THIS MONTHS MESSAGES
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31st January 2000WALT ADAMSON
Totally agreed with Ken Grier's comments on 'the Second Division's answer to David Beckham' Steven Leslie (comparisons with Brooklyn Beckham might be more appropriate going by his on-pitch tantrums.) He's shown in the past that he's a decent player - particularly in the tail end of last season but at his worst, as we saw yet again on Saturday, he can be nothing more than a bad tempered little thug. We'd be better of rid of him before he costs us any more games.

Hopefully that 7-0 hammering won't have too bad an affect on the team. We can get out of this yet.
31st January 2000LEWIS CURRIE
Livvy 7 - Queens 0

What a disgrace. For the first ten minutes I thought Great!! Queens still seem to be displaying some of the decent form they have showed as of late with a few good attempts which nearly saw them take the lead, however as usual this was short livved and Livvy were showing that they were a stronger side, then stevie lesley decided to test the refs judgement with a challenge which can only be described as foolish and pointless and reduced us to ten men, When will they realise that he is a liability and start to leave him from the team until he sorts out his voatile nature. Things went down hill from there and I watched in dismay as the livvy attack ran through our deffence. I have never seen defenders who are afraid of the ball or are scared to put in a challenge. As soon as Livvy took the lead the heads went down and it was as if we gave up. most of the goals I saaw could have been prevented If someone had decided to put a foot in. When Queens did have possesion they seemed to freeze and not know what to do, Marc Cleeland especially, I don't think I've seen him play well all season and he is another one who should have been sidelined. The only players I sympathise with are John Hillcoat, who saved us from a bigger ambarrasement, and Warren Hawke who are both quality players but are made to look like idiots by having to play in tthe same colours as the rest of them who ran about for best part of ninety minutes(Slightly edited - CJ). Like most other peopl I left halfway through the second half I couldn't watch any more. What a performance, their is going to have to be some changes if we are going to avoid relegation. The only decent display of football was the penalty competiton at halftime, with george rowes son scoring, obviuosly he takes that from his mothers side of the family.
31st January 2000SANDY ORR
I was proud to be a Queen's fan on Saturday, not due to the score line of course, but because of the way we outsung my friends from Livingston. After the fourth went in I was thinking of heading to the nearest watering hole to drown my sorrows before a tortuous journey back to Livingston on a Livvy supporters bus, when the songs started. This gave me a real lift, and I stayed to the end and boarded the bus with such a hoarse voice I couldn't even be bothered arguing how 11 full timers and the Ref had seen off 10 part timers. Dingwall here we come.

Fraser Skimming, I'd love to appear on Soccer AM with the Queens fans, especially to see Helen Chamberlain in the flesh! It's a great programme for a Saturday morning, unfortunately I never see more than an hour as I am always up late, and then leaving early to travel to the game! Please forgive me for the slating of Livvy's websites, but I need some ammunition as I am in for a rough ride for the forseeable future in my home town!
31st January 2000NEIL IRVING
In reply to Ken Grier, I can't agree with his criticism of Mark Cleeland. Whilst he has not been as effective as last season, he does a power of running and covering for some of his lazier team mates, and has shown Steven Leslie a thing or two on sorting out his disciplinary problems.

It is just because we lack the flair players of the last couple of seasons that our midfield is struggling.
30th January 2000ALEX WILSON
For Graham Crossan, sung to the tune of "The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo"

"We support the local football team and we shout C'mon the Queens!
They never win it seems, they shatter all our dreams;
Here, there and everywhere,
You can hear the boys and girls declare,
"God Save The Queens From Relegation!"
(Copyright - Dumfries Branch QOS Supporters, anytime from 1964 onwards!!)
30th January 2000KEN GRIER
Regarding Yesterday ( "All our troubles looked so far away .. maybe now they're here to stay " as a little known guitar group of the sixties would have said ) . Sorry to be persistent but how many times does Steven Leslie , or should I call him "Skip , have to let us down with his thuggish behaviour before he is finally binned . He cheated himself , the fans and the Club again yesterday and that should be his last game for QOS . We are now 6 points off the league pace and by my reckoning are a midfield away from safety ( Marc Cleeland has now even surpassed Hugh Hamill as the most ineffective Queens midfielder of all time and should be dropped now , closely followed by the willing but clueless Duke ) . Guys, other teams have watched us now and found out our long ball tactics , a midfield would at least give us more strings to our bow and stop attackers getting behind our defence ( like for the first goal yesterday).

