We are delighted to confirm that Dan Armstrong has been officially appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the club.
Dan made the move north as a 16-year-old as he chased his dream of being a professional footballer. Whilst being offered that opportunity and an apprenticeship with the club, he engaged in a great many of events that the youth team were doing in the community, going around schools and delivering projects. That led to him being offered the Community Development role when his apprenticeship came to an end and subsequently becoming our commercial manager in a dual role. The work that he has put in over the years has now been recognised and seen him take up the position of CEO. We believe he is the youngest person in Britain to take on such a role in professional football.
On his appointment Dan said “In essence, looking now, the club have been preparing me for the role over the past couple of years. During the past two years, I’ve got to know the workings of the football club. I’ve been visiting other football clubs, in Scotland and England. I’ve been involved along with the current board, building a relationship with the SPFL. Meeting with the SPFL and SFA at national conferences has allowed me to understand how football works in Scotland and the framework. I’ve been able to do that with support, which has been brilliant and hopefully it stands me in good stead”.
“I've been allowed to build a good network within the game, which is massively important. Football is an industry that's all about relationships, this is something I pride myself on. This club has a good reputation across Scotland and having already been part of that should hopefully make that transition a little bit smoother”.
Whilst working for the club, Dan completed a post graduate masters in football business with UCFB which has helped him make the move into the CEO role, “When I came up at 16, my Mum's only stipulation was if football didn't work out, that I got my education as well, so I had a career to fall back on. I was fortunate that the club helped me massively with that. When I put it to the board and asked for a helping hand to further my education, they supported me through my degree. I graduated two years ago, so I've been trying to implement a lot of things and more going into the future, whether it being our kit design and the marketing around that, or whether it be dealing with people and contracts. I've been learning how to do things over the past two years with the support of the current board and the university. I've still got contact with a lot of people there that have helped me”.
For Dan his move as an apprentice footballer has now opened the opportunity to become CEO and he believes that the club has a lot to offer others. “It is a great opportunity, and I am grateful to the club for having faith in me. I really love the club and I aim to make it as successful as possible; I understand the responsibility to drive this club forward and understand whole heartedly what this club means to the people of Dumfries”.
Dan added, “Football’s ever changing, so you're always looking to improve the club. Businesses have to thrive and keep up with the times so, I think it's about looking at different aspects of what the club can do going forward, how we constantly improve, how we get more people interested in the football club within the community. It's about how we get more businesses to support the football club and back what we're doing. At the time of my arrival 10 years ago, the Arena didn't exist. It was an empty shell of a building, and the club has transformed that into an asset for the football club. The growth of the Community Trust has been staggering, engaging across the region. In the past ten years the football club has turned from being from an 18-day business to a 365-day business with revenue coming into the club from various sources,. It is a case of improving constantly to ensure we grow year on year off the field and on the field also."
His main hope is, “To see this football club be successful and sustainable. You want the football club to go on for another 100 years and then show that this town's has a club that it can be proud of. The football club needs its three pillars aligned and going in one direction, the strength in the community engaging with our next generation of fans, the strength of our commercial relationships and growing new income sources and then on field success. If we can get all singing from the same hymn sheet, we know we will get the backing of Dumfries and our fans giving the town a club they can engage with and be proud of."
Developing the Community Trust is something that Dan is proud of. “It’s been actively running since around 2020, so we're still in our infancy but it has gone from strength to strength. We've obviously been working with funders developing different projects, working on social isolation and education, community engagement, physical activity and mental health and well-being all along that line with the aim of making sure that it’s not just all about football, It shows that we engage in loads of different social issues and allows us to be far more than just a team that plays on a Saturday."
The community engagement is something he wants to continue progressing in his new role. “It would be brilliant to keep building the community engagement and get young fans from a young age involved at Queens, so that we are their first experience of football and then hopefully they’ll still be coming in ten years’ time, and it goes on from there."
“The Community work is really rewarding. You see Kieran and the team going out and engaging with young children and you see the difference it makes. Putting a smile on the face of a child by giving them a football top that they might not get or giving a child a breakfast. While for the older generation, the social isolation project with the festive friends when we go and see people that are living on their own. So, there's always a bigger picture and a bigger goal."
To round off Dan said, “I will be forever grateful to Queens for the tremendous opportunities is has afforded me in my time here, I will give everything to drive the club forward on a positive trajectory, understanding what this club means to everyone and how we make this cub accelerate in the right direction.”
Director, Jim McLinden added “Congratulations to Dan on his appointment. He is a very talented young man who is full of enthusiasm and has already shown his ability to achieve. He is a real asset to the club, and it shows that hard work is rewarded."