After 118 years Queens Park leave Hampden

Tormusk1872 said:
Lesser Hampden has been totally revamped and looks very smart.

queensparkfc.co.uk

Lesser Hampden Update | Queen's Park Football Club

The redevelopment of Lesser Hampden continues, including the installation of our new hybrid playing surface. Securing delivery of key materials has proved challenging, with delays advised by contractors meaning the club will not be able to play our group stage Premier Sports Cup ties at our own...
queensparkfc.co.uk queensparkfc.co.uk
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The farmhouse at Lesser which is being redeveloped as the first team's changing room is the oldest building in world football.
 
mdingwall said:
I once attended a QP v Peterhead match - very weird being in a 50,000 capacity ground with a couple of hundred watching the game.
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I was at a Queens Park v Irvine Meadow cup game about ten years ago. Felt the same. So empty.

And Medda probably took more away fans than QP were used to.
 
Can't help feel a little bit of sadness about Queens Park. Their amateur status was always something I admired and flew in the face of the soulless bore most of football has become. We've recently heard more talk about the champions league revamp and once more it is designed for the few at the sake of the many. Always felt Queens Park were that wee link with days gone by. Sadly their amateur status and Hampden have gone. I'm away to shout at the dug.
 
January 18th 1930 at Hampden Queens Park 0 Rangers 1.
Attendance 95,772 world record for a league game involving an amateur team.
Goalscorer McPhail.
 
napierblue said:
I went to a QP v Clyde game there and it was weird seeing the stadium/pitch with no advertising round it. Looked very dark as it’s just black round the pitch without the colourful boards to liven it up
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Lived in Govanhill as a boy in the sixties so regular trips to Cathkin and Ha were on the cards Many a time scoring goals where my heroes had trodden the turf before the watchman threatened us with the polis.
Spring and summer Friday evenings would reverberate to the sound of 6 speedway bikes revving around hampden.
Only the prospect of Rangers playing there would tempt me to go back now
%^*& the SFA
 
Bluebear72 said:
Lived in Govanhill as a boy in the sixties so regular trips to Cathkin and Ha were on the cards Many a time scoring goals where my heroes had trodden the turf before the watchman threatened us with the polis.
Spring and summer Friday evenings would reverberate to the sound of 6 speedway bikes revving around hampden.
Only the prospect of Rangers playing there would tempt me to go back now
%^*& the SFA
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Hampden
 
scottwoodburn said:
Can't help feel a little bit of sadness about Queens Park. Their amateur status was always something I admired and flew in the face of the soulless bore most of football has become. We've recently heard more talk about the champions league revamp and once more it is designed for the few at the sake of the many. Always felt Queens Park were that wee link with days gone by. Sadly their amateur status and Hampden have gone. I'm away to shout at the dug.
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I feel the same. The amateur status and the 50,000 seat stadium always made the Spiders seem like an interesting anomaly among cookie cutter clubs and stadiums. Just another lower league club with a tiny support and an interesting history now.

Still, as long as they don't change their company number. As we've learned over the past 10 years a club apparently isn't their fans, their history, their stadium, geographic location or place in popular culture or the national psyche. It's their company number. Just that. Change that and they are gone.

Went semi-regularly to watch Queens Park when one of my mates played for the first team as a teenager for a couple of years in the 90s. Hilarious watching pensioners giving him dogs abuse in that big, old, almost empty stadium.
 
rangeral said:
He put in around half of the £5m the Scottish FA agreed to pay for Hampden from Queen's Park
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Still doesn't give us an answer does it.

Why would a yahoo, an avowed yahoo, give £2.5m to pay for Hampden?

There is an ulterior motive here.

On a different tack, I believe the first official game at the present Hampden was back in 1903 and a friendly between QP and the yahoos. I believe QP won 1-0 by a goal scored by a D. Wilson.

There was another D.Wilson scored a few goals at the same ground 60 years later.
 
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Outside of Scotland no-one would believe Hampden was built for Queens Park and not for either of the old firm, what a fantastic history and so sad for them to be leaving their original home
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
Still doesn't give us an answer does it.

Why would a yahoo, an avowed yahoo, give £5m to pay for Hampden?

There is an ulterior motive here.

On a different tack, I believe the first official game at the present Hampden was back in 1903 and a friendly between QP and the yahoos. I believe QP won 1-0 by a goal scored by a D. Wilson.

