Queen’s Park East Fife

GAVIN MITCHELL

SCOTT GIBSON

ANTHONY QUINN

CONOR MCVEY

PAUL WOODS

SEAN BURNS

BRYAN WHARTON

CRAIG MCLEISH

DAVID GALT

JAMIE MCKERNON

BILLY MORTIMER

GREGOR FOTHERINGHAM

ANTON BRADY

AIDEN MALONE

ROSS MILLEN

LIAM BROWN

EWAN MACPHERSON

OWEN STOTT

ADAM CUMMINS

WILLIE MUIR

RYAN GOODFELLOW

PATRICK SLATTERY

CHRIS KANE

JONATHAN PAGE

JASON KERR

MARK LAMONT

ROSS BROWN

CHRIS DUGGAN

KEVIN SMITH

KYLE WILKIE

TONY WALLACE

SCOTT ROBINSON

JAMIE INSALL

JAMES PENRICE

ROSS MUTCH

JORDAN AUSTIN

NICKI PATERSON

MARK HURST

LUKE WATT

Referee: Gavin Ross AR1: Alasdair Ross AR2: Ryan Lee

Queen’s Park v East Fife FC

Saturday 4th February 2017

SPFL League 1

Hampden Park

3PM KO

www.queensparkfc.co.uk Follow us @queensparkfc

Contact: 0141 632-1275 secretary@queensparkfc.co.uk

President: Dr Alan Hutchison Company Secretary: Christine Wright

Programme Contributors: Scottish Football Museum, Keith McAllister,

Frank McCrossan, Sean Davenport. Pictures by: Ian Cairns

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to contact us programme@queensparkfc.co.uk

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*Please note that all articles and match reports are the views of individual

contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the club.

Good Afternoon and

Welcome to Hampden Park.

Today we face East Fife in

League 1.

Last week’s result away to

Peterhead was extremely

disappointing after we have

had a reasonably good run of

form.

We will learn from our

mistakes and we are

fortunate to have brought in

four loan signings. Kalvin

Orsi, Aidan McIlduff and

Domini Docherty join us until

the end of the season as well

as Dario Zanatta who was on

loan here previously. This has

allowed us to strengthen the

squad for the second part of

the season.

Enjoy the game!

Gus MacPherson

Keith McAllister Stravaiging home on

Sunday evening, my eyes

and ears were assailed by a

small group of Celtic fans

weaving their merry way

home after their side’s demolishing of

Hearts that afternoon. The songs were

loud (and wouldn’t pass the Offensive

Behaviour at Football Act ) but

relatively good-natured; they reminded

me that the team had surpassed the

unbeaten domestic record of the 1967

Celtic side.

Let’s give credit where credit’s due; they

have done very well, but (and you just

knew that there had to be a but) the

opposition has been pretty poor.

They’ve been shooting fish in a barrel

this year, such is the disarray and

general lack of quality lined up against

them. Their traditional rivals are still

very much in a state of transition. No

cash; no stability and still reeling from

their wilderness years. They have done

very well considering where they have

been….but this may also be a reflection

on the quality of the opposition in

SPFL’s division.

Aberdeen…will flatter to deceive, and

will lose crucial games and are

vulnerable to any of the sides in the

Premiership. Hearts…not yet a quality

sides after their dip in fortunes and their

new manager will need time to instil

whatever it is he has on his team. And

that, dear readers, pretty much sums up

the challenge facing Celtic. The other

sides in the division are soooooo far

behind, that they’ll not trouble Celtic.

So, praiseworthy as it is, Celtic’s record-

breaking run has to be judged in the

context of the opposition. To mention

them in the same breath as the Lisbon

Lions is not fair on the Lions, nor on the

present-day side. I don’t think that any

Celtic fan will get too excited by the

new record. This, remember, is a side

that lost to the Gibraltar team with the

made-up name, Lincoln Red Imps.

For a country that has been used to

having two sides towering over the rest,

it has come as a bit of a dulling of the

senses to have only one “good” side. It

is a problem on every level. Not much

good for Celtic, as they are rarely tested,

and asking them to take a big step up to

tackle European opposition has proved

to be challenging for them this season.

Even the wee duffers like the mighty

Imps have given them a wake-up call.

Not much good for the opposition, who

have no chance whatsoever to compete

with Celtic’s cash and other resources

and, to rub salt into the wounds, often

see their best players head to Parkhead

to sit on the bench.

