Its a little later than intended but we've put together another update now that the second quarter of the season has passed. We start in the Boardroom.
The Boardroom
Director Mark Blount looked back on the second quarter, "It would be an understatement to say the second quarter has been disappointing. The first quarter saw us sitting top of the league and now we sit in 6th position and out of the Scottish Cup. The only bright point in this quarter was reaching the Irn Bru Cup semi final.
Three league games in to the quarter, after the defeat to Dundee United , Gavin Skelton rocked us with his decision to leave his post. We were disappointed that Gavin felt he didn’t want to manage Queens any more after such a bright start but respected his decision although it came totally out of the blue. We had started the league slide but the defeats to Ayr and Raith Rovers were both close fought affairs in which we had the upper hand and showed no sign of what was to come in the remainder of the quarter.
Jim Thomson who had been assisting Gavin took the reins with the help of former club captain Graeme Robertson and we thank them both for their time and efforts in what was a difficult period.
The defeat to Albion Rovers in the Cup game was as low as the whole club had felt in a long time. The financial implications of already knowing there was a possible televised tie with Celtic in the next round made it harder to take.
After interviewing candidates and speaking to various people in the game we made the decision to appoint Gary Naysmith and his assistant Dougie Anderson . Gary shone in his interview and we were impressed with his honest, hard working attitude and football knowledge. The fact that he had decided after an illustrious playing career to learn the ropes of management at a lower level said a lot about his character. The club has been crippled with injuries this season , as bad as we can remember , but hopefully Gary with his array of contacts he has built up can recruit well in the window and we will see a return to the first quarter’s form once he and Dougie really get to work with the squad. They have gelled well with sport scientist Liam Jukes and physio Ross Goodwin and we hope the sharpness comes back to the squad.
Following a meeting earlier in the year with Andrew Jenkins of Supporters Direct Scotland we have appointed Christine Findlater as the club’s Supporter’s Liaison Officer. We have further meetings planned with Andrew to gleam as much information from him as possible as the SLO role in Championship clubs is still in its infancy. Some of the Premiership clubs have someone in the role already but we are keen to get Christine meeting as many groups as possible now she has done some background work in the last while.
Danny Armstrong’s good work continues in the community. The pound to play initiative at KGV for 12-16 years old encouraging them to be active is up and running and the walking football for over 50’s is going from strength to strength . Nearly 70 children in the arena were coached by the first team at the Christmas night overlooked by Santa and they all received a selection box. We just hope that our request for three points on Hogmanay will be granted !
The Why Try programme which has been championed here before in this forum has now finished for the session and the participants were rewarded with a trip to watch Queens and a pool session at All Things Pool in the arena.
The Wednesday clubs have had another successful term numbers up which is pleasing that we can get more children involved and give them a good first experience of football. The Friday girls club is also continuing to progress and allow girls to get a feel for football in a safe and enjoyable environment. As the festivities started as a club we embarked on lots of different activities from a cake judging competition at St Michaels primary to going out to the Dalbeattie light switch on. We organised residents from Charnwood lodge to come and have a Christmas dinner at Palmerston and gave each of them and the staff that came on the day a club scarf and a pen. This was a great occasion, full of laughter and dancing followed by a lovely 3 course meal. Then the community team had arranged to volunteer at the Salvation Army to serve Christmas dinner this was very rewarding for the u20's and our community team who took part on the day and finished with a sing song , it was like listening to a choir of angels ! We had our annual Hospital visit where the first team went to see the children at the Dumfries royal infirmary to give the children a selection of gifts and a bit of Christmas cheer.
What's next for in the community? We have got a lot of up and coming things in the new year, including the second Football fans in training which is based on a healthier lifestyle and becoming more active so if you are interested in finding out more or about registering contact [email protected] .
We are also setting up a breakfast club with a local school which will be starting in 2017 to provide school children with a nutritious breakfast and activities to prepare them for the school day ahead! This is in partnership with Cash for kids and the Greggs Foundation .
We would like to wish all our Supporters a Healthy and Happy New Year !
Up the South !"
The Manager
Although he wasnt with the club for most of this quarter, manager, Gary Naysmith reflected on the half way point and, most importantly, looks forward to the rest of the season, "At the half way stage we are right bang in the middle of the table, we are five or six off the top and the same from the bottom so you'd have to say that the next few games will decide which way your going to go. We have been on a bad run and I'm part of that, we are only human so it's only natural that it's on your mind, stats don't lie but it's up to us to use them properly, it's my job to make sure that the players aren't thinking about it so I'd prefer to look at the positive side of it and say that it's one defeat in four. Going forward we need to start turning draws into wins and start winning games that we're dominating.
