Queen's Park

[Diclonius]

Finally going professional.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50425490

[NAE NOOKIE]

Why? Crowds of about 200 folk at every home game, absolutely no chance of drawing support away from the uglies or Partick Thistle for that matter, will they really become any more than they currently are by going pro? At least as the only amatuer team in top flight football they could claim to be unique, now not even that.

[lord bunberry]

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Why? Crowds of about 200 folk at every home game, absolutely no chance of drawing support away from the uglies or Partick Thistle for that matter, will they really become any more than they currently are by going pro? At least as the only amatuer team in top flight football they could claim to be unique, now not even that.

I think the fact that they’ve lost the safety net of Hampden they maybe feared that they needed to prepare for life standing on their own two feet.

[Billy Whizz]

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Why? Crowds of about 200 folk at every home game, absolutely no chance of drawing support away from the uglies or Partick Thistle for that matter, will they really become any more than they currently are by going pro? At least as the only amatuer team in top flight football they could claim to be unique, now not even that.

They lost all their good players for free, as they were amateurs. Now they can sell them

[offshorehibby]

There's been a couple of discussions recently Re it. One reason i think was they were finding it hard competing in the market with some of the junior teams, where they were going for similar types of player.

[CMurdoch]

Having been forced to sell Hampden they will no longer have the annual rental so now need to generate an income.
They have the sale money which they can now use for player contracts as well as infrastructure.

[davhibby]

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Why? Crowds of about 200 folk at every home game, absolutely no chance of drawing support away from the uglies or Partick Thistle for that matter, will they really become any more than they currently are by going pro? At least as the only amatuer team in top flight football they could claim to be unique, now not even that.

They get more than 200 every week. If they were doing well in league one they could quite easily get around 7/800. If they can build themselves a decent small ground at Lesser Hampden that will also probably be more attractive to someone fancying going to a local game than sitting in hampden with 50k empty seats. They’ll at least get the chance to build a team for more than a year at a time this way too

[Scorrie]

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They lost all their good players for free, as they were amateurs. Now they can sell them

Yep. Imagine if they had a sell on clause for Andy Robertson!

[G15 Hibs]

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Having been forced to sell Hampden they will no longer have the annual rental so now need to generate an income.
Unless anyone knows different.

That's a big part of it, aye. The combination of losing income from Hampden and the possibility of relegation to the Lowland League have forced their hand. There's now a lot more teams in the Lowland League and below looking to progress and the prospect of being relegated and amateur would probably be the end of the club eventually. There's a good youth set up at QP but at the moment as they can't offer them professional contracts young players can leave to go to other clubs in Scotland with no fee. So they invest money in years of training youngsters for no reward. Playing at Hampden was also a factor in attracting signings which they won't have any more after they've moved out.

I'd imagine most supporters would have been happy to remain amateur if things had stayed as they were 5 years ago. However there's a realism that going semi-professional is the best way to try to keep the club competitive in the senior leagues.

[CMurdoch]

Do they own and are they going to play at lesser Hampden?
If so does it have stands, offices etc or do they need to build infrastructure with the sale cash?

[G15 Hibs]

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Do they own and are they going to play at lesser Hampden?
If so does it have stands, offices etc or do they need to build infrastructure with the sale cash?

Queen's will still own Lesser Hampden after the sale of big Hampden and will play there. Offices etc are in place however they will need to build stands. The plan at the moment is two 1000 seaters which should be more than sufficient for most games. The money from the sale of Hampden has to be used for the purpose of building the stands and other infrastructure.

[CMurdoch]

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That's a big part of it, aye. The combination of losing income from Hampden and the possibility of relegation to the Lowland League have forced their hand. There's now a lot more teams in the Lowland League and below looking to progress and the prospect of being relegated and amateur would probably be the end of the club eventually. There's a good youth set up at QP but at the moment as they can't offer them professional contracts young players can leave to go to other clubs in Scotland with no fee. So they invest money in years of training youngsters for no reward. Playing at Hampden was also a factor in attracting signings which they won't have any more after they've moved out.

I'd imagine most supporters would have been happy to remain amateur if things had stayed as they were 5 years ago. However there's a realism that going semi-professional is the best way to try to keep the club competitive in the senior leagues.

Good point about the lowland clubs.
No longer is the league status of all the old duffer clubs safe.

[davhibby]

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Presume that having been forced to sell Hampden they will no longer have the annual rental so now need to generate an income.

Do they own and are they going to play at lesser Hampden?
If so does it have stands, offices etc or do they need to build infrastructure with the sale cash?

I might not be 100% right but I think they own it themselves. They built a new office/clubhouse type building after the commonwealth games just at the side of it. I think there might be a small stand at the moment but nothing that’s fit for a league team. Pretty sure the plan is for them to build a wee stadium there, not sure if the money they got for hampden will cover it or if they’ll need to find someone to pay for it though

[G15 Hibs]

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Good point about the lowland clubs.
No longer is the league status of all the old duffer clubs safe.

Exactly. Both East Stirlingshire and Berwick Rangers relegated in recent years. Plenty clubs with ambition looking to get into the leagues, as they should be, and they'll be targeting the likes of QP, Albion Rovers, Stenhousemuir etc. If the old clubs want to survive in the league then they have to find that same ambition as those looking to take their place.

[Forza Fred]

Obviously increases their options when it comes to signing and retaining players they may need to help them stay up.

They must have a huge turnover of players, from the amateur status who turn pro with other clubs.

[TheCabbage]

Yeah. Being professional allows them to offer contracts past mid May.

Also in an interesting footnote any player sales within Scotland the SFA dont enforce development fees so they only get any outwirh Scotland due to their amateur status. Apparently SFA bow to leave members in saying they are amateur so shouldn’t get anything and won’t endure the FIFA directive.