There was another D.Wilson scored a few goals at the ame ground 60 years later.
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While I have changed the amount it is only half of the amount Queen's Park wanted from the Scottish FA that he paid the difference to keep Hampden as the home of Scottish Football due to the those running the game in Scotland

, I don't have any issue for that, others may do
 
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Probably my third team as the boys went to the community teams as kids on a Saturday morning. Went to a few games as well around that time.

Best memory is from the 2011 cup final when my boy and some of his mates got asked to be mascots, wander round the track at start, free entry to the game, etc

They also had to play motherwell and Celtic youths at lesser Hampden beforehand with the club mascots in attendance. Buckled as hoopy appeared waving only to be roundly booed by the young Queens Park lads
 
Grew up in King’s Park & in the 80’s we’d always be in about both Lesser and big Hampden. Scored many more goals there than McCoist ever did.
 
When we were kids we used to wander into the second half of Queens Park home games for free - it was very odd being in this massive stadium and there being a couple of hundred supporters there at best, all scattered around the place.

It was always quite ridiculous that Queens Park played their home matches there but I am very sad that they are no longer doing it.

I used to really enjoy going to the pre-season matches between Rangers and Queens Park in the early 1990s.
 
rangeral said:
While I have changed the amount it is only half of the amount Queen's Park wanted from the Scottish FA that he paid the difference to keep Hampden as the home of Scottish Football due to the those running the game in Scotland

, I don't have any issue for that, others may do
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We're not arguing, but count me very much as 'an other'.
 
HandsomeHead said:
I’ve always been slightly fascinated with the thought of how big Queens Park could have been if they’d turned professional at the same time as everyone else in the 19th century.

Would they have remained the preeminent club in Scotland and would it have impacted on our support?
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It’s an interesting question.

I think the decision to maintain amateur status, and the geography of shipyards to Ibrox played a huge part in Rangers becoming the strongest alternative to Celtic’s quite naked push to attract an Irish, Catholic support.
 
Govan36 said:
In August 1992 I watched Dumbarton play Rangers in a League Cup tie at Hampden with about 11,000 other people. Young people on this forum won't believe it was pay-at-the-door !!!!
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I was there, too. First time since the seats were installed in the Rangers end iirc. A warm summer night. 5-0.
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
Still doesn't give us an answer does it.

Why would a yahoo, an avowed yahoo, give £2.5m to pay for Hampden?

There is an ulterior motive here.

On a different tack, I believe the first official game at the present Hampden was back in 1903 and a friendly between QP and the yahoos. I believe QP won 1-0 by a goal scored by a D. Wilson.

There was another D.Wilson scored a few goals at the same ground 60 years later.
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Something fishy is going on - that’s for certain.

It doesn’t sit together, but it is a lot of money to be spending without a clear objective.
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
Still doesn't give us an answer does it.

Why would a yahoo, an avowed yahoo, give £2.5m to pay for Hampden?

There is an ulterior motive here.

On a different tack, I believe the first official game at the present Hampden was back in 1903 and a friendly between QP and the yahoos. I believe QP won 1-0 by a goal scored by a D. Wilson.

There was another D.Wilson scored a few goals at the same ground 60 years later.
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Haughey grew up beside Hampden and used to play for Queen's Park youths. He fronted some of the money for their change from amateur to professional.

The story goes that he didn't want the national stadium to leave Glasgow or the area as was being threatened at the time.

He doesn't own Hampden, Queen's Park wanted a certain amount to sell Hampden which the SFA wasn't agreeing to meet. Haughey and Sir Tom Hunter made the offer to pay remaining amount of top of the SFA's offer to meet QP's valuation and complete the deal.
 
RabSpackman said:
Something fishy is going on - that’s for certain.

It doesn’t sit together, but it is a lot of money to be spending without a clear objective.
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He also pumped £2m sponsorship into the Scottish Cup and insisted on the trophy still to be called only the Scottish Cup, ie not the City Refrigeration Scottish Cup or whatever.

He did make this ”donation” to the SFA a few weeks after he had huge bad publicity regarding the Dominic Keane court case, maybe this was his attempt to garner more popularity.
 
Azzurri said:
Outside of Scotland no-one would believe Hampden was built for Queens Park and not for either of the old firm, what a fantastic history and so sad for them to be leaving their original home
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They actually aren't leaving their original home, nor the original Hampden Park.
 
Tormusk1872 said:
He also pumped £2m sponsorship into the Scottish Cup and insisted on the trophy still to be called only the Scottish Cup, ie not the City Refrigeration Scottish Cup or whatever.

He did make this ”donation” to the SFA a few weeks after he had huge bad publicity regarding the Dominic Keane court case, maybe this was his attempt to garner more popularity.
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If only businessmen were renouned for spending millions and expecting nothing in return...