Lets look on the bright side .... We are scoring goals , the defence ( if we can cut off supply to attacking forwards ) isn't a disaster , Hillcoat has been superb and what about the fans ..... I was proud to be a Queens fan yesterday due to the defiance , wit and terrific vocal backing in yesterdys 2nd half ( imagine what we could be if we had Dominic Keanes millions and a 10k ground !! ).

We can still escape relegation if we fix the above now and keep our nerve ,but if we pretend that our 4 game run is our normal form and dont address the midfield issues it will be bye bye Gayfield etc. and hello the Arctic Circle ( oops ! Elgin )
30th January 2000STUART CARROLL
HUGH DALLAS 2 QUEENS 0

If Dallas is the best referee Scotland has to offer is it any wonder football fans are ripped off every week? The goal he disallowed against Hearts and today`s sending off make you listen to the old firm fans when they moan about him. I know the Livvie Lions were the better team and deserved to win, but with a fairer referee it would have been a lot closer.

PS Wasn`t it great to hear the Doonhamers fans singing to the end - all you could hear from Livvie was a drum. Good luck to Livingston in their quest for the ESS-PEE-ELL.
30th January 2000BARRIE LITTLE
Not much you can say after today! I just hope that it doesn't have a negative affect on team morale for the relegation battle ahead.

I do have to question the half-time substitution/tactics though. We're down to 10 men (Leslie should be severely punished for his stupidity, rush of blood to the head, inept referee whatever, there was no need for him to go flying in for the tackle) and 1-0 down going on 3 or 4. I'm no tactics expert but surely against a team like Livingston we should have taken off Eadie and gone to some sort of 4-4-1 formation ?? Credit to the lads for being attack minded and giving it a go but it back-fired badly.

Delighted to see Andy Thomson scoring in Gillingham's brilliant victory over Sheff Wed today and also Degsy for Motherwell against Arbroath although it won't count.

Here's to an improved performance and three points against the sheep farmers next week.
29th January 2000FRASER SKIMMING
Nice to see Andy Thomson scoring against Sheff. Wed. I have got a mad Wednesday friend who I will have great pleasure in winding up !

In reply to Graham Crossan I do remember these 2 Qos songs in particular.

WE're gan doon we're gan doon your no !

I can remember this getting sang by the 'casuals'about 10 years ago. I can also remember a group of fans with a huge Union Jack singing Engaland.Engaland .Engaland. I worked in Pinky and Perkys at the time and can remember the flag making an appearance there!

Also, I remember when Queens signed John Pelosi and the Queens fans would join the opposition fans in voicing their disapproval.

And who could ever forget the classic 'Bouncy Bouncy '

PS .To Sandy Orr, I agree this website is excellent but I would happily swap it for the potential that Livingston have as a football club.

Any fans fancy being Soccer AM's fans of the week. Let me know ( It's filmed in London every Saturday )
28th January 2000GRAHAM CROSSAN
i am a long distance doonhamer who hardly gets to a game and would appreciate it if someone could e-mail me any qos songs. words and what tune they are sung to would be great-this means i can annoy my hun/tim/sheepshagger mates who bore me with there songs.

we will stay up-we did it last season after a bad start and the one b4-CHEERS!!!!!!
28th January 2000SANDY ORR
Oops! Did I call Geordie a midfielder, I meant defender!
28th January 2000SANDY ORR
I also agree that Geordie is by no means past it. He may have made some mistkes this season, but haven't all the defenders. You can't put down our low league position to the mistakes of one player. It would be interesting to hear who Geordie's critics think would be ideal to replace him. Not only is Geordie a well experienced midfielder, he has scored some important goals over the years. If Jamie McAllister was still here, Geordie may well have been one of our top scorers this season, because many of Jamie's corners last season found the back of the net via Geordie's head!

I see the website has just had it's 500th member registered. Well done, I think that this is in no little way down to the high quality of the site, which puts many bigger clubs to shame. Just have a look at Livingston's sites for example! For a club that is supposed to be forward thinking they have yet to grasp the concept of the internet and take full advantage of it.

