Golden Team´ featuring Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Zoltán Czibor, Nándor Hidegkuti and József Bozsik rattled in 7, giving their opponents a football lesson. Hungary were six up and cruising before Broadis got on the score sheet with a screamer into the top corner from 17 yards. Seemingly to make a point, Puskás immediately restored the six goal lead. After the game bewildered England centre half Syd Owen said, "It was like playing people from outer space". Tom Finney commented of Broadis, "I remember when he had taken his boots off after the Budapest match, he warned everyone, "Don't touch them unless you're wearing gloves, they're red hot"". Broadis added, "It's the first time I've ever come off the pitch with a sunburned tongue!" Broadis hadn't played when Hungary won 6-3 at Wembley the previous November.

Broadis played at the 1954 FIFA World Cup. Playing in all 3 England games Broadis scored 2 goals, both against Belgium. Broadis was thus the first Englishman to score twice in a game in the World Cup finals, 30 minutes ahead of Nat Lofthouse who also scored two in the same 4 - 4 draw. Broadis was also part of the 1st ever England team to play in the World Cup quarter- finals, a level England have surpassed only once away from home. It was in this game where Broadis became re-acquainted with the Uruguayans who again ran out victors over England, this time 4-2.

Carlisle United (2nd spell)

Ivor Broadis returned to Carlisle in July 1955, when he was signed as player/coach for a fee of £3,500. Broadis stayed at Brunton Park until June 1959 after which he was off to play in Scotland.

Queen of the South

The now enormously experienced Broadis joined Queen of the South for the last of his playing days in 1959. Clearly enjoying his fine displays at Queens, he later said, "The two seasons I spent at Palmerston were among the best of my career'.

Jackie Oakes was already at Queens when Broadis joined. In February 1960 the two were joined by another former adversory from England's top flight, George Farm.

Sir Alex Ferguson is globally renowned as a trophy magnet manager at Aberdeen and Manchester United. Prior to his managerial career Sir Alex had well over a decade as a centre forward in Scotland, averaging better than a goal every two games. He scored for Queens Park against Queen of the South at Palmerston Park on Boxing day, 1959. Ivor Broadis scored four goals for QoS in a 7-1 victory with the Doonhamers' other goals coming from Percy Dunlop (2) and Bobby Black. Sir Alex was asked if he could briefly contribute his memories for this article. Here’s what he had to say:-

“One of my great memories of my football career includes that particular game when Queens Park lost 7-1 to Queen of the South.”

“Not that I should remember a game in which your team lost by such a margin but for the fact that as a 17 year old lad to be on the field with the great Ivor Broadis was a wonderful highlight for me. The other reason to remember the game was the ages of the Queen of the South forward line, it probably averaged about 34! Black, Broadis, Patterson, Dunlop, Oakes, I remember it all too well and also I remember my goal, you don’t forget when you score a goal on the same pitch as Ivor Broadis!”

This is what Broadis' ex team mate at QoS, wing wizard Bobby Black told us about Broadis:-

"Ivor Broadis, he was a footballer. He was an ex English international. Him and I, we got on well. He was a good reader of the game and he understood it. The first time I seen him play I thought to myself, ‘Now here’s a footballer’. It was a pleasure to play beside him. It was an honour to play with someone of his stature. He was still a class act. He was ever present. He was good company, a humourist. He didn’t spend his time boasting about his previous career. He very seldom mentioned it, I liked him for that as he had a past to talk about. I still knew him after I moved down here [to Somerset]. I was up in Carlisle for a game. He was a reporter".

Signing for Queens a year after Broadis was Iain McChesney. "The thing that I really remember about Ivor was him taking me back on to the park after the game. It was my first time in the first team when I was 16. I was lucky enough to score a couple of goals and we won 4-2. We were leading, I think it was 3-2 at the time, and we got a penalty. The youth team I’d played with, Greystone Rovers, I took the penalties with them so I picked the ball up and placed it on the spot, and Ivor came across. He said, ‘You’d better just leave it to one of the experienced players, if we score that’ll be the game about finished’. I said, ‘Oh, I’ll score, I’ll score.’ He said ‘No, don’t put pressure on yourself, just relax and let somebody else take it’. So somebody else took it and scored, we won 4-2."

McChesney continued, "And then when the game finished we were walking off, he said, 'We’ll just go into the dressing room for 5 or 6 minutes and let the crowd get away', he says 'We’ll go back on to the park, I just want to show you a couple of things, it’ll help you when you’re getting the ball played up to you, how to hold it up.' The game finished and I was back on the park just standing and I was standing facing him 10 yards away. He was throwing the ball up to me, and he says, 'Right, you’ve killed the ball there at your feet, you’ve got it dead, what’s the defender going to do?' I said, 'How do you mean?' He said, 'He’s just going to blast right through you, and take you, the ball, and everything.' He said, 'If you take it, take it on the outside of your foot, either turn left or right, whichever foot you take it with, and just knock it in a wee arc, your swinging away from him all the time.' He took the time, somebody that had played for England, Sunderland, Spurs, you name it, and he took a wee boy and showed him a couple of things on the park, I always remember him for that. He was always teaching you something. He was great with the kids, not just me, all the young players. If he thought he could help he’d take you out, just for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and tell you wee things."

With Ivor’s engine still running his displays were a perfect example of, "Form comes and goes, class is permanent." He  scored 20 goals in 63 league games for Queens. Broadis´ performances prompted the offer of a contract from top division Hearts. However Broadis decided that he would end his playing days with Queens before moving on to the next step in his career.

Later days
 
Ivor Broadis has lived in the same Carlisle semi since 1955.
 
After playing and coaching, Broadis became a football journalist for 45 years. Bill Shankly had transformed Liverpool into a powerhouse club in the English League along with his 'Boot Room' coaching staff - Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and ex Queen of the South hard man goalkeeper, Reuben Bennett. When Broadis arrived in the Anfield press box, Shankly marched in, gave Broadis a warm handshake, passed on his good wishes and left the scene.
 
Ivor Broadis was stopped outside Hampden Park when heading towards Gretna's Scottish Cup semi-final in 2006 for being in possession of an offensive weapon, namely a vacuum flask. "Someone passing told the polis that I'd played at Hampden, against Scotland. He let me in on condition that I didn't drink the tea."

League and international career summary:-

 

 

 

IVOR BROADIS	England International
	14 caps	8 Goals
Born: Poplar	d.o.b: 18 December 1922
Position:	Inside Forward
Teams	Seasons	Apps.	Gls.
Carlisle United (P./Mgr.)	46-49	90	53
Sunderland	48-52	79	25
Manchester City	51-54	74	10
Newcastle United	53-55	42	15
Carlisle United	55-59	157	33
Queen of the South	59-61	63	20
	Totals	505	156

 

Kirk McLean

Tommy Bryce (Mk II) scored 95 goals for Queen of the South in 297 games placing him 19th in the club's appearances list. A man of high-speed hat tricks, Bryce was a Queen of the South player to merit a place in the record books over a decade before Ryan McCann belted in his goal from 84 yards. Bryce was a key player in the promotion-winning side of 1985/86 and was Man of the Match in the 1997 Challenge Cup Final.

Tommy Bryce contributed to this article with an interview in December 2008. In January 2009 an approach was made to Scotland Manager, George Burley, requesting he makes a brief contribution to this article. George's comments on Tommy Bryce are included below.

Early Years

Tommy Bryce, born in Johnston in 1960, was not the first Tommy Bryce to play for Queen of the South. Tommy Bryce Mk I played for Queen of the South in the 1970s, in the era of Allan Ball, Iain McChesney, John Dempster and Crawford Boyd.

Tommy Bryce Mk II started his senior career in Ayrshire. “I played in the Premier Division when I was with Kilmarnock initially. I’m trying to think, probably about 1980 I think it was, I played for about half a season. I kind of fell foul of the assistant manager there, Davie Wilson".

Bryce then played over 100 games for Stranraer (during which he scored a hat trick against Arbroath) before then moving to Queen of the South in the 1985/86 pre-season to begin a happy association with the Doonhamers.

Queen of the South (1st spell)

On memories of the first spell (1986-88) Bryce enthused, “There was a few good games. I was only there for a matter of weeks and we got Celtic in the League Cup at Palmerston. We got beat, but went in 1-1 at half time and I’d scored from 25 yards against Pat Bonner.” This was a goal particularly fondly remembered by TV presenter and Queens fan Stephen Jardine when he was interviewed for qosfc.com.

“The games against Dunfermline stick out because of the size of the crowds. The game at Palmerston I think there was around 5000. And the game where we clinched promotion at Arbroath, Stewart Cochrane scored the goal.”

“The second season wasn’t as good. We stayed up but the team wasn’t doing so well. Mike Jackson was the manager but he left before the season ended, I don’t know why. Davie Wilson then arrived at Queens so needless to say I left.”

Best players from the first spell: “We had a good team then. I think obviously Jimmy Robertson stands out. He was a bit of a character as well. Alan Davidson in goal, Barney as he was known, was another character. Billy Reid who’s now manager at Hamilton, Graeme Robertson who went on to bigger things when he played in the Premier with Dunfermline, my mate Jim McBride who came across with me from Stranraer, and George Cloy. The best, though, was Jimmy Robertson. He was unusual in that he was tall for a winger,” commented Bryce before smiling dryly. “And he didn’t say much.”

After top scoring in both his seasons at Palmerston, Bryce was on the move. Queens’ loss.

Clydebank

“I enjoyed a good two seasons at Clydebank prior to leaving. Both seasons we just missed out on promotion to the Premier League, losing out to Hamilton and then Dunfermline. I top scored at Clydebank. I left to go to Ayr who weren’t as good a team as Clydebank if truth be told but things happened in my job. Safeway or Morrison’s as they are now called were closing where I worked and they were moving to a third party and we were getting paid off but we were guaranteed a job again. The new work involved unfortunately a seven day rolling week that would mean working in the evenings when I would be training. So I managed to get the opportunity with Ayr United to go full time and that suited me at that time.”

Ayr United and two Challenge Cup finals

“There were two now you come to mention it. We got to the final the very first year of it, I think it was called the B&Q centenary Cup and it was supposed to be just a one off and we managed to get to the final of it. About 2 or 3 weeks prior to the final I picked up a hamstring injury. I managed to pass a fitness test on the Saturday and the game was on the Sunday which was a close game. Dundee won 3-2 [after extra time], with a hat trick from Billy Dodds in actual fact. The following year we played Hamilton in the final, we ended up getting beat 1-0. Colin Harris scored, who came to Queen of the South in his later years.”

“I took up a job in insurance that meant working evenings. Albeit with Ayr I was training during the day, but fortunately for myself I had the opportunity to come back to Queens.”

Both of Bryce's managers at Ayr have managed Scotland. Ally McLeod was in the hot seat when Bryce signed. It was then George Burley who took Ayr to the two challenge Cup finals at Fir Park.

George Burley was kind enough to contribute to this article with the following:-

"Tommy was a very enthusiastic and dedicated player.  He had a good football brain, with a useful turn of pace and a natural goalscoring instinct.  Tommy was very much a team player and he was also extremely popular in the dressing room"

Queen of the South (2nd spell)

Once again Bryce’s days on his return to Palmerston were not uneventful.

The modest Bryce doesn’t do himself justice with his description of the three record breaking goals. The first came when he was first to react to get on to a loose ball. The second was another close range effort, as he suggested himself, shooting past the Arbroath keeper. The third came when he was put clean through, from which he rounded the goalkeeper and with the difficult part done, slotted home into the empty net.

Of course not content with one supersonic hat trick there was another (and not against Arbroath), this time taking a more leisurely 3 ½ minutes that had Dumbarton rocked. Again Bryce’s comments give an interesting insight into his grounded character:

"In that game against Dumbarton I scored four as well. I had a chance to make it five and missed an absolute sitter and that’s the thing that stands out in my memory of that game to be honest.”

Ever hit five in one game? “No. I’d never hit four until that time I scored the four against Arbroath.”

A happy day in the memory of Queen of the South fans lucky enough to be there, despite the final score, the Challenge Cup final v Falkirk:

“The Falkirk game was excellent I must admit. Queen of the South played out of our skins that day and we could have won it. Of the Challenge Cup finals I played in I enjoyed that one the most. I got man of the match in that game and you obviously enjoy it when you play well.”

Modesty indeed from the understated man who played in midfield that day giving a maestro performance that was a joy for all to behold: intelligence, poise, composure, touch, vision, skill, making space for yourself and using the ball well. As one person summed up after the game, ‘As you get older you get slower but what he has when he’s on the ball, he’ll never lose that’.

Bryce continued, “The whole lead up to it was very professional as well. We came to Dumfries the day before the game and stayed in a hotel and travelled up to Fir Park on the team bus on the day of the game. That never happened in the two finals with Ayr United. The whole thing was amazing to be involved in.”

As Bryce rightly said, Queens put in an excellent performance on that Sunday afternoon in Motherwell. Cheered on by over 5000 fans who screamed like howling banshees (the Queens fans in the stand along the side of the pitch in particular gave a great account of themselves), the game could have gone either way. Perhaps the best chance Queens had to take the game into extra time came near the end when Bryce teed up Derek Townsley for a clear shot on goal. Big Townsley was a decent scorer from midfield with 19 goals from 87 QoS league games, and went on to play top division football for Motherwell, Hibs and Gretna. Townsley’s reaction when he raised his hands after his shot said it all – not in celebration, but in disbelief as he put his hands on his head as on this occasion he watched the ball fly agonisingly over the bar. Final score, Falkirk 1, Queen of the South 0.

Best players at Queens in your second spell:

“Stevie Mallan did well for the club with the goals he scored. Craig Flannigan was a good player I thought, but he was blighted by injuries, right through his career, really. George Rowe for a centre half got more than his share of goals. David Kennedy who I’d played with at Ayr United. Des McKeown, he was another one who didn’t say much, as you know,” jested Bryce again, this time on his non-verbally challenged ex-team mate and now BBC pundit.

“Definitely Jamie McAllister and David Lilley have both done very well. They both went to Aberdeen. David Lilley’s still in the Premier League with Kilmarnock where he was captain. Jamie McAllister, as well as having played for Scotland, is at Bristol City doing very well. They both took care of themselves and were good pros. I see big Jimmy [Thomson] is still doing very well, a big character, he was another good player when I was there.”

Ever get to see Queens? “The only times I saw them last season was in the semi final of the Cup, and then the final. I took my son, who’s seven. He asked me to get him a Queens top so I got him one through the club shop.”

Clearly a seven year old of excellent decision making and outstanding potential.

“We’re usually playing on a Saturday during the season and in the Summer we’re sometimes playing three times in a week. I’m manager at Kilburnie Ladeside.”

When asked if he still pulled on his boots Bryce smiled, “The only time I did that was in big Andy Aitken’s testimonial down at Annan”.

Going back to the trip to the Scottish Cup final it seemed reasonable to ask the name of Bryce junior. Tommy replied, “Hopefully it will be Tommy Bryce MKIII for Queen of the South FC!!!”

The Bryce is right.

Kirk McLean

 

The defensive cornerstone of the 70s and 80s made 340 QoS first team appearances. Nobby Clark is the only man to taste promotion success with Queens as a player and then do the same as manager on a separate occasion.

Nobby Clark contributed to this article with an interview in August 2009.

(Queens celebrate scoring against Celtic. Clark is the player on his way into orbit.)

"I was born in April 1950 in Glasgow. I was with Partick Thistle from 1968 to 1975. 154 games I played scoring one single goal. That was against Rangers at Ibrox, a New Year’s Day game [1974], a one each draw. It was quite unusual for Thistle in these days to get a draw at Ibrox. There was a cross and long looping run from myself to meet the header and put it in the back of the net. It was an equaliser late on in the game, so that secured us a point. My solitary goal for Thistle, at least it was against some sort of a quality team.”

Clark was at Firhill at the time of the club’s greatest post war achievement and the most famous result in their history. On Saturday 23rd October 1971, Sam Leitch famously commented on BBC TV’s lunch time football slot, “'In Scotland, its League Cup final day at Hampden Park, where Celtic meet Partick Thistle, who have no chance." Jock Stein’s Celtic had reached the European Cup Final in Milan only five months before, destroying Don Revie’s Leeds United home and away in the semi. A player who had since established himself in the Celtic first team since the San Siro game was Kenny Dalglish. Leitch’s comment thus hardly provoked a tsunami of questioning of his sanity. With the sort of result that today’s Queens fans can only dream of against the Old Firm, Leitch was proved to have been reckless with his opinion.

Clark's recollection of events - “I actually played three games in the early rounds against Arbroath, East Fife and Raith Rovers. I then went down with flu so that’s what knocked me out the team; taking over at number five was Jackie Campbell. I didn’t regain my place in time for the final. In these days they only had one substitute so I was a spectator up in the stand just going delirious, unbelievable. We were 4-0 up at half time. Kenny Dalglish scored one and it finished 4-1. Travelling back with the cup through Glasgow city centre, there was no motorway in these days so you had to go through the city centre from Hampden to Maryhill. And of course the amount of crowds on street corners was, it was just an unbelievable result so the response was great. At the end of the day I was fortunate enough to get a medal; it was one of the highlights of being at Thistle. These celebrations are still going on; I’m just actually going to a dinner in October which will be the 38th anniversary of the final.”

“It was one of these things as well; it got us into Europe the next season. I played in both ties against Honved of Hungary [the Budapest side had provided the likes of Ferenc Puskás to be the nucleus of the exceptional Hungarian national side of the early and mid 1950s who thrashed England featuring Ivor Broadis 7-1]. I got the man of the match award in both games. We got beat 1-0 in Hungary which was probably quite a favourable result, and then of course, inexperience, we actually got beat 3-0 at home. So it was a two game wonder as many Scottish teams have experienced. It was still a great experience. They were a top team at the time, they were a top Hungarian side then. There was a 17 000 crowd at Firhill on September 27th 1972.”

Clark’s travels to communist Hungary.

“It wasn’t a football recollection but I remember we went to the cinema, and it was Hungarian sub titles because it was a British film. It was quite easy for us to hear the dialog. But the Hungarians needed their language in subtitles and I remember a chap called Colin Smith actually lit up a cigarette in the cinema and he must have had about 12 people jumping on him. It was actually a wooden cinema, so even away back in these days they must have had certain standards that you don’t smoke in the wooden cinema.”

The transfer to Queen of the South.

“In the last year at Thistle, Bertie Auld came in. Bertie Auld and I, it was just a different manager, different style. I think I played over 20 games that season for him, I don’t think it was a problem with my ability or anything, it was just his style and what I felt was better, so he released me at the end of the season, 74/75. I had an offer from Airdrie, an offer from Motherwell, and not for any particular reason, I came down to Queen of the South,” said Clark with a cheerful tone of, ‘Why the heck not,’ in his voice.

Life at Queens.

“I think the early days, that was probably one of the strongest teams. I came into the team that just won promotion into the first division [this was the first season with a return to a three league set up. If the previous 2 league set up had remained in place, Queens would have been promoted back to the top flight as divisional runners up]. That was full of the Tommy O’Haras, the Crawford Boyds, Allan Ball, Ian McChesney, George Dickson, Billy McLaren, Ian Reid, John Dempster. It was a real settled team. Ok, I got into the team after the first few games and then was probably never out of it. That was a fine Queen of the South team but like everything else, these things break up. Players go; Jimmy Miller went, Tommy O’Hara went, so of course these things happen. That was a team who had great potential and a good manager in Mike Jackson. Mike Jackson is a fine, fine, guy to play for. A lot of ourselves would run through a brick wall for Mike. The crowds were good then at Palmerston so it was a good time down there.”

“The game that sticks out in everybody’s mind is the Scottish Cup replay, the 5-4 against Ayr United. We took them back to Palmerston after a draw at Somerset. It was one of these nights under the floodlights. I scored Queen of the South’s first goal that night, but it was just one of these games, it was a ding dong, for people still to be talking about it nowadays shows you the impact that game made that night.”

“I came up for a corner. They had scored first so it was an equalising goal so that was important because Allan Ball had got injured [in the first game at Somerset Park]. The obvious thing was we were missing Allan Ball which was really, really crucial. And for them to score first, for us to equalise gave us that impetus to go on and we came out on top.”

“I think the game that we all loved most was the 6-0 League Cup defeat of Dundee including Gordon Strachan in that side at Palmerston. We had a victory at Easter Road against Hibs in an earlier round. We just had that sort of culture about us; we did have a lot of good players. Geographically it’s not the easiest place, but yet, we were able to put together a side. I think that Mr Harkness did probably go into his wallet to secure these players and I think that probably helped as well. It was just one of these nights, we were just overwhelming. You just get nights like that, if a ball comes up the park you can’t miss a header, if the ball comes into the goal mouth you can’t fail but score. It was just one of these nights that 11 guys were at the top of their game. It’s difficult to know why these things happen, but you just feel so strong and so fit and so up for it. And that might just be what I am saying about Mike Jackson, a lot of credit, a team gets prepared by the manager, and on the night he just gave us that confidence to go out and win 6–0. “

Clark’s promotion as a Queens player.

“That campaign actually went to the last game of the season. I know Cowdenbeath were involved and Cowdenbeath were playing at home that day and we were at home to Albion Rovers. Somebody had won the league [Queens Park] and we were vying for second place. If Cowdenbeath had got beat at home and we won, I think that was the scenario. And even in these days there’s obviously information getting fed to the Queen of the South supporters at Palmerston. The word was coming through that Cowdenbeath were getting beat, and we were winning. I think Jimmy Robertson had a real bumper of a day that day. I remember he scored a couple of goals. But I recall in the middle of the park waving my arms in the air actually during the playing period, knowing full well that we were going to get promotion, and we did at the end of the day. That was just fantastic of course to get success. It doesn’t come that often, so yes, it was a great feeling.”

Then as manager came what Clark felt was the better of the two promotion sides he was involved with at Palmerston.

“Drew Busby had a go at it for a couple of seasons. In Drew Busby’s second season we were more or less on the road to promotion. And yet fate just worked its way. I don’t think we won any of the last six games and he left at that point. It was a decent pool of players, yet with its own problems. So over the course of the next few weeks I offered myself to take over. I would have been 34, 35, and offered my services and got the job and I inherited the problems. Problems like for example, Pat McCluskey was working on the rigs for maybe four weeks out of eight. For four weeks he didn’t play for Queens and then for the other four weeks he was playing.”

“We managed to get a wee clear out at the end of my first season and we brought in Tommy Bryce from Stranraer, Jim McBride from Stranraer. You know the impact Tommy Bryce made. Bobby Parker came in, we managed to get wee Billy Reid, things just clicked. We managed to get ourselves a formation, we had a goal scorer in Tommy Bryce, we had defenders in Kevin Hetherington and Bobby Parker, we had a fantastic goalkeeper in Alan Davidson, we had width with Jimmy Robertson on one side and Billy Reid on the other, full backs Graeme Robertson, George Cloy, Tony Gervaise. It’s amazing, you can say that you can be lucky in football, yes, and things, they do just click.”

“The first game we beat Stenhousemuir 2 – 0 at home in the league, it was just a fantastic booster after struggling at the end of the first season that just wasn’t enjoyable at all. So that was the start we needed. The best football we played was the 5-1 victory over Cowdenbeath at Palmerston. I recall we actually went down 1-0 in that game and at half time we were either 3-1 up or 4-1 up. I remember going up at half time and standing on the touchline and applauding all the players off. It was just fantastic; we just slaughtered Cowdenbeath after going 1 down.”

Tactical insight from the manager?

“The home game against Dunfermline which was a top of the table clash. Norrie McCathie was their lynchpin at the back. And we found out that he was injured for our game, which was a real booster. We agreed to go to St Joseph’s College, we met there about 12 o’clock. We had an hour just doing some set pieces, corners, free kicks, crosses, and we felt that because Norrie McCathie wasn’t playing, we would dink every ball possible into the near post. It was just something I thought, ‘Right, their obviously going to have a different central defensive partnership, they’ll be expecting us just to throw balls into the middle of the box’. So we thought, ‘Right, we’ll change it and we’ll put balls low into the near post, cause we had sort of ‘quicks’; Tommy Bryce was quick, Stewart Cochrane was quick. And we ended up winning 3-1 and two of the goals were from that exact scenario. So it just shows you, things do work out in football.”

In listening to Clark speak it is obvious very quickly that he is intelligent and articulate. If stating your own errors is a sign of greatness then that description can be applied to Clark also. “From there we should have gone on to win the divisional title that season. It was my fault that we didn’t. Looking back I allowed the players to take their eye off the ball a little bit. It was inexperience on my part.”

None the less this was still a successful season and Clark was held in high esteem at Palmerston. Then a head scratching episode followed.
 
“We had a board meeting and I suggested that we need to sign another four players. At the same meeting the board came up with the scenario that we’d got promotion but we weren’t going to give the players any sort of increase in their basic salary, but they would increase the bonuses. So the end result of that was that four of the players refused to re-sign. So that was four players that didn’t want to re-sign and we didn’t sign the other four players. So I felt I was eight players down, there was no help from the chairman in that situation who didn’t seem bothered, and the whole thing just got very, very strange. So I just thought, ‘I can’t work under these circumstances’. The Stranraer job was available, if any job was available I would have put myself up for it, it so happened it was that one. So I left after a difference of opinion with the chairman.”

After Queens and Stranraer.

“I concentrated on my day to day to work which was accountancy [ACCA specifically for any finance heads reading this], so I did that and obviously I had a family to feed so I settled back into day to day life, not regretting it one bit. You’ve got to make decisions in life and it was the right decision. There’s never been a case of, ‘Well, if only I’d stayed’, not at all, these things happen. When it came to 2001 I actually got back into football and I’m now with Motherwell, and I’m still there to this day, eight years of service, looking at the opposition. I’ve left Palmerston over 20 years ago. Motherwell have played Queen of the South at least twice anyway, two or three times [in Clark’s time at Motherwell], and every time I’ve been to go and watch them, it’s been an away fixture for Queen of the South, so I haven’t been back at all. I seen them at Falkirk one night last year in a cup tie, Motherwell were playing Falkirk the next week.”

“I seen St Johnstone on TV versus Queen of the South, I was actually doing a player scout for that one. Motherwell were interested in Stephen Dobbie. We ended up making him an offer but he actually signed for Swansea just a few days later. I followed the Scottish Cup run to the final. Absolutely astonishing. It wasn’t only astonishing, they were fully worthy of their place in the final. That’s what people shouldn’t forget, there were no ‘freak results’ or anything. They were ‘genuine’ results. The 4-3 result against Aberdeen wasn’t as though Aberdeen played badly or anything. It was a correct result for 90 minutes during that game that Queen of the South should have won 4-3. And even the final itself was quite astonishing, because Rangers were obviously nervous going into the final. And of course what happens, there’s always somebody comes to the fore, and on this occasion it was Kris Boyd scored a couple of fantastic goals unfortunately for Queens.”

“But you can never deny what Queen of the South did, and to get into Europe, which is quite sensational. Actually I did a wee article and thought to myself, What would make the best Premier League in Scotland"? And I thought to myself, ‘Well why don’t they have a league of all the teams that have played in Europe’? And Queen of the South would have been in there. Actually at the time I did the article, Falkirk wouldn’t have been included. There’s another couple of surprising teams that wouldn’t have been included. There’s about 15 teams that have played in Europe so I thought to myself, ‘That would be a good reason just to have an SPL of all the teams that have featured in Europe.”

You’d get some support for that from Palmerston for obvious reasons. Not that there would be any parochialism or nepotism involved.

“The reason I thought about that as well was, ‘Let’s get the good old days back, let’s get Rangers and Celtic down to Palmerston, get Rangers and Celtic down to Cappielow and things like that.’ Because the chances of Rangers and Celtic getting back down to say Cappielow on a regular basis, on a league basis, it’s just going to be difficult because that first division is very, very competitive. But, whoar, to get a full house down at Palmerston on these situations, of course the Old Firm can turn you over, but by goodness, they need to work hard for it, yes.” With the League Cup draw we shall soon find out for real.

The best player Clark ever played directly against.

“That’s ironic as well because he’s an ex Queen of the South man, John Connolly. I made my Partick Thistle debut against him and St Johnstone in 1969. It was a League Cup tie and they beat us 6-0 and we had a good Thistle team in these days. But John Connolly ran riot and they had Henry Hall in these days. They’d just a fantastic St Johnstone team in these days [indeed Willie Ormond put together Perth’s finest ever side turning the club into European material, consequently resulting in Ormond’s appointment as Scotland manager]. So that was my baptism of fire. I knew that I would need to do a lot of growing up very quickly after facing John Connolly. I actually see John quite a lot, he’s an SPL delegate and he also works for a company called Scouting Network. So I do speak to John and because we’ve got the Queen of the South connection, we’ve got a bit of rapport between us.”

