Board Blog

Welcome to the Board Blog

Welcome to the blog. Over the coming months I very much look forward to communicating with you on the progress being made at the club. The blog is set up to allow the fans to hear it first from the club and not in bars and clubs around the town. We as Directors are the first to put our hands up and say that communications last year left a lot to be desired. Hopefully this is a small step in rectifying the situation. As I have mentioned on public websites I am more than happy to take questions and will at all times endeavour to answer them but, you must understand that some matters have to remain confidential and stay in the board room until such times as they have been confirmed.

If you have any questions you would like to ask you can do so in the following ways :

  • add a comment to any blog post, using the "Comment" section at the bottom of each blog post
  • email me directly at marksblog@qosfc.com
  • on Twitter, send a tweet, with #qosfcboardblog, or direct message to @officialqosfc
  • on Facebook, comment on one of the blog post status updates (www.facebook.com/officialqosfc to find us)

Could I aso ask for patience when you post a question. The blog will updated on a regular basis and questions will be answered, on the blog, as and when the answers are available.

Mark Robertson - Director QOS
Welcome to the first Board Blog
Posted in Board Blog by Mark Robertson on 26/10/2011 19:11:00

Welcome to “Board Blog”. This is the opportunity for both the Board and the fans to interact online to ensure good lines of communication. We were previously posting on the “MAD Website” but this was correctly challenged as to why we were not supporting the official website. This was taken on board and we have decided to set up a blog on the official website and take feedback / questions on that. However, we will post a link to the blog on “MAD”, whenever a new post is made, but please remember your questions will only be answered through the official website.

I am aware a few Queen fans had questioned my allegiance to the club in the early days which I fully understood but, I have “put my money where my mouth is” and I am hear to assist in pulling the club through this difficult time. Anyone who sees me in that Directors box on a Saturday would not doubt my passion for this great club. My Director colleagues are not keen to sit beside me as I have tendency to kick every ball with the players. The club is now in a much better position than last year, but we still face many challenges over the coming months just to keep our heads above water. Having said that we are not the only club in Scotland in this position. Only Saturday past was an example, where we visited Raith Rovers who are finding things very tough at the moment. We wish them well in there fight for survival. The fixture list over this month and next has not been kind to us with few home games. Our home gate income is what keeps up solvent and therefore your support as always is vital. Recently our home gates have been around 1500 and we really need around 2000 to be able to survive in the First Division and push on to better things. Having said that we are fully aware of the pressure families are under in this current economic climate. We again discussed at our board meeting recently ways / ideas of how we can help reduce costs for the fans but the dilemma we face (which has been attempted before) is that we drop prices and the same amount of fans turns up!!!!! You do not need for me to explain to you that we end up in a worse position. As I have stated above, we are not unique. Every club I have visited or have been at Palmerston (excluding Ross County who has a very affluent Chairman) are in exactly the same position. The gate money receipts do not generate sufficient funds to cover the overheads; therefore the shortfall has to be provided from other sources. We are however not downbeat but optimistic / determined to pull the club through these difficult economic times and set a platform for the future of the club.



As always there has to be ground rules for a blog like this to be successful and ours will be no different. They are as follow;
 

  1. We will endeavour to answer all questions promptly and when information is available.
  2. Questions which are of a sensitive nature and have the potential to harm the club will not be answered
  3. We will not answer personnel questions re any member of the Board or playing staff but will answer general enquiries
  4. If you would like to ask a question but would not like it posted for all to see, an email address - marskblog@qosfc.com - has been set up to allow you to post me direct
  5. Abusive emails will not be responded too – common courtesy costs nothing

To get the blog off to a flier I will get you up to speed with the latest news starting with Saturday’s game from a Directors view.

Raith Rovers vs QOS

The highs and lows of football. Last Saturday night after the Falkirk game which we only had six fit players on the park and hold out to the 95 minute was devastating. To this Saturday were we completely dominated the game and a 0-4 result would have been more appropriate. It’s a funny old game. I felt the guys were outstanding on Saturday throughout the team. Our Captain S Simmons has come in for a bit of stick this season and I know some people want to see a Captain run about shouting and knocking people up in the air, that is not Steven’s style and never will be. Over the last few games I would hope the fans have see that he has much to offer and I can assure you his team mates are fully behind him. The turning point for me in the game was the world class save made by Lee in the first half, truly magnificent. We now look forward to the visit of Livingston this coming Saturday and hopefully three points. Look forward to seeing you there.

AGM

We are on track to finish the amounts this week and get the results publish and dispatched to shareholders. It is our intention to then hold the AGM by the end of November in a new format which I hope you will enjoy.

Youths

Still under review as is all expenditure at the club. Will feedback when complete.

QOS vs Livingston

We have agreed with the local constabulary, that this will be a non-policing game, handled solely by G4S.This is a cost saving exercise, therefore your assistance and patience would be greatly appreciated.


That’s all for now but look forward to hearing from you over the coming months.

