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.”

(Allan Ball receives a salver to commerate 600 first team games for QoS)

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 Blantyre, 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 Dundee's 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. In an impressive season opener Stirling Albion were beaten 4-1 at Palmerston. Even better was a 4-1 win in the next game away to Hearts putting Queens top of the table. The only other side with 2 wins from 2 games was St Mirren, Queens’ next opponents and 4-0 victims of Queens fire power. Partick were then beaten 2-1 in Glasgow. Next was the visit of Hibs who were beaten 3-2 in Dumfries before Queens' 100% record ended with a visit to Dundee.

After 9 games Queens were 4 points ahead of the pack on 15 points with 26 goals scored. Celtic had been beaten 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 November 7th Hamilton Accies suffered an even worse result, a 5 - 0 defeat in Hamliton, to put Queens on 17 points and 31 goals from 10 games.

On December 5th Hearts, title contenders like Queens at this point of this season, visited Palmerston - the outcome was honours even in a 2-2 draw. 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. The Boxing Day visitors to Dumfries were the fine East Fife side of the time, still under the management of Scot Symon. With only a 5-0 defeat to show for the Fifers, Queens stayed top through Hogmanay.

Having been top since the second game of the season, it was great while it lasted. However Hearts overhauled the Doonhamers as Queens’ league form tailed off following a New Year's Day 5-3 defeat at St Mirren. Queens heavy league wins weren't over for the season though as Dundee (5-1) and Airdie (6-2) discovered at Palmerston

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