I'm not going to make bold statements but what I will say is that the squad will be stronger for the second half of the season. We've already brought in John Rankin, Joe Thompson and Dom Thomas. So already we are stronger and when you have competition for places I think that pushes everyone on so that's what I'm trying to do now. It's midfielders that are coming in just now but we still need to strengthen defensively and strengthen in the striker department.
Realistically we've only really got one right back and one left back and two fit main strikers, so you don't need to be brains of Britain to know that we need to strengthen in these areas.
I'm hoping its going to be a busy January for us with that, it might be players moving on as well so I'm expecting a busy three or four weeks.
It's tough because if you don't have them as permanent players you can only have one over aged loan so you have to use that wisely and be wise about what position or it's just bringing in youngsters and they have to be better than the ones we've already got.
Owen Bell played a steady 70 minutes against Ayr, he didn't do anything outstanding but he didn't do anything to make you think you wouldn't play him again. He's made his debut at 17 and should be proud of himself. Owen Moxon also came on, he did some silly things but did some really good things too and young Ross has come off the bench a few times for us so we have good young players already. If the youngsters are good enough they'll play. Age is only a number to me, if they are performing and catching my eye then they will be given a chance."
The Players
Midfielder Kyle Jacobs expresses the frustration in the dressing room, "We made a great start to the season with eight games unbeaten that took us to the top of the table so we're really disappointed to be sitting where we are now. With the way things had gone in the first quarter we had hoped to be sitting in the play off positions at this stage so we need to work hard and get back to what we were doing at the start, winning games and start climbing the table.
We will do that by continuing to work had on the training pitch and by listening to the Gaffer. We have been badly hit by injuries but the manager is bulking up the squad so once he gets more players in and we have a few weeks hard training, I think we'll be okay.
The players were disappointed when Gavin left but Gary and Dougie have come in and have been great. They demand one hundred percent all the time, which is what we all expect at the club. We can't look back it's what's to come and we will take it game by game, we will remain positive, and hopefully start winning again."
The Physio
We are still badly hit with injuries, Steven Rigg has had an operation on his knee (an ECL reconstruction), he is now in the early stages of rehab but will be out for the rest of the season. Calum Tapping will also miss the rest of the campaign due to his knee injury, he is further down the line in terms of his rehab but won't feature again this season.
Dale Hilson who has been sidelined is still under going investigations to establish the problem. There is no time scale on Dale's return as the Club are waiting on reports back from specialists as to what the exact problem is. Queens have sent him for all different kinds of scans and to different specialists so it's a case of wait and see with Dale.
On a more positive note, Lyndon Dykes and Jake Pickard are back in training but it'll be at least two or three weeks yet before they will be fit enough to be included in the squad.
The Youths
Youth coach, Eddie Warwick gave an update on the progress of the U20s, "At the half way point of the season I'm very pleased with how things have developed.
We returned for pre-season back in June with the aim of building a good, young, hungry group of players who work hard for each other playing good, attractive football representing the club professionally whilst individually progressing as players within their own development. So far this season, I can genuinly say I have seen plenty of evidence of our aims and expectations being met by the young lads through their performances on the pitch, their enthusiasm to learn in training and their attitude towards community work with myself and Dan Armstrong as well as their education off the pitch. They have all been a credit to themselves and the club. We hope that they continue to do that throughout the the second half of the season.
Over the 12 games we have played so far, we have shown a good level of consistency in our performances winning 10 of the games played. We also had a very good showing in the Scottish Youth Cup up against Premier league opposition.
Whilst winning mentality is good for the players, it also allows them to play with confidence and show their potential in the games. As always, the main focus for myself and Jim is to continue to develop individuals and assist them making their way up to the First team. We have two or three U20s players currently involved with the first team training and who have made their debuts and performed well at the top level. This has always been the main aim for our program to produce young local talent that are good enough to be involved with the first team.
Finally I'd just like to thank Jim and the club again for their continued support of the U20's full-time programme and look forward to going into the New Year's fixtures fit and ready to go."
The Stats
The stats don’t make for pretty reading for the second quarter of the season.
No wins in the 9 league games (a run that stretches back another 3 games from the first quarter) and just 2 draws means we've taken the lowest points tally for a quarter in recent times – even in the 11/12 season when we were relegated the lowest quarter points total was 6.
However, we've averaged 10 points per quarter over the first half of the season which would give a final total of 40 points, which would have seen us sit in 7th place the last two seasons but 9th in the three seasons before that.
We've managed just 8 league goals in the quarter, 6 of those coming in games 6,7 and 8 – three games in which we only picked up one point. No clean sheets and 20 goals conceded tells its own story.
We also went out of the William Hill Scottish Cup in the 3rd round after losing a very late goal at Albion Rovers.
The bright spot of the quarter was the 2-0 win over Alloa to book a place in the IRN-BRU Cup semi final, which will be played in February.