Not much good for Scottish football in

general as Celtic’s cash sees them being

able to afford foreign stars (aye, ok, let’s

say……foreign no’ bad players) at the

expense of Scots, thus affecting the international side….which affects

performances….which lowers our co-efficient…which is already low as our club

sides do badly in Europe….and it’s a vicious circle, kids.

What are the prospects of change soon. Slim; very slim. Due to the financial

slicing up of the European dripping roast, more cash is concentrated on bigger

sides, to the detriment of the many. With Scottish clubs’ participation in Europe

(fleeting as it usually is) shrinking in terms of numbers, there is less European

cash coming into our game. Celtic, by hanging on by their fingernails to a

reasonable level of attainment, get a small slice of what is a very huge Champions

League pie. That small slice, mind you, was forecast to be potentially £30m this

year. Even if it didn’t reach those dizzy heights, how much does it skew the

relative wealth spread in Scotland? How can anyone else in Scotland hope to

compete? Unless Celtic sign a complete imbecile as their manager and he

masterminds a series of signing and tactical disasters, they’ll chunder along for

years on this see-saw of domestic dominance and comfortable but exasperating

European periphery generating, as it does, a level of funding that only reinforces

the wide gap here.

It’s going to be a hard shift for Rangers and the rest to address the balance that

seems entrenched beyond redemption.

On This Day– Frank McCrossan

4 February 1911- Queen’s Park 2 St Mirren 0

Since joining the Scottish League in 1900, Queen’s Park had found the task of competing with professional opposition very challenging and season 1910/11 was proving to be a real struggle. The Spiders had amassed a mere five points from 23 games as they went into a home game with St Mirren on this day 106 years ago.

Queen’ s Park had been boosted by a big win over Perthshire side Stanley in the Scottish Cup on the previous Saturday and were hopeful of producing a good performance against the Buddies. This optimism looked to be misplaced in the opening minutes of the match as goalkeeper Willie McKenna was forced into a fine save from Malcolm McDougall. However, Queen’s worked their way into the game and took the lead when George Ramsay ran on to a James Hamilton pass and slid the ball past William Duncan in the St Mirren goal. Queen’s had the better of the remainder of the opening half, with Henry Ferguson missing an open goal, but were unable to add to their lead.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first. St Mirren had the better of the opening exchanges but Queen’s Park soon re-established their superiority. Encouraged by their fans in the crowd of 8,000, the Spiders pushed forward and doubled their lead when George Ramsay met a cross from the wing and gave Duncan no chance with a firm shot. Queen’s enjoyed the better of the play to the end and ran out deserved winners by two goals to nil.

St Mirren had been hot favourites to win the match but, except for a few minutes at the start of each half, they were second best. Queen’s Park turned in perhaps their most impressive performance of the season to date. With James Thomson and Bob Young dominating in defence, Willie McKenna was seldom troubled and the midfield trio of Bob Pursell, Arthur Murray and Claude Craigie were in particularly fine form.

The Queen’s Park side on that February afternoon was - Willie McKenna; James Thomson and Bob Young; Bob Pursell, Arthur Murray and Claude Craigie; James Hamilton, George Ramsay, Andrew Gillies, James Laughland and Henry Ferguson.

This afternoon’s opponents East Fife went down 6-2 at home to Dunfermline Athletic in the Central League. In season 1910/11, the Central League consisted of clubs such as Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Stenhousemuir and St Johnstone, as well as Hearts’ second eleven.

It was FA Cup day in England and the tie of the day was the Merseyside derby. The game attracted a crowd of 50,000 to Goodison Park. Liverpool took a first half lead but Everton fought back in the second period to win 2-1. Both of the Toffees’ goals came from Alex “Sandy” Young, a Scotsman who played for St Mirren and Falkirk before heading south. In his ten years with Everton, Sandy Young made 314 appearances and scored 125 goals.

Mr Thomas Howell, the general emigration agent of the Canadian Northern Railway, was in Britain seeking 5,000 wives for bachelor farmers in North-Western Canada and would be visiting Glasgow. On the plains of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, no fewer than 30,000 young farmers were having to cook their own breakfast every morning, make their own beds, darn their own socks, cook their own evening meal and perform countless other acts of domestic routine. I am sure that all the ladies present at today’s match will be particularly sympathetic to the plight of these poor men.

There were 25,000 spectators at Inverleith in Edinburgh for the rugby international between Scotland and Wales. The Welsh fans travelled in numbers even in those days and there were over 3,000 of them at the game. It was the visitors who ended up the happier as Wales scored six tries to Scotland’s two to record a 32-10 victory.