Nobby Clark’s 340 first team appearances for Queen of the South is the fourteenth highest in the club's history. In his 276 league games Clark scored six goals.

Kirk McLean

 

George Cloy gave Queen of the South service that spanned 12 seasons. A massively enthusiastic utility player with a truly boundless love of football, Cloy’s 334 first team for the Doonhamers is 16th highest in the club's history. A ‘sleeves up and get on with it’ type of player that every club needs, George Cloy regarded it simply as a privilege to be able to cross the white line on to a football pitch, regardless of the occasion. Salt of the earth, happy to let others try the silky stuff and take the limelight, Cloy’s selfless passion earned him something of a cult status at Palmerston Park. George Cloy eagerly played for Queen of the South in every position on the pitch.

On good form, George Cloy contributed to this feature with interviews on 8th and 9th May, 2009.

KM – “You’re not originally from Dumfries?”

Cloy – “Born in Stranraer, I moved from there when I was three years old. I actually stayed in Kirkcudbright, I was brought up in Kirkcudbright, I went to Kirkcudbright Academy. I moved to Dumfries after I got married.”

KM – “What about your boyhood trip to play football in Norway?”

Cloy – “We went to Norway with Greystone Rovers [to play in the 1974 Norway Cup international youth football tournament], we didn’t actually get beat. We got to either the last 16 or the last 32, we got beat on the toss of a coin. We drew I think it was in the last 16 with one team and unfortunately for the guy that was the captain..… It was 50-50, he was distraught the boy, he called the wrong side of heads or tails. Just one of these things.”

KM – “And your signing for Queens?”

Cloy – “I was playing with Greystone under 17s, and then I left them and went and played a season with Kello, Kello Rovers. I was still 17 then as well, still at the school playing with Kello. I played one season with them, and I had a trial with Hearts when I was there and Kilmarnock were supposed to have been interested in me as well. I ended up, it was Sammy Harkness that actually signed me. Mike Jackson was the manager. I signed in 1976. So when I signed with Queens I was still staying at ‘home’, I was staying at Kirkcudbright. I started off playing with the reserves, which was basically a local team, did well and progressed from there.”

Cloy then added with affection – “Scoring my first goal was against Celtic at Parkhead in the reserve league. We drew 4-4, they put a good side out that day. We drew 4-4, we were all local boys as well apart from George Dickson and a guy called Davie Rutherford that came and played for a season, and the goalkeeper was Graham MacLean.”

KM – “What about your first team debut?”

Cloy – “It was against Morton, don’t ask me the date. I came on as a sub against Morton at Morton. I made my full debut, it was against St Johnstone, and St Johnstone were near the top of the league going for promotion because I can remember there was quite a big crowd there. It was a draw.”

KM – “At Palmerston?”

Cloy – “Aye. It could have been the end of the first season I was there. It could have been the end of that year or it could have been the end of the year after.”

Cloy then reminisced – “I remember beating Motherwell, I was 21, in 1980, I remember beating Motherwell 2-0 in the cup at Palmerston, Ian Mitchell and Kevin McCann scored, they were a first division team and we were a second division team. It was a Saturday night I went out because it was my 21st birthday on the Sunday, and we’d beat Motherwell 2-0. Ian’s from Sanquhar. In the next round we played Partick Thistle and got beat 3-1 at home.”

KM – “The game when Alan Rough was playing for Partick, and if my memory serves me correct, Colin McAdam?”

Cloy – “Aye, they beat us 3-1 so that was that.”

KM – “What about promotion campaign of 1980/81?”

Cloy – “I wasn’t involved in that, I was, but it was roundabout the edges, I wasn’t what you’d call a regular. That was the year we went to Portugal. Big Allan Ball was playing that day [Queens played in a friendly while in Portugal against Vitoria Setubal]. We went to Portugal ‘cause we got promotion and they took us to Portugal for a week.”

KM – “Enjoy that?”

“Oh, it was great, aye,” gushed Cloy.

KM - “I bet it was, I can imagine it was a nice wee jolly on Willie there.”

“It was great, aye,” laughed Cloy heartily.

KM – “What about your break through as a first team regular?”

“We’d been promoted then we came straight back down. Then Drew Busby came along. Drew was all right,” stated Cloy very positively. “I would have said that he was the best manager there when I was at Palmerston. Drew was a man who, he was straight up, you know, he would tell you what he thought. If he said you were hopeless, you were hopeless. He didn’t hide anything from you and he didn’t go behind your back, he never had any favourites. He picked players on how they were playing, how they were performing and if they were doing a job for him. That was Drew.”

Cloy continued – “I more or less played in every game when Drew was there, league, various cup ties and that. Drew Busby was there the year we were near the top of the league. We needed around 6 points from our last 6 games or something like that to get promotion, but we missed out. That was when Drew was there.”

KM – “The 85-86 promotion season must have been something of a personal high point, what sticks out most in your mind of that”

Cloy – “It was aye, we had quite a good team then. Against Dunfermline when we beat Dunfermline 3-1 at home. There was quite a big crowd that day. We beat them at home 3-1. Stewart Cochrane scored, I think it was 2 he got." Kevin Hetherington had scored the Queens opener.

KM – “And the promotion clincher at Gayfield?”

Cloy – “I was a substitute that day, big Cocky scored the winning goal, I didn’t get on. Good crowd, good travelling support, it was a good occasion. [Celebrations] started in Arbroath then came back to Dumfries.”

KM – “And what about possibly the finest nickname in the history of Queen of the South football club? Who was the first person who called you Giro?”

The good natured Cloy said through his laughter – “I honestly couldn’t tell you. I don’t know whether it came from the fans or whether it came from within the club, I honestly couldn’t tell you. It got picked up on because I worked in the Job Centre, I worked in the Unemployment Benefit office at the time. I think it got picked up on by the supporters, it was probably big Ted McMinn or somebody like that.”

KM – “It is an outstanding nickname. It’ll be your epitaph.”

Cloy replied still laughing away to himself – “Aye, it will be, aye. It just came about from where I worked. Simple as. I still get it now.”

KM – “According to Ian Black, you played for Queens in every position on the pitch including goalkeeper?”

Cloy – “That’s true, yes. I came on as a substitute in a game after about 10 minutes. Alan Davidson got injured. The manager didn’t want to upset the outfield team. So I said, ‘Well I’ll go in goals’. We played Berwick and I think we won 3-0.”

Clean sheet to Giro the cat.

Cloy – “Clean sheet and all, aye” smiled Cloy amused. “I remember coming off and the crowd were quite happy.”

KM – “Any saves that stick out in your mind?”

Cloy - “Just one. It was a free kick and it was going one way and it got deflected and I managed to get myself back and scramble it round the post. Apart from that I never had a lot to do. In the likes of the South Challenge Cup and that, if they were short of a goalkeeper I’d also go in goals.”

KM – “So it was just one senior game in goals.”

Cloy – “Aye. And I played right back, left back, centre half, sweeper, every position in midfield, and both up front. I finished top goal scorer one season along with Stewart Cochrane. I was playing left back at the time. Me and Stewart Cochrane were on 12 goals and in the very last game of the season I took a penalty against Stirling Albion to finish top scorer and I missed it.”

KM - Any favourite goals?

Cloy – “Oh, now? Maybe my first one, that was against Arbroath, the very first goal that I scored that wasn’t a penalty. It was at home. I played a one-two with I think it was Jimmy Miller on the edge of the box and I just went in, kind of on the angle, and it went through the goalkeepers legs, it wasn’t an absolute belter like. Maybe the goalkeeper should have saved it, but it went in the net.”

KM – “Best players you played with?”

Cloy – “Wee Tommy was a good player, Tommy Bryce. Big Jimmy Robertson. Jimmy Robertson was the kind of player that you gave the ball to if you were under the cosh, you gave the ball to him and he just took it away and kept it for about 10 minutes, nobody could get it off him. Big Ted obviously. Bobby Parker. Bobby Parker was a good player, ex Carlisle United, and the best passer of a ball I’ve seen at Palmerston was Chris Balderstone when he was there. He was absolutely different class. Different class, you could see he’d played at a higher level than most of us who were there. He played in the first division with Carlisle when it was the top division down South [The talented Balderstone also played cricket for England]. And big Bally was good. Big Bally looked after the youngsters, he kept an eye on the youngsters when they first they came into the team, made sure they were OK.”

Giro then added some interesting insight into another player from a by gone age; someone better associated with administering spontaneous on the pitch orthopaedic adjustment.

Cloy – “Going back, a good player to play beside when I first went was George Dickson, big Chopper. Chopper was excellent with the youngsters, ‘cause he was in the reserves when it was basically a local team when I first went, and he just looked after us, he was really good.”

Next Cloy was asked about someone who briefly passed through Palmerston in the 80s with two first team games before playing in England’s top tier and being selected by Ireland for their Italia 90 squad - Bernie Slaven.

Cloy – “I remember Bernie, aye. I just remember him being at Palmerston, he didn’t get a regular game and he went somewhere else after Palmerston [Albion Rovers from when the goals quickly started to flow]. Aye, he wasn’t playing regular at all. So it was quite a surprise that he went on and did so well, but, that was one of these things. He was just a man who liked playing football. He’s on the radio now. Playing full time at Middlesbrough and being more involved maybe brought him out of his shell a wee bit.”

[Brought him out of his shell? Tony Cascarino wrote in his autobiography that when he shared a room with Slaven on international duty, Bernie would phone his dog every night and howl into the phone 'Woof, woof, aru, aru, woof', kissing the receiver, 'Hello, lovey dovey' to his dog.]

Cloy continued – “From what I can recollect of him he was a nice enough guy but he wasn’t one of the more rowdy ones.”

Rowdy ones? Pray do tell.

Cloy – “Oh well, Mr Dickson springs to mind, Peter.”

Then recounting an episode that would have had lesser mortals claiming genius, the unassuming Cloy saw the funny side:-

“The 6-4 game in the cup, scoring a goal at Stranraer and they all knew I was born down there so they didn’t really like me. It was right in front of the main stand, I scored from just at the dug outs. It was a cross into the box and the wind caught it and the keeper came out and it went flying over the top of his head. I was right in front of the dug outs so it was quite a distance. I just turned to acclaim the crowd and the next thing, the pies and sausage rolls came flying across from the Stranraer supporters.”

KM – “Were you hungry?”

Cloy – “Aye, I just wish I’d eaten one to annoy them but at the time I was just trying to dodge them. At the time I should have grabbed one and started eating it, but I never did. It was snowing, it was very, very cold that day.”

The other goal?

Cloy – “It was a penalty. I scored quite a few penalties. I was on the ITV sport program that used to be on telly on a Saturday afternoon that had a penalty kick competition. I won the one in Carlisle, I took penalties against big Bally, that must have been when I was about 14, 15. I won the heat at Carlisle for Border television, then I went to Stoke and took penalties against Gordon Banks. I got six out of 10, I picked up a groin strain taking penalties. Half way through I had to change, I’d actually strained my groin at Carlisle, ended up taking them with my left foot. Then I took them with my left foot down the road at Stoke, I did my left groin in and I had to switch back to taking them with my right.”

Ever get to see Queens these days?

Cloy – “Being involved with the football I don’t, and I’ve got two horses as well [Cloy enters horses in such events as the Ayr show]”.

KM – “You never made it to any games in the Cup run? Or the UEFA Cup?”

Giro – “I didn’t no.”

KM – “That’s a shame, you missed yourself there in Denmark [especially if you enjoyed yourself with Queens in Portugal George].”

As Cloy laughed again he was asked to give the run down on where he played after Queens.

Cloy – “I played with Kello for 2 seasons, and then I played with Dalbeattie Star with Dick Shaw. And since then I’ve played with the Crichton, I’ve played with Dumfries High School FPs, I’ve played with Threave Rovers, I ended up lastly playing football with Terregles. I’m at Abbey Vale the now. I ruptured the cruciate ligament in my knee five years ago, so I can’t play. I finished playing when I was 46. I’d still like to play now but I need a knee replacement, the surgeon at the hospital says I’m to young to get one.”

George Cloy’s time at Palmerston Park covered 12 seasons during which he recovered and came back from a year out with a broken leg. Among his 334 games were 41 goals in his 290 league appearances. Giro’s commitment to Queens was recognised with a testimonial v Carlisle United in 1989.

Kirk McLean

A skilful, goal scoring winger with speed to make all but the nippiest full backs feel glacially paced, John Dempster could operate on either side of the pitch. Finding the net 98 times during 355 first team games for Queens places him fourth in the club's all time goal scoring charts.

Not the first Ayrshireman to enhance his reputation in Dumfries, Dempster was born in 1948 in Muirkirk, the same town of birth as Willie Ferguson from QoS of the 30s and Alex Smith who played 8 for seasons in the 50s. In QoS history Jocky Dempster is 12th in club's apearances list.

Kind enough to fit us in despite pre-holiday preparations, John Dempster contributed to this article with interviews on 29th June and 1st July, 2009.

The road to Palmerston:-

Dempster – “I was born in Muirkirk in 1948. I played with Muirkirk juniors then I went to Queens. At that time being quite honest there were that many clubs after me, a lot of English clubs, also Kilmarnock, in fact I was actually told not to sign with anybody until Kilmarnock had spoken to me but at the finish up it just got to the stage where they were hanging on too long. I thought, ‘No, I’m just going to go’. And I enjoyed playing at Queens when I was down for a couple of trials with them. I liked the park at Queens. As you know it’s a good park, a good surface. That was impressive. Plus the directors at the time, I got on very well with the directors. Willie Harkness and Sammy [Harkness] and Mr Watson and Billy Houliston. These kind of things, you weigh them all up. That was the kind of thing that impressed me most.

KM – “Who was involved in your signing?”

Dempster – “Mr Watson. I was offered terms and conditions and I signed.”

KM – “Debut?”

Dempster - “I’ll never forget that, it was against Berwick Rangers. That was the first game I ever played, it was at Palmerston. It just kicked on from there. Mike Jackson had the flu actually, aye, he had the flu. At that time there was no subs allowed so I was drafted in, in place of Mike. Lexie Law, he was playing wide right and they moved him to inside left at the time and I was put in at outside right. I scored two goals. So it just kind of all fired from there.”

KM – “Remember the goals?”

Dempster - “Aye, they were probably the easiest goals ever that I scored”, laughed Dempster. “The first was just a tap in, they were both tap ins, and I was in the right place at the right time.”

KM – “Which Queens games stick in your mind most?”

Dempster – “The one where we beat Rangers [in the 1975/76 League Cup]. Just the fact that we beat them [over 90 minutes before going out in extra time]. I don’t really remember their winning goal. We’d quite a good side at that time. We could compete.”

KM – “You scored in that game?”

Dempster – “Aye, a penalty. I remember the penalty, Peter McCloy was in. I remember it quite clearly because he went one way and the ball went the other way, simple as that. I’d actually got hammered by John Greig, he flattened me, I remember that to.”

KM – “That doesn’t make you unique in that sense if you don’t mind me saying.”

Dempster – “It must have been a blatant penalty if the ref gave a penalty against Rangers, I can tell you. Tommy Bryce scored our second if my memory serves me well, I can’t remember what it was like but I think it was him that scored it.” It was indeed Tommy Bryce (mark I), with a last minute header from Tommy O’Hara’s corner kick.

KM – “The first leg?”

Dempster – “Very vague to be honest, it all sort of passed me by very quickly. I don’t recall too much but we had a certain penalty turned down. They missed a penalty. We got beat 1-0”. Queens kept Rangers out until the 78th minute before Derek Johnstone’s goal.

The next game Dempster brought up was against Dundee in the League Cup in 1977/78.

Dempster – “Tommy Gemmell was Dundee manager then and Dundee were quite high flying at the time. We drew the first leg [0-0 at Dens Park] and I think they were favourites to go through and we absolutely hammered them, it was 6-0. I scored one. I remember it too, it was about the third or fourth goal I think it was [the third]. I came in from the right and it was a left foot shot and I think it was Thomson Allan in goal got his hands to it but he couldn’t keep it out. Just one of these nights, everything went right for us. It was a good performance actually.”

KM – “Happy days.”

Dempster -“It was aye. Rangers and Dundee are the two that really stick out in my mind. Another that sticks out to me, a game that really sickened me at the time was Forfar in the quarter final of the League Cup [after the thumping of Dundee]. We actually hammered them at Palmerston but finished up drawing 3-3. We were up 3-1 and George Dickson said to me I’d scored a goal but it was chalked off. We hit the cross bar, that would have made it 5-1, and they hit us with 2 late goals. And then they beat us 1-0 up at Forfar. They then played Rangers in the semi final to extra time. We should actually have hammered them that time, we did, but the result just wasn’t right.”

KM – “Your answer is quite unusual in that the first game that is normally mentioned by everybody that was involved was the 5-4 Scottish Cup tie against Ayr United”.

Dempster – “My late father in law was an Ayr United supporter. Me coming from Ayrshire obviously, it was a local game for me. I remember Ayr had a good team then. Muirkirk boy Danny Masterton played in that game as well so there was a bit of rivalry between the two of us. The ball just seemed to get centred all the time, it was just goal after goal” laughed Dempster. “I can’t really remember much about the game but goal after goal.”

KM – “What about taking penalties?”

Dempster – “Aye, I took them on quite a number of occasions.”

KM - “Any particularly philosophy in taking them?”

“Aye, hit the back of the net,” chuckled Dempster. “I’m confident taking penalties, I’d taken them when I was at school, I took them at Queens. I varied it, I didn’t always go for power, I placed a lot of them, but when I was going for power I decided to go for it, hammered them. When I say I hammered them, I went for the corner. If I just went for power I usually went to the goalkeeper’s right. If I was placing them I could go to either corner but if I went for power I more or less always went to the goalkeeper’s right.”

Of course life isn’t perfect and the same applies to Dempster.

Dempster –“I had pneumonia when Willie McLean was manager that put me back quite a bit. 1975 it was, just before I met my wife actually. Ballochmile hospital was open at the time, that was in Mauchline, its houses now.”

Dempster of coursed bounced back.

KM - “You know you’re fourth on the all time goal scoring list for Queens? [Only Jim Patterson, Bobby Black and Andy Thomson have scored more goals for QoS] Any particular favourites?”

Dempster – “I’ve seen that aye. Every goal’s just as good as the next. There was one game at Palmerston, we won 5-1, it was Ian Reid, he was kidding me on about it. Ian scored 4 goals in that game, it was in the papers I was man of the match, Ian had scored four goals and wasn’t even man of the match. I scored one goal and Ian scored four, he said, ‘man of the match, you?’ he said.”

KM – “You can see he’s got a point to some degree. Did you lay them all on for him?”

Dempster – “Aye, I did, aye, he was only joking about it obviously, but normally when you score 4 goals you’re man of the match.”

1974/75 produced the best Queen of the South league finish of the 70s – second place in the second tier. However there was no reward of a return to the days of top tier football.

Dempster – “I remember that very well, we should have actually won the league that year. It was Falkirk that won it. It was the time they changed over to the new [Premier League] system and we finished second which would have taken us into the top flight. But because of reconstruction we were [subsequently placed] into the middle league. But they won it by a point that year, I remember it. At our last game they had still a game to play, and I think they won it and that’s what took then to the title. I remember that, aye. We weren’t involved as obviously they had a game still to play.”

The best players played alongside at Queens?

Dempster – “There was quite a few of them, I actually thought about that, starting with Allan Ball you can go right through them. I sometimes sit and think, what was the strongest team we ever had?”

KM – “I’d love to hear that.”

Dempster – “There’s always just the 1 that I would pick personally, but you’ve got to go Allan Ball, big Allan was a good goalkeeper. I would always say Jimmy Miller, Billy McLaren, Crawford Boyd and Tommy O’Hara. Then I would go for midfield Jimmy Donald, [best man at Kenny Dalglish’s wedding no less], George Dickson, then the left hand side was always a problem. Up front was always myself, Peter Dickson and Ian Reid. The left side, the late Chris Balderstone, he was a smashing fellow and a smashing player, but unfortunately he was by his best when he arrived there [the likes of George Cloy similarly said Balderstone was a genuinely outstanding passer of the ball and was at his most effective when paired beside someone like Benny Ferrie who could cover ground for Balderstone]. Harry Hood was similar, it was always the left I would say was difficult to fill in somebody. The other 10 I would always say without hesitation that’s the 10 that I would always pick.”

KM - “Its a nice touch that Crawford Boyd was interviewed just before you and he said something similar about you.”

Dempster – “Aye, Crawford’s a nice fellow.”

Who had the best game against you when you were in a Queens strip?

“Obviously one of the old firm games. I think probably Davie Hay of Celtic. I can’t remember if I was directly in opposition to him. We actually played against Lisbon Lions, Billy McNeill, Jimmy Johnstone, these sort of players, it was 5-1 going on 20 (1970/71). I scored a goal that day but we got absolutely annihilated, they had their full team out, there was no reserves playing. It was the Scottish Cup. Twice we played them in the Scottish Cup at Parkhead and we got beat 5-1 twice. The second time flattered them (the 1976-77 quarter finals) but the first time flattered us at 5-1.

In 1979 Dempster joined a St Mirren side who impressively finished the season as Scotland’s third best team (above Jim McLean’s Dundee United as well as Rangers). On a personal level, things didn’t work out how Dempster had hoped.

Dempster – “At that time I was 30 and competing with full time players. When I went to St Mirren I didn’t get the pre season training. I wanted to play every week so I left. I was at Clyde for maybe 4 or 5 months with Craig Brown. Craig’s a very nice fellow, I’ve nothing but praise for him; Knows the game inside out, very thorough in everything he does, very disciplined. As I said I’ve nothing but credit for Craig, aye.”

And the Queens of today?

Dempster – “I always look for the result, that’s the one thing I always do. You always look for these things, it doesn’t get away from you. I saw them on the telly against Aberdeen. I was obviously willing them to win that game, I think Aberdeen played badly on the day but again all credit to Queens to take four goals off a premier league side, it was good. Rangers [in the Scottish Cup Final], my daughter got a sticker for her door, ‘A Rangers supporter lives here’. She got one for our room, ‘A Queen of the South fan lives here’. I thought Queens played very well. I was very surprised, to go 2-0 down and come back to 2-2, in fact there was a point I thought they were actually going to win it. Big Thomson at centre half was inspirational to them that day. They played well there’s no shadow of a doubt, it brought back memories of how Queens were when I was playing, we weren’t over awed by the big clubs but unfortunately it’s hard to take it on against the big clubs regularly.”

KM – “Denmark?”

Dempster – “I watch all the games aye. I was watching them but again you never think of Queens in the likes of European games.”

KM – “Sometimes I still find it unbelievable I must admit.”

Dempster – “Aye, it’s good, it’s good for clubs like that to get into a one off situation for it to happen. It doesn’t happen often enough. The big clubs try and restrict them from going into European games. In such a way that there’s no way that they can get qualification into the European games. But aye, it’s good when it happens.

While it’s a different level of exertion from testing the acceleration of a full back, Dempster still keeps himself active today.

“Walking, my wife and I walked the West Highland way there at Easter. Absolutely fantastic. It was brilliant, we had sunshine for eight days, we done it in seven but for eight days it was brilliant sunshine. 95 miles, it was absolutely fantastic, I couldn’t recommend it highly enough for anyone, absolutely brilliant.”

 

Ian Dickson was born in Maxwelltown (a separate burgh from Dumfries until 1928) in September 1902. As well as playing in the first ever game in Queen of the South history, Dickson went on to play for two clubs in England’s top division. Top scoring at Aston Villa, Dickson also played for Middlesbrough.

Queen of the South

As Scotland tried to recover and step away from the nightmares of World War 1, Ian Dickson and Dave Halliday both played in the trial games that were arranged when the recently formed Queen of the South F.C. were looking for players in the Summer of 1919.

After the four trial matches the first ever Queen of the South game took place on 16^th August 1919. To help add credibility to the idea of a genuine landmark event taking place, invites were sent to the likes of leading politicians and legal dignitaries from both Dumfries and Maxwelltown. Pre match entertainment was provided by Dumfries Town Band belting out their finest songs at their best. The game against Sanquhar side Nithsdale Wanderers saw Queens twice come from behind to earn a 2 – 2 draw. Among the players of Queens’ first ever game was Ian Dickson. 

Dave Halliday joined Dickson at Queens in January 1920. The two forwards and the rest of the first season’s squad rounded off the season well; they lifted the club’s first ever trophy - the Dumfries Charity Cup.

Queens second season, 1920-21, continued in a similar vein to the first season with a combination of challenge games and minor cup ties. The Potts Cup, the Southern Counties Challenge Cup and the Charity Cup all ended up at Palmerston Park. The Scottish Qualifying Cup saw Queens make the semis.

In the Qualifying Cup first round Creetown Volunteers were thumped 9-0. Whithorn were them similarly destroyed on the end of a 12-1 defeat (Dickson hit four). Six were then rifled past Mid-Annandale by Queens and then five against Solway Star, both without reply. A 0-0 draw against Johnstone came before a 1-0 Queens replay victory. Queens cup run then ended with semi final defeat to East Fife.

In the Challenge Cup final at Showfield Park in Thornhill, the sleety conditions must have had attendees convinced Snowfield Park would be more apt. Dickson's 23rd minute strike opened the scoring. Gray of Queens knocked the Nithsdale Wanderers goalie off his feet in the second half. Half a dozen or so unruly fans of the Sanquhar club invaded the pitch shamelessly brandishing flags and sticks. A shout of 'come on' to other fans was mercifully disregarded. Police intervened to remove the fans from the pitch. Unsporting tactics from Wanderers and a disputed penalty followed. Then the un-diplomatic Gray once more knocked the goalkeeper over sparking further crowd disruption. Despite Wanderers pressure Dickson's goal proved to be the winner.

In the Potts Cup, Queens seen off Stranraer 3-0 before a 2-1 replay victory in the final against Nithsdale Wanderers (the initial game was 2-2). 

After the Charity Cup final Nithsdale Wanderers must by now have been sick of the sight of the Queens side. A 3-1 Doonhamers victory brought the season to an end.

In a veritable vortex of transfer activity Ian Dickson was transferred from Queens in January 1921 to Aston Villa. All three of Jimmy McKinnell from Dalbeattie, Willie McCall and Tom Wylie were sold to Blackburn Rovers around the same time. This combined with Dickson’s move to Villa helped fund Queens' purchase of Palmerston Park in 1921 for £1,500.

The departure of a player of Ian Dickson's undoubted calibre from such a fledgling outfit could be looked back upon as a player who would take a lot of replacing. However Dickson’s name on the Queens team sheet was replaced by that of a certain Hughie Gallacher. These two and Halliday were the three strikers to play in Queens very first two seasons before moving on to successful careers in England's top division.

Aston Villa

For this article Aston Villa’s club historian John Lerwill (the Ian Black of Villa) provided the following with regard to Ian Dickson: “A robust centre-forward who used his weight to good effect. Ian was marvellously adept at stealing in unnoticed behind a defence. He did score a few.”

Indeed he did. 

In that first season at Aston Villa, Dickson scored 2 goals from his 8 appearances. It was however the 1921/22 season that Villa Park seen the best of Ian Dickson - he hit 28 goals from his 42 appearances. This made Dickson Villa's top scorer that season. The Birmingham side finished 5th in England's top division. In the FA Cup they knocked out Derby (6-1), Luton (1-0) and Stoke (4-0 in a replay after 0-0 in the first game). Then after drawing 2-2 away to Notts County in the fourth round Villa lost the replay 4-3.

Ian Dickson's 31 goals from 76 league games and 8 goals from 7 cup matches give him a total return of 83 Aston Villa games scoring 39 goals. Dickson played alongside Billy Walker and Len Capewell.

Middlesbrough

Ian Dickson left Aston Villa for Middlesbrough in December 1923 for a fee of £3000. In season 1924/25 Dickson finished as joint top scorer at 'Boro along with Owen Williams.

Bernie Slaven decades later joined Ian Dickson as a footballer to have played for ‘Boro in England’s top tier after leaving Queen of the South. Slaven scored 146 times for the Teessiders joyously revelling in whipping fans into hysterical frenzy with his fence-climbing goal celebrations.