Come on the Queens
 
 
Comments
Paul Pearson
26/10/2011 19:44:00
Mark, thats great to hear the agm date has been sorted and we can now get back to having an agm once a year. I am hoping Queens can survive this sticky financial period. thannks Paul
stuart jardine
26/10/2011 20:00:00
Hi Mark hope all's well remember we spoke very briefly on the subject of hartlepools intuitive season ticket plan which seems to have been a great success .Wondering if a similar plan would catch the imagination of the dumfries public or indeed is it truly viable .I'm sure if you contacted one of their directors direct they would share the facts and findings .Hope this is the place to throw ideas around for the good of the club and dumfries in general. All the best regards stuart
colin kinnear
26/10/2011 21:41:00
Very pleased to see that we are trying out the non policing policy at matches. This can only be of benefit to the club.
bruce l wright
27/10/2011 09:38:00
Good luck with the experiment of having no police at the forthcoming game - this has been a talking point amongst the fans for years - it has been quite common in the past to see two officers stationed behind 20 or 30 away fans in the East Stand
ERIC FISHER
27/10/2011 13:25:00
The best of luck with your blog and thanks for the opportunity to get some things off my chest. I did ask you a few questions on the Mad site but so far have had no response. 1. When are the GENTS toilets on the Portland Road End going to be cleaned/upgraded ? 2. The magnificent Palmerston pitch would look much better if the touchlines were trimmed and cut. 3. You suggested that any latecomers should contact the Office to gain entry at matches. I can assure you that the people involved insist that NO ONE was in the Office when they arrived. Kindest Regards
Ian Walker
27/10/2011 14:56:00
For those of us,and I'm certain there are quite a few, who live away from Dumfries and are unable to get to Palmerston, our only means of knowing what is happening in and around the club, is through communications such as this latest blog. Keep up the good work.
Mark Douglas
27/10/2011 16:00:00
This blog is a great idea,i was wondering if there could be a rep from dghp invited to the next agm,so the fans can hear straight from them how far the fundings are coming along for this stadium project,this must be a top priority to the board surely as the money this project will generate for the club would keep us going at profit.
Keith Boyes
27/10/2011 19:20:00
I'm glad to see that the club are improving the communications between both parties, on that I would like to thank those involved for posting the away games on twitter, the service is top notch. For a suuggestion I would like to see a direct debit or regular payment scheme set up for fans, it would make sense getting for example 100 fans paying £20 every month including May and June, thats £4000 coming into the club when there are no games or other incomes. My worry is that when we have 3 home games in a month (as we have 3 away this month)fans will struggle to pay the required £51 and this may lead to a drop in the attendance. Just a thought.
Andrew Maxwell
28/10/2011 13:54:00
Hi Mark - an interesting blog. Can I ask why he don't have a general manager? I'm sure the directors all put in some of their time, but as we rely so heavily on volunteers, we need some coordinator. This website has a homegrown feel with no branding guideline, the shop is run by a volunteer with no retail experience, the commercial activity is run by our former captain. Surely we should have someone driving our business rather than let it be driven by volunteers?
denise vieweg
31/10/2011 13:57:00
hallo great to see this blog but i have a soulotin to get queen back on a winning track the team right now is great but u need players good players not just local 1ns look to lower german clubs like ober- morlen. bad vible. bad nahime. neider- visel they have great players and it cost nothing to sign some of them some get money now not a lot 1n club ober morlen has a scottish player called hughes from a place called lockerbie they have great players u should realy look at them.please get back in touch with me a tell me what u think of it thank you.
Sandy Marshall
04/11/2011 14:06:00
Will the accounts be sent out electronically to save costs to those who wish them in this format?
denise vieweg
10/11/2011 18:27:00
why did u not reply to my comment
Iain Armstrong
27/11/2011 01:30:00
Mark, I sent you an email on 13th November but not yet had a response, so have decided to post on this board. Apologies if you have been busy, I'm sure you are, however I would like a response. First of all, in spite of my comment above, congratulations on your communications efforts which are much appreciated by all followers of QoS. Well done also to the Queens Trust who through their 'Save Our South Campaign' have I'm told raised thousands of pounds for the club at Market Auctions, bucket collections and such like. The Save Our South web-site lists over £21,000 raised which is fantastic, these donations are at least 21 weeks old so there must have been more in the meantime. It would be good to know the total. I have a question, which may be sensitive, but here goes. How much money has been contributed to the club by the Queens Trust and what has the club spent it on? I'm assuming it is in excess of £21,000 which is a great achievement. Like many other supporters, I've chipped in to help the club at bucket collections etc. but am keen to learn where the money is being spent. 'Blazerman' has provided an interesting list of contributions from the Trust on the QoS forum, but what is the value of that list? I'd be surprised if it is over £20,000. So, where is the money going?! Keep up the good work. Iain
Jeneva
06/12/2011 02:28:00
I could watch Schdinler's List and still be happy after reading this.
Alister Johnston
15/10/2012 09:19:00
Was at the game on Sunday, good game. In my opinion the best man on the field was Arbroath's number 11, Rennie, it was a good job that he was taken off injured. You should see about signing him in the January window.
 
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