Concern about the effect of smoking on health is by no means a recent development. Referring to the high percentage of recruits rejected for heart trouble directly attributable to the excessive consumption of cigarettes, the ”Military Mail” remarked “it is a very open question whether some drastic regulations to diminish the evil would not be justified on every ground.”

An understrength Celtic were beaten 2-1 at Motherwell. This was the first time the Lanarkshire men had beaten Celtic in a league match. The Parkhead side had been champions in each of the previous six seasons but this defeat meant that they had next to no chance of retaining their title. Rangers were at the top of the table, with Aberdeen a point behind but with a game in hand.

Events Elsewhere on 4 February 1911

The Opposition East Fife FC

By Sean Davenport

We extend a warm welcome to Barry Smith and his East Fife side to the Hampden for today’s League 1 clash. The Bayview side currently sit fifth in the table having

picked up 30 points from 21 matches so far. Barry Smith’s side go into the game on the back of a 1-1 draw at home to Stranraer last Saturday.

Manager – Barry Smith

Smith took over the reigns at Bayview in December 2016 following the departure of Gary Naismith who left for Queen of the South. Smith had previously managed Dundee, Alloa Athletic and Aldershot Town over the past seven years. Prior to

moving into the coaching side of the game he had forged a playing career which began at Celtic in 1991. He moved to Dundee in 1995 where he remained for 11

years, making almost 400 appearances for the Dens Park side. He then went on to play for Valur in Iceland before returning to Scotland to feature for Partick Thistle, Greenock Morton and Brechin City, eventually ending his plating career in 2010.

Club Records Biggest Victory: 13-2 v Edinburgh City in 1937

Biggest Defeat: 0-9 v Heart of Midlothian in 1957 Record Attendance: 22,515 v Raith Rovers in 1950

Most Capped Player: Arnold Dwarika, 73 caps for Trinidad & Tabago

Honours Scottish Cup

Winners (1) 1938 Runners Up (2) 1927, 1950 Scottish League Cup

Winners (3) 1948, 1950, 1954 Scottish Second Division

Winners (1) 1945 Scottish Third Division

Winners (1) 2008 Scottish B Division Supplementary Cup

Winners (2) 1947, 1948 Scottish Qualifying Cup

Winners (1) 1921

Key Players

Jonathan Page

Englishman Page joined The Fifers on a permanent basis in the summer of 2015 following his release by Dunfermline. Prior to this he had previously been at Bayview

on 2 separate loan spells over 2014-15. At the relatively young age of 26, the defender could already be described as a journeyman of the game having been at 7 different clubs since his senior career began his career at Portsmouth in 2006. After

leaving the Fratton Park side Page moved north to Motherwell and had loan spells at Stirling Albion and Hamilton Accies before a brief but permanent move to New

Douglas Park. This was followed by a spell at Morton and then Dunfermline which also included 2 loan spells at Bayview.

Kevin Smith

Journeyman Smith began his career at Leeds United before moving to Sunderland in January 2006. Whilst at the Black Cats he had loan spells at both Wrexham and Dundee before departing in June 2007 after failing to break into the Sunderland

squad. After a long spell without a club Smith began training with Dundee United before signing a one year deal with the club at the end of the season. The start of

the 2008/09 season saw Smith move to Raith Rovers on a five month loan deal. He was unfortunate to suffer a serious injury which kept him out the game for six

months and was loaned to Raith for a third time following his recovery. Smith then signed for Notts County on a one year deal in August 2010 before moving back north to Queen of the South in June 2011. He remained at Queen’s for two seasons before

moving to Dumbarton and then subsequently to East Fife.

Jamie Insall

The 24 year old Englishman is currently in his second loan spell with the Fifers from Hibernian. He began his career 6 years ago at Redditch United before going on to play for Malvern Town, Stourport Swifts, Perwshore Town, Archdales, Littleton,

Westfields and Bromyard Town all in the space of 5 years. He signed for Hibs in the summer of 2015 and spent last season at Bayview where he scored 8 goals in 21

appearances, helping East Fife to win the league. He has returned to Bayview again on loan this season and has 6 goal to his name.

Spotlight on 1966-67- 4th February 1967

On 4th February 1967 Queen’s Park travelled to Ochilview, Stenhousemuir, for a

Second Division match. The previous Saturday Queens had defeated Raith

Rovers 3-2 at Hampden in a Scottish Cup First Round Tie so would be confident

of victory against an off form Stenny side.