Come on Queen's, give me the biggest smile in Livingston tomorrow night!
27th January 2000FRANK AND NICOLE
Hello,

we are two supporters from Queens. We had seen Queens once. We have a lot of friends in Dumfries and we hope Queens goes up. We also support Scotland. We hate England also. Best wishes to all Scottish Queens supporters. In Germany we support Hamburger-Sport-Verein. When you know one of the next persons please say hello from us:

Craig and Fiona Wilson, Ian and Gail Mc Leod, Ross and Ange Corbett.

Thank you.
27th January 2000JOHN CRAWFORD
i disagree strongly with the opinion expressed that george rowe should hang up his boots. i'd certainly agree that our defensive weaknesses this season have been our downfall but i'd put that down to overall shortage of solid defenders rather than the individual mistakes of one player. thankfully the club have been trying to address this problem and i see in the press this morning that we're looking at colin sutherland of clydebank. another solid defender and a decent playmaker in midfield and i think we'll be safe by may. in the meantime, the ginger one still has a lot to contribute to the team on the park.
26th January 2000JONATHAN JACK
I'am a QPR supporter who since I was about 14 (unfortunatley 25 years ago) have always looked out for QOS results. This is purely because your team had Queen in it's name!!! I have just got onto the internet and have to say you have one of the very best football sites I have visited. So impressed am I that a few of us intend to come up this season and attend a game. Any recommendations?
All the very best for the rest of the season (things seem to be improving).
26th January 2000 NEIL CREIGHTON
Does nobody else think George Rowe has been well below par this season. Off the top of my head I can think of three instances this season where his stupid individual errors have cost us valuable points. At Arbroath, unforgettably against Partick and again on Saturday basic have resulted in us losing goals.

It's time for him to hang up his boots at Palmerston and concentrate on his coaching role.If he continues to make errors at the rate he is at the moment then it is a huge handicap on the rest of the team and Queens will be running it down to the wire to stay in the Division. We should be comfortable in our second division status and concentrate on gaining promotion next season.

We are too big a club to be playing third division football and if we continue our recent form then WE CAN STAY UP. Come on lads you can do it!
24th January 2000STEVE BAXTER
Spot on Ken Grier, I feel we are ending up with a 4 - 3 - 3 formation with Steve Mallan playing on the left midfield of a 4 - 4 - 2. Steve's natural inclination is to go upfield and he doesn't cover back naturally. This leaves us short numbered in midfield and, let's face it, Leslie, Dickson and Cleeland don't have the physical presence to outplay 4 midfielders for 90 minutes. Having said that, I don't know why Stirling are not nearer the top of the league as in my opinion they are the best team I've seen in this league especially in organisation. I don't mean to depress, but on looking at the remaining fixtures, I've just realised we only have 6 remaining home games out of 15 matches!
23rd January 2000KEN GRIER
A message to the Palmerston management duo:
Whilst hugely appreciative of the return to form of recent weeks ( what a great signing Warren Hawke is turning out to be ) and right behind all at Palmerston in staving off the threat of relegation I do think that yesterdays defeat by Stirling Albion shows that we have to solve one major problem ..... our lack of cohesion , class and ability in midfield .

I appreciate the enthusiasm shown by our midfielders but the Cleeland and Leslie combination does not work , after all it got us into the predicament that we are in now and plainly this is still the case . Why Marc Cleeland is in the team is beyond me . He may have a " great engine " but cant tackle or pass . Steven Leslie does have certain terrier - like qualities but again is very inconsistent and too easily shaken off the ball/again does not have the weight in the tackle .

Yesterday shows that if we dont have a tough midfield penning the opposition back in their own half then we both put our own defence under pressure and limit our attacking options to just route 1 ( great when it works as we have a big strong forward line but when a team susses us out like Stirling yesterday then we are stuck ).

We still need to buy or trade 2 or 3 players ideally a midfield general and a ball winner ( although at the moment Kerr and Stuart Davidson look a better stop-gap than Leslie and Cleeland given the evidence of the Stranraer and Montrose games ).

We also still need to dig deep and find a partner for Warren Hawke as with the best will in the world "Marvellous" is in streaky form , Ken you must be knackered playing every week and Charlie just doesnt turn it on every week .