I just look at it and smell something.
 
If they are successful in climbing up the divisions would they be allowed move over to Hampden to play a big game say, if they drew Rangers in the Cup ?
 
1872 said:
I was there, too. First time since the seats were installed in the Rangers end iirc. A warm summer night. 5-0.
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Aye 5-0. So few fans in spread around the stadium it was almost like today's BCD games. I was in the North Enclosure and could here the guys on the bench at some points shouting to the players.
 
mdingwall said:
Our school went to this too - and we made banners to take along!
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My old man took me to the three Cambuslang Rangers junior cup finals, which I think were 71, 72 and 73. My first time in the old North Stand.

I think Lithlinlgow Rose in 72 and Irvine Meadow in 73. Can't remeber who it was in 71.

Think we signed Eric Morris from Irvine Meadow in 73.

Incredible to think a Junior Cup final in the 1950s, featuring Petershill attracted a crowd which was something like 77,000 odd. Beggars belief today.
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
My old man took me to the three Cambuslang Rangers junior cup finals, which I think were 71, 72 and 73. My first time in the old North Stand.

I think Lithlinlgow Rose in 72 and Irvine Meadow in 73. Can't remeber who it was in 71.

Think we signed Eric Morris from Irvine Meadow in 73.

Incredible to think a Junior Cup final in the 1950s, featuring Petershill attracted a crowd which was something like 77,000 odd. Beggars belief today.
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1973–74 Cambuslang Rangers 3–1 Linlithgow Rose
1972–73 Irvine Meadow 1–0 Cambuslang Rangers (Second Replay after 3-3 and 2-2 draws)
1971–72 Cambuslang Rangers 3–2 Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic (Replay after 1-1 draw)
1970–71 Cambuslang Rangers 2–1 Newtongrange Star
 
End of an era. Fond memories of Hampden, Lesser Hampden and even Lesser, Lesser Hampden where i played my first cup final round about 1974. I remember getting changed in Lesser Hampden and both teams walking down to the red blaize pitch. Someone had a cine camera and all the parents were there and we were made to feel like proper pro footballers which was amazing as an 11 year old. I was so caught up in the occasion that I didn't really care that we got gubbed 4-1. I had played at Hampden man!
 
I went to the occasional Queens game if Rangers were away, when I was a kid in the 60s, early 70s. We used to pay into the enclosure and sneak into the stand.
Not long after it was refurbished my son's school was in a tournament in Lesser Hampden and all the kids and parents got tickets for that day's match v Thistle. Unbelievably the ko was delayed because they didn't open enough turnstiles for the Thistle fans and there was only about 3000 at the game.
I'm not sure yesterday's game will be the last at Hampden, as QP are in dispute with the builders and nothing has happened at Lesser Hampden for about a month.
 
Tormusk1872 said:
1973–74 Cambuslang Rangers 3–1 Linlithgow Rose
1972–73 Irvine Meadow 1–0 Cambuslang Rangers (Second Replay after 3-3 and 2-2 draws)
1971–72 Cambuslang Rangers 3–2 Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic (Replay after 1-1 draw)
1970–71 Cambuslang Rangers 2–1 Newtongrange Star
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Cheers for that bud.

You'd have went to Grange, same as me, I'd imagine.
 
I've been in the "new" North stand (opposite main stand) for several cup ties about 2008 to 2011. Very nice place to watch the game, only 2 rows of seats and a nice wee gap between them to stretch your legs.
One Scottish Cup final ( QoS, I think) I met a friend who was a Grade 1 ref and all the top refs & linesmen got a freebie that day. He invited a few of us in to the hospitality room for free food and bevvy. Unfortunately another senior official saw us and papped us out.
 
RWL12 said:
I was at a Queens Park v Irvine Meadow cup game about ten years ago. Felt the same. So empty.

And Medda probably took more away fans than QP were used to.
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I was at that game too, It was weird
 
Sad that there were no fans to see it happen. Having an amateur team play in one of the biggest stadiums in Britain and in a genuinely iconic ground was a nice kind of quaint.

I remember on a tour of Hampden being told that the only game in which Scotland wouldn't use the home changing rooms is a game against Queen's Park.

Queen's going professional would have changed the dynamic in the city to some extent. Deciding to stay amateur was one of the major sliding doors moments in British footballing history.

Never counted Lesser Hampden as a stadium on the times I've been but it can be added to the spreadsheet soon, I suppose!
 
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