It’s just over a year since Jim McLinden joined the Board of Directors and he met with us to take an opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months and look ahead to the future.
“It was certainly a baptism of fire at the start but I think things have settled down and I am very much enjoying being part of the club. Being a director at a football club is different from being a company director in a business, as there are a lot more emotions involved. When it comes to football, you need to deal with other people’s emotions, fans, players, staff etc., so that is something you need to get used to, it has taken me a bit of time but I’m finding my feet. The fans are an integral part of Queen of the South Football Club, the club is something they love and want it to do well, so emotions change depending on whether things are going well or not. The other thing is that in business, nobody really cares who I am, I am just running a business but when I joined the football club everyone wanted to know about me because again, it's their football club, part of their life and they want to know who this guy is that was coming in. When I joined, I remember someone commenting on the first interview I did that talk is cheap and I completely agreed with them, it is. I'm hoping however that a year on, I've stood by what I said I would do.”
I joined, we had five players and two of them were long term injuries and one soon moved on. So, there was a whole squad to recruit over a short period of time and a new management team having just come in as well. On top of that, there were a few things that we had to try and address off the pitch so it was a busy time. But Kevin (the Groundman), several volunteers and a whole host of other people all stepped up to the plate, my wife had a paintbrush in hand at one point and we did a lot of things to improve the ground. But we’re not planning on stopping there, we have plans in place for the next coming months to get some other work done, and over the next couple of years we will look at carrying out more work to improve the stadium. We need to keep improving, bit by bit and eventually we'll be in a good place, so that's what we're striving to do. I have already seen online Club 1919 organizing a clear up day at the club, which is fantastic and very much appreciated.”
“We are currently looking at options to renew the pitches that are inside the arena and we are also looking at a bigger project to put in new changing facilities in the stadium, but that would involve quite a bit of construction. It’s important that, the first team, visiting teams along with our youth and community teams have the best facilities they possibly can but it's obviously quite a big project and we don’t yet know whether we'll get it done before the season or not so we may well end up parking it for a period of time, but we're trying our best and working in the background to try and get things over the line, Dan Armstrong has put a lot of work into this project and it will be fantastic to see it happen, when we get it off the ground.”
“One thing that we hope to have completed before the new season is a new accessible area for supporters. Last season someone brought it to my attention and I sat down with Dan to look at options. We've identified an area in the stadium which would be better than is available right now, it would be covered so would mean that people who can't get up any stairs would remain dry and it would be easy access in from the car park. We are confident we will get that done before or in the early part of the season.”
Jim joined the Board on the back of Billy Hewitson, Craig Paterson and Mark Blount making the announcement that they were planning on giving up their position. With a requirement of three members on the Board Jim continues to look at options.
“In terms of the Board recruitment, I am not there yet, despite my best efforts. I have held talks with various people over the past year, some are still interested but others who we thought were close to joining up, unfortunately had to withdraw at the last minute due to personal reasons. I am sure you will appreciate, that it takes a lot to be a director at football club, it is both a big financial commitment and is very time consuming and for that reason, it is important that we get it right and we appoint the right people. As a club, we have had interest from individuals and groups who are keen to become part of the board but while they have the passion, which is brilliant, we need people with financial backing, the right skill set and time to make them suitable.”
“It’s something that I will continue to work on but in the meantime, I will continue to work with Billy and Craig, people who I have a lot of time for. They've stuck to their guns and stuck to their promise to me that they would continue until I find other directors. They've always given me their backing and they've been there for me when I've needed a bit of advice. They have years of experience, while this is my first time in the role at a football club. Rest assured the search goes on, but I will not bring someone on board who will let us down or harm the club. We are in a good place so there's no urgent pressing need to change anything. I am working in the background so again I'll just ask everyone for their patience and trust that I will get it right.”
That is off that pitch, when it comes to on the pitch things haven’t been much quieter for Jim.
“As I said when I came in there was a big lack of bodies and not long till pre-season so it was hectic. The manager was on holiday with his family, I was on holiday with mine and Dan Armstrong was doing a charity bike ride from Land's End to John O'Groats, (after which he gave his bike away!) So, it was a triangle of phone calls going round, contacting football agents and players just trying to put a squad together. We managed to tie a few players down on two-year deals, so that we would not have the same situation this season and then and we've already made early decisions this year on players and talked to others and got some business done, so that we can try and have a much more stable squad and be ready to hit the ground running.”