The Spiders line up was G Wilson, T Barr, C Gilmour, J Robertson, W Neil, E

Hunter, A Watson, N Hopper, W Carter, M Hay, and M Mackay.

Queens dominated the match from start to finish but surprisingly were 1-0 down

at the interval. Warriors winger Ramsay collected the ball, rode a tackle then

fired home from 20 yards after 41 minutes. However Queens class told in the

second half and they went on to win 2-1.

First Mackay scored with a powerful shot after shrugging off several tackles,

then Watson lobbed the stranded keeper Samson to ensure victory.

Today’s opponents East Fife were away to Arbroath but they did not enjoy being

beside the seaside as they went down 2-0.

Third Lanark entertained Alloa at Cathkin Park. Craig put the Hi His ahead in the

first minute then 2 goals by Kilganon tied up a 3-0 victory.

In the first division Celtic travelled to Broomfield to play Airdrieonians and

despite a below par performance the Celts raced to a 3-0 win. Sloppy Celtic play

allowed Airdrie several good chances all of which were missed. Murdoch,

Chalmers and Auld got the Celtic goals.

Rangers entertained Hearts at Ibrox and put in an impressive performance to

win 5-1.

Three little men won the match for the Gers. Henderson, Willoughby and Wilson

showed great ball control and finishing skills. These 3 players were responsible

for all of Rangers, with Willoughby grabbing a hat trick.

It is strange how a Football club’s fortunes can change within a short space of

time. A Week earlier Rangers had been knocked out of the Scottish Cup by

Second Division Berwick Rangers !.

Highest scoring game of the day was at Ayr, where the visitors Aberdeen ran

out 5-2 winners. The following Mid week 2 Scottish clubs were in European

action. Dundee United were bidding to become the fourth Scottish side to reach

the Quarter finals of European competition. The Old firm and Kilmarnock had

already done so!.

United’s hopes however were doomed after a 3-0 away defeat to Juventus,in a

Fairs Cities Cup first leg game.Strangely a crowd of only around 3,000 watched

the match.

Celtic played a prestige friendly at home to Yugoslavian side Dinamo Zagreb,

and attracted 46,000 to celtic Park. The Celts put in a fine performance, but

couldn’t put away the numerous chances they created. They ended up suffering

a Sucker punch late on , When Yugoslavian international Zambata scored the

only Goal of the game.

Catch you next home game

Yours in the Beautiful Game

Scottish Football Museum

SUPPORTER NOTES

AWAY TRAVEL Many thanks to all who came along on the bus to Peterhead on Saturday. A helluva trek to see your team tonked four nil! As we won’t have buses travelling to Stenhousemuir and Albion Rovers in February, the next organised travel won’t be until 11th March when we head to Stranraer. That is, provided the match at Brechin isn’t organised before then. Again, we’d ask you to help us by booking for every match. Contact Graeme Shields at gshields.65@btinternet.com or 07730 587526 to book. Tickets will also be available at the souvenir shop, John Richmond or from myself. Souvenir Shop As we will be housed in the “other side” of the main stand this Saturday, we may have a truncated Souvenir Shop presence. Apologies for this. We have new enamel badges to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this wonderful Club’s birth and these are on sale today at the Shop for £3.00. We also have wee button badges celebrating the feat of staying in the game so long, plus badges with both the home and away kits. These are 60p each of £2.00 for all four. Bargains…I’ll say! Please note that the price of replica tops will have to rise this Saturday as the re-order has cost us approx. 10% more than the original order. That’s yer Brexit for you! The club has a special, limited edition, 150th anniversary tie for sale. These are priced at £15 and are available from the office, bistro and the QP shop. Please note that, unfortunately, we now have to make a £3.00 flat charge on credit card purchases. Please note this applies to credit cards only and not debit cards. The charge will cover the cost we incur to process credit card purchases. Incidentally, this will apply to all credit card purchases to the Football Club too. Sorry! 60 Club There will be a draw in the JB McAlpine bar before the game. Get ready to spend, spend, spend in the souvenir shop you lucky winners…………… Keith McAllister hampdenfan@yahoo.co.uk

The Week That Was… Stuart Humphries

We’re back at Hampden for the first game after the transfer deadline day, which turned out to busier for the Spiders than most teams. Hopefully we will get to see some of the new loanees (Kalvin Orsi and Aidan McIlduff) out on the pitch today – and also a welcome back to Dario Zanatta. I’m finding transfer deadline day has recent lost the excitement it once carried. Long are the days where I’d stay up to the deadline and see a flurry of late deals and the use of a helicopter transporting overpriced flops from one club to another. Long gone are the days of Benjani falling asleep at the airport or Robinho forgetting which Manchester club he has actually signed for. This deadline day didn’t even have Harry Redknapp being interviewed out of his car window!