Away from football today

Since the above article was first published we have identified that Ian Dickson's grandson, also called Ian Dickson, is today massively successful in the entertainment industry. After an enormously prosperous career as a music mogul the Ian Dickson of today was invited to be a judge on 'Australian Idol', the down under franchise of Pop Idol. Since then 'Dicko' (as he is popularly known) appears on countless mainstream TV and radio programs in Aus.

Kirk McLean

George Farm from Edinburgh played for Blackpool throughout their golden decade of the 1950s and winning the FA Cup in 1953. Farm gained 10 full international caps before spending 4 seasons at Queens (3 as player manager). He is the only manager of Dunfermline Athletic who can claim to have surpassed the feats of Jock Stein at the club.

Hibernian

After playing for Armadale Thistle in junior football, it was at Hibs that Farm began his career as a pro in 1947. After a year, and only seven first-team appearances at Easter Road, Farm was on his way.

Blackpool

Farm signed for Blackpool in England’s top division for £2,700 in September 1948. Farm’s time at Blackpool narrowly missed overlapping with Jimmy McIntosh from Dumfries. Like many players of the era McIntosh lost many of his best playing days to World War 2. Despite this McIntosh scored goals in England’s top division for Preston, Blackpool and the club he also managed for a spell, Everton. McIntosh’s transfer from Blackpool to Everton was in the Summer just before Farm arrived in Lancashire.

Englishmen Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen and Scots Hughie Kelly, Ewan Fenton and Jackie Mudie were already on the playing staff at Blackpool. The 1950s is the most successful decade in the club's history to date. Farm is among the small group of players to be at the club playing top division football throughout the decade (right winger Matthews, half back Kelly and forward Mudie are among others in the group). Allan Brown joined from East Fife in 1950 to also serve the club well.

As the last line in the defence that became known as ‘the iron curtain’, Farm became the greatest keeper in Blackpool’s history. As well as breaking several appearance records, Farm played in two FA Cup finals. A strapping lad, he preferred the unorthodox holding a ball with one hand above and one hand below (as opposed to the more conventional one hand on each side of the ball). Farm was highly dedicated in his art, and was often spotted on the training field long after his team-mates had departed. Farm continued with his ‘nut cracker’ style of holding the ball.

After two reserve games Farm was given his first team debut in a league game for Blackpool on September 18, 1948. At home in a 2-2 draw to Bolton Wanderers, Farm was selected ahead of an out-of-sorts Joe Robinson. Farm kept his place for the 1-0 win over Liverpool the Saturday after, the 3-1 win away to Preston to the week after that, and then another home win against a Merseyside team - 3-1 versus Everton. And so Farm's selection continued. Robinson never played in the first team again for Blackpool, as Farm racked up 190 consecutive appearances. Due to receiving his first cap for Scotland, the first game that Farm missed was at Tottenham Hotspur - a 4-0 defeat. Farm also played in all 47 of Blackpool's FA Cup ties between 1949 and 1960.

Farm’s first FA Cup final was in 1951 for the 2-0 defeat by Newcastle (Jackie Milburn hit both goals). Blackpool finished third in the league behind champions Spurs and runners up Manchester United.

1953 saw Farm collect an FA Cup winner’s medal. Arsenal were beaten 2-1 at Higbury in the quarters and then Spurs by the same score in the semi at Villa Park. Then came Blackpool's finest moment in their history, the 4-3 victory in the "Matthews Final" against Bolton. This is Blackpool's only major trophy to date.

On October 29, 1955, against Preston North End, Farm injured a shoulder. Unable to continue in goals and in the age before substitutions, Farm replaced Mudie at centre-forward. Farm opened the scoring with a header (the only goal of his career but still more than most goalies). That season with Kelly now club captain, Blackpool finished league runners-up to Manchester United, the highest top division finish in the club's history.

In the eleven seasons that George Farm finished at Blackpool, only twice were they placed lower than ninth. As well as the second and third places listed above, they finished fourth once, sixth once and on three occasions in seventh place.

In November 1959 Farm sprang a bombshell to Blackpool - that he and his wife had always planned to return to Scotland and that they felt the time had arrived to move back North. In the same month Farm was given an extended round of applause in the 2-2 home draw against Spurs – Farm had become the first player to make 500 first team appearances for the Seasiders in league and cup. Only Jimmy Armfield has since made the same achievement. In all Farm made 508 such appearances for Blackpool in 11 ½ years. His time at the club came to an end when he returned to Scotland in February 1960, signing for Queen of the South.

Scotland

Farm's 10 full Scotland caps included a 3 - 2 victory over West Germany at Hampden Park in 1959. In both games that he played against England he opposed future Queens team-mate Ivor Broadis. Farm was not part of Scotland´s dismally ill-managed trip to the 1954 FIFA World Cup finals, despite having played in the qualification campaign. Despite Farm's international career over lapping with two years of that of Willie McNaught from Dumfries, the two never played together in the same international side.

Queen of the South

With his dedication to fitness and practice, the 35 year old was still a highly capable goalie (only eight months before he had played for Scotland) when signed under manager Jimmy McKinnell junior. Farm’s debut was the 3-3 draw against Hamilton. Farm joined a Queens side that featured two former opponents from his days in England’s top division – Ivor Broadis and Jackie Oakes. Farm went on to make 119 league appearances for Queen of the South, as player-manager in three of his four years with the club.

 

(Being watched by George Farm and the partly obscured Jim Kerr is John Rugg)

In his first season as player manager, Farm guided Queens back to the Scottish First Division with promotion as Second Division runners-up in 1961-62. The team included future Scotland centre forward Neil Martin, right winger Ernie Hannigan, utility player Iain McChesney and defender Jim Kerr. Also still there was the all time goals king of Queens, Jim Patterson.

McChesney commented of Farm, “George? Immaculate. George signed me professionally for the Queens. I was on holiday with a couple of my pals, we were just down at Southerness. We were down there for about five or six days. I’d signed as an amateur when I was 15 ½. My 17th birthday came up and George come down, about 10 o‘clock in the morning, I’d just woke up, he came in and said, ‘You’ve signed all the other forms, we’ve got to get this form signed to go to the SFA.’ Of course being daft and stupid I said to him, ‘Oh no, I’m not signing that form before I’ve read it all.’ He just picked me up and said, ‘Don’t be a stupid little beggar, just sign the form, you’ve signed all the rest!’ That was George,” chuckled McChesney.

McChesney added further, “He was very good but his tactics at times, were spot on. There was a season we were really struggling, he said, ‘There’s two vital games’. We played Dunfermline and then Clydebank, and he said, 'It’s vital we get three points out of the four.' So we went up to Dunfermline and got a nothing each draw. I was playing midfield, he said to me before we went on to the park, ‘If you cross the half way line, I’ll crucify you.’ He just wanted to keep it tight. He said, ‘Don’t cross the half way line.’ Just before half time I played the ball up to Arnold Coates, and it was on just for a one-two and it was a straight run through because they were away up the park. I got across the half way line and all I heard was this voice, ‘You stupid little so and so, get back’ I didn’t know whether to run on or just forget it. I thought I better do what I am told. I just stopped and got back goal side. And Arnold was left cursing me because he’d played the ball through for me.”

Ches again, “We got the point and then we played Clydebank and we beat them [2-1]. He managed to get the results he wanted. But he really was, if he told you something and you stuck to it, he would back you to the hilt.”

McChesney further remembered, "He was always the most immaculate person I’ve ever seen. It didn’t matter what time of the day, you saw him, George was always immaculate. He was always immaculately dressed. It didn’t matter if he was coming to training, going away with the club somewhere, going to look at players, he was always spotless. It wasn’t being vain or anything like that, just that was George, he always had his collar and tie on, the white shirt, the blazer. I got on fine with him, I had a lot of time for George. Plus he was a fair keeper as well.”

If ever someone needs proof that goalkeeper is the most specialised position on a football pitch, they need look no further than the events at Dens Park in Dundee in December 1962. George Farm was injured after 12 minutes meaning Queens had to play the rest of the game a man short and with an outfield player in goals. This was the wrong day for Queens for this to happen. Excellent at that time, the Dundee team bursting with top class players were the reigning Scottish Champions. That season in the European Cup, Dundee knocked out FC Köln, Sporting Lisbon and Anderlecht before losing on aggregate to eventual winners AC Milan in the semis. Taking full advantage of Farm’s absence Dundee ended up 10-2 winners, the highest defeat in Queens’ history.

Queens also enjoyed some decent cup runs in Farm's time at Queens. Queens made their second and to date last League Cup semi final appearance in 1960/61. Two seasons later Dundee United needed a second Scottish Cup quarter final replay to knock QoS out of the competition.

In January 1964, Farm was sacked. The local press was filled with comments backing Farm and criticising the board. The board retained him as a player - a further oddity as Farm had given the debut to the young Allan Ball over a year before. After Farm's departure, Queens failed to win a single game in the rest of that season. Farm moved on to considerable success elsewhere.

Raith Rovers (1st spell)

Farm spent the next decade as a club manager in Fife, firstly with three seasons at Raith Rovers. Again Farm and Willie McNaught missed each other. Like Queens, Rovers best decade was the fifties. McNaught is the record appearance holder at Raith with 657 appearances over twenty years. However McNaught retired in 1961.

In Farm's final season at Raith, Farm repeated his achievements at Queens by guiding Rovers to promotion to Scotland's top division.

Dunfermline Athletic

From 1967 to 1970, George Farm took charge of Dunfermline, winning the Scottish Cup in 1968. The most eye catching result in the cup run was in the first round - a 2-0 win over Jock Stein’s reigning European Cup holders at Celtic Park. Aberdeen were beaten 2-0 in the next round and Hearts 3-1 in the final. In the same season Farm managed the Pars to a fourth place finish in Scotland's top division.

In guiding the Fifers to the semi-finals of the resulting 1969 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup campaign, APOEL, Olympiacos and West Bromwich Albion were eliminated en route. Dunfermline lost by one goal on aggregate to eventual winners Slovan Bratislava (Slovan beat Barcelona in the final). This is the greatest achievement in Dunfermline's history, surpassing even that of Jock Stein's time at the club (with the only other major trophy victory in the Dunfermline’s history, Stein also took the Pars to the Scottish Cup but never progressed with them beyond the last eight in European competition). The same season brought Farm's highest league finish as a manager - third in Scotland's top tier. This equals 1965 as the highest league placing in Dunfermline's history.

Raith Rovers (2nd spell)

Farm retired from management after a second three-year spell at Raith Rovers from 1971 until 1974.

Retirement

Enjoying a quiet life in Edinburgh with his wife, Farm was best known then as a commentator and journalist. In a complete turn from the world of the beautiful game Farm also had a short time as a lighthouse keeper.

In 1988, like many others of Blackpool’s then surviving greats, Farm returned to Bloomfield Road to participate in the club's celebrations commemorating the centenary of the English Football League.

Career league and international summary:-

 

Kirk McLean

Willie Ferguson was player and then manager at Queen of the South during the 1930s experiencing many of the greatest moments in the club's history. Prior to this he spent a decade playing for Chelsea. Ferguson usually played as either left wing or wing half.

Early Years

A native of Muirkirk, William Copeland Ferguson was still a child when his family moved to Kirkconnel. It was there with local side Kello Rovers that Ferguson started in football. His talents attracted big name attention elsewhere.

Chelsea

In joining Chelsea, Ferguson was by no means first the connection the club had with Dumfriesshire. David Calderhead had played with predecessor to Queen of the South, Queen of the South Wanderers, for 8 years gaining 1 full Scotland cap. As manager he moved from Lincoln City to Chelsea in 1907 after knocking the Londoners out of the FA Cup. Norrie Fairgray from Dumfries made the same move in the same year to play under Calderhead at both clubs. Fairgray joined QoS in 1919. Angus Douglas also joined Chelsea in 1907, from his home town club Lochmaben F.C. Douglas played for Scotland once whilst at Chelsea before World War 1 stopped his career when he was then at Newcastle. After surviving the war Douglas succumbed to the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 that killed over 50 million people worldwide. Like Fairgray and Douglas, it was who Calderhead managed Ferguson at Chelsea.

Willie Ferguson broke into the Chelsea first team in 1923/24 playing on the left wing scoring once in 27 games.

Along with Scotland international and fellow new comer Andy Wilson, the young Ferguson suffered the disappointment of relegation. Ferguson’s goal was against eventual champions Huddersfield Town.

In 1924/25 Ferguson was switched to the position where he spent most of his Chelsea career – left half. Ferguson played 30 games that season with the club missing out on promotion finishing fifth. Ferguson scored at home and away against Blackpool. In 25/26 Ferguson played in 27 games as Calderhead's side missed out on promotion by one place – Chelsea finished third behind The Wednesday (as the Sheffield club were then known) and Derby County.

Season 26/27 was that of Ferguson’s greatest number of appearances at Stamford Bridge – 42 with three goals scored. Chelsea enjoyed a cup run to the FA Cup quarter finals. Ferguson played in front of a monster crowd at Stamford Bridge, 70,184 fans shoe-horned in for the 0-0 draw. Playing against Ferguson was his future manager at Queen of the South, George McLachlan of Cardiff City. Ferguson lost out as Cardiff won a dramatic replay 3-2.

In 27/28 Ferguson played 41 times finding the target once himself. Chelsea again missed promotion by one place – Man City and Leeds were the promoted sides.

Season 28/29 was a major disappointment with Chelsea failing to challenge seriously and finished ninth. No goals from Ferguson in his eleven games.

At the season’s end Ferguson embarked upon an adventure that would serve him well in the future at Queens - he was a key part of Calderhead's squad that went on Chelsea's groundbreaking three-month tour of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay (used by the Uruguayans as practice for hosting the first ever World Cup in 1930).

Calderhead's Chelsea became the first professional English club to play in São Paulo in July 1929 (Ferguson played). Chelsea were also the first side to play there with shirt numbers earning them the nickname of 'Los Numerados'.

In 1929/30 it was promotion at last for Calderhead and Ferguson as Chelsea were promoted back to the top tier in second place behind Blackpool. Wilson was also still at the club as well as another long serving Scottish international, left back Tommy Law (the Wembley Wizard debuted in 1926 for Chelsea). Ferguson played only 11 games, scoring twice. However Ferguson played in all four of the final crucial games that clinched promotion.

To capitalise on the 1930 promotion, Calderhead spent £25,000 on three big-name internationals. The English lads in the Chelsea squad must have occasionally felt like immigrants as the signings were yet more Scots. Inside forward Alec Cheyne is the man credited with having started the Hampden roar with his 1929 last minute winner against England. Winger Alex Jackson was another Wembley Wizard and a player who had won the league championship at Huddersfield. The third was another of the Wembley Wizards, the one and only Hughie Gallacher.

Trophies remained elusive. Some felt money wasn’t spent wisely; expensive forwards were signed while defence strengthening remained secondary. The 1932 FA Cup run was to be the closest Ferguson came to silverware. Ferguson played in all seven cup games that season as did Jackson. Gallacher scored in all of the 5 games he played in hitting six goals that season in the competition. Joining the competition at the third round, a trip away to Wirral side Tranmere Rovers ended 2-2. In a goals-galore replay Chelsea went through 5-3. West Ham were then defeated 3-1 in the fourth round at the Bridge. The next round needed a replay against a club who had re-named in 1929 - they were now called Sheffield Wednesday. 1-1 in Sheffield, 2-0 in London. Then in the quarter finals came arguably their season’s best result, a 2-0 win at Anfield against Liverpool.

The semi was played at Leeds Road in Huddersfield. It was to be the day of a forward now in history as a man who scored goals for Queen of the South. It was neither Ferguson nor Gallacher. Newcastle United’s Tommy Lang scored one and made another giving his side a 2-0 lead. Gallacher’s goal wasn’t enough to save Chelsea. It was a long journey home for Ferguson on the end of a 2-1 final score. In a similarity to George McLachlan, Lang went via Manchester United before ending up at Palmerston. Lang joint top scored in one of Queens finest ever sides, the team that finished sixth in the top division in 1938/39.

Ferguson remained a familiar name on the Chelsea team sheet in the 30s playing 25, 21 (scoring twice) and 17 games respectively in the first three seasons to start in that decade. He played regularly among his star studded team mates and very occasionally even deputised for Gallacher at centre forward. However in his last Chelsea season he figured mostly at inside left.

In Willie Ferguson’s 11 years at Stamford Bridge until his departure in 1933 he made 294 first team appearances scoring 11 goals. 1932-33 was similarly the last at Stamford Bridge for David Calderhead. His club record 966 games in charge spanned 26 years.

In Tony Matthews' 2005 publication, 'Who's who of Chelsea', the promotional summary states the following:-

"Their great players include Jimmy Greaves, Peter Osgood, Gianluca Vialli, Terry Venables, David Webb, and other superstars from yesteryear, including George Barber, Jackie Crawford, Willie Ferguson, Bobby McNeil, and Tommy Walker. As well as providing full details on these legends and many others..."

Queen of the South

Ferguson joined Queen of the South as the club's notable signing in the Summer of 1933 ahead of the club's debut season in Scottish Football's top division. They had been promoted as runners up to Hibernian the season before. Willie's brother Pearson Ferguson played five games for Queens between January and April of the previous season. The two never played on the same Queens side together.

Queens enjoyed a highly successful first season in the top division finishing 4th - their highest finish to date. The detail on that season is in the article on Ferguson's team mate, full back Willie Savage. Queens also returned to the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup for the first since 1922.

In 1935, Queens appointed one of Ferguson’s former FA cup opponents as manager – George McLachlan. Ferguson brought his experience to great effect. In the Summer of 1936 the Doonhamers ventured forth on a 1 month tour to France, Luxembourg and Algeria. With Ferguson an old hand at touring overseas from the three month Chelsea trip to South America, his experience could be utilised by the rest of the travelling entourage. Tuned into Ferguson’s frequency, Ireland’s sand dance style Laurie Cumming gleefully put away chance after chance teed up by Ferguson’s creative craftsmanship. More detail on the QoS 1936 Overseas tour is in the Queens Legends feature on George McLachlan.

Ferguson combined playing with coaching the reserve side in 1936/37, earning much praise. Ferguson took over from George McLachlan as Queens manager in 1937. Ferguson gave Jackie Oakes his first team debut shortly after taking over. Ex Scotland defender Phil Watson was signed by Ferguson in 1938. Another to figure prominently in Ferguson’s reign was another player featured in Queens legends, George Hamilton.

Ferguson's most notable result as manager was at Ibrox Park, the first time when Queens condemned Rangers to a league defeat (Queens had condemned Rangers to a Scottish Cup defeat the season before at Palmerston Park before making it to the quarters). The detail on this Ibrox win is in the George Hamilton article.

A popular figure at Queens, it was a surprise when Ferguson announced his resignation in the Summer of 1938. Ferguson wanted to focus on his confectionary and tobacconist business recently acquired from ex Queens goalkeeper George Woods. All of Ferguson's time at Queens was spent in Scotland's top division (excluding war time interruption Queens spent only one season out of the top division between 1933 and 1959).

Ferguson was succeeded as manager by Jimmy McKinnell Sr on July 2nd 1938, the day on which Ferguson's contract was terminated after his resignation.

Later years

Willie Ferguson owned the confectionary and tobacconist shop on Great King St in Dumfries opposite the G.P.O. His son Chris ran the business until the early 1990s.

Kirk McLean

Kirk McLean

Dave Halliday from Dumfries was a stunningly prolific goal scorer and a trophy winning manager. After starting his career at Queen of the South, his 38 Dundee goals in 1923-24 made him top scorer in Scotland's top division that season. His 43 Sunderland goals in 1928–29 gave him the same distinction in England's top flight that season.

Halliday scored 375 senior goals as well as scoring goals at two then non-league clubs. He is among a very select group of players (less than 30) to have scored over 200 goals in England's top division. He is easily the greatest goal scorer Dumfries has ever produced. As a manager only Halliday and Alex Ferguson have guided Aberdeen to be Scottish champions.

 

Early years and Queen of the South

Dave Halliday was born in Dumfries on December 11th, 1901 and started in local schools football where he featured on the left wing. He attended Noblehill Primary, then Dumfries Academy. Halliday then trained as a motor mechanic with car manufacturer Arrol-Johnston and played for the works team, one of three clubs who merged to form Queen of the South in 1919. However despite having played in the trial matches arranged in the formation of the new club Halliday did not join Queens until January 17th 1920. Between playing for Arrol-Johnston and Queens, Halliday had a brief spell with Tayleurians. After joining Queens until the end of the season in May 1920 Halliday played 19 games.

With this being Queens first season after formation, the club’s fixtures comprised of challenge games and local cup competitions. This included the Dumfries Charity Cup played over three weekends in May. On May 8th Queens thrashed Dumfries F.C. 7-1. A week later Queens saw off Solway Star 4-0 in the semi final before facing Dalbeattie Star in the final.

A then record crowd of 4500 (many watching from roofs and other points of elevation) watched the game. An early Halliday shot went wide following good lead up work involving Ian Dickson (Dickson also left Queens to score goals in England's top flight). However it was Dalbeattie and their physical style of play who took the lead. Queens equalised through Willie McCall (later of Blackburn Rovers) before Halliday's efforts bore fruit. One Halliday shot hit the post, another went inches wide before he put Queens ahead five minutes before half time. Connell hit Queens' third a minute into the second half before Halliday beat Borthwick to cross for McCall to bring up a 4-1 final score.

Dave Halliday scored 13 goals in his 19 games at outside left for the Doonhamers in 1920. Unsurprisingly he attracted the attention of other clubs. He was offered terms by St Mirren after the cup final win over Dalbeattie. Halliday asked for time to think the matter over before the Thursday after he agreed to sign on one condition - that he would be allowed to retain his employment with Arrol-Johnston and travel to Paisley on match days.

Later in 1924 Halliday's 16-year-old brother Billy joined Queen of the South.

St Mirren

Dave Halliday moved to St Mirren where he scored twice in 13 league games.

Dundee

In 1921 Dave Halliday went to Dundee, for whom Alec Troup played on the left wing. Dundee moved Halliday to centre forward. And so, at that moment, a goal-scoring phenomenon was unleashed. Finding goal scoring as natural as breathing he became one of the most prolific centre forwards in the game, finishing as Scottish top scorer in 1923-24 with 38 goals from 36 appearances - an excellent return in the era of the 3 man off side rule. Halliday reached the Scottish Cup final in 1924-25. Dundee knocked out the reigning Cup holders 3-1 at Dens Park on the way - Airdire, despite a tenacious game from Hughie Gallacher. Big Davie Halliday scored Dundee's third in this game where the press also praised his distribution. Halliday was top scorer for Dundee in the run to the final with five goals. In total Halliday scored 90 goals in just 126 league appearances for the Dees.

While he was with the Dens Park club Halliday was capped for the Scottish League in the 1-1 draw against the English League at Ibrox Park on 15th March 1924. The Scotland goal was by future Wembley Wizard, Alan Morton. Despite scoring consistently throughout his career as a striker Halliday was never once picked for the full Scottish national side. He had the misfortune to play his best football at the same time as the most prolific goals to games scorer in Scottish International football history, Hughie Gallacher.

Dave Halliday´s goal scoring exploits attracted attention from elsewhere yet again. In 1925, to the delight of goalkeepers throughout Scotland, Halliday was on his way South.

Sunderland

In 1925, English top division side Sunderland paid £4,000 for Halliday´s services, replacing Charlie Buchan in the team. Halliday's goal stats at Sunderland make unbelievable reading.

Halliday announced himself on Wearside in immaculate style - two doubles then two hat tricks in his first four Sunderland games. He scored at least 35 league goals in each of the four full seasons spent at Sunderland. Halliday´s 43 goals in 1928-29 saw him succeed Bill 'Dixie' Dean as top scorer in England's top division for the season. This remains Sunderland's highest number of league goals scored by one player in a season in the club's history.

Halliday scored four goals in one game on three occasions (all in the league, against Manchester United, Portsmouth and Sheffield United). He also hit 12 hat tricks - the most three goal strikes by any Sunderland player in history (11 in the league and one in the FA Cup). Seeming to victimise certain teams, one of the hat tricks was also against Sheff Utd as were two against Man Utd. Two hat tricks were against West Brom. Man Utd felt Halliday's venom more than any other team when he played for Sunderland (14 goals from 10 games). Against Liverpool, not once did he fail to score - Halliday has a tally of 12 goals from eight games against them while with Sunderland. In eight games against Bolton he scored eleven times. West Brom played four games against Halliday at Sunderland and conceded eight goals because of his finishing. The list goes on and on and on....

Of 27 clubs who Halliday played against for Sunderland, only five were able to contain him to a 50% goals per game strike rate or less. Halliday played against two teams that he failed to score against at least once. Notts County were one (two games). The other was Cardiff City (a very decent top division side at the time, and the club of another Queens legend, George McLachlan). Remarkably in view of Halliday's prowess of raining goals at the time, he failed to score against them in six games. Despite not scoring himself, Halliday enjoyed 3 wins and a draw from the six games.

No other player at Sunderland has given the club’s score keeper a greater feeling of job security than Dave Halliday. Halliday hit his first 100 goals for Sunderland in just 101 games. He has the best strike rate (goals to games ratio) of any Sunderland striker in the club’s history - 164 goals in 175 games (155 league from 166 games and nine in nine FA Cup outings) for an average of 0.937 goals per game. Only one of his goals was from the penalty spot. Only Buchan and all-time Sunderland top scorer Bobby Gurney have scored more goals for the club than Halliday. However neither get anywhere near Halliday´s eye popping strike rate (both Buchan and Gurney have a strike rate at Sunderland of below 0.6 goals per game).

Despite Halliday's goals, trophies proved elusive, with Sunderland achieving no better than third place (twice) and fourth place (once) in Halliday's four full league seasons at Roker.

While at Sunderland in November 1927 Dave's brother Billy joined nearby rivals Newcastle United. The same season at Sunderland saw the debut of Adam Allan to witness Halliday's potency first hand. Allan played 65 games for Sunderland in league and cup. The centre half later joined Queens to be a cornerstone of the team that finished fourth in Scotland's top division in 1933/34.

Arsenal

In 1929 Dave Halliday signed for Herbert Chapman's Arsenal as an intended replacement for Jack Lambert. Halliday debuted against Birmingham City on 9 November 1929. The man still regarded by many as Arsenal's greatest ever player had debuted 10 weeks before, Alex James.

Halliday scored a relatively modest number of goals in 1929-30 with 8 goals in 15 games (including four in a 6-6 draw with Leicester City). However, he was dropped towards the end of the season in favour of Lambert, and missed out on the 1930 FA Cup Final, which saw Arsenal claim their first major trophy with a 2-0 win.

Manchester City

Dave Halliday signed for Manchester City only a year after joining Arsenal. A team mate of Matt Busby at City, Halliday again scored consistently hitting 47 goals in 76 league games. He also scored four goals from six cup appearances. At Man City in January 1932 he scored a hat trick against former club Sunderland in just ten minutes.

Man City reached the FA Cup semi finals in 1932 where they lost 1-0 to Halliday's ex club, Arsenal.

In 1933 Halliday again missed the FA Cup Final, a game City lost 3-0 to Everton.

Clapton Orient

Dave Halliday saw out his senior playing career outside England’s top flight with Clapton Orient between 1933 and 1935. He was still a regular goal scorer with 33 strikes in 53 matches.

Player Manager

Yeovil & Petters United

After leaving Orient, Dave Halliday became player-manager of non-league Yeovil & Petters United. Halliday played for Yeovil in the FA Cup proper where predictably he added to his senior goals tally - three more to add to the list. In the 1937/38 FA Cup Halliday took Yeovil into the 3rd round draw. However Halliday had returned to Scotland before the game away to Manchester United.

Halliday’s placing in the history of great scorers from the UK

To give some measure of Halliday’s ability, 28 players have scored over 200 goals in England’s top division. Halliday is in that list along with such names as Jimmy Greaves, Bill ‘Dixie’ Dean, Alan Shearer, Hughie Gallacher, Ian Rush and Denis Law.

The list includes 5 Scots (as well as Halliday, Gallacher and Law, there is also Andrew Wilson and David Herd). Of the five, Law and Herd played their entire professional club careers outside Scotland. Wilson started at Clyde before he moved South to play for The Wednesday (as the Sheffield club were then named). This leaves Queen of the South as the only club in Scotland to have had two ex players to have since gone on to score over 200 goals in the top flight of English football – Hughie Gallacher and Dave Halliday.

Manager

Aberdeen

Dave Halliday hung up his boots and returned to his native Scotland in December 1937 to become manager of Aberdeen. In April 1938 he signed George Hamilton from his ex club Queen of the South. This would be as shrewd a signing as Halliday would ever make as Hamilton would show himself as a player of genuine class.