Still keep plugging away , as has been ponted out we are still bottom and so must focus on getting out of the drop zone ( ban any nonsense talk of promotion ) . We need , on past evidence 7 wins and a draw out of 15 to stay up so lets go to it 11

You can do it guys , up the Queens
22nd January 2000SANDY ORR
I am not laying the cause of Queens defeat today at the hands of the referee, but I am fed up of watching match officials who are supposed to be amongst Scotlands elite giving poor performances at Queens games. I feel that referees standards seem to drop when they officiate in games in lower divisions.

The moment I saw Toners name on the team sheet I new we would be up against it. He never let the game flow, and blew the whistle time and time again for innocuous challenges by Queen players, yet seem to miss worse challenges by Stirling players. Unsurprisingly Stirling took advantage of this as the stop start game fitted in well with their punts up the park. In the second half, moments after booking Eadie for nothing, Toner got involved in a shouting match with Eadie who was about 30 yards from him. If he thought that Eadie had said something, then why not call him over? As our players are all expected to act like professionals both on and off the pitch, then surely we are entitled to expect the same of the referees?
22nd January 2000JOHN
I would like to take up a couple of lines and say how good it is to watch us win some games for a change this season and hopefully it may continue for the rest of the season as there is that elusive extra place to go up this season. People say we are not ready to go up if it happened but how would you know if we do not get the chance. I for one would love to see it. The only thing we lack at palmerston is an atmosphere.

Can I ask one question to anyone in the know?

When a company eneterd into the prize draw for shirt sponser was it the same as last season were they got a season ticket just for enetering or did that not happen this season. Last year I gor the chance of getting this a couple of times but this year no one at work has had a sniff at it. And if did happen then I think I have tracked down the guilty party. Any help would be grately help me on my detection work.

Lets hope the good times keep rollong.
21st January 2000JACKY
Message for Paul Pearson

How is you little brother? I'd like to get in touch with him again as I haven't seen him for about 3/4 yrs. Can you get him to e-mail me at loyaljack@yahoo.com

Does Ross 'Fats' Corbett still go to the games? If so can someone get him to contact me at the same address.
21st January 2000SANDY ORR
With all the debate going on about just who has made the difference to the team in recent weeks, I would just like to point out that the biggest difference on the park is confidence. Just like last season it took us over half the season to win 2 games in a row. And just like last season, after the team has proved to themselves that they are capable of doing it, we once again go on great run. The one or two new faces who have come in have made a difference, but it is there for all to see that every player on the park has improved in recent weeks. If only we could have won a couple of matches in a row earlier on the season, we may already be up there. Here's hoping that we continue tomorrow against Stirling.

I have already been informed by more than one Livvy supporter that we are in for a "doing" next week. I just hope that their team comes down in the same over-confident mood. I was also told by one punter that shocks don't happen in the cup any more! I hope we can dismiss both these theories next week.
20th January 2000ROB MURRAY
I would just like to say that m not to sure that we are ready for the first division as we need a lot more quality players such as WARREN HAWKE.
20th January 2000ALEX WILSON
To David Main, it's 3 up, 1 down, but I would caution about getting too optimistic about promotion at this point. I believe that we are getting the advantage at the moment of being last in the league! If I may explain, do you remember when teams came to Palmerston not that long ago, they would come with a very defensive attitude prepared tosettle for one point and maybe nick three. well I can't remember a Stenhousemuir team that came to Palmerston recently so prepared to attack from the start. I think that teams are attacking us now because we're bottom and they expect to win and I think visiting teams will tighten up when we start to climb the league and it will get more difficult towards the end of the season. I hope I'm wrong!
19th January 2000JOHN CRAWFORD
let's not get too excited about sandy hodge. i heard on the radio yesterday morning that leeds utd were interested in putting in an offer. it's exchange and mart time again. just when players find form and the team clicks, other clubs swoop. has anyone checked for a uk scouts consortium buying properties in terregles st during the past 12 months ?
19th January 2000ALEX WILSON
When I went to see Queen's Under 18's at the start of last August with my son, my attention was immediately caught with this giant playing among the youngsters. Upon enquiry, it was of course Sandy Hodge and I couldn't believe he was that young! He played on the left, but midfield going forward, and it was obvious to me then that this guy would be a great acquisition with his powerful crossing and shooting. So I have been singing his praises since August (and have witnesses to prove it!) I always knew he would eventually get the doubters behind him so it's nice to see Ewan admitting the error of his ways and getting onto the bandwagon!
19th January 2000DAVID MAIN
Good results, I am feeling a bit more optimistic.

