Queen's Park FC is the oldest football club in Scotland, having been formed on July 9th 1867 following a meeting at 3 Eglinton Terrace with the club playing a similar role in the Scottish game to the Marylebone Cricket Club as they formulated the rules.
The club joined the English FA in 1870 prior to providing all eleven players for the Scotland team that faced England at the West of Scotland Cricket Ground at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow in the world’s first ever international match in November 1872 as Robert Gardner captained the side.
The club form the Scottish FA with eight other clubs in 1873, playing their first game against Dumbreck at the original Hampden Park, now home of Hampden Bowling Club wearing their traditional black and white hooped shirts, earning their nickname of ‘The Spiders’.
The 1873-74 season saw the inaugural Scottish Cup with Queen’s Park lifting the trophy after defeating Clydesdale 2-0. The trophy was retained for the following two seasons as Renton were beaten 3-0 in 1874-75 before 3rd Lanark RV were seen off 3-0 twelve months later.
The club collected another hattrick of Scottish Cup wins between 1879-80 and 1881-82 with Thornliebank the former runners-up before two replay victories were accumulated against Dumbarton with 3-1 and then 4-1 victories.
The club moved to the second Hampden Park in 1883 before reaching the final of the FA Cup in 1883-84 and 1884-85 which both ended in defeat to Blackburn Rovers, with the matches at Kennington Oval finishing 2-1 and then 2-0.
The Scottish Cup was awarded in 1883-84 when opponents Vale of Leven were unable to raise a team before the trophy was regained in 1885-86 with a 3-1 victory against Renton. From 1887 clubs were barred from entering the FA Cup by the Scottish FA.
Vale of Leven were beaten 2-1 in the final replay of the Scottish Cup in 1889-90. The Scottish League was formed for the 1890-91 season with Queen’s Park declining to enter to remain true to their amateur status by continuing to play in cups and friendlies.
The Spiders defeated Celtic 2-1 in 1892-93 after a replay to lift the Scottish Cup for a tenth time, a year after losing 5-1 in a replay in the final to the same opponents. Celtic also beat Queen’s Park 4-3 in the 1899-00 final at Ibrox Park prior to the club become members of Scottish Division One for the following season.
The club left the second Hampden which was taken over by Third Lanark in 1903 and renamed New Cathkin Park after their previous home, while Queen’s Park moved a few hundred metres south to develop the new site which would become the national stadium.
The club struggled in league football, finishing in the relegation places on five occasions in the days where teams being demoted were decided by committee before they eventually went down from Division One in 1921-22.
The Division Two title was lifted at the first attempt in 1922-23 to return to the top flight. The club bought an old farm to the west of the stadium and developed it into Lesser Hampden, a home for the reserve and youth teams.
The Spiders usually finished in the lower third of the table prior to finishing fifth in 1928-29 with record scorer James McAlpine playing a prominent role before Willie Martin scored a club record thirty goals in a season in 1937-38.
The team finished in the relegation spots a year later before action was interrupted by World War II. Future Celtic Lisbon Lion keeper, Ronnie Simpson made his debut as a fourteen year old during wartime competition.
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Hampden Park 2010 |
Queen’s Park continued in the First Division before they eventually went down in 1947-48. The club became the first Scottish side to be shown on TV when they played Walthamstow Avenue in a friendly in 1951 as a Derek Grierson double won the game 2-0.
After a couple of promising finish’s, the team won the Division Two title in 1955-56 before they dropped back down in 1957-58. The Spiders continued in the second tier without much excitement, with a fourth place in 1964-65 a highlight, which was repeated in 1967-68.
After league restructuring, Queen’s Park were placed in the third tier Second Division for the 1975-76 campaign where they remained until winning the league title in 1980-81. The team included reliable keeper Derek Atkins and the goals of duo Jimmy Nicholson and Gerry McCoy.