It was after the Second World War when national trophies started to arrive at Pittodrie for the first time, thus securing Halliday's place in the Aberdeen Hall of Fame. Aberdeen won the 1945-46 League Cup (although this was a reduced version of the League Cup, and does not appear in all official records). In 1946-47 Halliday's team won the Scottish Cup with the inspirational Hamilton scoring in the final. Aberdeen also reached the League Cup final that year.

Halliday added to the Doonhamer connection at Pittodrie in 1948 when he signed Dumfries born ex Scotland international Bobby Ancell.

In the 1951 League Cup Halliday's side beat Rangers home and away in the group stage to eliminate the Glasgow club. Then came a titanic quarter final against the team who were then Scotland's top side, Hibs. Each team won their home leg 4-1. By the time of the replay on Monday 2nd October, they would have known that their semi final opponents on the subsequent Saturday were scheduled to be Queen of the South. Drawing 1-1, a 2nd replay was played on the Tuesday. It ended up a Dons disaster as they were on the end of a 5-1 Hibs hammering.

Halliday returned to the Scottish Cup final in 1953 with a series of ties that went to replays. Motherwell drew 5-5 at Pittodrie before being blitzed 6-1 at Fir Park. Next was an excellent win against the still excelent Hibs side of the era (1-1 away, 2-0 at home). Third Lanark were knocked out in the semis in another replay before the Dons lost 1-0 to Rangers in a replay in the final.

Halliday went to the Scottish Cup final again the season after. A second round trip to Duns produced an avalanche win (8-0). Next were two wins against Edinburgh opposition; 3-1 away to Hibs and 3-0 at home to Hearts. The semi final draw brought a game against Rangers at Hampden. Halliday returned North with a stunning 6-0 win against the Ibrox club in the bag. The final brought the opportunity of a Glasgow double to match the Edinburgh double from earlier in the cup run. it was not to be as Sean Fallon hit the winner for Celtic to take the league and cup double with a 2-1 win.

1954 brought international duty and an encounter with the right winger of Queen of the South, Bobby Black. "Davie Halliday, the first time I ever met the bloke was when we went to Ireland. He was the manager of the Scottish League team that went to Ireland when I played for the Scottish League. We flew across on the same plane and got chatting and one thing and another. Then of course in the hotel we did a bit of chatting. I knew he had a Queen of the South connection but he was manager of Aberdeen at the time. All of the Halliday family were a football mad sort of family. A lot of them were pretty good players." Under Halliday's management the Scots returned with a 3 - 1 win. Black scored two goals.

1955 brought ambitions of a league and cup double for Halliday himself. Rangers were beaten for the second Scottish Cup season running. Next, Hearts were vanquished in the quarter final. Aberdeen were 2-1 up in the semi final against Clyde. Scotland left winger Tommy Ring then scored his second of the game to equalise in the 89th minute. Clyde were then victorious in a 1-0 replay win, just as they were against Celtic in the final (in the replay against Celtic, Ring was again the scorer). Another victim of the semi was Willie Wilson, the goalkeeper from Dumfries who had been unable to win a regular game at Queens ahead of Roy Henderson; Wilson broke a finger in the semi meaning he missed the final. In charge of the semi was triple World Cup referee, Bobby Davidson, father of future Queens goalkeeper, Alan Davidson.

The league was a different story. Aberdeen finished three points ahead of Celtic for Halliday to become the first manager to lift the Scottish Championship with Aberdeen.

In Dave Halliday's span in charge of the Dons he was the club's most successful manager before the arrival of Alex Ferguson. Only Halliday and Ferguson have managed Aberdeen to be Scottish champions.

Leicester City

After leaving Aberdeen Dave Halliday spent three years at the helm of Leicester City, guiding them to a Second Division title and promotion in 1956-57. The season after he signed another player originally from Dumfries, ex Celtic stalwart, Joe Baillie. Although Halliday left the Leicester job in 1958, the 1957 promotion proved to be the start of the club's longest ever top division run, ending in 1969.

Dave Halliday retired from football after Leicester City.

 

With an outstanding career as an incredible goal scorer followed by a long and successful career in management, Halliday would make a worthy addition to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

Kirk McLean

George Hamilton started his senior career with Queen of the South before enjoying a long and successful career at Aberdeen. In his five full internationals for Scotland he scored four goals. Hamilton was the first ex-Queens player to travel to the World Cup finals.

Bobby Black gave the following summary of Hamilton:-

“I remember him. Oh, he was pretty useful, he was what they called an inside forward in these days, he was pretty useful. He used to get a lot of good write ups.”

Hamilton was the sort of player who was admired and respected by opposing players and fans from not only the quality of his football but also from the way he played the game. As Black said, “He had that reputation that's for certain. Everybody knew who Gentleman George was in my day.”

Queen of the South

Born in Irvine in December 1917, George Hamilton started out with local junior side Irvine Meadow before, aged 19, joining top division Queen of the South. The inside forward was comfortable with the ball on either foot and had an obvious love of playing the game.

In Hamilton’s single season in Dumfries he scored nine goals in 31 league games. Hamilton’s last two games at Queens have gone down as one of the most dramatic league finishes in the club’s history.

At the end of a difficult 1937/38 season with two games to go Queens were second bottom. Morton had long since been condemned to the drop. This left Queens in a seven way dog fight trying to avoid the other relegation spot. Even victory in the last two games of the season wouldn’t guarantee safety; results elsewhere would also have to go Queens’ way. Mission 1 for Queens - beat fellow relegation candidates Kilmarnock at home.

As Scottish Cup finalists Killie were clearly not to be under estimated (not that a team second bottom could afford to under estimate anyone). Hamilton gave Queens the lead. His second goal made it 2-0 at half time. However Killie pulled it back to 2-1, Jackie Oakes then took a corner from which Joe Tulip launched a venomous shot at goal. The ball was hand balled over the bar by Killie's right back. The ref pointed to the cormer again. Queens players unsurprisingly protested passionately after which the ref consulted his linesman. The ref now awarded a penalty to Queens. Willie Savage duly despatched it to make it 3-1 for Queens to close the game out with no further goals. This took Queens to fourth bottom. However with all the teams around them having games in hand, Queens were far from out of the woods. Mission 2 for the Queens players - beat Rangers at Ibrox.

Despite Queens’ consistent success against Celtic since joining the top league, Rangers had proved another matter. While the win in the previous season’s Scottish Cup was deserved it was also an isolated victory over the Glasgow side. It had also been at Palmerston.Rangers put Queens under early pressure. Bob McPhail shot wide in a one on one with Queens goalie, Mellors. In another attempt McPhail hit the post. Mellors also made a superb one handed save to keep the score blank. In return for Queens, Joe Tulip in front of Rangers’ goal was robbed of the ball as he tried to get his shot in.

Having weathered the early storm Queens’ Phil Watson passed the ball out left to Jackie Oakes. Oakes got rid of one defender before cutting inside and then going past another. Now on the edge of the box Oakes fired in a laser guided shot and bang! 1 – 0 for Queens.

Soon after the restart Rangers lost possession. Tulip and Jackie Law combined out wide before Tulip made it to the touch line to get his cross in. Law was there to meet the cross and shot instantly and bang! 2 – 0 for Queens.

The Queens players were now flying with Hamilton and Law causing Rangers’ defence problems. Hamilton got the better of the Rangers goalie but the ball was cleared off the line. Thomson immediately returned the ball back towards the Rangers box where the keeper was beaten again as the ball this time hit the cross bar. The rebound came to Law again and bang! 3 – 0 for Queens.

28 minutes on the clock and Queens fans must have considered if they were hallucinating. The remainder of the half saw a desperate rearguard action by Rangers with Queens’ forwards in full flow. Oakes came close to adding his second to the score sheet. Tulip also came close. Rangers though served a reminder that they weren’t out of it yet when Mellors was called in to save just before the half time whistle. However no further goals meant it was half time score - Rangers 0, Queens 3.

It seemed too good to last. Sure enough it was. With the second half under way McPhail soon evaded a challenge before angling his drive past Mellors. Rangers 1, Queens 3.

Tulip again came close to scoring when his free kick from the edge of box was inches too high of the target. A Smith header was inches wide for Rangers before Kinnear’s cross to Turnbull at the near post made it Rangers 2, Queens 3 - 55 minutes on the clock.

The tables were now turned. Desperate defence from the Queens players didn’t stop the ball going into the Doonhamer’s net a third time. This time though McPhail’s effort was ruled offside. Queens’ players continued to battle for every ball fully aware their top flight survival depended on it. The forwards troubled the Rangers defence when they could. Despite the continued ebb and flow of the game there were no more goals before full time.

Final result; Rangers 2, Queens 3. With statisticians having a field day as the results came in from elsewhere the season-end league table told its story - Queens were safe.

Aberdeen (1st spell)

Aberdeen, managed by ex Queens’ Dave Halliday purchased George Hamilton for £3000 in April 1938. Halliday would never spend any smarter money than he did on George Hamilton – 102 goals in 203 Aberdeen league games give testament to Hamilton’s goal scoring potency. As with many of his peers, the Second World War hugely interrupted Hamilton’s career. League football in Scotland went into abeyance in 1939 and Hamilton returned to his native Ayrshire. Temporary Regional Leagues were then established. Travel restrictions meant players would guest for local clubs. Thus Hamilton played for Ayr United and then Rangers between 1940 and 1945.

Hamilton returned to Aberdeen when global combat ended and enjoyed his most successful period. As decades later Gordon Strachan would be the heartbeat of Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen side, so it was George Hamilton in the side managed by Dave Halliday. After lifting the transitional 1945-46 League Cup by beating Rangers 3-2 in the final, Hamilton then scored in winning the Scottish Cup Final against Hibs the following season. Aberdeen returned to the League Cup final in 1946-47 with Hamilton scoring a hat trick in the 6-2 semi final drubbing against Hearts despite being at  supposedly neutral Easter Road.

Despite this, when Hearts offered £8000 plus the younger Archie Kelly for his services in December 1947, the Reds considered it good value for a 30 year old and accepted.

Hearts

Hamilton's first Hearts goal was in the 1-1 draw away to Partick Thistle on 31st Jan 1948. This was the start of a 10 game unbeaten league run lasting to the season's end. The last game of the league season was Hamilton's last for the Jambos, the 2-1 win at Ibrox - Hamilton scored a 75th minute winner. Rangers finished the season two points behind champions Hibs.

After only half a season and 15 competitive games for Hearts (scoring six goals in 13 league appearances and one goal in the Scottish Cup) plus two friendlies, an unsettled Hamilton returned to Halliday's Aberdeen for £12,000.

Aberdeen (2nd spell)

In March 1950 George Hamilton played for Aberdeen in a landmark Scottish Cup quarter final game – a landmark game for Queen of the South. With Hamilton pulling the strings the Dons were three goals up within 15 minutes. However Queens pulled the three goals back to force a replay in Aberdeen – a game Queens won 2-1 to go to the Scottish Cup semi finals for the first time.

Hamilton’s fine form helped Aberdeen to two further (losing) Scottish Cup Final appearances, in 1953 and 1954. The years then started to take effect as he largely looked on from the sidelines as a young Dons side won the 1954-55 League title with the long serving Halliday still at the helm. Hamilton was then transferred to namesake Hamilton Academical in 1955.

International caps

Hamilton's consistent good form in 1945-46 earned selection for two games against England that have not been awarded cap status. Both in April '46, the first was one of the 'Victory Internationals' arranged following the end of World War 2. Scotland won 1-0 thanks to a Jimmy Delaney goal before an astonishing Hampden crowd of 139,468. The second was the benefit game after the Burnden Park disaster in Bolton. Willie Thornton and Don Welsh both scored a double in the 2-2 draw at Maine Road. This was watched by another big crowd - 70,000.

Hamilton's Scotland national team official debut was in the 0-0 draw against Northern Ireland on 27 Nov 1946. He earned an international recall in 1951 when he scored a hat-trick in trouncing Belgium 5-0 away. This is one of only two Scottish national team hat tricks so far by an Aberdeen player (the other was by Alec Cheyne). A week later it was a different story as the then powerful Austrian side handed out a trouncing of their own – a 4-0 away defeat for the Scots.

In 1954 when aged 36, he was recalled again ahead of the World Cup finals in Switzerland. He played in two build up games against Norway scoring the only goal of the game played in Scotland. The return game in Scandinavia was 1-1. Hamilton was then selected in the 22-man squad for the finals.

To quote the SFA website on the Scotland expedition to the 1954 World Cup finals:-“The preparation was atrocious, Scotland only travelled with 13 players”.

Utterly bizarre as this seems now it is hardly surprising of the SFA at the time. For the previous World Cup, FIFA announced the top two teams in the UK International Championship would be offered places at the finals. Then SFA Secretary George Graham announced that Scotland would only attend the finals if they won their qualification campaign. When Scotland finished runners up, incomprehensibly, Graham stuck to his guns.

In 1954 things weren’t helped by Rangers’ refusal to release players for the finals. The Ibrox policy makers of the day deemed it more important to take their players on a North American tour - similarly Hearts toured to South Africa.

1954 became the most calamitous finals campaign in the history of the Scottish national team. As Tommy Docherty later remembered on the squad selection policy for the finals, “The plane was full of committee-men and their wives. It was the same for the 1958 World Cup. The heavy mob in charge looked after themselves. The players didn’t matter.”

Hamilton was one of the nine players to stay at home on reserve with the likes of Queens´ Jimmy Binning and Portsmouth’s Jackie Henderson. However Hibs' ‘famous five’ inside right Bobby Johnstone withdrew through injury, with Hamilton called in to replace him in the 13 to travel. Bobby Evans also had fitness concerns yet wasn’t replaced in the travelling 13.

The blunders of the SFA executive committee were not confined to squad arrangements. Players weren’t provided with training equipment meaning players had to provide their own. Training sessions took place in public parks. Other squads had lightweight gear appropriate for the heat of Central European Summer. The Scots team played in the heavy gear more appropriate to a January night at Palmerston.

The first game was against Austria and despite a creditable show the Scots lost 1-0. Hours before the next game, against reigning champions Uruguay, Scotland manager Andy Beattie finally decided he had seen enough of the incompetence of the SFA. Beattie resigned. In the melting heat of the sun and with Uruguay all time great Juan Schiaffino giving a master class in providing the ammunition for his team mates, the Scots were made to suffer.

Having never lost a World Cup finals games before, the Uruguayan record was never under threat as they thumped in seven goals without reply – still today the record defeat of the Scotland team. Without Beattie’s guidance on the touchline Neil Mochan remembered the heights of the same tactical sophistication repeatedly coming from the touchline, “Come on boys! Get stuck in!”

Like Bobby Evans, George Hamilton did not play in either of Scotland’s two games. Austria went on as far as the semis. Schiaffino and Uruguay knocked out Ivor Broadis’ England in the quarters. The Hungarians needed extra time to see Uruguay off in the semis.

George Hamilton was the first player to travel to a World Cup finals with Queen of the South on his CV as an ex club. Sammy Malcolmson repeated the feat in Spain in 1982 after he emigrated to New Zealand. The third player to do so was Bernie Slaven at Italia 90 after he defected to play for Eire. Of the three only Malcolmson has played at the World Cup finals. Ironically his one game was the 5-2 defeat by his native Scotland.

George Hamilton also gained three caps for the Scottish League scoring two goals.

Hamilton Academical and beyond

George Hamilton retired a matter of months after joining Accies, just after his 38th birthday having scored twice in 11 league games for the club.

After hanging up his boots George Hamilton joined the Aberdeen coaching staff.

Career league and international summary:-

GEORGE HAMILTON	Scottish International
	5 caps	4 Goals
Born: Irvine	d.o.b: 7 December 1917
	Died : 2001
Position:	Inside Forward
Teams	Seasons	Apps.	Gls.
Queen of the South	37-38	31	9
Aberdeen	38-48	71	36
Hearts	47-48	13	6
Aberdeen	48-55	132	66
Hamilton Academical	55-56	11	2
	Totals	258	119

Kirk McLean

Roy Henderson was goalkeeper at Queen of the South through the club’s best period in the early and mid 1950s. The enormously talented and highly confident Henderson made 381 QoS first team appearances - eighth highest in the club's history.

Henderson was selected six times as Scotland reserve goalkeeper but never given his chance in the starting line up for the national team.

Early years

Roy Henderson was born in Wishaw and a native of Law. He played for Carluke Amateurs, Lanark United, Third Lanark and guested for Aberdeen during the war. It was at Aberdeen that his talent blossomed when he was playing two games per week, one for Aberdeen and one for his army unit, where he was the sergeant PT instructor. Henderson's form attracted attention, and with rumours of interest from a prominent English club, Jimmy McKinnell Junior stepped in to sign him.

Queen of the South

Henderson signed for Queen of the South in July 1946 and from there he went on to have a career as one of the finest goalkeepers of his generation. He was Jimmy McKinnell Junior's first signing for Queens.

Henderson's team mate, right winger Bobby Black – “Who could surpass Roy Henderson as a goalkeeper anywhere in Scotland? When I came to join Queen of the South, every week it was the other team’s score versus Roy Henderson. It was no idle boast he made, he played them on his own he said. That was Roy. He was a great all round player.”

Henderson’s best games?

Bobby Black – “They were so many of them it would be difficult to single out any particular one. It was Saturday after Saturday that he was the star man.”

Off the pitch?

“Mad as a hatter,” laughed Black of the outgoing Henderson. “I even seen him out taking a throw in as a goalkeeper. It was in the early days of my time at Queens. He was a law unto himself. I think it was a bit cultivated, I don’t think he was always like that. I’ve seen directors say things to Roy and at other clubs players would be suspended for the retort. He was a mate of mine, we played a lot of golf together.” Indeed Black tells us that in this period in the QoS dressing room, the three principle conspirators for comedy were Henderson, Black himself and right back Dougie Sharpe.

Bold print sub-headings in the press repeatedly give testament to his status among the best goalkeepers around at the time:-

"Goalkeeper defied Celtic"

"Henderson v Hearts"

"The 'Keeper who had Rangers at their wits end"

"Brilliant work by Henderson"

It was in the 1950 Scottish Cup semi final 1-1 draw against Rangers at Hampden Park that he had one of his finest hours. As one press article said, "The Henderson of the first half was not just another 'keeper having a good day. He was a man living his finest moment". Another reported, "It was not just the shutters that he put up - he practically bricked up his goal against the Rangers forwards".

Throughout Henderson's time on the books as a Queen of the South player they would spend only one season out of the top division of Scottish football. That season was 1950-51 when they were promoted straight back to the top flight as Scottish B Division champions. The success of that season was enhanced by a run to the semi final of the Scottish League Cup.

In February 1951 Henderson's future at Palmerston came into doubt as Queens' directors considered a bid by Newcastle United. Henderson stayed with the Dumfries club.

Henderson's time at the club would mark the most successful period in the club's history with the top division mid table finishes of the early and mid 50s peaking with a 6th place finish in 1956. Henderson is eighth on Queens all time appearances list with 381 games in league and cup. Queens finest achievements with Henderson in goals are listed in the Queens Legends profile of his team mates, Billy Houliston, Jim Patterson, Jimmy Binning and Dougie Sharpe. The feature on Binning in particular contains further info related to Henderson in the section on the Scotland squad for the 1954 World Cup finals.

Scotland

Many fans across Scotland felt Henderson was the most talented goalkeeper in the land with the press also reporting that he should be given his chance in the national team. It never happened. Many speculated that if he had played for a higher profile club then his international selection would have been a formality. Others suggested that Henderson's extravert persona, always happy to engage in banter with fans behind his goal (on one occasion an orange was thrown at him to which his response was to nonchalantly peel the fruit and eat it, as well as the throw in mentioned by Bobby Black above), was not to the liking of the international selectors. Henderson was selected six times as reserve keeper for the Scotland national team. Never once in his career was Henderson selected to play ahead of the likes of Jimmy Cowan, Bobby Brown, George Farm nor Tommy Younger.

Henderson was alleged by many to be the best keeper never to play for Scotland. In one game, with Henderson on stand-by as reserve, Cowan played with a broken finger in fear that Henderson would shine for Scotland and deny Cowan future selection.

Career ending injury

Bobby Black - "I was there that night, I could hear it. As a winger I was in the other half of the park and I could hear it go. Charlie Dickson of Dunfermline."

(Roy Henderson was the type from whom a smile was rarely far away. However while he was to briefly attempt a comeback, his days as a professional footballer were effectively ruined.)

With the 1956-57 season only four days old, Queens played against Dunfermline Athletic in the League Cup. Henderson rushed from his goal looking to thwart the advancing Charlie Dickson. The players collided. After receiving treatment Dickson was able to continue. Henderson was stretchered off with a broken leg. That moment saw the beginning of the decline of Queen of the South from their top division mid-table status of the previous few seasons. Despite missing most of that season Henderson returned to action briefly but, unable to regain full fitness, he was forced to retire from playing football. He is eighth in the QoS all time appearances list with 381 games.

After retirement from football

In a poll in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard in 2004 (nearly 50 years after his career ending injury) Henderson was voted the greatest ever Queens player.

The late Roy Henderson's wife continues to live in Dumfries as an avid supporter of Queens on match days at Palmerston Park.

Kirk McLean

Billy Houliston is the only Queen of the South player to have gained full international recognition with Scotland. As well as his three full caps he was capped nine times in all at different levels for Scotland scoring eight goals. A rampaging centre forward, Houliston was never on a losing international side.

Early years

Billy Houliston was born in Dumfries on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith at Westpark Cottages, where he lived for a short time before his family moved to a house at the Crichton. He played for Brownhall Primary School in the Dumfries and District Primary School League at centre half. He played for the League in cup matches against other areas. Houliton's secondary school was Dumfries High School where he played only occasionally. On leaving school he stopped playing completely.

Aged 17, working as a nurse at the Crichton Royal Hospital Houliston started playing again. It was here that he moved from defence to attack, playing at either inside or centre forward. In 1941 Houliston was called up for national service. He joined RAF Coastal Command as a wireless operator. In his 4 years service Houliston was attached to 16 different stations where he represented each at football. Playing in the Arbroath area the local side offered to sign him. On leave back in Dumfries Houliston declined the offer when taking instead a trial game for Queen of the South reserves.

Queen of the South

After an unremarkable debut against Falkirk 'A' Houliston scored in the 4-1 victory over Celtic reserves. Like many that he was to score, his goal was eye-catching. Chasing a long ball up field Houliston beat Kelly in the Celtic defence. He then drew the Celtic keeper out and chipped the ball over the goalie’s outstretched leg and ran around him. With the keeper stranded, putting the ball into the net was a formality. Houliston was offered a contract.

A month later, on 13th October 1945 Houliston made his first team debut, away to Morton. Nick named "Basher" due to his 'afraid of no one' attitude, he was the idol of Palmerston Park in the late 1940s - his all action style meant sleep deprivation for defenders everywhere. 

On January 14th 1948 he gained his first international recognition, playing for the Scottish League v the Irish League at Celtic Park. Playing beside George Young, Sammy Cox, Willie Ormond and Gordon Smith, Houliston scored twice in the 3-0 victory. His first was a header from a corner kick, the second a brilliant shot from just inside the box. On March 24th Houliston represented the Scottish League in the 1-1 draw this time away to their English counterparts. George Young scored for the Scots, Stan Mortensen for the English. Celtic then offered a big fee to bring him to Parkhead, but Houliston was happy to stay with Queens.

Two more caps at League level followed, both against the League of ireland. In the first game Houliston's goal added to a Lawrie Reilly double for a 3-1 home win. A year later Reilly scored the only goal of the game played in Ireland.

On 17th November 1948 Houliston made his full international debut. The Irish were 2-0 up inside five minutes. 22 minutes later Houliston met the ball on the turn 10 yards from the Irish goal and rifled the ball into the Irish net. A through pass to Jimmy Mason brought the equaliser. For the next goal Houliston passed the ball wide to Willie Waddell and then kept moving goal wards. He met the winger's cross with a flying header for the comeback to be complete in the 89th minute. In Houliston's obituary in 'The Independent', the goal was described by politican Tam Dalyell as, "one of the best goals ever seen at the Glasgow ground". Before a crowd of 91,547, Houliston was Hampden's hero of the hour.

Five months after, on 9th April 1949, Houliston played against England at Wembley. Heroes everyone, Scotland comprehensively outclassed their opponents to return North with a 3-1 win in the bag with 98,188 fans watching. Scotland were 1 up at half time thanks to Jimmy Mason's goal (the move started from Houliston's throw in). In the 52nd minute Houliston beat England goallie, Frank Swift, to Billy Steel's through pass to square it with one left foot touch back to Steel. With the hard work now done, Steel will never have scored an easier tap in. Scotland's third was Lawrie Reilly's header before Jackie Milburn scored an English consolation goal. 10,000 fans greeted the returning heroes on their arrival at Glasgow's Central station.

10 days later Houliston played for Queens in a friendly against Leeds at Elland Road. Houliston unwittingly became the first ever first direct opponent of a young debutant, John Charles who played at centre back that day. Now also a supreme legend with Wales and Juventus, Charles is remembered as one of the greatest all round players in the history of football. Houliston somewhat prophetically after the game said the 17 year old was, "the best centre-half I've ever played against". The game ended 0-0.

Houliston's last full cap was again in April '49, before 123,970 fans at Hampden in the 2-0 win over France. Steel scored a goal in each half.

That summer saw Houliston and his Scottish team mates tour the USA. Houliston netted twice in St Louis in the 6-0 win against the All Stars XI. Another Houliston goal followed in a 4-1 win against the American Soccer League in New York. However a serious ankle injury brought his involvement in the tour to a premature end. He journeyed home on the Queen Mary for an operation. An international career that had been progressing very nicely was now over. In all Houliston collected 9 caps at different levels scoring eight goals and never played in a losing Scotland side.

In March 1950 Houliston played in a titanic Scottish Cup quarter final tustle against the Aberdeen team managed by Queens legend, Dave Halliday. Playing at Palmerston Park and with another Queens legend impressing highly for the Dons, George Hamilton, Aberdeen were three goals up after 15 minutes playing some fine football. A Doug McAvoy goal reduced the deficit back to two goals by half time. Queens unleashed a second half onslaught. Amid some frantic play Queens’ Doug McBain pulled a goal back with nine minutes remaining. Houliston, playing out of position on the right wing then crossed for McAvoy's second goal to level the scores at 3-3. Frank Watson in the Aberdeen goal pulled off an outstanding last minute save to force a replay back in Aberdeen. In the 28th minute at Pittodrie, Aberdeen again went a goal up before Houliston (playing at his preferred centre forward after a tactical reshuffle during the game) lashed home the equaliser from a McAvoy pass. A minute later Queens were ahead for the first time in the tie - McAvoy again the provider for Charlie Johnston this time to trouble the score keeper. With no more goals Queens went through to the semi final for the first time in the club's history.

The semi final tie at Hampden on April Fools day against Rangers would go down as a Scotttish Cup classic. Disaster struck for Queens in the first minute. In the era before substitutions Doug McBain’s injury reduced Queens to playing the rest of the game a man short. Regardless, 10 man Queens knuckled down and got on with it. In the 43rd minute Houliston, spraying the ball wide from midfield, saw Rangers Willie Woodburn unable to block out the pass. The ball fell to Jim Patterson who fed Jackie Brown. Brown’s sugar finish from 15 yards gave a half time score - Queen of the South 1, Rangers 0. From a defensive mix up Rangers equalised with a bundled goal in the 59th minute. Houliston had a last minute chance to put Queens through but the game ended 1-1. The replay again at Hampden saw Queens go in 0-0 at half time. Queens were still in with a shout even after Rangers went a goal up in the second half. However after a highly questionable 76th minute Rangers penalty it was game over. Rangers added a third before full time.

During Houliston's time as a Queen of the South player they spent only one season out of the top division of Scottish football. That season was the Scottish B Division championship winning season of 1950-51 with a first ever League Cup semi final appearance that year thrown into the bargain. Details of that season are listed in the Queens Legends profile of Jim Patterson.

Houliston left Queens with a tally of 60 goals in 120 league games.

Author, journalist and broadcaster Hunter Davies has written in publications varying from The New Statesman to The Guardian. He has also written a hugely impressive catalog of football and non football related books. Davies recalled of his child hood:

"For a while we lived in Dumfries. This was during the war and my father was working at an RAF maintenance station. The local team was Queen of the South. Queens were my team. My hero became Billy Houliston, an old-fashioned, bullet-headed, barge-the-goalie centre-forward who played for Queen of the South who got three full caps for Scotland. I lived in Dumfries for four years. Queens having got to the Scottish Cup semi-final for the first time in 58 years, I remember the last one well."