We are only 14 points off top place. This is itself something of a statistical oddity this stage in the season (and it could shrink further this weekend). Compare and contrast with the points differential between top and bottom in the other divisions.

Two queries. Is it three up, one down this season ( I know its pathetic I have to ask this at this stage of the season, but I cant find anything in black and white to confirm)?

Did I read in the Standard recently (which I still get after 16 years in Edinburgh) that there are plans to sell Palmerston and move elsewhere (like where?). My thoughts were that Palmerston is quite handily placed for the concentrated population centres in Dumfries, and a move to somewhere mostly accessible by car might not be so clever. Or was the Standard waffling?
18th January 2000EWAN LITHGOW
Is everbody sitting down now because something very unusual is going to happen?

Question - Who said about Sandy Hodge, "he can't tackle, he can't head, he's got no pace and he's lost beyond the halfway line" ?

Answer - I did, on this Message Board, back in November.

What's unusual? I'm going to admit I was wrong about something. Sandy Hodge is beginning to look the genuine article. I've been considering admitting this for a while now but was holding off in case the good performances were the unusual ones but there's only so many good games he can have before I have to admit it was me that was wrong.

In my defence, I think most of you agreed with me after his first few games but the facts are now as follows : -

1 - He CAN tackle and tackle well at that.
2 - He can put a head on the ball although I don't think he can quite direct it accurately yet.
3 - He has clearly gained fitness and, with it, pace. I don't think he'd beat Aitken or Mallan in a sprint but he's by no means the slowest. Certainly quicker than McMillan whose lack of pace is his biggest flaw.
4 - He's even looking more comfortable in the other half now. He puts in a decent cross, is a good target for near post corners and possesses a demon long throw.

So Mr Hodge, I unreservedly apologise to you. Keep up the good work. Credit also to the Managers for persevering with him when I, and others, could see no point.
17th January 2000GARY McEWAN
Just to say what a pleasure it was watching Queens on Saturday. They played with a real drive, determination and passion which has been lacking in the early part of the season. Some of the play was exceptional,with Sandy Hodge's contribution outstanding, and it was great to see the newspaper headlines praising Queens performance - even the SUNDAY TIMES was gushing in its match report. I know we're still bottom but with performances like the first half on Saturday I'm sure we can climb the table. The last 15 minutes was a bit shaky though, but hopefully that can be sorted out.
17th January 2000GORDON ORR
Isn't it amazing what can happen in the space of three weeks. The super south are now on high on that invisable substance called confidence and at last we have REAL optimism at Palmerston. I think all fans must have a sense of De Ja Vu as last years turnaround appears to be strikingly like this years, but as most fans will realise lets not count our chickens, we are still bottom of the league and there is a lot of hard work still to be done. In my opinion three players have been influential in the turnaroud (1) Warren Hawke, who looks like the best finisher we've had at Palmerston since Andy Thomson (2)Sandy Hodge, who I must confess, I thought he was a donkey, but is now looking much fitter with genuine ability, incidentally he was my MOM versues Stenhousemuir (3)The intelligence of Ken Eadie, every team needs an "auld heed" and he clearly has the vision and the experience that was lacking on the forward line. So Queens lets keep it going with win number 5 against Stirling, and who knows Promotion might not yet be an imposibilty.
15th January 2000NICK MARTIN
Confession time. Imagine my horror when participating in a competion launch in West Lothian I was photographed alongside Livingston's Director of Football, Jim Leishman. And to add insult to injury it was raining so he wore a Livingston F.C Jacket! He was telling me how Queens had no chance of getting through to the next round and I reminded him of how we ended his clubs unbeaten at home for ages record last season. As the article will only be published in the East of Scotland hopefully this will go un-noticed. Actually i've got a lot of respect for what he's done for the club and told him so. I only wish we had somebody like Livingston's Mr Keane to inject obscene amounts of cash into the club, infact I read in the paper the other day that there was a lottery millionare living on the outskirts of Dumfries, anybody know him? Any chance of him being a football fan. Somebody send him a begging letter!
13th January 2000STUART KING
Paul - I have posted a message on the QOS links page, courtesy of Stuart Mclaren, noting the last known official sighting of the mighty Peter Dickson. Apparently he was still an imposing figure in the local 5-a-side league. What about one of my other heroes, Tommy O'Hara, whom I seem to recall playing for Washington Diplomats - or am I still giddy from the lasy three games?
11th January 2000JAMES WILSON
I have only been to Palmerston twice all season (being a Bolton fan)but on both occasions the team looked as if they had never met each other before. I will be back to see the Livvy cup tie so if we lose, blame me, I haven't seen QoS win at home for 4 years!!!
11th January 2000IAN RAFFEL
I agree with the comments of Stefan and John. After the run of awful results leading up to the Christmas period, it's been a fresh air to see the turnaround. Yes, it's early days, but the confidence is back it seems, and if we were going to haul ourselves out of the brown smelly stuff, it had to be now, rather than Easter or something!