“I am an ambitious man and can’t let the club stagnate. I said right from the off that my ambition was to get us up into the Championship and then from there, see how far we can go. Between myself, the manager and Dan, we have managed to get deals for players like Liam Smith, Jack Hannah and Kai Kennedy, Ross Stewart and Jordan Allan across the line and I think it's important to have got some of them on two-year deals so at the end of next season, wherever we maybe we'll have a good core of a squad together again. It is important that we try to keep these players with quality at Queen of the South, why shouldn’t we show ambition and try to get the best players in, that is what the fans want and what the board want. One thing that we lacked was height up front, so please rest assured we're working on that right now and hopefully we'll have something to talk about in the coming weeks.”
“Last season had some highs and lows, there were probably two low points for me and ironically, they both came at Cove. It has been mentioned in interviews that after the Cove away game in the league, the players and staff had a frank, no nonsense discussion in the changing rooms, after which our form transformed, to get us into the play offs, narrowly missing out on second place in the league. Then after getting there, to lose the play-off semi-final up there was another blow. The high point came at the back end of the season where we had the crowds just starting to rise at Palmerston. The young team were all back in making noise and just looking around the place and seeing people with a bit of belief in what we're trying to do. I looked out the boardroom window before the game, into the car park and for the first time since I arrived, people were backed up and queuing to get in, then to walk upstairs and hear the noise and feel the atmosphere, was fantastic, I really hope that continues.”
“Attracting fans back to Palmerston primarily relies on what is going on out on the pitch and our home form last season was excellent, finishing four points clear at the top of the home form table, our away form until the good run at the end of the season however, was dismal and is something the management team are working hard on putting behind us. Hopefully if we can make a strong start in the new season, we will keep the crowd momentum we were building up at the end of the last campaign.
As a club myself and the other directors want the fans to come back, I believe that Queens are a bit of a sleeping giant and we all want to get back to the Championship as a start. We get that people have had seasons of frustration, we completely get that but if people were to come back then we could get there quicker. If we can take that loyal thousand and add another two or three hundred every week, the financial impact that would have would be massive. It would mean that we could take a risk on a couple of things on the pitch. If we boost the crowds, we will have more funding to bring even better players and make things even better on the pitch. I think if we carry on the way we were at the back end of the last season we'll be in a good place, meanwhile we will continue to do everything we can, to back the manager and his squad.”
“Away from the First team, things are changing. The League have decided that they are doing away with the reserve league and will instead be going with Under 17s & Under 19s formats for this season and with that will come a new 19s league, which will be made-up of Premier League or Championship teams and some of League 1. So that's going to give those lads 36 competitive games. We will be allowed to play five over aged players, so with it replacing the Reserve League, which last season only had five or six teams in it, it means that the players will get more time on the pitch, regular 90 minutes every week as well as training. As a club we will be starting with Under 10s all the way through to under 14s and then we will have the U17’s & U19’s, some of these teams will include Community players, with the idea being that it will provide good quality training to a lot more youngsters in the area at a professional football team.”
To round things off, Jim outlined his short- and long-term plans.
“Obviously our short-term plans are to get out of League One and get back into the Championship. The way to try and do that is to put as best team as we can out on the pitch, so right now we're working hard to put a squad capable of getting us out this division together and I don't think we're too far away from that. We are also still talking to other out of contract players so I would expect a bit of movement with them in in the next week or two as well as some new faces, we are aiming to have a smaller but better-quality squad this year. We have also agreed a partnership with one of the SPFL Premiership sides, under the new partnership agreement rules introduced for the 25/26 season, which will get announced in due course.
“Longer term, we're looking at a bunch of different projects around the stadium just to improve fan experience to make the place more valuable to add to what we have and to make sure that Queen of the South is a top football club and also a big part of the Community.”
“Plans are well underway for pre-season and we are close to finalizing our schedule of matches. Latest signing news and these fixtures will be published in due course. In the meantime, enjoy your summer.”