Berwick Rangers and Third Lanark

As well as marking the end of Houliston's international career, the ankle injury blighted his club career also. Queen of the South released him in July 1952. While holidaying in Blackpool he was pursued by dignitaries of Berwick Rangers. A contract was offered and Houliston signed while still on holiday. He spent only one season at Berwick where fate meant the club were drawn to play against Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup. A last minute goal gave Queens a 3-2 victory.

Houliston then had a brief spell with Third Lanark before hanging up his boots in 1953.

After playing

Houliston became a director at Queen of the South in 1957 and was later chairman for several years, winning promotion to the first division with the early 1960s Queens team of player manager George Farm, Neil Martin, Ernie Hannigan, Iain McChesney, Jim Kerr and the now veteran Jim Patterson.

Kirk McLean

Iain McChesney has given longer service to Queen of the South as a footballer than any other player in the club's history. Queen’s enjoyed the benefit of McChesney’s dedication and on field versatility in a playing career lasting 21 years. After hanging up his boots, ‘Ches’ has continued to serve the club in a variety of roles.

Iain McChesney gave the interview below on the date of Queens’ 90th anniversary, 21st March 2009.

 

Iain McChesney joined Queen of the South in July 1960 when he was but a boy of 16. As McChesney said:-

“It was actually Jack Law’s father, he’d started coaching Greystone Rovers, he coached at Palmerston on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it just continued on from there. He started off with Greystone again and there was, if I remember rightly, about seven or eight of the boys from that team who signed for Queens who played for the reserves. So it was just a continuation. Then when I was 17 I signed professional forms for Queens.”

KM – “I thought you started off at Kello Rovers before you were at Queens?”

“In those days, if you didn’t play junior football you couldn’t go back, you couldn’t get reinstated into junior football if you didn’t make it in the senior game, so you signed for a junior club first. So what happened was I signed for Kello Rovers on the Thursday night and signed for Queens on the Friday”, said McChesney with a smile.

KM – “Possibly the shortest career with one club in history, one day?”

“I never played for them,” laughed McChesney.

KM – “And your full Queens debut in 1961 was against?”

Ches – “Morton”

KM – “And you scored how many goals?”

Ches – “Two”.

KM – “Final score?”

“4 - 1. It was Bobby Black, he laid on my two goals,” said McChesney still chuffed about it all these decades on.

KM – “That team that you played with for Queens in them days, a lot of illustrious names.”

Ches – “Ivor Broadis, Jim Patterson, Bobby Black, George Farm. Willie Telfer played that day [of the Morton game]. Ernie Hannigan played that night as well. I played with some good players.”

McChesney enjoyed early success the season after his debut. With Farm as player manager, Queens won promotion to the top division in 1961/62. The jovial McChesney pointed the finger accusingly at himself when asked if he had any particular memories of that promotion season:-

“Aye, missing a goal against Clyde. I was part of the team that won it [promotion], but I only played in the last, I think, four games. We had to play Clyde twice. We played up there and I think Clyde were winning 1-0 and I ran through on goals but put it past the post. If I’d scored it would have been the equaliser. We beat them 3-0 in the second game and we finished second [behind Clyde by 1 point and with a better Queens goal average]."

Favourite memories of top division football:-

Ches - “We played Celtic and won 1-0, Johnny Murphy scored the goal. That was great, the best that you could possibly get, beating Celtic away from home.”

Ches – “Neil Martin and Ernie Hannigan. Neil was a big gem. It didn’t matter what you did to him, he never got involved. He got kicked stupid but still, he picked himself up and got on with the game and scored goals. I remember him saying to me, ‘That’s the best thing you can do, that’s the best reply of the lot, stick the ball in the net and they can’t do anything about it’. Ernie, Ernie just did his own thing. His skill was unbelievable, the pace he had, great control. Mind you, if you put it on his left he was struggling, but he was a super player. The full back Willie Morrison, Willie was a super player as well.”

After the relegation back to the lower division, Queens missed out on promotion by one place three times in the next six years. McChesney had a somewhat unusual memory of the third of those in 1970.

Ches – “I can remember the party I had with the Cowdenbeath players when we missed out. They won promotion. The season had just finished, I went across to Majorca, I was walking down the street and I heard somebody shouting on me, it was the Cowdenbeath players. They were staying in the same hotel. It was a wee bit of a party for the fortnight really.”

KM – “Did they invite you along?”

“Oh Yeah! Because, you’re friendly with a lot of the boys, so you knew them and if you met them again, that was it. There was only one thing wrong, the wife was there with me,” McChesney joked.

McChesney continued, “You never really think that much about the league. You just go out and play the games. If you win, great. When you start to realise that you’re maybe in with a chance, that’s when the pressure starts. It gets a wee bit tighter each game, one silly mistake costs you the points and takes you right out the situation.”

 

 

Many people in the UK are familiar today with Metalist Kharkiv, from their EUFA Cup appearances as Ukraine’s third biggest side after Dinamo Kiev and Shaktar Donetsk. However, in Cold War 1970, Ukraine was very much under control of the Soviet empire (even the Soviet president at the time, Leonid Brezhnev, was from Ukraine). The friendly match at Palmerston against Metalist Kharkiv in March 1970 is the only time Queens ever played against a team who were part of the USSR. McChesney spoke well of the opponents from Ukraine in a game in which he scored.

Ches - “Oh yeah. We won 2-0. I got stuck up front, cause when I started off, when I played with Greystone, I played up front. When I started with Queens I was playing midfield. When we had a few injuries , I sometimes got stuck up there, and I always seemed to score,” chuckled McChesney ironically.

KM – “Was there any KGB subterfuge, espionage, talk about defections or any of that sort of carry on?”

Ches - “No”

KM - “Bummer”

Ches – “There wasn’t very many of them spoke English, so all you could do was shake hands at the end of the game and that was it. They weren’t a bad team actually. It was quite an enjoyable game. I think they played three or four games and they’d won their first two before they played us. What we heard from, what I think was the Raith Rovers team, they’d said they were a good team and we’d have to watch out. Yet we won quite comfortably.”

KM – “Were they a clean team or did they like to mix it?”

Ches - “It was played really cleanly, quite surprised actually, because, you know when you watch games on television you see all the shirt pulling and things like that. Even back in the 70s you still got that but they were fine.”

In season 74/75 Queens finished second but league reshuffle meant Queens weren’t promoted to the top flight.

“We had a couple of games that season that were really tight. That was when the likes of Chopper was there, Tommy O’Hara, Peter Dickson, Jimmy Miller, Crawford Boyd, Iain Reid, Billy McLaren, we had a right decent team at that time. Tommy O’Hara was a super player but probably Reidy was the man who could make a lot of it happen. He could come off, take the pass, hold it up, lay it off, plus he could score goals and he was good in the air. He was probably as good a striker as Queens have had for a wee while.”

There was also the league cup contest against Rangers in September 1975.

Ches – “In the game at Ibrox we were denied a stone wall penalty. Tommy Bryce (mark 1), he got the ball and went round the keeper. Peter McCloy pulled him down, the referee turned his back. We hung on, we were only beaten 1 nothing. Then when they came down here, 2-1, extra time, and they scored in I think the last three minutes of extra time to go through. It was still enjoyable plus I got a strip that night, Tommy McLean’s. We were coming off the park and he said, ‘Oh here, Ches, you might as well have this, you’ve been pulling at it all night’, so he got it off. I got inside and Jock Wallace came into the dressing room and asked for the strip back”

KM – “You’re joking?”

Ches - “I said, ‘hard luck, I’ve gave it away to somebody’, but it wasn’t, I had it in the corner. But I gave it away, it went for auction years later, someone asked me, I think it was the Rotary Club or somebody like that, and they took the strip. They got a few quid for it so all well and good”

There was of course a Scottish Cup classic the following February.

Ches – “In the cup, the game against Ayr, 5-4.”

KM – “It was magic, magic.”

Ches – “Who scored the first goal for Ayr [McChesney points the finger at himself, literally]? Who scored the second goal for Ayr? An own goal. I scored the first own goal, then Nobby Clark scored the second own goal [this is a point of some debate as Clark refures this]. Then Peter Dickson got involved, and his goal from the right hand side facing Terregles St, fantastic. Peter was a natural goal scorer.”

KM – “What about the 2-2 draw at Ayr before that where Allan Ball saved a penalty?”

Ches – “Bally saved a penalty, he was injured. He could only move one way! Luckily for us the boy hit the penalty to his good side, so Bally managed to get across and save it and keep us in the cup. It was a fantastic game for us, then winning 5-4. There’ve been quite a few games like that in cup ties. I can remember playing Clydebank and it went to the third game. We drew 1-1 at Palmerston, and then a 2 all draw up at Clydebank and then we had to play them again on the Thursday night and we beat them 1 – 0. Big Jim Kerr scored. That was another eventful tie.”

Queens enjoyed another good cup run, this time in the 1977/78 League Cup.

“The season we played Dundee at Palmerston and beat them 6 – 0. The club actually got christened the pensioners club because we had a few experienced players playing then but we still managed to stuff Dundee at the time, it was quite good.”

KM – “Gordon Strachan played for Dundee?”

Ches – “He got kicked up and down the park slightly.”

KM – “Kicked by who?”

Ches – “Mr Dickson. Nah, Chopper didn’t actually kick him that much, he wouldn’t get away with kicking him all the time. He marked him closely and George was good at that, his man marking was superb at times. Gordon Strachan, I’ve spoken to him a couple of times since, he came back with Manchester United [in the benefit game after the Lockerbie air tragedy], and that was the first thing he said, ‘I hope that so and so Dickson’s not around.’”

The grounded Strachan remembers the game well: “Dundee were on the wrong end of an embarrassing hammering in a second leg League Cup game at Queen of the South – in what proved to be my last match for the club. I often refer to that match when talking to players about the importance of never allowing their heads to drop, and how this can provide seemingly unlikely defining moments in their careers.” Queens manager Mike Jackson was friendly with then Aberdeen manager Billy McNeill from their days at Celtic together. When McNeill asked Jackson the day after how Strachan had played he was told, “Not great, but unlike one or two others the wee man worked his socks off.” McNeill offered Strachan a contract at Aberdeen.

With Dundee added to the earlier round scalps of Hibs and Brechin, next for Queens was the quarter final.

Ches - “We played Forfar in the League Cup to get to the semi final. We drew here [3-3] and then got beaten up there 1 nothing and threw it away. That’s a game I remember, I was a wee bit annoyed at the time.”

McChesney was still at the club for season 1980/81 as were Ball and Clark. Among the relative newcomers to the side were Jimmy Robertson and Rowan Alexander. Queens won promotion:-

Ches - “We finished second. Any season where you’re successful, or you’ve got decent runs in the cup, or you do well in the league cup, or a good league run, you’re sitting there at the top fighting for promotion; every game, they all just seem to fall on top of you. You just pick yourself up, try and win that game, go to the next game and start thinking about that. You can’t look ahead and say, ‘hopefully we’ll win the next 8 or 9 games’. You just take one game at a time, it’s the usual old cliché. We kept going, battling through trying for each game."

KM - "Allan Ball said that you played in every outfield position during your Queen of the South career, he said you played everywhere except in goals. Is that true?”

Ches – “Nah, I didn’t play centre half, but apart from that I did.”

KM – “After you stopped playing for Queens did you play for anyone else?”

Ches - “No”.

KM - “But you remained at Queens in a number of capacities.”

Ches – “To start off I was coaching, then taking the training and that, then just generally worked away with Queens, with the first team and the reserve team, and then when Billy McLaren came back; I had left the club for a year, he phoned me up and asked me to do a report on the players on the last game of the season – who I would keep and who I wouldn’t. I said, ‘I’ve arranged to play golf actually Billy, I’m not going to be able to make it’. He said, ‘If you finish golf come across and I’ll leave you a ticket’, so I come across and I wrote a list out for him, and I’d written down six players and he had written down seven, and the six of mine were on his list. So he asked me to come back and I said, ‘Nah, I’m enjoying playing golf too much’. He said, ‘Just come and take the boys for the pre season. If you start enjoying it, fine’. So I started training the boys for pre season and that was me started again, so basically that was it. Then I worked with Billy for as long as he was here. Then he left and went to Hamilton. At that time we had quite a good team, but that’s football.”

KM – “You’re still involved with Queens to this day.”

Ches - “I go away and do match reports. Whoever they are playing next week, I’ll go and watch them this week, write a report for the manager, hopefully it helps. Plus you meet a lot of old friends on the road.”

Iain McChesney is a qualified electrician. This has given him views of Palmerston that only few have enjoyed.

KM – “You’re also involved in the maintenance of the highest free standing floodlights in Scotland?”

Ches – “Oh yeah, I occasionally go up and down them. But since they put the new lights up, you don’t really need anybody to go up. They’re right up to date so they don’t take as much maintenance. Everything’s smaller now as well. I mean, at one time the lamps would be about 18 inches long. Now they’re much smaller. They last longer since they aren’t heating up as much. So, it’s decent. Good lights, good park, we just need to try and get a wee bit of luck and get into the top league.”

Iain McChesney played in 615 games for Queen of the South placing him behind only ex team mate Allan Ball in the club’s all time appearances list. However, it is in the duration of McChesney’s Queens playing career where he is unsurpassed. To put this into context, when Iain McChesney signed for Queens in July 1960, this was only 4 months after Elvis Presley had been signing autographs at Prestwick Airport on the way home from his army service in West Germany. When McChesney hung up his boots, the swinging sixties and flower power had long since come and gone, as had the 70s of glam rock and punk. In 1960 Puskás and Di Stefano scored all of Real Madrid’s goals at Hampden as they won the European Cup 7-3. In 1981 Alan Kennedy’s late goal won the trophy for the Liverpool team of Dalglish, Hansen and Souness. McChesney played for the season after (81/82) giving him 21 years in Queens’ first team - 21 year that spanned seven Prime Ministerial terms in the UK (and in Kharkiv, two Soviet Presidencies). McChesney’s commitment to Queen of the South was rewarded in 1971 with a testimonial against Ayr United.

Kirk McLean

Born in Glasgow, George McLachlan joined Celtic as a junior from Crosshill Amateurs. McLachlan stayed at Celtic Park for only two weeks before joining Clyde. McLachlan spent three years with the then Shawfield club interrupted by a short loan spell at King’s Park Strollers. The speedy left winger was then transferred for a fee of £2,000 in 1925.

Cardiff City

The Bluebirds had been promoted to England’s top division in 1921. In 1923/24 they contested a stunningly close championship title race with a Huddersfield Town side managed by one of the most successful managers in the history of English football, Herbert Chapman. Playing for Cardiff that season were some of the greatest names in the club’s history. Jimmy Nelson was among the finest full backs of the time (Nelson later joined the likes of Hughie Gallacher, Alex James and Alex Jackson as ‘Wembley Wizards’ in 1928 when Scotland beat England 5-1 at the twin towers). Len Davies is in the history books as Cardiff’s all time record scorer. In local boy Fred Keenor’s fearless and uncompromising tackling they had the heart and soul of the side.

Going into the last game of the season Cardiff needed to beat Birmingham City to lift the title. Late in the game they were awarded a penalty. Davies took the spot kick and agonisingly - missed. The game ended scoreless. If the championship had been played with either of the goal difference or goals scored rules that we are familiar with today – the trophy would have gone to Ninian Park. Instead by what is still the narrowest margin of victory in the history of English football - a goal average of 0.024 goals –the title became the first of three consecutive English league titles won by Huddersfield Town.

Further disappointment came when in sight of silverware the season after when the Welsh side went down to Sheffield United 1-0 in the 1925 F.A. Cup final

George McLachlan joined the season after in November 1925 when clearly they were a side to be reckoned with. However they had yet to prove they had what it takes to justify adding a bottle of metal polish to the club expenses. Many sides were interested in signing McLachlan but helping his decision to go to Cardiff was his father’s occupation; McLachlan Sr. worked on a ship that regularly dropped anchor at Cardiff Docks.

In the FA Cup in McLachlan's first season, Cardiff were paired in January 1926 to play Newcaslte United at Ninian Park. One of McLachlan's opponents that day was another recent arrival from Scotland, Hughie Gallacher. Newcastle progressed 2-0 with Stan Seymour scoring both.

Much to McLachlan's disappointment he missed out on an international cap in 1926 after a broken leg against Leicester City.

The high point of McLachlan's career came with Cardiff City in 1927. With Nelson, Keenor and Davies and also the prolific Scot Hughie Ferguson, McLachlan was part of the Welsh side's FA Cup run in 1927.

Entering the competition at the third round Aston Villa were seen off 2-1. McLachlan found the net in the 4th round 2-0 win away to Darlington. Next it was Bolton Wanderers away with an addition to the squad – a black cat called Trixie who had been adopted after having been found wandering astray at Birkdale golf course; Ferguson said the moggie would bring good luck. 3-0 saw Cardiff through again. A 6th round tie against David Calderhead managed Chelsea saw a crowd of 70 000 sardined in to Stamford Bridge. Willie Ferguson played for Chelsea in a scoreless draw before a rollercoaster replay at Ninian Park. Another monster crowd (over 47 000) saw the Welsh side take a 2-0 lead. By early in the second half the Londoners had battled back to 2-2. With another draw on the cards the game again swung Cardiff’s way thanks to Hughie Ferguson’s spot kick; 3-2 final score. In the semi Reading were beaten by three goals without reply.

And so to the final. As the first final broadcast live on BBC radio, commentators used a grid in the radio times to describe the match action. It has been claimed (not entirely convncingly) that this is where the English language was given the phrase, ‘Back to square one’ (square one was the area nearest to one of the goals).  Among the crowd was a man who had steered the UK through a world war as Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. Winston Churchill was also in the crowd unaware that he was destined to do the same.

Red hot favourites Arsenal were in the process of building the side that would go on dominate English football in the early and mid 30s. The manager of the Gunners – Herbert Chapman. Included in Chapman’s line up were Englishmen Tom Parker, Joe Hulme and Charlie Buchan, Scotsman Billy Blyth and two Welshmen, Bob John and goalie Dan Lewis.

The 90 minutes on the field are seemingly universally remembered for 1 event. In the 74th minute McLachlan passed to Hughie Ferguson just inside the box. Ferguson elected to go for goal. Lewis went to gather the ball but from his fumble the ball slipped under his body. With Davies following up Lewis tried to recover the position. Sadly lacking the dexterity of Trixie, Lewis only succeeded in elbowing the ball over the line. Final score; Arsenal 0, Cardiff City 1.

With a Welsh side taking the trophy due to a blunder from a Welsh opposing goalie conspiracy enthusiasts were rejoicing with delight. Lewis claimed because his jersey was brand new it was greasy, thus he said hindering him in taking the ball’s possession. Ever since Arsenal have adopted a policy of washing the keeper’s jersey before every game – brand new or otherwise. In Cardiff, for 11 players it was sporting immortality. Jimmy Nelson again picked up a winners medal with a cup final victory versus Arsenal when in 1932 Newcastle lifted the trophy with Tommy Lang in the side – Tommy Lang of the Queens team that finished 6th in Scotland’s top flight in 1939.

The season after Cardiff won the Charity Shield beating The Corinthians 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. In the league, goals from McLachlan and Nelson gave the Welsh club a 2-1 win against Liverpool at Anfield. Having led the Championship for a brief spell mid-season, Cardiff finished 6th.

At Cardiff City George McLachlan moved from outside-left to wing half. He played 139 league games hitting 22 goals. While at Cardiff in 1928 he played for the Anglo-Scots against the Home-Scots in an international trial match at Firhill.

Manchester United

McLachlan left the Bluebirds in December 1929 for Manchester United where he was club captain for part of his three and a half years at Old Trafford. McLachlan scored four goals in 116 games for the red devils.

Chester City

Chester City had joined the English Football League in August 1931. In June 1933 McLachlan joined as player coach.

Le Havre

McLachlan had a spell with French side Le Havre AC in season 1934-35 and was offered a further contract with the club. However his ambition was to manage a Scottish top division side.

Queen of the South

(QoS squad photo on the 1936 overseas tour. Back - Haywood, Tulip, Savage, Steel [chairman].

Middle - W. Anderson, Culbert, Ferguson, Gordon, Kerr [trainer].

Front - Smith, McLachlan [manager], Cumming, Thomson, J. Anderson)

On 29th June 1935 George McLachlan was announced as the new manager of Queen of the South. He brought with him a background as cosmopolitan as anyone in the game at the time; a born and bred Scot, a legend in Wales, highly experienced in England and with enough French connections to rival Gene Hackman. While never threatening the heights of two seasons before when Queens finished fourth in the top division, Queens retained top flight status in 1935-36 (as they would until 1959 bar one season). At the season’s end it was time for boats, trains and automobiles as Queens set off for France to start an 11 game overseas tour.

The intrepid group of Michael Palins, consisting of 16 players plus non playing staff, set off on May 4th on the overnight train to London. Of the players only Willie Ferguson with his decade of experience at Chelsea and Irish international Laurie Cumming had previously played a game abroad. After the channel crossing to France the first game was in Bethune against State Béthunois.

A Norrie Haywood double and a Laurie Cumming goal put the Doonhamers seemingly in cruise control at 3-1 up. That proved to be nonsense as a second goal for the French side sparked a late fight back – their three goals in the last 15 minutes gave a 4-3 victory for the French side.

Next up, a fixture that on paper looked tough. FC Sète won the French cup in 1930 and in 1934 became the first French side to win the league and cup double (they would round the decade off with a second league title in 1939). A close fought contest saw the French team take the lead 10 minutes into the second half. Queens hit back when the Northumbrian Joe Tulip shot against the bar before the loose ball was put away by Jackie Gordon. Tulip himself then got on the score sheet to give Queens a 2-1 victory. The French hosts graciously presented a trophy to their guests as well as generous applause for the victory.

The next game again looked a possible toughie, French Cup runners up OFC Charleville, beaten by Racing Club Paris in the final. On the playing staff of the hosts was Julien Darui, in 1999 was voted best French goalkeeper of the century by L'Équipe newspaper. The defensive tactics of the Ardennes club were epitomised by the club captain who gave the world Catenaccio when he later managed Inter Milan to three European Cup finals in four seasons, Helenio Herrera.

We can only wonder at the negative fare dished up to the home fans every fortnight. We can only try to imagine what they wondered on the way home from the Queens game having watched their heroes being given a 5-0 gubbing. Gordon hit a hat trick, Cumming a double.

(Willie Thomson)

Buoyed by such a result the next game was against Sporting Club Anichois but pitch conditions produced a disappointing game. The Aniche team took the lead after 20 minutes. Willie Thomson equalised five minutes later. In the second half Thomson’s free kick and Willie Ferguson’s crosses giving two headed goals for Cumming rounded off the scoring. McLachlan wrote in a letter to the Herald and Courier, “There was a trace of staleness about Queen’s play in the game against Anichois, but we were never stretched and won more easily than the score indicates”. Confident stuff from McLachlan.

A different kind of challenge was served up by the next opponents, US Boulogne, the team who recently gave the world Franck Riberry. The physical style of the hosts led them to take the lead. Queens though battled back with a rocket drive from Burns and held on for a 1-1 draw.

The next game saw the Queens entourage having to produce their passports again to get there. The opposition was CA Spora Luxembourg. At the time Luxembourg club football was a 2 horse race for the trophies and the other teams merely also rans. Spora were one of the big two. Their greatest result came later in the 1956/57 European Cup when after losing 4-3 away to Borussia Dortmund they won 2-1 at home. In the age before the away goals rule the West German Champions won the play off.

In the game against Queens, Ferguson’s cross again allowed Cumming a headed goal. Burns then had the ball in the Spora net again but the referee strangely ruled offside despite Spora having players on the goal line. In the second half an Adam ‘Skull’ Allan shoulder charge saw the award of a penalty; a decision hotly disputed by the Queens players. Against the run of play it was 2-1 for Spora. Queens continued to make the running and Gordon’s header made it two goals each. The referee then took his non impartiality to another level and sure enough the home side had the ball in the net in the last minute. Despite clear off side the goal stood. Final score; Spora 3, Queens 2.

Next it was passport time again after a long journey down to Marseilles for the boat crossing to Algiers for a four club invitational tournament.

In their semi final Queens played home side Racing Universitaire d'Alger who clearly had a pedigree; Winners of the North African Cup in 1932 and the North African Champions Cup in 1935. RUA would again lift both by the decade’s end. They also previously had something of a philosophical former goalie in their junior team. Future Nobel Prize winning author Albert Camus had often attracted positive comment for the passion and courage of his play. However any sporting ambitions Camus had disappeared when he contracted T.B. aged 17. In the keenly contested game between RUA and Queens, goals from Tulip and Thomson saw Queens edge it 2-1. In the other semi final Racing Club de Santander had gone through against Maltese side Floriana. 

Going into the game the Santander pedigree makes impressive reading. Ever present in the eight seasons since the formation of Primera División, Santander had clocked up a second, a third and two fourth place finishes in the Spanish championship. This included fourth place in the season that had just ended. Eye-catchingly the fourth place included home and away double victories against each of Barcelona and Real Madrid. The club has since assembled an impressive catalogue of internationalist ex players so to name only a handful; Real Madrid legends Francisco Gento, Miguel Muñoz and Santillana as well as the more currently known Yossi Benayoun and Olof Mellberg.

The tactics of the Spanish side were a world away from the fluid and skilful football associated with Spanish football today - physical and aggressive. After Norrie Haywood put Queens in front the discipline of the Spaniards went completely. The searing heat meant ball retention was the name of the Queens game plan. However any player in possession of the ball was risking serious injury from the Spanish rough house tactics. Jackie Gordon’s on pitch involvement in the tour ended when he became victim to a broken collar bone. Joe Tulip was then ordered off but interestingly the referee appears to have been something of a pioneering zealot for the concept of a sin bin – Tulip was allowed to return 10 minutes later.

Any thoughts on reciprocation of tactics had to be reconsidered as the crowd reacted with volley after volley of projectiles aimed at Queens players. Grateful for a sports track around the pitch, Joe Tulip commented after the game that around 50 bottles had been thrown at him. With the game still in progress Queens trainer Kerr had a policemen chase him along the touchline. Despite the volatility of the scene the score stayed unchanged at Queens 1, Santander 0. And so the tournament trophy was bound for Palmerston.

The next opponents were Stade Reims. Reims would later dominate French football; twice European Cup finalists as well as six French titles in 14 seasons. Their great era boasts the finest strike pairing in the history of French football in Just Fontaine and Raymond Kopa. Others from the club’s great era include Michel Hidalgo. More recently Robert Pires is another ex player.

With a break from the searing heat that had prevailed from early in the tour the two sides dished up a cracker. Reims scored first before a Cumming 20 yard equaliser. Willie Anderson put Queens in front only for the home side to hit an equaliser of their own. Burns and Heywood both found the net for a half time 4 - 2 lead. Smith hit a fifth for Queens but in the face of despondency the French side were made of the right stuff. Two Reims goals added to the score-line but Queens held on for a 5-4 win.

The last game was a fixture once again versus State Béthunois. Haywood’s 10th minute header put Queens ahead until an early second half equaliser. Thomson’s 20 yarder put Queens ahead before appropriately tour top scorer Laurie Cumming scored the last Queens goal of the trip. Perhaps with memories of the first game fight back in their mind the host team once again scored. This time though there was to be no comeback so the tour ended with a 3-2 win for the Doonhamers.

Closing summary of the tour – Thousands of miles on the clock, 11 games in 26 days, played in three countries against opponents from what are now four different countries (Algeria was a French colony at the time). 30 goals scored, 21 conceded, top scorer with 9 was Laurie Cumming. Queens scored in all 11 games and kept only two clean sheets themselves. One serious injury had been sustained and 1 player had a sin bin against his disciplinary record. Away from football the entourage had been sight seeing in Paris and on a sombre note visited the killing grounds of the First World War.

Players accompanying McLachlan on the tour were John Smith, Willie Fotheringham, Willie Savage, Willie Culbert, Adam Allan, John Anderson, Willie Thomson, Laurie Cumming, Willie Anderson, Joe Tulip, Jackie Gordon, Norrie Haywood, Willie Ferguson, James Anderson, Burns and Smith.