Good luck to everyone and let's hope for more of the same!
11th January 2000STEVE BAXTER
Quite right Paul Pearson, I think that the Queens were very unprepared at the start of this season considering the importance of ending up in the top three. Even in the pre season friendly at Workington we had too many trialists out and the team should have been more settled at the start of the season. And your right, we have brought in more experienced players than just Warren in the last few weeks, so stop defending the previous setup that got us in the mess Ewan, we needed better players.
11th January 2000EWAN LITHGOW
Dickson & Hodge were both members of the squad villified by Andy Murray in his Queens Scene articles and on this Message Board. I might concede on Ally McMillan who was signed about the same time Andy was making his points.

Stuart Davidson is a 20 year old youth on LOAN from Kilmarnock. He has not been signed and has only played one game anyway.

My point was that we have only signed one player (OK counting McMillan two players) SINCE Andy's attack on the Board, Management & Players. None of the others Paul mentions can be used as evidence to back up Andy's case.
10th January 2000PAUL PEARSON
What about McMillan, Dickson and Hodge. All new players that have been brought in during the season.

Plus Warren Hawke and Stuart Davidson that make 5 new players which have been added during the season.

I think the management/directors have to do a better job in getting and keeping a squad together and assebling at the beginning of the season and not mid way when we are in the mire.
10th January 2000JOHN CRAWFORD
I'd like to congratulate the players, the management and those behind the scenes at the club for the recent run of success. I know it's early days and we're still in the relegation zone but there's a confidence in the air which wasn't around a couple of months ago and there's a noticable difference in the players attitudes to games. Playing Eadie up front has brought a sense of composure to the forward line whilst Warren Hawke has added a touch of class to the team. His goal on Saturday following a magnificent cross by Adams was the best Queens goal I've seen this season and it's clear that his experience and knowledge of the game is rubbing off on the youngsters. To emulate the great escape of last season I think we could do with a quality playmaker with composure in midfield (status of loan players ?) and an experienced defender as the team is still weak at the back. For the first time in a while I'm actually looking forward to games. Livingston come on down – let's have a repeat of that great day in March.
10th January 2000STEFAN KACZMARCZYK
2 great league wins and an emphatic victory in the cup against Montrose - the "Queens" are back in business, we're going to stay up! All the more reason for Doonhamers everywhere to go to Palmerston and get right behind the boys!!
9th January 2000EWAN LITHGOW
Paul Pearson - "We've signed some quality players" ???

We've signed ONE player, the excellent Warren Hawke, and all credit to the Board and management for that move which already looks like a possible season saver. (Two goals & three assists in three games!)

The other changes in recent games have seen Allan Preston play 30 mins v Arbroath (on Loan), Stuart Davidson (a YOUTH, albeit not ours) play at Stranraer (on Loan) and Ken Eadie come out of virtual retirement to lead the line well and score two goals from two starts.

Another youngster, Kevin Robison, played the ninety minutes at Montrose.

I don't think for one minute we can assume we're out of the woods from three games but if we do escape then I don't think the signing of Hawke should be held out as proof of a wrong policy all along. Rather, it is more evidence that we maybe weren't that far away in the first place. We have after all effectively changed just two players, one of whom was already here.