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Hampden Park 1983 |
Their Division one spell lasted until the completion of the 1982-83 season when the Spiders dropped back down. A decent side including Stevie Ross, Kenny Brannigan, Ian McCall and Ross Caven was assembled to finish fourth in 1985-86.
Queen’s Park dropped down further after another reconstruction of the Scottish League when they were placed in Division Three for the 1994-95 season as Hugh McCann took over as manager from Eddie Hunter.
In 1999 the club moved its administrative operation next door to Lesser Hampden which had been used for home matches on occasions during the 1970’s after the Scottish FA moved to Hampden Park.
The Spiders won the league title in 1999-00 under manager John McCormack before dropping back down to the Third Division after just one season and then finishing bottom of the entire league in 2001-02 prior to the appointment of Kenny Brannigan in January 2003.
Frankie Carrol netted regularly during 2004-05 after Billy Stark came in as manager, while the loyal fan base struck up a relationship with supporters of German club SG Wattenscheid 09. This friendship resulted in Queen's Park spending their pre-season in the small German town for three consecutive years, in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
The Spiders reached the play-offs in 2006-07 where they defeated Arbroath and the East Fife to win promotion in a season that David Weatherston and Mark Ferry put away the goals along with Alan Trouten.
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Hampden Park. Home to Queen's Park for 117 years |
The team was relegated after play-off defeat to Stenhousemuir in 2008-09. In 2009-10 Arbroath ended any dreams of promotion through the play-offs while Albion Rovers proved too strong in the play-offs twelve months later.
Manager Gardner Speirs took his charges to Third Division runners-up in 2011-12 with the help of goals from Jamie Longworth and Michael Daly before another play-off defeat, this time against Stranraer.
Lawrence Shankland provided the goals in 2012-13. Yet again hopes of promotion were ended in the play-offs after a good season as Peterhead proved too strong as Andrew Robertson made his debut before moving on to Dundee United on the way to a stellar career.
The following season saw Queen’s Park finish bottom of the league before manager Gus MacPherson’s team finished as runners-up in 2014-15 as the club completed a year playing at Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie while Hampden had been used for the Commonwealth Games. Arbroath were defeated before Stenhousemuir won the play-off final.
Play-off football returned to Hampden Park in 2015-16 as Cowdenbeath and then Clyde were defeated as Queen’s Park won promotion where the goals of Ryan McGeever helped the team consolidate in League One.
Defeat to Stenhousemuir in the relegation play-offs in 2017-18 led to relegation when Mark Roberts was appointed as manager. In 2018 a deal was struck with the Scottish FA to sell them Hampden Park when the lease ran out in 2020.
The club would move next door into a developed Lesser Hampden. In December 2019, a vote was passed for Queen’s Park to end their amateur status and pay players in the future. Roberts departed shortly after to be replaced by Ray McKinnon as the team ended the early finishing 2019-20 campaign in fifth place after Salim Kouider-Aïssa had netted regularly.
The plans for Lesser Hampden, which can be seen here were released in June 2020 with the Scottish FA allowing the club permission to use the main stadium until it was completed, while former player and Celtic director, The Lord Haughey became a club benefactor.
The team won the title in 2020-21 with the pairing of Bob McHugh and Simon Murray leading the scoring, before Laurie Ellis and then Marijn Beuker sat in the manager's hot seat in 2021-22, as the club moved and played home games at Firhill Park, home of Partick Thistle. Another successful campaign ended with the Spiders reaching the playoffs.
Dunfermline Athletic and then Airdireonians were defeated as Queen's Park reached the second tier Championship, as Owen Coyle then took charge of the team. The side played at Stenhousemuir's Ochilview Park home and again reached the playoffs.
This time they missed promotion after defeat to Partick Thistle. Robin Veldman arrived as the new team boss, who played early games at Lesser Hampden before signing a deal to use the main stadium for the 2023-24 campaign.
Queen's Park FC will be playing in the Scottish Championship in the 2023-24 season.
Thursday 28th January 2010
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