Date	Nation of opponent	Nature of contest	Result and QOS scorers	Attendance (if known)
May 6, 1936	France	Challenge match	State Béthunois 4-3 Queen of the South (Haywood 2, Cumming)	10000
May 8, 1936	France	Challenge match	FC Sète 1-2 Queen of the South (Gordon, Tulip)	7000
May 10, 1936	France	Challenge match	OFC Charleville 0-5 Queen of the South (Gordon 3, Cumming 2)	9000
May 12, 1936	France	Challenge match	Anichois 1-4 Queen of the South 4 (Cumming 2, Thomson 2)
May 14, 1936	France	Challenge match	US Boulogne 1-1 Queen of the South (Burns)	3000
May 17, 1936	Luxembourg	Challenge match	Spora Luxembourg 3-2 Queen of the South (Cumming, Gordon)
May 21, 1936	Algeria	Invitational tournament semi-final	Racing Universitaire d'Alger 1-2 Queen of the South (Thomson, Tulip)	10000
May 24, 1936	Spain	Invitational tournament final	Racing de Santander 0-1 Queen of the South (Haywood)
May 28, 1936	France	Challenge match	Montpellier HSC 4-2 Queen of the South (Cumming, Tulip)	2000
May 31, 1936	France	Challenge match	Stade Reims 4-5 Queen of the South (Smith, W Anderson, Cumming, Haywood, Burns)
June 1, 1936	France	Challenge match	State Béthunois 2-3 Queen of the South (Haywood, Thomson, Cumming)

It was under McLachlan the following season when Queens recorded their first victory against Rangers. In a January Scottish Cup first round tie at Palmerston McLachlan’s side deservedly went through with a 1-0 victory. Queens pushed on to make that season's quarter finals. It was under George McLachlan that Jackie Oakes first joined Queen of the South.

On Monday March 22nd with five games remaining of season 1936-37 the Queens board announced that McLachlan would be leaving the club on Tuesday of the following week. The week was intended to allow the out-going manager to offer advice on team building for the next season. His successor was announced as Willie Ferguson.

When George McLachlan left Queens in 1937 his colourful career in football came to an end.

Kirk McLean

Ted McMinn played for Queen of the South followed by a highly successful career playing in the top divisions in Scotland, Spain and England. An entertaining character as well as a highly effective footballer, he remains a hugely popular figure among fans at his ex clubs.

Ted McMinn was happy to reminisce and give us some of his football memories for an interview in 2008. His comments when interviewed for this feature are italicised.

Early years

Kevin McMinn was born in Castle Douglas and grew up in Dumfries. One broadsheet newspaper claimed McMinn was called 'Teddy' at school because he ran as if he had a teddy bear tucked under his arm. However in his autobiography McMinn states, “As a toddler I’d never be without my teddy bear and earned the nickname that still sticks to this day.”

While a school boy at St Ninian's, McMinn fell in love with his home town club, Queen of the South. After his first visit to Palmerston Park when aged eight, McMinn attended whenever he could with Queens games becoming the highlight of his week. When he was eventually able to scratch enough cash together, McMinn reserved a seat on the Queens supporters' bus to attend away games. Looking back to the supporters' bus McMinn particularly remembered, 'A long haired lad called Rocky, who wore a wrangler denim jacket, would always be on it.'

McMinn's secondary education was at Maxwelltown High before he joined the ranks of the employed. McMinn worked at Robinson's sawmill where he stacked wood and helped customers with their orders.

After playing for Dumfries High School Former Pupils, McMinn and team mate Stuart Cochrane were booked in to play in a trial game for Scottish junior side Glenafton Athletic. Both were offered terms.

Queen of the South

From playing well at Glenafton a contract offer was made by Kilmarnock. However, McMinn received a visit at home from Queen of the South chairman Willie Harkness and his brother Sammy. Both were keen for McMinn to sign on at Palmerston. McMinn next met Queens Manager, Drew Busby, who told McMinn that he would be straight into the team on the Saturday. Thus McMinn returned to play in Dumfries by joining Queens. The transfer fee – ‘£325 so that Glenafton could buy a new carpet for their club house and a thousand Queens lottery tickets.’ Those were the days.

Memories of Queens:

“My home debut against Meadowbank. I’d been rejected by Queens before and it was a pleasure to play for the club that I used to watch from the terracing. I lived in Dumfries at Lochside, Newton Road, and I used to wait at the gates at Terregles Street for them to open at half time. With everybody else that would be waiting, we used to pile in. I used to watch the team with players like Crawford Boyd, Jim Donald who I really liked and Peter and Chopper Dickson. Later on came Jimmy Robertson who as a winger I really liked to watch."

"My actual debut was against Stenhousemuir. What a ground that was. We used to get bigger crowds playing in the junior league. I enjoyed my home debut much more, it was a 1-1 draw. Also the goals that I scored. I never scored many goals but I remember them. And the great team spirit among us 5 local boys that played."

"Palmerston was like a bowling green, you knew when you went to kick the ball you wouldn’t get a bobble. The best of the other grounds in the division was probably Meadowbank and the athletics track but I played against Rangers at Ibrox as well. I played in a game against Newcastle, Gazza, Waddle and Beardsley, that was arranged as a trial, Newcastle were interested in me. After the game I was told, “Not good enough”, so I was rejected again. Arthur Cox didn’t want to sign me. I also played against Man City, Allan Ball’s testimonial. Billy McNeill brought a strong side up."

Best Queens players that you played with:

“Drew Busby was player manager, he was great, he would run through a brick wall.”

“Rowan Alexander was great in the air. He wasn’t big but he was great in the air, good at getting up and a good header of the ball”

“Stewart Cochrane was a target man and as a wide man I was always looking for guys like him and Rowan.”

“Jimmy Robertson was a brilliant winger even though we didn’t always get on. He was getting on in his career and I was a young winger and he maybe seen me as a threat”

“Graeme Robertson. He could play anywhere, defence, or further up the park he was box to box and never stopped going. He went on to play for Dunfermline.”

“Davidson. Alan Davidson was a brilliant keeper for that division. Mental, but a brilliant keeper.”

And the last man that McMinn quoted among this group, the one and only George Cloy.

McMinn remained with Queens until October 1984. In 68 Queens league games the winger scored 5 goals.

Ted McMinn returned to Palmerston Park under the new regime of Norman Blount to play for Queen of the South on 23rd April 1995. The opposition in the 2-2 draw was Rangers in a game to mark Queens' 75th anniversary and the opening of the new stand. Other guests for Queens included Andy Thomson, Davie Irons and old pal Rowan Alexander.

Rangers

For £100,000 fee, Ted was then transferred to Rangers, managed by the ex-army Malaya jungle-fighter, and hard as nails, Jock Wallace (Gary Lineker later recalled being managed by Wallace in his days at Leicester City: "He pinned me against the dressing room wall at half-time and called me a lazy English this and that. We were 2-0 up and I'd scored both goals. I didn't score in the second half - I was still shaking!").

Fans at Ibrox had been reared on a diet of outstanding wingers over the years meaning many had hero status among Rangers supporters. Davie Wilson, Willie Henderson, Willie Johnston and Davie Cooper were all greats at the club. Next they were about to behold Ted McMinn.

Opponents, team mates, management, fans nor McMinn himself ever knew what to expect next from the winger. His unpredictable style of wing play combined with his 100% effort quickly made McMinn an Ibrox fans favourite also. Fans nicknamed him ‘The Tin Man’.

McMinn's debut came as a substitute on Saturday, 13th October 1984 in a 2-0 win at St Mirren. In McMinn's full Rangers debut against Dumbarton at Boghead he scored direct from a corner kick. McMinn later recalled to the press, "Jackie Stewart, my dad's hero, gave me a tankard after that game. I still have it."

Rangers won the 84/85 League Cup beating Jim McLean’s excellent Dundee United side 1-0 in the final:

“I never played in that, I was cup tied from playing for Queens. I would have liked to have played but it would have been wrong for me to play as I hadn’t helped the team get there, that’s why I wouldn’t say I was gutted at missing it.”

McMinn became noted for his performances against arch rivals Celtic in ‘old firm’ matches. Only once losing in a Glasgow derby, his best old firm performance was in the 1987 League Cup final win. McMinn had scored one of the goals of his life against Dundee United in the semi final game in which he broke a bone in his foot. Desperate to play in the final he removed the plaster cast himself.

McMinn was one of the three jokers at the time in the Ibrox dressing room with Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant. Ex-team mate Derek Ferguson recalled, "I'll never forget playing with Ted in a reserve game at Ibrox. He was running down the wing full speed and crossed the ball into the box. He just kept running so he had to jump over a wall into the Copland Road stand, carried on up the stairs then disappeared down the other side."

Graeme Souness succeeded Jock Wallace as Rangers manager in April 1986. Souness went on to remark, "How can I tell Ted McMinn what to do when he doesn't know what he's going to do?" Rangers were Scottish Champions in 1986-87 for the first time in nine seasons. McMinn later said of his time at Rangers, "Davie Cooper was my hero and we got on well." He added, "I wasn't getting on with Souness."

McMinn was on his way South again, but with something of a difference.

Sevilla

Ted McMinn joined Spanish club Sevilla on 1st August 1987, again signed by Jock Wallace who obviously knew the winger wasn’t lazy:

“Seville was great, I loved it. I’m glad Jock gave me the opportunity to go there. The biggest problem for me was the language. The crowd took to me again. I was something different for them to see, they weren’t used to someone taking a man on and they liked someone who gave 100%. Playing in Spain was a great experience."

"We used to fly everywhere because of the size of Spain. I played against Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletico Madrid. Playing in La Liga made me a better player. The last game I played in was the derby against Betis. Betis played in green and white so for me it was like a derby back in Scotland. The derby game there wasn’t like the old firm game but if you lost the fans let you know it, after the game you had to duck down under the seat on the bus."

McMinn again achieved cult status with The Sevillians saying, "Jock taught us; Ted inspired us". A Spanish journalist observed, "With his inelegant Tin Man running style, erratic crossing and unquenchable zest for lager, he was the soul of football.” Ted McMinn broke his leg three weeks after signing but he recovered to play 22 league games.

The departure from the club of Wallace unsettled McMinn. Newspapers reported four top division sides to be interested, Newcastle, Derby and Watford from England and Bundesliga superweights Bayern Munich.

The first offer was by telephone from Newcastle manager Willie McFaul. Next to make a move was Derby director Stuart Webb who went to see McMinn in Spain. McMinn's only memory of Derby was of seeing Archie Gemmill score against Nottingham Forest for them on a cabbage patch of a pitch in the FA Cup. As part of the negotiations Webb suggested McMinn spoke by phone with Arthur Cox, now the Manager of Derby. As McMinn says in his book, “As soon as I spoke to Arthur I knew I wanted to sign for him. He was like Jock Wallace with an English accent. There was no time for small talk. 'Hello Ted,' he growled, 'I've been chasing you for five years since you were at Queen of the South and I want to sign you.'”

Derby County

Ted McMinn emulated fellow ex Queen of the South player Hughie Gallacher by joining Derby County. This was on 5th February 1988 for £300,000 where yet again he became a fans favourite. Arthur Cox was rewarded with a series of outstanding performances from the Scotsman. McMinn’s Derby debut was at Portsmouth the day after he signed.

His next game was a home match against Manchester United. Gordon Strachan added a late goal to add to Norman Whiteside’s opener putting Man U 2-0 up. McMinn then took possession of the ball beside the dug out and set off on a run down the right wing. After skinning Arthur Albiston, McMinn unleashed a screamer that he knew was a goal as soon as he hit it – a goal McMinn describes as the best of his career.

(McMinn's Derby County home debut goal v Manchester United)

Along with internationalists Dean Saunders, Mark Wright and Peter Shilton (described by Brian Clough as one of the three best players he ever worked with along with Dave MacKay and John Robertson), the club finished fifth in 1989 – still today the highest finish at the club since Dave MacKay left in 1976. With English clubs banned from Europe at the time McMinn missed out on a UEFA Cup place.

Aged 27 and matured as a player, McMinn was in the form of his life in November 1989. Andy Roxburgh watched McMinn’s outstanding form, placing McMinn on the verge of a call-up to the Scotland side ahead of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. McMinn was struck by a serious knee injury in an away game against Tottenham Hotspur (a complete change of fortune from McMinn’s two goals at White Hart Lane the season before).

Initially Spurs Manager Terry Venables shouted an accusation of diving at McMinn. After being stretchered off to the treatment room, word got around that x-rays showed McMinn was in a bad way. After the game nearly all of the Spurs players including Gary Lineker and Paul Gascoigne came into the Derby dressing room to wish him well. The exception from the Spurs players was the man who had been involved in the challenge when the injury occurred – Pat van den Hauwe. McMinn was out for 14 months, his World Cup chances over.

While out injured, McMinn attended the Derby County game against arch rivals Nottingham Forest. McMinn bumped into Forest Manager Brian Clough after the game. Giving McMinn a warm handshake, Clough wished McMinn well in his recovery and told him that the game was missing him, a gesture McMinn greatly appreciated.

(The Nottingham Forest player challenging McMinn is Roy Keane)

A lack of further investment led to a decline shortly after at Derby. The club was relegated back to the Second tier of English football in 1991. Robert Maxwell’s reign as Derby chairman ended.

McMinn was back to his best form in 1991/92 when he was named as the club’s player of the year. McMinn helped Derby to a third place finish and a play off place. Derby went out in the semi 5-4 on aggregate to Blackburn Rovers – bankrolled by Jack Walker’s millions and managed by Kenny Dalglish.

In November 2004 Igor Stimac was voted Derby County's all-time cult hero by BBC's ‘Football Focus’ viewers. Stimac won with 59% of the vote, ahead of Ted McMinn who came second with 30%.

Birmingham City

Ted McMinn had one season with Birmingham City signing on 28th July 1993.

“The only place where the fans didn’t really take to me was Birmingham. I don’t know why.”

Burnley

Now remembered as, “A magical winger”, Ted McMinn joined Burnley on 5th April 1994 for two years. Burnley were on a push for promotion that seen them achieve a play off place. McMinn played in the play off final 2-1 victory at Wembley against Stockport County before a crowd of 44,806.

Summing up McMinn’s popularity yet again, despite only 2 seasons at Turf Moor McMinn came third in the BBC’s ‘Football Focus’ ‘Burnley cult heroes’ poll behind Jimmy McIlroy and Leighton James.

Later playing career

Ted McMinn ended his playing career with Western Australian club ECU Joondalup and then non league Slough Town.

Coaching

As assistant to Mark Wright, McMinn had spells coaching at Southport and Oxford United.

McMinn appeared again on 17th January 2002 when Wright took over at Conference strugglers Chester City. The club avoided relegation as the pair set about turning the club's fortunes around. McMinn then left both Wright and Chester in July 2002.

Life after football

In 2004 McMinn became the match summariser for BBC Radio Derby. In his three years with the station he attended all Derby County's matches.

McMinn contracted a mystery infection that led to most of his right foot being amputated. McMinn then opted to have more of his leg removed in a bid to gain more mobility and independence with a prosthetic limb.

As a tribute to McMinn, on 1 May 2006, former players of both Derby County and Rangers contested a match at Derby County's Pride Park Stadium in which a record 33,475 spectators attended - around 10,000 of them being Rangers fans. McMinn said to the Scottish press that he had also received well wishes from Queen of the South fans.

Terry Butcher said humbly after the benefit game, “It does make you think. You never know what can happen to you."

To coincide with the benefit game McMinn embarked on a 300 mile sponsored bike ride from Glasgow to Derby to help raise money for the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary's limbs unit.

In October 2008 Ted McMinn published his autobiography, “The Tin Man”. His book ends with the following: “If the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz didn’t have a heart, I’d like to think that this one has”.

Career League Summary:-

 

Kirk McLean

Neil Martin was among the first players to score 100 league goals in both Scotland and England and won three full international caps for Scotland. Known for his strength, power, bravery and commitment, Martin scored consistently in a journeyman career. He played for Alloa Athletic, Queen of the South, Hibernian, Sunderland, Coventry City, Nottingham Forest, Brighton & Hove Albion, Crystal Palace and St Patrick’s Athletic.

 (Neil Martin is standing on the right in this League Cup game v Arbroath on 12th August 1961. Queens won 1-0 with the goal coming from Martin. The QoS player challenging the keeper is Gerry Irving.)

Alloa Athletic

Neil Martin (born in 1940 in Tranent) began his senior football career at Alloa Athletic. In 1960-61 he scored 25 league and cup goals. This helped take Alloa to the quarter finals, as far as they have ever been on a Scottish Cup run. At that stage a Dunfermline Athletic side knocked them out at the beginning of the Pars’ golden decade; Jock Stein would manage Dunfermline to victory in that season's Scottish Cup and to the next season's last eight of the European Cup Winners Cup.

Martin's feats attracted suitors and at the end of the season he was on his way South.

Queen of the South

In 1961 Martin joined Queen of the South for a £2,000 transfer fee. George Farm joined Queens the previous year and was now player manager. Also at the club was Jim Patterson, Iain McChesney and Jim Kerr. Arriving shortly before Martin was Ernie Hannigan. When interviewed for Queens Legends McChesney said this of Neil Martin:-

"Neil was a big gem. It didn’t matter what you did to him, he never got involved. He got kicked stupid but still, he picked himself up and got on with the game and scored goals. I remember him saying to me, ‘That’s the best thing you can do, that’s the best reply of the lot, stick the ball in the net and they can’t do anything about it’."

Fast and tricky right-winger Hannigan formed an outstanding partnership with Martin (Hannigan said after hanging up his boots, "Going to Queen of the South turned out to be a great move"). In 1961/62 Queens were promoted back to the top division as Division 2 runners up. Martin was on the score sheet 30 times in league and cup. In Martin's second season at Palmerston Park, Queens retained their top-flight status.

Queens also enjoyed another decent cup run making it to the Scottish Cup quarter finals with Martin scoring the equaliser against Dundee United. The second game also finished 1-1 with Hannigan crossing for Anderson this time to score Queens' leveler. However as has been the case so often before and since, the quarter finals proved to be the ceiling on Queens' Scottish Cup ambitions for the season - they lost the second replay conceding all four goals of the game in the second half.

Hibernian

In 1963 Hibs, trying to battle through a trough in their fortunes, paid £7,500 for Neil Martin to play for the team he had supported as a boy. Martin's goals helped add impetus to the club. Jock Stein became manager in 1964 and the up-turn was instantaneous. Martin scored 29 league and cup goals. Hibs finished 4th in the 1964-65 league season (interestingly ahead of both halves of the Old Firm) and knocked out Rangers on the way to the Scottish Cup semi finals. Again Dunfermline (now with Alex Ferguson on the playing staff) proved to be Martin's nemesis in this competition. The Pars had also knocked Queens out that season.

Hibs played Real Madrid in a challenge match at Easter Road and handed their guests a 2-0 defeat.

Mercilessly, against ex club Alloa, he scored 4 in an 11-2 League Cup thrashing. He also hit 4 in a top division game against his other ex-side, Queen of the South. Martin was at Hibs in their Fairs Cup 1st round exit to Valencia. Hibs won at home 2-0 but a defeat by the same margin in Spain meant a play off. Hibs lost 3-0.

Scotland

Jackie Oakes played 457 league and cup games for Queen of the South in a career that spanned 23 years. A quick, athletic left winger, Oakes is fourth in Queens all time appearances list. Oakes was part of two of the finest sides in Queens history each of which finished in sixth place in Scotland's top league. Oakes also played for Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City.

Early years

Jackie Oakes was born in Hamilton and started his senior football career in England with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1935 signed by Major Frank Buckley.

Queen of the South (first spell)

In 1936, Oakes signed for Queen of the South for the first time, under the management of George McLachlan. Players at the club during this time included Willie Savage, Willie Culbert, Willie Ferguson, Joe Tulip and former Irish international Laurie Cumming.

Oakes’ Queens career began with a reserve game against Third Lanark on Christmas Day 1936. Aged 17, his first team debut was in a 3-3 draw on April 24, 1937 with a hint of irony by playing Hamilton Academical. Ferguson had recently become Queens manager. Oakes at this point played on the right wing despite being ultimately known for playing on the left flank.

Taking a pass from Phil Watson, the mighty Oakes opened the scoring in Queens 1937-38 season ending 3-2 victory against Rangers at Ibrox Park, Queens first ever league win against Rangers. Jackie Law scored two for Queens (George Hamilton also played for Queens that day).

Ferguson’s reign was little more than a year old before he retired from football completely. Taking over as Manager was Jimmy McKinnell Snr. Neilly Gibson was appointed as trainer. McKinnell signed the vastly experienced Tommy Lang. As well as being an FA Cup winner with Newcastle, Lang played for Manchester United, Huddersfield and Swansea.

The 1938/39 league campaign began with a trip to Motherwell and a defeat with a record breaking 8-5 score. The 2-0 defeat of Arbroath a week later put the first points of the season on the board. The next week was the date for the visit of Motherwell to Dumfries. It appears both sides had been working on their defensive drills since the season opener – only seven goals were scored this time as Queens won 4-3. Queens also hit the post with a penalty and had another goal disallowed. Man of the match Lang hit a double. The 11,000 crowd was a new record at Palmerston for a midweek game.

Queens good form continued into September when on the 17th Queens played Falkirk at Palmerston. A 2-0 Doonhamers victory put them on to the thirteen point mark and a new experience in the history of the club – for the first time ever Queen of the South sat on the top of the highest division of Scottish football. With Dave Halliday’s Aberdeen side a point behind, Queens stayed top after the next game with a 2-1 win away to Partick.

Queens stay at the top was short but it was certainly sweet. Queens enjoyed some further fine results with a New Year’s Day 6-1 horsing of Ayr United. Hibs and Raith like Ayr were beaten home and away. A useful point was picked up in each of the 1-1 home draws against that season’s top three, Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen. However the most notable victory of the season was the 2-1 win at Tynecastle against the Hearts team who finished fourth.

In the Scottish Cup Queens made it to the quarter finals where Halliday put one over his home town club with a 2-0 home win for Aberdeen. Queens ended the league season in a highly respectable sixth spot in Scotland’s top tier.

 

Position	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Goal ave
1	Rangers	38	25	9	4	112	55	59	2.04
2	Celtic	38	20	8	10	99	53	48	1.87
3	Aberdeen	38	20	6	12	91	61	46	1.49
4	Heart of Midlothian	38	20	5	13	98	70	45	1.4
5	Falkirk	38	19	7	12	73	63	45	1.16
6	Queen of the South	38	17	9	12	69	64	43	1.08

 

Season 1939/40 saw Queens in ninth place after five games. Events in Scotland then took a much graver turn. The storm clouds had been over Europe for some time. Following Hitler’s invasion of Poland, the UK finally declared war against Nazi Germany on September 3rd 1939. With football now of peripheral importance the SFA voted unanimously to abandon Scottish football.

Queens played only the first season in the Scottish war time leagues that were subsequently set up. The relatively isolated location of Dumfries ultimately counted against Queens.

Oakes served in the war as a Police Officer in the RAF. As well as playing for various teams during the war the stocky Oakes put his athleticism to use by winning the forces 100, 220 and 440 yard championships. Oakes also sprinted at Powderhall races. The club history of Hearts speaks particularly highly of Jackie Oakes of the guest players who turned out for the Jambos during the war.

Oakes was also remembered at this time by his future QoS team mate, Bobby Black. "A very quiet man, Jackie Oakes was an athlete. I can’t think of any other description than being athletic. I played with him during the war when he came home on leave from the RAF. I was still just out of school, I was in Thornhill ATC. Queens were defunct at that time. I was still playing for the ATC but I got picked to play for a Queen of the South select along with Jackie Oakes. We played for the same team against the RAF at Heathall Aerodrome in Dumfries." 
 
With the end of the European conflict in May 1945 plans were made to resurrect the national two division set up in Scotland. While still not a return to the full set up, the surrender of Japan in August meant football could enjoy some increase in importance after the end of the horrors of war. Queens were however allowed to rejoin the top division where they had been prior to the global conflict. Turning out for Queens in their return to national competition were some familiar names. They included Willie Savage, Joe Tulip, Jackie Law and Jackie Oakes.

Queens league opener after the end of the war was a 3-0 win against Hibs at Palmerston. Early in the season brought a new team mate for Oakes to line up beside in the first string, Billy Houliston. The following season another Queens legend joined Oakes in the first team, goalie Roy Henderson. However they would not make it to the season’s end as club mates. Their great days together were still some years away.

Blackburn Rovers

After World War 2 the English League began again in earnest in 1946/47. Jackie Oakes joined Blackburn Rovers in February 1947 after turning down Manchester City. Blackburn were no longer the wealthy, influential club that they were in the 20s. Thus team building now was done on a shoe string budget. The man charged with taking Rovers back to the promised land was Eddie Hapgood, the ex Arsenal and England captain from the 1930s. The side was a mixture of veterans from before the war and youngsters who had emerged during the war years. By Christmas Rovers were clearly in a relegation battle. To try to buy the club out of trouble £26,000 was spent on three players – Jock Weir, Francis McCorrighan and Jackie Oakes.

Oakes was by no means the first person Rovers have plundered from Dumfries. Rovers' greatest ever manager, Thomas Mitchell, was from Dumfries and joined Rovers the year of their first FA Cup win in 1884. He took Blackburn to four more in his 12 years in charge inlcuding a final victory in 1891 against the Notts County side featuring David Calderhead (ex Queen of the South Wanderers Scotland international). Additionally, in the early days of QoS, Blackburn signed no less than three Queens players in 1920 and 1921:-

* Jimmy McKinnell from Dalbeattie switched clubs in 1920. McKinnell made 111 league and 13 F.A. Cup appearances for Blackburn before leaving in 1926. McKinnell was a left half.

* Willie McCall from Kirton also transferred in 1920 and had a much shorter stay – McCall made only 11 league appearances before joining Wolves in 1922.

* Tom Wylie from Darvel joined Rovers from Queens in 1921. Wylie left in 1926 after 174 league and 17 FA Cup appearances. Wylie was a left back.

In the time of the three ex Doonhamers, Rovers were a solid mid top division side with their best finish the eight place in 1924. Their best cup run was in 1925 when after seeing off Oldham, Portsmouth, Spurs and Blackpool they lost to the strong Cardiff team of the 20s in the semi at Meadow Lane. Wylie played in all eight games in the cup run, McKinnell missed only the Oldham game. Despite the creditable appearances tally of McKinnell and Wylie their goals tally reflect their position in the back five of the team – neither ever scored for Blackburn.

Jackie Oakes made his debut for Rovers in the 1-1 draw at home to Derby County on February 15th 1947. He was an ever-present for the remainder of the season, making a total of 16 appearances and scoring two goals. His first goal for the club came against Liverpool, in a 2-1 defeat at Anfield on March 8th, and his second goal that season came in the 2-0 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 4th.

The signings of Oakes, McCorrighan and Weir allied to another newcomer, Alec Ventners, boosted the club’s results. The wild Rovers stayed in the top flight.

Relations had deteriorated between manager and the board leading to Hapgood’s resignation in February ’47. Next in the hot seat was Will Scott but his reign was short due to ill health. Scott was succeeded by Jack Bruton. The team was also in a state of flux and another relegation dog fight ensued. This time there was to be no escape.

In season 1947-48, Jackie Oakes made 19 appearances in the league and two in the FA Cup (both against West Ham). He scored seven league goals. His first of the season was also his first at Ewood Park – in the 4-0 win over Grimsby Town on September 20th 1947. He scored a penalty in the 3-1 win at Maine Road against Manchester City a week later and then made it three goals in as many games after netting in the 3-2 defeat at home to Preston on October 4th. He scored twice (a terrific thirteenth minute dribble and drive and the other a penalty) as the Ewood cutters chopped Bolton down to size with a 4-0 win on November 1st. Oakes then scored Rovers’ only goals in defeats to Middlesbrough at home on November 29th and at Goodison Park against Everton on December 20th. His final appearance for the club came in the 2-1 defeat at home to Liverpool on April 10th.

In total Jackie Oakes played 35 league and two FA Cup games for Blackburn Rovers scoring nine goals. Playing alongside many Rovers stalwarts, his best known team mate was probably England full back, Bill Eckersley. While Rovers dropped a division, a top division side made an offer to keep Oakes in the top tier.

Manchester City

Oakes was again remembered by Bobby Black: "He had a great a career; he played for Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City. He played for Manchester City in Copenhagen when East Fife [Black’s then club] were on tour in Denmark and Sweden at that time. I remember reading about our team playing and reading about Manchester City playing and Oakes was the star man."

When at City things were never dull. In Oakes’ first season in Manchester he and his fellow Maine men improved on the previous season’s 10th place by finishing seventh in 1948/49.

