The club have confirmed the retention of several key players from last season's squad, arguably the most pivotal of whom are Steven Moffat and Johnny Whelan. Moffat had allegedly been interesting Morton and his decision to stay is a big relief. Johnny is a Queen's stalwart now and will play a big part next season in midfield. As previously suggested, Craig Taggart and Stuart Kettlewell have also signed, along with Richard Sinclair, David McCallum and Ross Clark.
On the debit side, the loss of Mark Cairns to Stirling Albion has been confirmed. Mark was signed from Brechin in January and immediately established himself as first choice. He started 13 games and was a thoroughly reliable and influential keeper - for a club of Queen's standing, it will be hard to find a replacement of equal quality.
James Allan has also finally moved, but not to Morton as had been reported. Instead, new moneybags club Gretna have added him to a squad they are convinced can strongly challenge for promotion. James made 34 starts, came off the bench once, and scored seven goals. Along with Kevin Finlayson, he was the most exciting player Queen's have had in recent years and was always going to attract strong attention from other clubs.
20 June Cairns next to leave
It has been reported in the press that Mark Cairns, signed from Brechin in January, is to move to Stirling Albion. Playing there will be more convenient for him as he lives in the area. Cairns was impressive in his short spell at Hampden, and his departure means that a solution to the protracted goalkeeping question is a strong priority, especially after Tony Mitchell's release and doubts over Derek Scrimgour's future.
Meanwhile, despite reports from Tannadice, it would seem that Queen's will not be playing Dundee United on 12 July at Hampden. This match had been mooted, but the club today released details of the pre-season programme and there was no mention of it. It appears to have been replaced by a friendly against another SPL club, Hearts, at Hampden on 16 July. Before that, Queen's will play two of Kenny Brannigan's former clubs, Falkirk and Stirling Albion, away from home, on 8 and 10 July respectively. The venue for the Falkirk trip has still to be decided, as Falkirk have as yet no idea of what ground or division they'll be playing in next season. See Fixtures 2003/04 for the pre-season schedule.
19 June League fixtures confirmed
Queen's will travel to Gretna for their first league match of the season on 9 August, before facing their first home game, which is against Elgin for the third season running, on 16 August. An early trip to Cliftonhill follows on 23rd August, and our final match of the season will be at home to Gretna on 15 May. See the Fixtures page for full Queen's fixtures for season 2003/04, including friendlies. First match against Cowdenbeath for a few years will be at Central Park on 13 September, while acquaintance will be renewed with Stranraer and Stair Park on 18 October.
The most intriguing element of the schedule is the timing of our games with Albion Rovers: as well as playing our third game at their place, Queen's face them in the semi-New Year fixture at Hampden, on Saturday 3rd January.
10 June Menelaws signs
David Menelaws has agreed to stay at the club, and the club have officially confirmed that Agostini and Fallon have done the same. There has not been any official word about Steven Moffat.
The full fixtures for next season's Scottish League will be published next Thursday
( 19 June ) and will be available on this site very quickly.
8 June Willie Martin signs for Elgin City
According to elgincity.com, the move has been completed, with Martin signing for a season.
7 June Three key players to stay
Fallon, Agostini and Moffat, the players who occupied the back three places for the majority of last season, have apparently decided that their immediate futures lie at Hampden Park. Clubs had been interested in securing the services of all three players, with Agostini approached by East Fife, and Morton allegedly considering a move for Moffat. But it seems that they have decided that guaranteed football at Queen's is the best way for their careers to progress at present. After a close season so far dominated by stories of a multitude of players walking out, it would be tremendous if indeed some of our best players, like these three, elected to stay on. Other players I would say we would be desperate to keep definitely include Whelan, Cairns, McCallum, Clark, Ferry and Kettlewell.
6 June Agostini not going to East Fife
Understandably, after an excellent first season back at the club, Damiano Agostini has attracted the interest of other clubs and one of those is his former team East Fife. Agostini has spoken to their manager Jim Moffat, but has chosen to turn down the chance of playing there. A factor was the distance between his workplace in Ardrossan and Methil. Given that there are few clubs near Ardrossan who would realistically be looking to sign Agostini, perhaps his staying at Queen's is the most likely outcome. If he is prepared to quit his job and turn full-time however, then Morton are a plausible contender for his services, especially as it was John McCormack who brought Damiano back to Hampden.
3 June Dundee United friendly confirmed
Queen's Park are officially scheduled to play Dundee United on Saturday 12 July at Hampden in their first warm-up match before the season begins on 2 August. The full fixture list for next season's Third Division will be available by the end of June.
1 June Times article on world's first black footballer
The Times Scottish edition today contained an article profiling the first black player in Scotland, Britain and indeed the world as a whole. Andrew Watson played 36 matches for Queen's Park between 1879 and 1885, and won 3 caps for Scotland, indeed captaining his country on at least one of those occasions. Yet until very recently - due perhaps to the duskiness of old photographs and absence of comment in contemporary match reports - it was not known that Watson was in fact black, having been born in Guyana in South America. He is now recognised as the world's first black player, given that only the British Isles countries were playing the proper form of football at the time. A programme on Watson will be screened by BBC Scotland on 12 June.
It seems strange that no-one at Queen's Park, down throughout more than 100 years, was aware of this fact - that it failed to be passed on and recognised. Especially for a club so conscious of its history and importance to the development of the game. Still, this can be, if belatedly, added to the already extensive list of Queen's Park football firsts.
For excerpts from the article click here.