Last weekend was one to forget for Queen’s Park (we’ll skip over that). Elsewhere in League 1 there were big wins for Livingston who extended their lead at the top to 11 points after a 3-0 home win against Brechin City. Stenhousemuir and Airdrie played out a goalfest with Stenny scoring twice late on to seal a 4-2 win. For every 4-2, there’s always a goalless stalemate. This 0-0 was shared by East Fife and the league’s bottom side Stranraer, with very little to say on this match except East Fife are now 10 games unbeaten. Albion Rovers were held to a 1-1 draw with Alloa despite dominating the match.

In the SPL Kris Boyd scored the League’s fastest ever goal, hitting the back of the net under 10 seconds. Kilmarnock then went on to win 3-2 against Ross County. Under the Friday Night Lights, Aberdeen beat Dundee 3-0 thanks to a Niall McGinn double. Ryan Christie went on to make his Don’s debut and learn the value of monitoring your twitter page. Rangers and Motherwell both finished their match with 10 men leaving 37 years young Kenny Miller to continue his free scoring form. The Gers took the points after a 2-0 win. Elsewhere, St Johnstone thumped Hamilton 3-0 and the battle of the Thistles ended in a draw with Inverness and Partick Thistle playing out a 0-0.

There was also a helping of midweek SPL action. It was 1st vs 3rd at Parkhead where Celtic hosted Aberdeen. Without a recognised striker, the goal scoring fell to Belgian centre-back Dedryck Boyata to come up with the goods as Celtic hung on to a 1-0 win. Rangers failed to extend the gap over Aberdeen as they lost 4-1 to the ‘Laptop Mourinho’ Ian Cathro’s Hearts. Jamie Walker scoring a double to delight the Tynecastle faithful. There were also midweek wins for Hamilton, Motherwell and St Johnstone.

The Championship saw a big win for Greenock Morton who beat Ayr 4-1 at Somerset Park. A solitary John McGinn goal was enough to give Hibs all three points against Queen of the South. There was also wins for Dumbarton and Falkirk against Raith Rovers and St Mirren respectively, and Dunfermline and Dundee United shared a 1-1 draw at East End Park.

By far the most goals were down in League 2, with Annan putting 4 past Stirling Albion. Elgin City and Forfar both recorded 3-1 victories over Edinburgh City and Cowdenbeath. Arbroath nicked all the points away at Clyde with a 2-1 one win and Montrose came from behind to record the same score line over Berwick Rangers.

The English Premiership saw the return of RoboCrouch, where Peter Crouch scored his 100th Premier League goal in a 1-1 draw with Everton. Adam Lallana revealed that he eats 8 meals a day to maintain his ‘amazing energy levels’. As exciting as 8 meals a day sounds, I doubt it would give me Lallana style energy levels. On the pitch, Liverpool and Chelsea played out a 1-1 draw with Diego Costa missing a crucial penalty that would have taken all 3 points back to Stamford Bridge. The Paul Clement Swansea revival continued as they beat Southampton 2-1. Manchester City thumped West Ham 4-0, with 19-year-old Watermelon – sorry Gabriel Jesus, picking up a goal and an assist. Man United and Tottenham were held by Premier League strugglers Hull and Sunderland respectively.

Today’s SPFL League One Fixtures

Airdrieonians v Peterhead

Alloa Athletic v Livingston

Brechin City v Stenhousemuir

Queen’s Park v East Fife

Stranraer v Albion Rovers

SPFL League One Table 2016/17

Team Played Wins Draws Losses Goal Difference Points

1 Livingston 21 15 0 6 25 45

2 Alloa Athletic 22 9 7 6 12 34

3 Airdrieonians 22 10 3 9 -4 33

4 Brechin City 21 10 1 10 -1 31

5 East Fife 21 8 6 7 5 30

6 Queen's Park 21 9 3 9 -9 30

7 Albion Rovers 20 8 4 8 1 28

8 Peterhead 22 8 4 10 -5 28

9 Stenhousemuir 22 7 3 12 -14 24

10 Stranraer 22 6 3 13 -10 21