The FA Cup brought little joy for Oakes again with a third round defeat by Everton – now the club of Dumfries born forward Jimmy McIntosh (as well as playing for the Toffees, McIntosh also had a spell as manager).

The next season brought disappointment as City were in another relegation battle. Near the season’s end and battling for their top flight survival, City beat the Sunderland side of Ivor Broadis – a defeat that ultimately cost Sunderland the title. Oakes scored the opener in the 2-1 win that was the only double league defeat Sunderland endured that season. It wasn’t enough to save the Mancunian club – they still ended up relegated.

The visit to the second tier was to be a short one – the City slickers were promoted back to the top division at the first attempt.

Oakes played beside some notable names at City; Future Liverpool European Cup winning manager Joe Fagan and two highly distinguished goalkeepers – Frank Swift and then the extraordinary Bert Trautmann (Trautmann, awarded the Iron Cross 1st class during the war as well as escaping twice after being captured first by the Russians and then by the French resistance, put in arguably the most famous performance in Man City history when in the 1956 FA Cup final he seriously injured his neck diving at a players’ feet. Playing on making crucial saves to preserve City’s 3-1 lead despite a noticeably crooked neck, an x-ray 3 days later revealed Trautmann’s neck was broken).

In total Oakes made 77 league appearances for Manchester City in which like at Blackburn he scored nine goals.

Queen of the South (2nd spell)

Jackie Oakes rejoined Queen of the South in the Summer of 1951 signed by Jimmy McKinnell Junior (McKinnell had replaced his father as manager in 1946 before Oakes’ departure to England). Ahead of him lay many great times at Queens playing alongside in particular Roy Henderson, the goals king of Queens Jim Patterson, and sterling full backs Dougie Sharpe and Jimmy Binning. Bobby Black joined them a year later in 1952. Many of the best moments Oakes enjoyed with this group are listed under the Queens Legends features on Binning and Sharpe in particular.

Jackie Oakes scored Queens’ goal in the game with the highest recorded attendance at Palmerston Park. On 23rd February 1952 a staggering crowd of 26,552 squeezed very tightly in to see Queens play in a Scottish Cup 3rd round 3-1 win for Hearts.

Late in his Queens career Oakes was joined by Ivor Broadis, previously of Oakes’ tussles for Man City against Sunderland. Oakes played in the 7-1 Boxing Day win against Queens Park in 1959. Ivor Broadis scored four. Alex Ferguson was the Queens Park scorer.

Sir Alex Ferguson (as he now is) was approached and asked to contribute his memories of that game to qosfc.com. All of his comments are contained in the Queens Legends feature on Ivor Broadis. His comments included:-

"The other reason to remember the game was the ages of the Queen of the South forward line, it probably averaged about 34! Black, Broadis, Patterson, Dunlop, Oakes, I remember it all too well."

Shortly after in February 1960, Oakes was joined on the QoS playing staff by another ex opponent from his days in England’s top division, goalkeeper George Farm.

23 years after his debut, Oakes played at Queens until aged 40 in 1960, clocking up a total of 457 games and 80 goals for the club. Oakes is fourth in the list of all time Queen of the South appearances behind Allan Ball and Iain McChesney, and in between team mates Jim Patterson and Dougie Sharpe. With the exception of his last season, all of his time as a QoS player was spent in Scotland’s top flight. He then replaced Neilly Gibson to become the club trainer for three years.

Career league summary:-

 

Kirk McLean

Jim Patterson is the goals King of Queens with a record 251 strikes for the club. In a long and distinguished career at Palmerston, Patterson gained international recognition in 1953 with a game for Scotland against The Army.

Early years

Patterson was playing for his local club Luncarty Juniors in his native Perthshire, with his fine performances catching the attention of on lookers. One of these was scouting for Queen of the South, who, rather than move for the big, stocky forward, were waiting for his demob from the army. This nearly cost Queens dear. Patterson was invited to spend a weekend with Manchester City for a trial and look around. Ex-Queen of the South player Jackie Oakes was at City at the time. Oakes made arrangements for Patterson's accommodation in anticipation of Patterson inking the dotted line. However Patterson had a change of heart and returned to Scotland. Queens moved in.

Queen of the South

Patterson was signed by Queens Manager Jimmy McKinnell Jnr in 1949. "Big Jim" as he was known, was an unassuming player of few words, preferring to let his boots do the talking. Hugely committed, the bustling Patterson always gave 100% regardless of wherever on the park he was asked to play. He joined a Queen of the South who had been in the top division of Scottish football since 1933, and initially played up front wearing the number eight jersey beside centre forward Billy Houliston. Patterson made his Queens debut against Dundee at Palmerston on 12 November 1949.

Patterson’s first season at the club saw the disappointment of the top division run coming to an end. On the plus side there was the landmark Scottish Cup run to the semi final. The similarities to the 2007/08 cup run are uncanny; A first tie away in the North of Scotland (in Patterson’s case it was in Inverness against Caledonian in the first round where he scored the only goal) before games against three teams Queens would play in the 2007-08 contest; in the first of these Queens seen off Morton (Patterson scored the second in the 3-0 replay away win). Queens then went into previously uncharted Doonhamer territory after a goal fest against Aberdeen gave a first ever Scottish Cup semi final place. Queens then ultimately went down despite a commended display against Rangers.

Despite being played outside the top division the 1950/51 season has to be looked upon as a huge success. It was the season that saw a return to some of the great days of the 1930s. The team that was coming together would prove itself over the next few years to be the finest in the history of the club to date. Queens climbed back to the top flight at the first attempt as Scottish B Division champions. Queens also made a first appearance in the semi final of the Scottish League Cup. Queens took the lead against Hibs through a Charlie Johnston screamer in front of over 32000 fans at supposedly neutral Tynecastle. In a keenly contested game Queens eventually went down 3-1 to an Eddie Turnbull hat trick. While Hibs lost the final they went on win the league in emphatic and blistering style as easily Scotland’s best team.

In the championship campaign Patterson started Queens off on the right foot with the only goal in the league opener away to Kilmarnock. Patterson then scored both in a 5-2 defeat by a Stirling Albion side who would be run away league leaders. After the 4th league game of the season Patterson was already on six goals. However Queens early season league form was inconsistent. The table on the evening of January 6th showed unbeaten Stirling impressively on played 19, points 36. In the era of two points for a win Queens were way back in 6th place having played 15, points 17. However that afternoon’s 2-1 home win against St Johnstone marked the beginning of the lean mean Queens machine. It was also the last game of Stirling’s unbeaten league form.

Patterson was among the scorers in the next game, late goals giving a 5-1 win over Alloa. In a 3-0 home win against Dunfermline, Patterson opened the scoring with a 35 yarder. Patterson was on the score sheet again in the 3-3 home draw against Dundee United and also hit a double in the 3-1 fight back away against Cowdenbeath.

With Queens continuing to win and Stirling dropping points the promotion battle was warming up nicely. With Queens continuing to win the March visit of promotion rivals Ayr United had become a four pointer. In front of a 14000 crowd Patterson put Queens on the way to a 2-1 win in gymnastic style with an over head kick. Patterson then scored again as Queens came from behind to win 3-1 at Arbroath. With Patterson and Billy Houliston setting about the Stenhousemuir defence (Houliston in particular making his opponents need stress therapy with a fine game) the 5-2 win saw Queens have an excellent day at the office – promotion rivals Dundee United, St Johnstone and Ayr all dropped points. 6 games to go.

Next another four pointer in an away trip to ‘St John’s Toun of Perth’. Jimmy Inglis ruthlessly cracked in four. Final score St Johnstone 0, Queen of the South 6. Queens were now in second place – nine points behind Stirling but with 4 games in hand and a top of the table clash at Palmerston to come. The title chase was becoming a boiling pot. After a handsome win against Stenhousemuir the next game was Albion Rovers at Coatbridge. He did travel by the railway line (doors and windows open wide sadly appears to be undocumented). In Glasgow Patterson was given wrong train information and found himself on a train to Shotts. After returning to Glasgow only a taxi to Cliftonhill allowed Patterson to arrive in time for kick off. Queens secured another majestic victory with Houliston again the master of mayhem to the opposing defence - Houliston hit a hat trick.

Rovers manager Eddie McLaren’s post match comment: “You have performed one of football’s miracles, and should be prouder for that. At New Year time you didn’t seem to have a ghost of a chance, then your boys got to grips with things and made every post a winning one.”

And so the top of the table shoot out - a hard fought pressure cooker encounter unsurprisingly decided by the only goal of the game. Final score Queens 1, Stirling 0. The name on the score sheet – Jim Patterson in 37 minutes.

With Stirling’s fixtures now complete, Queens were three points behind with only two rearranged games remaining. First a visit to Hamilton and 0-0 draw meaning a last game Queens win would only equal the Stirling points tally. As would happen 51 years later with the John Connolly side, Queens set off looking to secure the ‘B’ division championship (as it was then called) at Station Park in Forfar. Goals from Doug McAvoy and another in an excellent season from Charlie Johnston indeed saw Queens equal Stirling on 45 points. Thus it was down to goal average. The hard stats read - Stirling 1.77, Queens 1.97. 1 new bottle of Brasso please for the Palmerston trophy cabinet.

In the greatest comeback since Lazarus, divisional champions Queens hadn’t lost a league game in 1951. In stunning form since New Year, Queen racked up 14 wins and two draws.

At 1 am the sleepy players arrived back at Dumfries station. With awaiting scenes reminiscent of the 1923/24 Scottish Qualifying Cup win, the heroes of the hour were given a less than delicate awakening. The packed throngs at the station determined to celebrate with a cacophony that could be heard in the far reaches of the solar system; a noise generated using anything from rattles and bells to cooking equipment.

In one game in 1951-52 Patterson outshone reigning champions Hibs’ ‘famous five’ forward line. Patterson hit 4 goals in Queens' 5-2 win although Hibs cruised on to retain the title.

After Houliston’s departure from the club Patterson was played in the centre of the front five of Bobby Black, Jimmy McGill, Jim Patterson, Wattie Rothera and Jackie Oakes; regarded by many as Queens greatest ever front five; justifiably guaranteed to make older Queens fans reach for the hankies in uncontrollable misty eyed nostalgia. This Queens team were a match for anyone on their day for their first five seasons back in the top flight.

In 52-53 Patterson scored another goal with landmark consequences. His goal in the 1-0 defeat of Dundee put Queens into the 10th place where they finished in Scotland’s top league for the second season running.

Jim Patterson's scoring exploits were honoured with one game for Scotland, when he led the Scottish attack v The Army in 1953 at Hampden Park. Like Roy Henderson, Patterson can consider himself unlucky to have played his best years at a time when there was high quality competition for his position in abundance. For example in Patterson’s case Lawrie Reilly notched a highly creditable 22 goals in his 38 games for Scotland. This places Reilly among Scotland’s top three most prolific goal grabbers in history.

In 1956 again Jim Patterson was a vital cog in the Queens machine. With Patterson top scorer for the season the side emulated the team of 1938/39 by hitting top spot in the league before finishing a still highly creditable sixth – a finish only surpassed by the team of 1933/34.

Despite the team then passing its peak, Patterson’s goals continued. For example in 1957-58 Patterson twice hit Scottish Cup quarter final equalisers for Queens before opponents Rangers fourth goal of the game took them through (Bobby Black had scored Queens first of the day to start a fight back). Notable late season Patterson goals came with one in the 2-1 win at Easter Road, one in a yet another victory against Celtic (4-3) and a hat trick against Aberdeen (also a 4-3 Queens win).
 
Queens were subsequently relegated from the top division in 1959. With Patterson still finding the net he went on to play with more of Queens’ finest players as part of the early 60s side. Ex England international Ivor Broadis joined Queens for the promotion battle. Patterson played in the 7-1 Boxing Day win against Queens Park in 1959. Broadis scored four. Alex Ferguson was the Queens Park scorer.

Sir Alex (as he now is) was approached and asked to contribute his memories to of that game to qosfc.com. All of his comments are contained in the Queens Legends feature on Ivor Broadis. His comments included:-

The other reason to remember the game was the ages of the Queen of the South forward line, it probably averaged about 34! Black, Broadis, Patterson, Dunlop, Oakes, I remember it all too well .

In 1960 ex Scotland and ex Blackpool FA Cup winning goalkeeper George Farm signed for Queens. Queens made the League Cup semi final in 1960/61 for the second and to date last time.

With McKinnell stepping aside, Farm was made player manager in 1961 and with Jim Patterson still playing (Patterson was the last of the Queens legends from the early 50s still in the QoS first team), Queens were promoted back to the top division in 1962. Patterson had new Queens legends for team mates in the team of Neil Martin, Iain McChesney and Jim Kerr. In one game in the promotion campaign away to Montrose, Patterson returned to his transportation difficulties of years before but this time missed the first 12 minutes of the game. His 10 team mates were already a goal down when he entered the stage. However Patterson inspired a late fight back with an 82nd minute equaliser. Martin then scored the winner with a couple of minutes to play.

McChesney said this of Patterson, "He could play and he was as steady as. Queens record scorer, I can remember one game against Cowdenbeath, he scored six [in a 7-1 victory on 16th December 1961]. At the end of his career he actually played centre half a couple of times. Big Jim was a true gentleman. I don’t think I saw him deliberately foul anybody. Sometimes in games you can get a wee bit involved and think, ‘I’ll get in touch with him’. Jim was always that quiet, he just got on and did his job. He was a perfect gentleman, he’s still exactly the same to this day."

Patterson finished at Queens playing a last season of top division football in which Queens retained their place in the top flight. There was still time for one last titanic cup tie, a quarter final contest against Dundee United. Patterson’s pass to Willie McLean led to a cross and a Martin headed goal to equalise for a 1-1 draw. In the home replay Queens had to equalise again to stay in the contest. Ernie Hannigan beat his man and from his cross Anderson finished. In the second replay played at neutral Ibrox the sides went in 0-0 at half time before the roof fell in on Queens – they lost 4-0.

Patterson must be considered as something of a cup talisman for Queens. Of Queens 13 appearances to date in the Scottish Quarter finals, five were in Patterson's 14 seasons at Palmerston. Patterson featured in one of Queens' two Scottish Cup semi final appearances. Both of Queens' appearances in the League Cup semi finals were in Patterson's era.

Jim Patterson’s last game for Queens was at Shawfield against Clyde on 4th May 1963.

251 strikes for the club make Jim Patterson the undisputable all time goals King of Queens. To bench mark his goal scoring feats in the royal blue this is more than Queens second and third highest all time scorers combined (Bobby Black hit 120 goals from the wing and Andy Thomson notched 114 goals in his two spells). Patterson made 462 league and cup appearances in 14 years with Queens, the third most appearances in Queens history behind Allan Ball and Iain McChesney. The beginnings of young McChesney’s career overlapped with the veteran Patterson.

Like all the profiles in this section this article does not give true testament to the achievements of the player in question. Successful football is built from a successful team. Because it’s a team game, many Queens legends’ greatest moments are team successes listed in profiles of others players from the same era. With Jim Patterson having been a key player and a great player through the finest decade of the club and beyond, this overlap will apply more to Patterson than to most. Queens other finest achievements with Jim Patterson playing are listed in the Queens Legends profile of his team mates, Billy Houliston, Jimmy Binning and Dougie Sharpe.

Kirk McLean

Uncharacteristically tall for a winger and with a left foot of mesmerising ball control, Jimmy Robertson was a match winning Queens player in two successful promotion campaigns. Robertson made 400 first team appearances for Queens at a time that is now something of a bygone age; the new wave of professionalism that swept through Scottish football reached Palmerston just after the end of Robertson’s career. Outgoing, extrovert, uncontrollably talkative and raucously fun loving, thanks to an interview in May 2009, this is the gospel according to JR.

The road to Palmerston:-

JR - “Born in 1955, I grew up in Glasgow. Amateur football, Newton Mearns Rovers then I went to Muirend Amateurs then I signed for East Kilbride Thistle juniors and I was there just a month when I went to Ibrox. Jock Wallace signed me straight from amateur football. I never made the first team. I was a year at Ibrox in the reserves then I went to Motherwell.”

JR - “That was my big one, I went right into the first team there at the very start of the Premier League. It was Willie McLean, Jim McLean’s brother [and manager at Queens before he went to Fir Park] was there, Willie Pettigrew and these guys, Bobby Graham, Peter Marinello was there, Peter Millar, Joe Wark, Gregor Stevens who played with Rangers.”

KM – “Gregor Stevens that was kick first and ask questions later.”

JR – “Colin McAdam, he was something similar, they were all at Motherwell at the time. Willie McLean chucked it or he got the sack, Roger Hynd got the job, and from playing with the first team I never kicked another ball as soon as he got the job. He dropped me and I left at the end of the season and I went to Stranraer. It was the committee that ran it there, I was there a year and a half and Queens bought me, old Willie Harkness. Billy Little was the manager of Queens at the time [Little as well being Queens manager was originally from Dumfries before making over 300 Aberdeen appearances scoring 98 goals]. I’d actually put a transfer request into Stranraer. Willie phoned me and that was that, I just said, ‘Aye, no problem’. So I went to Queens mid season for an undisclosed fee, I’ve no idea what it was. That was me ‘til I left there to go to Morton. I remember me and old Wullie, he was SFA President at the time and he loved it. He had all the SFA stuff up at the hotel, he loved doing all that old Willie you know. I ended up in the Central with him at the time for talks, that was it, I ended up at Queens for nearly 10 years ‘til I left to go Morton. I just went right into the first team.”

The details of Robertson’s debut, while not in the same league as when Bonnie Prince Charlie and his friends visited Dumfries, took a footwear related twist:-

JR – “Stenhousemuir, it was away [Queens only visit to Stenny that season was a 2-1 defeat]. I signed mid season, it was a Tuesday night game, you wouldn’t have got them at the start of the season, wet and wild and a horrible night, no idea what the date was [it was November 1979]. I didn’t have a pair of boots or nothing. ‘Cause I hadn’t brought them to the club, and I ended up, Stenhousemuir loaned me a pair two sizes too big to play the game with, they didn’t have any boots to fit me.”

KM – “What about your first goal?”

JR - Now you’re asking; haven’t a clue. How many did I get, 76 or 77 or something, I’m not quite sure? Then I won the second division player of the year award. The year I won it, the big guy with Aberdeen, centre forward that went to Celtic, he’s a manager now, McGhee, Mark McGhee, he won it for the Premier League, and Charlie Nicholas won the young player, and I won the second division one. I got nominated about four times for that. The SFA were kind of involved with that and Old Willie told me that I’d won it one of the times and I was expecting my name to get shouted out, and I hadn’t won it. Pat Nevin of Clyde got an award one year, it might’ve been him that won it instead.”

KM – “And what about that promotion season of ‘81?”

“The first one was unbelievable because we’d actually…” Robertson paused briefly for a moment. “Cowdenbeath had to get beat on the last day of the season and we had to win. I scored, we beat Albion Rovers 3-1 [JR is being overly generous to Rovers as the score was 3-0 to Queens], I scored two goals in the second half [Rowan Alexander scored the other QoS goal]. We had no idea, Cowdenbeath missed a penalty and they were drawing up until the very last five minutes or so. We had no idea ‘til the final whistle, how the other game had went, and then we realised we had won promotion. My favourite Queens goal has got be, I remember it well, it was the Albion Rovers game when we won promotion, the third one, it was a 30 yarder into the roof of the net. That’s my favourite.”

JR – “We’d played Forfar up there, we were getting beat at half time [3-1] and we beat them [4-3], I got one, Graeme Robertson got one, and somebody else [David Learmont] got one, after we were getting beat there. That was the game that kind of turned it about for us, we hit good form after that. That was the season that the guy, the manager who lived near Sunderland, George Herd, he left to go back to the North East of England, to a coaching job [at Darlington] just after mid season.”

JR – “And we ended up, Willie took us to Portugal to play Vitoria Setubal [one of only three ever official QoS footballing trips to continental Europe to date], that was a bit of an experience. They beat us by 3 goals and Ernie Walker, Willie brought Ernie Walker from the SFA along as part of the package. We were over there and I think they thought we were a top division team that’d won the league or something. They were doing well in the Portuguese league at the time [Vitoria finished the season seventh in Portugal’s top tier]. They beat us by 3 goals but it was a right good game. It was one of these stadiums where it was underneath and you walked up the stairs from the dressing rooms on to the park, it was beautiful. I got man of the match after it, it was a right good game, thoroughly enjoyed it.”

KM – “George Cloy mentioned he enjoyed the trip to Portugal.”

JR - “We had some great, oh ho; they turfed us in, see where we were staying, there was nothing there, just a casino, a casino complex, but they had different things on in there, and we had a few nut cases at the time. Peter Dickson…”

KM - ”Giro mentioned Peter Dickson as well.”

JR – “Peter was just crazy because he was just steaming. Remember Crawford Boyd? The two of them couldn’t get along. Crawford’s a bit of a hardie guy, you know. Before going over old Willie asked who we wanted to share with. I sat down with him and said, “Well, Peter and Crawford get on well, you know”. So he put them in the same room; lasted two hours before they had a row, they had to get transferred into separate rooms. Later on, Old Willie, Ernie Walker, the directors, old Billy Houliston and Bill Jardine, they were breakfast, dinner and evening meal. And the players were only booked for breakfast and the evening meal. So at dinner time, they’re in getting their dinner, and the players weren’t getting any dinner, so Peter was steaming, and he sits in the lounge and the chairman walked up to him at the dinner table and told him to leave, so he turned round and Peter kicked him up the backside, with Ernie Walker watching. Well Peter never got served, he got told to pack his bags and leave, but we all said, ‘if he goes, we all go’ and it caused a bit of a rammy.”

There’s the team spirit that turned it around at Forfar.

JR - “Peter was mad, he was crazy, Dickson. That was the trip to Portugal, that was unbelievable.”

KM – “And what about the step up a division after the promotion?”

JR – “That was a disaster. That was the season I walked out. I missed the first 3 or 4 months of that. That was when freedom of contract was starting to come out. There was a lot of clubs, you know, and I think it was Nobby Clark was telling me…. Old Willie, I had a good relationship with him, but… He wouldn’t sell me and he wouldn’t let me go. Freedom of contract came so I was asking for bigger money from them, and I kind of hung out for about 2 months, so I missed three months of the season when we’d went up a division. So when I came back, he phoned me up old Willie and took me, Scotland were playing, he invited me to the game to sit with him and talk, and he gave me the back dated money that I’d missed, so I actually never made any money out of it. He gave me the money that I’d missed for the four months plus a signing on fee that wasn’t very much but I’d put myself out the game. It wasn’t like freedom of contract now where you could just go away and sign for another club and that was you. Even though I had freedom of contract there was still a fee involved. So he was just holding out so any club that came in, he was just bumping the price up. I could only leave the club when I did through freedom of contract. So I went back there and we were sitting bottom of the league. We only won four games. Straight down, we went down in style, aye.”

KM – “Then the Drew Busby era?”

JR – “Drew came in, Drew was brilliant. They were crazy, carrying on times as well. Cause he brought a lot of older pros like Pat McCluskey and wee Jimmy Miller and a few guys from Morton, and they were just party time. He was good Drew, he was a hardie, hardie man, you wouldn’t kind of cross him, and he was a good guy, a nice guy, I liked Drew. But, that was another; we were doing well for part of the season with him or whatever, then he fell out with the board and then he left. With Busby we were playing really well, half way we were second top of the league. That was when big Ted McMinn was playing. I done my cruciate, out the game for a year. After sitting second top of the league we never won one of the last seven games. We never won a game from that time to the end of the season, not once. I was injured, Drew left at the end of the season then big Ted left for Rangers. Big Ted criticised me in his book. I don’t know if you read Big Ted McMinn’s book? What happened was he gave me some stick in front of the main stand. And I pulled him up after the game. Big Ted was a bit naïve then, he was just a big daft boy at the time. Nothing else was said, nothing else was done. Don’t get me wrong, we did banter and kid on. But he’s criticised me in his book. Then he also did put in his book that he thought I was a player and he loved watching me, you know. He said that although I gave him stick I was the player he liked watching when I was there; I’ll accept that. I never had a cross word with Big Ted apart from that.”

JR then continued, “Nobby got the job. 84/85 was a kind of nothing season.”
 
KM – “But not the season after.”

JR – “We got promoted, I’ll tell you where we got promoted, we got promoted up at Arbroath. I remember the Arbroath game well. We played them at the end of the season to go up. We beat them one nothing, cause I’d missed a sitter. At half time we went in 0-0. I’ll tell you who scored, Stewart Cochrane, big Stewarty, big Cocky scored the winner with about 30 minutes to go. At that time we had the guy from Man Utd, the full back, Alex Forsyth, he was on the bench, he wasn’t even getting a game, he was up I remember that day. We had a night out. I’ll tell you where we ended up, believe it or not, we ended up back in; Dunfermline won the league that year, and we ended up back in Dunfermline. Old Willie had a thing going with them, so on the way back from Arbroath we went via Dunfermline, and we ended up in their social club, because they were having a night for promotion, so Willie instructed the bus back to their place and we ended up in there ‘til about 11 o’clock, with big Jim Leishman, it turned out a great night. Don’t ask me how we ended up back there. They’d got promoted, and we ended up going back there. We’d beat them 3-1 just before. They eventually won the league. Then Nobby Clark left I think to go to Stranraer, didn’t he.”

KM – “The promotion season was the Celtic game at Palmerston Park where you got MoM?”

JR – “I’ve got pictures on the wall in my house the now, yeah. I got the MoM. That was just…” Then came a second rare Robertson pause. “We had them actually, Tommy Bryce scored a wonder goal to make it 1 each, and we actually had them, the first half, we were… it was a good Celtic team, we were giving as good as we were getting. You give as good as you get and that was it, and I’ll never forget, we came out in the second half, and Mo Johnston scored 2 quick goals. But we still, I got brought down and we should have got a penalty, and we gave them a right good game. I’ll never forget wee Billy Reid, he came up to me at 3-1, and he was only a young boy, and he said, ‘Jimmy what do we do now?’ And I said to him, ‘Billy, It’s kind of every man for themselves now’, that was my words. And he kind of fell out with me, because wee Billy kind of looked up to me a wee bit, you know, I said to him, ‘Get the ball and run at them’. At 4-1 down there isn’t much more you can do. Wee Billy Reid was kind of my boot boy at Queens”

KM – “He’s done well now as a manager.”

JR enthused, “Unbelievable, what he’s been doing.”

The season after produced Robertson’s personal favourite Queens game.

JR - “My favourite game was when we played Airdrie, at Broomfield when Mike Jackson was Queens manager. We’re sitting third top of the league, this was before Christmas and that was to get into the Premier League, and we beat them 3-1, and I was just, it was unbelievable, it was one of these, I loved playing at Broomfield, it was one of these games, I scored 2, and Alan Davidson was in goal, he was actually brilliant for us that day. Wee Henry Templeton was playing for Airdrie at the time, and they were sitting above us in the league, I think they were second. We’d played them earlier in the season and beat them. Alan Davidson and I put a wee bit of money on us, and we ended up beating them 3-1 so we both won a bit of money. It was just one of these fantastic games where everything went right. I was playing against Dave McKinnon [McKinnon was in his first season after Rangers], and just absolutely, he came up to me after the game, one of these ones where you’re just unbelievable, you know. One of these where everything clicked, you get them. Now and again you got them, that was the one. It was the Airdrie game.”

After becoming one of the few players in Scotland to be the subject of a transfer tribunal, Robertson then played for Morton before taking a circuitous route back to Palmerston.

JR – “I went to Clydebank, I was just there for 3 months or something, 6 months. Then, that was me, I’d decided, as I was then going 36 nearly and I said, ‘Ach, that’ll do’. Billy McLaren phoned me up, cause the winger from Ayrshire [Jim McGuire?] had got injured and he didn’t have somebody to replace him, so I come back and played against East Fife as a trialist, and we beat them 5-1 and I’d a right good game and so Billy signed me after that and I come back. Later that season Billy left to go to Hamilton as manager.”

This was followed by a season that started with some promise only to end in major disappointment.

JR - “Early season we played Celtic at Parkhead in the League Cup quarter finals. We were drawing 1-1 with 10 minutes to go and they scored. It was wee Joe Miller, the [ex] Aberdeen guy, they beat us 2-1. Frank McGarvey played himself, he was ex Celtic, he was still a hero there. He took himself off near the end to wave to the crowd as he left. As manager you’ve got to distance yourself from the players somewhere along the line, he didn’t know when. I wasn’t being selected. Then he departed, and he’s put in his book there was player power at Palmerston Park when he was there. Old Willie rings me up and said, ‘Right you’re playing on Saturday, just come back down.’”

Then came a manager of unquenchable optimism and a tale that has gone down not only in Palmerston but in Scottish football folklore as a whole.

JR – “Ally MacLeod was absolutely unbelievable. The stories I’ve got about Ally are great. Listen to this one. He got the job and we didn’t have enough players. We’d enough for the Saturday but we were running a reserve team, so we didn’t have enough. So we’d have reserve games up around the Glasgow area. We were playing flipping Rangers and Morton and playing everybody. We played St Mirren and we’d only 10 players, Ally played himself, at 61. They were beating us 7-0; We got a penalty and he took the penalty and scored, 7-1. It was unbelievable, but Ally was. He would blether away about Scotland. He let you go out and play, there was no tactics involved. He’d say, ‘You’re Willie Miller: You’re Alex McLeish: You’re Doog Rougvie: You’re John Robertson:’ that kind of thing.”

JR - “When Ally left I’m sure Billy McLaren came back didn’t he. It was Billy that freed me, I ended going to wee Mark Shanks at Cumnock, playing for a year and half with Cumnock, then I finished with Maybole then Neilston. I was a good pro, I played until I was 40 type of thing. Then it’s just the Old Crocks I’m afraid.”

JR – “The best Queens players I played beside, Dick Malone was a magnificent football player. You remember big Malone?”

KM – “Yep, the Sunderland FA Cup guy.”

JR – “He’d won the cup with Sunderland. He come up to us when he was 33, he was big, classy, you could see he could play, he was a lovely player. I’ll tell you who else, Rowan was a plank of wood but he was a great plank of wood to play with, cause he would run through a wall for you. If you hit him, if you played good enough balls into him and they hit him the right way he would always get on the end of them Rowan Alexander. When I say he was a plank of wood, he had no ability in terms of a touch, but he would run through a brick wall for you. If you were good enough to put balls into areas, Rowan would get there. He was a winger’s joy Rowan. If you threw balls in he would fight. There was other great wee touch players, wee Jimmy Coughlan, had a fantastic touch, and Kevin McCann, these kind of guys. Andy Thomson. In the later stages when I was there with Andy, Andy was a fantastic goal scorer when he was a boy. Pat McCluskey was a great player as well, big Nobby Clark was a great centre half, big George Cloy was a legend, Geordie could throw the ball further than he could kick it. Good players, I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

KM - Are you still playing?

JR - “I was playing this morning with Ally McCoist, I play with the Old Crocks here in Giffnock and Shawlands. I stay here and we’ve got a Sunday game. It’s a good game, McCoist plays and Owen Coyle, the Burnley manager, before he was down there he was playing, his brother wee Joe played here, Alex O’Hara that played with Rangers, so we’ve got a lot of seniors and old crocks, we’ve got a right good team. Say to any of the ex Queens players that if they want to get a team together to get in touch and they can come up or we can come down and we’ll have a game.”

Still game after all these years. In his time at Queens Jimmy Robertson made 400 first team appearances - seventh highest in the club’s history. He won two promotions with Queens and was voted divisional player of the year. Among his tally Robertson weighed in with 77 league goals. To many Queens fans though, JR will simply be remembered for the number of times he glided past a befuddled right back before swinging in another pin point left foot cross.

Kirk McLean

Willie Savage joined Queen of the South in 1932. For the rest of the decade he formed an outstanding full back partnership with Willie Culbert and enjoyed many of the greatest moments in the club's history. This included Queens’ highest ever top division finish (fourth in 1934) and many other landmark events in the history of QoS FC.

 (Queen of the South, 1935/36. Wilie Savage is 3rd left in the back row)

Early days

Willie Savage was a native of Burnbank who began his football carer as an inside forward at the local St Cuthbert School and representing Lanarkshire elementary schools against Glasgow. On leaving school he played in the junior league as centre forward for his local club Burnbank. Three seasons later he went to St Cuthbert C.Y.M.S. This was a one season stay before returning to Burnbank for a further season. The next season was with Falkirk side Shieldhall Thistle. He played for the Hamilton 'A' team before rejoining the junior league with Motherwell Juniors.

Queen of the South

Willie Savage was a 1932 Queen of the South signing from Motherwell Juniors. Savage’s full back partner for the rest of the decade, Willie Culbert, was another 1932 signing (Culbert joined from Clyde). Savage made his debut as a trialist on October 1st 1932 in the league thrashing of Bo'ness at Palmerston Park. Queens were already seven up when Bo’ness lost their goalie to injury. Unperturbed, Queens continued as before racking a double figure win of 10 – 0, surpassing the 9-1 win against Brechin the previous month. Bo’ness were a club not without their troubles to seek and shortly after withdrew from the league. The result took Queens to the top of the table with 16 points from 10 games. The top placing was short lived but Queens maintained decent form to stay firmly in the promotion hunt.

A second trial for Savage followed two weeks later against Albion Rovers and he was signed immediately after that game as other clubs took an interest in him. Despite the barbaric overtones of his family name, Savage was a scrupulously fair tackler quickly earning respect among players and fans. He would also keep his team mates amused on away trips with his skill on the mouth organ. With Savage’s career at Queens lasting until 1947, there would be many a moment for listening to Savage’s virtuosity on the moothie.

On Feb 18th Albion Rovers were beaten 4-1 at Palmerston to put Queens on to 42 points with seven games to go. Hibs were runaway leaders, with a nine point lead from the same number of games. Also with seven games to go were third placed Stenhousemuir who had 39 points.

The week after the Albion Rovers game, Queens and Stenny both lost allowing Dunfermline to close the gap on them both. Then came something of a showdown between Queens and the Larbert side on March 25th. Queens keeper John Smith was twice treated for injury but continued playing on until the final whistle. Queens ran out 5-2 winners. Queens had a four point cushion ahead of Dunfermline with the Pars having a game in hand. Then a home draw against Raith Rovers was followed by a game of much drama away at Alloa. Queens were 2 -0 up with half an hour to go. Alloa pulled a goal back when Smith gathered a high ball only to be barged along with the ball into the goal by the Alloa centre forward. The ref signalled goal. Then with three minutes to go, the ball played Irvine on the arm when he was in the Queens penalty area. The ref pointed to the spot and the penalty was converted. Alloa won 3-2.

The wheels were firmly falling off. Dunfermline also dropped a point but were still in the driving seat. Queens had one game to go, away to the divisional champions, Hibs. Even if Queens won, Dunfermline would need to drop at least a point for Queens to go up. The Fifers were also in a better position should a level on points tie breaker be needed (goal average).

Hibs had lost only once at home all season, 1-0 back in September. The Queens cause wasn’t helped when a selection change was forced when a train carrying one of the players to Edinburgh broke down. When the game started Queens had a dream start. After four minutes Tommy McCall went on a run through the Hibs defence before lobbing the keeper to put Queens 1-0 up. Connolly equalised for Hibs shortly before half time. Burt then latched on to Irvine’s pass to put Queens 2-1 up with a low left footer. The second half saw Hibs very much in the ascendancy but the Doonhamers defence held out to end the season with a 2-1 win at Easter Road. McCall’s goal created a new goal scoring record in Scotland for a left winger, 32. However in terms of the promotion campaign, Queens' season was over. Now it was down to Dunfermline.

On the day of Queens win against Hibs, Dunfermline rattled up a 4-0 victory against another Edinburgh club, St Bernard’s. Dunfermline’s game in hand was scheduled for the following Saturday, away to Kings Park. During the game crowds started to gather outside the offices of the Dumfries press on the High Street, desperate to get updates as best as possible on the game that would have such a massive impact on football in Dumfries. Half time news that Kings Park were ahead had the excitement heating up further. The Dumfries police started to encounter issues, as the increasing size of the throngs of interested fans caused problems for passing traffic. With the Midsteeple providing time keeping for all, the phones of the ‘Standard’ were red hot as call after call was made by supporters looking for the latest on the big game. Among those in the crowd was the Queen of the South chairman, Jimmy Jolly. With the tension at fever pitch, the final result came in: Kings Park 2, Dunfermline Athletic 1. Euphoria broke out with Jolly now the centre of attention as he accepted the good wishes of the ecstatic fans. 14 years after formation and now with 2 promotions behind them in the first decade after joining the Scottish League, Queen of the South were set to play top division football.

For the new season some new names appeared to strengthen the squad. The most notable was on board for the season’s start, Willie Ferguson, massively experienced after a decade at Chelsea and set to firmly leave his foot print on Queen of the South.

The team to play Queens on the Doonhamers first ever game of top divisional football was one to focus the concentration, Celtic. The landmark date in Queen of the South history was August 12th 1933 with the venue of Palmerston Park. With a crowd of 10,948 the team for this special date in Queens history was as follows:-

Smith, Savage, Culbert, Russell, Irvine, Jenkins, Wales, Bell, McGowan, McDonald and Ferguson.

Celtic were the reigning Scottish Cup holders and while this was the first time Queens had played Old Firm opposition in the league, they had played against Celtic before in the Scottish Cup. Celtic needed a replay to see off the Dumfries side. For the 33/34 season opener, Queens got off to a dream start just as they had against Hibs to end the previous season.

Wales fired in a low drive at goal with enough fizz on it to mean that Kennaway in goals for Celtic could only parry it. John Bell did the rest to put himself in the record books as the scorer of the first ever Queens top league goal. Statisticians didn’t have to wait long for the name of the first player to score against Queens in the top league. It was certainly a distinguished name to score the goal – in the fourteenth minute a goal was scored by the player who has scored more times than anyone in UK football history, Jimmy McGrory.

The scores were level but not for long as Bob McGowan restored the advantage for the home team. However the lead was short lived when a McGonagle penalty made it 2-2; only 20 minutes on the clock. It stayed that way ‘til half time. Queens started the second half in the same explosive manner as they did the first; after link up play between Wales and McDonald, Bell added his name to the score sheet once again. Celtic were the stronger of the two sides for the rest of the game but the Queens defence stood firm. At the end of a milestone date in the history of Queen of the South football club, the final score read: Queen of the South 3, Celtic 2.

Tremendous stuff. There was of course plenty for the national press to feast on with a strong entry for the best headline from the Sunday Mail, “Queens brew hot stew, Celtic merely the gravy”. Credit must be given to the Parkhead club for the sporting comment in their match program for the game following their defeat at Palmerston: “We would be failing in our duty as Celts and as sportsmen if we omitted to congratulate Queen of the South on their victory over us. And we hope they will continue to serve up good, honest football which brought them their first victory in the league."

Queens first away game in the top division was at a ground behind the North Stand at Hampden Park, Cathkin Park. The opposition, like Kings Park, no longer feature in the Scottish League, Third Lanark. In the 28th minute, McGowan headed in Ferguson’s corner to equalise the scores at 1-1. The man of the match though was Smith in goals for Queens repelling attack after attack. If good teams score late goals then the signs were good for Queens when McDonald scored the winner with three minutes of play to go.

Things were looking rosy but the introduction to the real world was to follow, Queens lost five games culminating in a defeat to Rangers at Ibrox. The ship was then steadied with four straight wins (including another over Hibs) to position Queens in mid table.

November 18th  brought Queens to Edinburgh to play a Hearts side defending an unbeaten record at Tynecastle that season. Queens thundered into a 3-0 lead within half an hour. Hearts could only pull one goal back for Queens to pick up another notable scalp. However in late December Bell left Queens to join Preston North End, a possible cause for concern with Bell already on nine goals for the season. The £1500 transfer fee beat the previous highest, the £1000 received from Newcastle for Billy Halliday. However new forwards had been added to the Queens attack since the season's start.

Joe Tulip was from Mickley in Northumberland. A policeman from Dumfries on holiday in England’s North East had seen Tulip play and recommended the left winger to the Palmerston directors. Tulip had debuted on November 11th at home against Rangers. Another newcomer in 1933 was the journeyman and inside forward Laurie Cumming, three times capped by Ireland and future journalist and founder member of the Scottish Football Writers Association.

December 23rd brought the return game against Celtic. McGrory hitting the post was the closest Celtic came to scoring. With 14 minutes left to play Johnny Anderson of Queens passed the ball past two Celtic defenders to Willie Anderson. Anderson crossed to McGowan who headed the ball to an unmarked Joe Tulip. Tulip rifled the ball past Kennaway and a Celtic defender to give Queens the lead. The game finished, Celtic 0, Queen of the South 1. The billboards for the Glasgow evening press ran with the headline, “Tulip tiptoes through the Shamrocks”.

Queens fine form continued and a quarter final appearance in the Scottish Cup followed. However as has so often been the case, this proved the end of the road for cup ambitions for the season – two deflected goals past another experienced journeyman, keeper Willie Fotheringham, were enough to decide the game. St Johnstone won 2-0 at home.

With league business left, Rangers and Motherwell were miles ahead in the battle for the title. The contest for the other places was much closer with Queens battling things out with Aberdeen, Hearts and Celtic. The week after the quarter final Queens were resounding winners by 4-1 against the Dons. A 3-1 win over Hearts put Queens into fourth place, the position in which they ended their first ever season in Scotland’s top flight.

Fourth place in Scotland’s top division in 1934 remains to this day the best ever Queen of the South league finish. The 45 points achieved was a new record for a newly promoted side. Among the scalps picked up along the way were victories against all but four of the other 19 teams in the division. Double wins were chalked up against Celtic, Hearts and Hibs. Laurie Cumming fired in 24 goals that season. The 75 goals for fourth placed Queens made them the divisions seventh highest scorers. However the 48 goals against was the third most miserly defence in the league. So often forwards get the glory but the contribution of the likes of goalies Smith and Fotheringham and defenders Savage, Culbert and Adam ‘Skull’ Allan should not be over looked.

 

Position	Club	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Rangers	38	30	6	2	118	41	66
2	Motherwell	38	29	4	5	97	45	62
3	Celtic	38	18	1	9	78	53	47
4	Queen of the South	38	21	3	14	75	48	45
5	Aberdeen	38	18	8	12	90	57	44
6	Heart of Midlothian	38	17	10	11	86	59	44

Savage like many of the players listed above was part of the 16 player squad for the 11 game 1936 overseas tour to France, Luxembourg and Algeria. Under George McLachlan’s management, Queens returned home with the Algiers Invitational Tournament trophy after beating Racing de Santander in the final.

Savage was Captain at the club for the 1937 Scottish Cup first round game against Rangers at Palmerston. Queens had enjoyed great success against Celtic since joining the top division and continued to for many years. Rangers were a different story with Queens having registered no better than a draw up to this point. The Doonhamers could at least go into the game with some confidence after wins against Dundee (3-1 at Dens Park) and Hibs (1-0 at Palmerston).

13,000 fans watched the game unfold. Joe Tulip was injured in the 12th minute and forced to leave the field of play for treatment. Long before the introduction of substitutions, he returned on the half hour mark. Despite Tulip's good intention, the injury severely hindered his efforts and he was pretty much a passenger for the rest of the game.

Despite Tulip's predicament, Queens continued to look solid in a game that was mostly defences on top. The key moment arrived with nine minutes left of play.

Laurie Cumming latched on to a loose ball and drove forward. Spotting an umarked Renwick, Cumming picked out his man with a pass of military precision. Renwick pushed on controlling the ball on the move to which the Rangers goallie came out to meet him and narrow the angle. Renwick elected to lob. Time slowed down to a crawl for the fans as they waited to see if Renwick's touch was good. The ball drifted under the cross bar and into the back of the net. Queen of the South 1, Rangers 0. This was the finest domestic result in the reign of George McLachlan at the club.

At the final whistle jubilant Queens fans poured on to the pitch to accolade their heroes. The man of the moment, Renwick, was carried from the pitch shoulder high. The Evening Times reported:

"Fotheringham here was the great goalkeeper I have always considered him to be. In front of him Savage and Culbert gave a perfect display of sure and resourceful defence. Allan simply struck the best game of his long and honourable career. It was more than a merited win for Queens, it was a triumph."

Queens progressed to the quarter finals that season once again.

Under Jimmy McKinnell Snr’s management, Savage and Queens finished 6th in the league in 1939 with another Queens great now on board, Jackie Oakes. Queens again enjoyed some Scottish Cup respectability making the quarters for third time in six years.

During the war Willie Savage guested for St Mirren, Albion Rovers and Dumbarton. Savage returned to Palmerston at the war's end to play for Queens until 1947.

Savage was a tremendous player and Captain at Queens making 369 appearances. After the promotion in his 1st season, all of Savage's time at Queens was spent in the top division. He was the first ever player to reach 300 first class games for Queen of the South - a feat even today achieved by less than 20 players. Willie Savage is ninth in Queens’ all time appearances list.

Kirk McLean

Andy Thomson is the third highest goal scorer in Queen of the South history. His highest scoring season in England was with QPR where he top scored for the club. However his career down South is best remembered for his Wembley play off winning goal for Gillingham.

Andy Thomson contributed directly to this article with an interview in 2008.

Queen of the South (first spell)

18 year old Andy Thomson signed on 28 July 1989 for Queen of the South from Motherwell boys' club Jerviston F.C. Clearly talented even from the outset, Thomson went on to become a Palmerston goal scoring great.

In each of his last three seasons at Queens, Thomson scored over 20 league goals – 26, 21 and 29 respectively. When Thomson scored his 99th Queens goal he overtook John Dempster as the club’s all time third highest scorer. When he scored his 100th goal he joined Jim Patterson and Bobby Black as the only players in the Queens ‘ton up’ club (the tallies of Dempster and Black are additionally impressive as both played on the wing).

At the beginning of season 1990-91 Queens knocked Montrose out of the League Cup 2-1 after extra time. In the next round against Dundee from the division above, the score was 1-1 at full time. On this occasion extra time wasn’t enough to separate the sides in a 2-2 draw. In Palmerston’s first ever penalty shootout Alan Davidson saved two spot kicks for the home side to go through. The next challenge was a team from two divisions above, Dumfermline Athletic. In a game that Thomson remembers well, extra time was again needed to separate the sides.

“I scored the winner in that game. A cross came in from the left from Ian Thomson and I had lost a contact lens. I scored with a diving header.” Queens won 2-1. Two Dumfries lads were in the Pars team that night, Davie Irons and Ian McCall.

Next it was the last eight and a trip to Celtic Park. With Celtic a goal up, Andy Thomson diverted a cross from the left past Pat Bonner for a 2nd half equaliser for battling Queens. With extra time looming, substitute Joe Miller scored the winner with seven minutes remaining to deny Queens their first League Cup semi final appearance since 1961.

Thomson’s record in his first spell was 109 goals in all competitions. In 1991-92 he was the Scottish Second Division Player of the Year. Thomson picked up the title again in1993-94 as well as being the country's top scorer. Thomson also collected a case of champagne from the Daily Record recognising his goal scoring feats.

Aberdeen offered £150,000 for Thomson but this was rejected. Southend United offered to break their record fee paid with £250,000 and Thomson left for Essex on 4th July 1994. This remains the record transfer fee received by Queens.

When asked for this article if he had any particular memories of his time at Palmerston Thomson enthused of his fledgling years, “Just generally I really enjoyed my time at the club. I was there five years. It was a good club and really good experience; playing with different players, playing with experienced pros who had played at a higher level, different managers, there was nearly a different manager every year. I really enjoyed it and it was a really good club to start my career with.”

Andy Thomson returned to Palmerston Park to guest for Queen of the South on 23rd April 1995. The opposition in the 2-2 draw was Rangers in a game to mark Queens' 75th anniversary and the opening of the new stand. Playing with Thomson were fellow ex-Queens players Ted McMinn, Davie Irons and Rowan Alexander.

Southend United and Oxford United

Thomson spent four seasons with Southend and one with Oxford before joining Gillingham.

Gillingham

Andy Thomson signed for Gillingham on August 5th 1999. Two short months before Gillingham had been in their first ever appearance at Wembley Stadium.

Goals by Carl Asaba and Robert Taylor in the 81st and 86th minutes had fans convinced they would be going to the second tier of English League football for the first time in their history. That’s not how it worked out. Man City’s Kevin Horlock scored in the 90th minute of the game before Paul Dickov equalised five minutes into injury time to take the game into extra time. No more goals meant penalties. Man City won the shoot out 3-1 to seal promotion. Character building stuff.

 

With Thomson now on board the next season was Gillingham’s best ever. Fine league form pushing for promotion was supplemented with the Gills best ever FA Cup run. Thomson scored in each of four straight home FA Cup victories including against top division sides Bradford City (3-1) in the 4th round and Sheffield Wednesday in the 5th (3-1 again). The quarter finals brought a tie away at Stamford Bridge. Gianluca Vialli fielded an impressively strong line up despite the curse of Babayaro (the Nigerian had gone AWOL for the moment in Africa). 1-0 down at half time (Flo the scorer), Gillingham were still in with a shout before Chelsea pushed on from a 2nd goal (Terry finding the target this time). A third goal came from Weah before a late penalty converted by gorgon Zola turned the Gills defence to stone - Morris added a fifth goal minutes later. Chelsea went on to win the final 1-0 after a goalkeeping error by Aston Villa’s David James.

In the league that season Thomson missed the final few games through injury. This included the vital last game of the season. Needing to win away at Wrexham the Gills fluffed their lines and lost 1-0 to finish 3rd – the playoffs again.

Thomson missed the play off semi final games against Stoke City due to the ankle injury. Stoke won 3-2 at the Britannia before the Gills turned the tie around with a 3-0 win at Priestfield to win 5-3 on aggregate. Thomson recalled in a later interview for Gillingham, “It was a great atmosphere that night, probably one of the best I’ve been involved in. The game wasn’t great with the stakes being so high, but to do it in the end was brilliant, the players were going off their heads.”

“I didn’t really understand as I’d never played in the play offs before. For the players who had played in the final the year before, who knew what it was all about, it was a great occasion."

”On the final Thomson added, “I’d been out for six weeks and can’t have done much training. To be a substitute wasn’t exactly a surprise but I certainly wasn’t 100% confident, I was just delighted to get on the bench.”

An attendance over 53000 was made up of 80% Gillingham fans. Peter Taylor picked 8 starters from the 11 who started the previous season’s final. Gillingham led 1-0 at half time. In the 53rd minute Wigan’s Simon Haworth received the ball in what the Independent described as, “On the angle of the six-yard area at the near post, he flicked the ball up with his left foot before lobbing Bartram on the volley with the outside of his right from an acute angle. One of Wembley’s great goals, the kind of finishing purists had hoped to see from Brazil 24 hours earlier.” It stayed 1-1 after 90 minutes.

Substitute Andy Thomson was brought on seven minutes into extra time. Two minutes later Wigan were ahead when Graham Barlow converted a spot kick. Peter Taylor brought on another sub in the shape of Steve Butler who equalised with six minutes remaining.

With two minutes left on the clock came the moment of the Thomson sub machine gun. “We were putting in loads of crosses at that stage and getting some good balls in the box. I was caught in between two defenders and thought I could catch one of them unaware. I timed my run well and after that I don’t remember anything!”

Ty Gooden crossed from the right. Thomson stole in front of Stuart Balmer to glance a header into the far corner of the net. The goal was reminiscent of Keith Houchen's 1987 FA Cup final goal for Coventry City against Tottenham Hotspur.

“Watching it on TV brings it all back, I don’t remember too much about it apart from lying in the corner and one of the players saying along the lines of, ‘You lucky Scottish so and so’, but that’s the only thing I remember after the goal which is surreal.”

“You couldn’t explain in terms of how amazing it is. Even just to go to Wembley was a wonderful experience. I grew up watching Scotland play at Wembley. To play there and ultimately score the winner was the stuff dreams are made of."

”The club's website describes Thomson’s goal as, "The most iconic moment in the long history of Gillingham F.C. encapsulated in a few moments of extra time football".

Promoted to the second flight Thomson pitched in with goals in further club milestone games – their first point in the second tier (1-1 at home to Portsmouth) and the first second tier away win (2-1 against Sheffield United). “Initially it took us a while to find our feet at a higher league but once we’d adjusted we did really well as a team. The team spirit carried us through again. It was great to play at big grounds in front of big crowds”.

Thomson also hit both his side’s goals in the 4-2 League Cup defeat by Man City. There was no repeat of the previous season’s F.A. Cup run as the Gills went out in January, again to Chelsea, this time 4-2 despite giving the Londoners a shock. Seemingly in easy street at 3-0 up, the Gills battled back to 3-2 and had their illustrious opponents in trouble before Gudjohnsen's 90th minute goal killed the tie. However, more tellingly, Thomson's involvement was only that of a late substitute appearance.

In the 24 team division Gillingham finished comfortably in mid table at 13th – but not with Thomson at the club. Thomson said that new manager Andy Hessenthaler “Had his own ideas and new people he had brought in who he wanted to play, which was fair enough. I was offered a new deal but wanted a better chance of playing regularly. That was the reason I moved to Q.P.R.” Previous manager Peter Taylor later described Andy Thomson as the best £25,000 he ever spent. “I think that’s because he never spent £25,000 on anybody else”, joked Thomson modestly.

With his Wembley Final winning goal Thomson emulated another ex-Queens player. Bernie Slaven had scored the winner for Port Vale when they won the then Autoglass sponsored Football League Trophy 2-1 against Stockport County. Ted McMinn and Scotland international Jamie McAllister have also both played in playoff finals at Wembley after leaving Queens.

Queens Park Rangers

Andy Thomson joined QPR in decent scoring form. In the 8 league games he played at the end of the 2000-01 season, Thomson found the net four times. This wasn’t enough to save the West Londoners from the drop. The season after saw Thomson’s best tally in England. Thomson’s 21 goals from his 38 league games including a hat trick at home against Port Vale made him the club’s top scorer that season.

 

Return to Scotland

Andy Thomson joined then top division Partick Thistle for the 2003/04 season where he stayed for one season before joining Falkirk.

At Falkirk Thomson scored a League Cup hat trick against Peterhead before he repeated his earlier feat at Queens of scoring against Celtic in the League Cup. This time the Glasgow side cracked in eight in response.

Thomson played his only two senior games of his career against Queens winning both and without scoring himself. Thomson was promoted with Falkirk to the Scottish top flight in 2005. Then out of the first team picture by Christmas, Thomson rejoined Queens in January 2006.

The mid 90s had brought many things in UK society. Not just ‘New Labour’ but also ‘New Queens’. Interviewed on his return for the Queens website after a decade away Thomson commented, “Things have changed quite a bit while I've been away - a new stand, a completely new set-up and a more modern type of training system."

Thomson added five further goals to give him a final tally at Queens of 114. This cements his place as the third highest goal scorer in Queens history behind Jim Patterson and Bobby Black.

After his final year at Queens, Andy Thomson moved to Stenhousemuir before retiring from playing in March 2008.

Kirk McLean

 

As but a humble feature writer, most of the information gathered for use in Queens Legends (and also the sections of the club history that I drafted), has been sourced from books, press articles and the internet. There has also been some sterling input from individuals such as some of the participants of the events listed and various football historians. Of the historians the largest single source of information has been Queen of the South's historian and museum curator, Ian Black. However it is also in order to thank the following for their various contributions:-

Allan Ball, QoS
Ann Marie Ballantyne, Airdrie United FC
Bobby Black, ex QoS
Crawford Boyd, ex QoS, with IT assistance from Alex Boyd
Neil Brown, football database administrator
George Burley, ex footballer, now manager
Nobby Clark, ex QOS
George Cloy, ex QoS
Billy Collings, ex QoS
Paul Days, Sunderland AFC historian
Jocky Dempster, ex QoS
Lucy Diamond, proof reader
Stephen Done, Liverpool FC museum curator
Sir Alex Ferguson CBE, ex footballer, now manager
Leslie Fortune, QoS fan
Rick Glanvill, Chelsea FC historian
Ian Halliday, son of Dave Halliday
John Henderson, Airdieonians FC historian
Paul Joannou, Newcastle United FC historian
Derek Jones, Blackburn Rovers F.C. historian
Davie Kirkpatrick, QoS fan
Lynne Laffin, PA to Sir Alex Ferguson
Brian Leng, Sunderland AFC historian
John Lerwill, Aston Villa FC historian
Iain McChesney, QoS
Ted McMinn, ex QoS
Niccole Ney, Dundee FC
Rob at Blackburn Rovers PAPR
Jimmy Robertson, ex QoS
David Ross, football historian
Richard Shepherd, Cardiff City FC media department
Jim Stewart, East Fife FC Historian
Andy Thomson, ex QoS

Kirk McLean