List of Queen's Park F.C. seasons
This is a list of Queen's Park Football Club seasons up to the present day. The list details Queen's Park's record in major league and cup competitions, and the club's top league goal scorer of each season. Top scorers in bold were also the top scorers in Queen's Park's division that season. Records of regular minor competitions such as the Glasgow Cup are only included for seasons where the club reached a final.
Summary
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Queens_Park_FC_League_Performance.svg/400px-Queens_Park_FC_League_Performance.svg.png)
Queen's Park is the oldest football club in Scotland, founded in 1867. They were the nation's earliest dominant force, winning 10 Scottish Cups over the competition's first two decades, providing many players to the Scotland national football team (including all 11 players for the first official international match in 1872) and also playing in the English FA Cup final on two occasions in the 1880s when Scottish teams were permitted to enter.[1][2] Determined to maintain an amateur ethos at the club, they declined to participate in the Scottish Football League when it launched in 1890,[3] eventually joining ten years later – by which time professionalism had been adopted and standards raised among their competitors, most prominently Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers who soon began to eclipse the Spiders' success and popularity. Despite their diminishing status, in an ambitious 1903 project the club constructed the world's largest stadium, Hampden Park (their third home ground bearing that name) which became the national stadium for cup finals and Scotland fixtures, though still proudly owned by the amateurs.[1][2]
Although no longer making an impact on the Scottish Cup and consistently among the lower-ranked sides in Division One (any successful period would usually result in all the best players quickly being signed by professional clubs, with no financial incentive to entice them to stay meaning there was never much chance to build and maintain a strong squad), with the exception of one year Queen's Park still maintained their top level status until after World War II, but after a relegation in 1948 they only returned to the elite group for two more seasons in the 1950s, and then fell towards the bottom of the lower tier, dropping into a third division when it was introduced in the 1970s and a fourth division in the 1990s, remaining there since and playing home matches at a modernised, near-empty Hampden Park.[citation needed]
With relegation out of the Scottish Professional Football League system having been introduced, in 2019 the club's members voted to turn professional in an effort to pull away from the lowest reaches of the setup and maintain greater control over the young players they trained, who had previously been allowed to move on for nothing.[4] They also sold Hampden to the Scottish Football Association, using the funds to upgrade the adjacent training ground Lesser Hampden to become their regular match venue from 2021,[5] having already built a new club pavilion there seven years earlier.[6] The effects of the change were swift: with successive promotions from the fourth tier to the second in 2021 and 2022 were almost followed by another into the Scottish Premiership, but the team finished a few points off the automatic place and then lost quickly in the play-offs; there was less stability off-field in that period, with frequent changes of head coach and revisions and delays in development at Lesser Hampden, requiring ground-shares and the rental of Hampden for home fixtures.
Seasons
[edit]Key
Champions | Runners-up | 3rd / Semi-final | Promoted | Relegated |
Notes
[edit]- ^ the Scottish Football League was established in 1890.
- ^ the Scottish Cup was established in 1873.
- ^ the Scottish League Cup was established in 1946.
- ^ Last season playing home matches at first Hampden Park.
- ^ Home matches played at Titwood, Glasgow.
- ^ First season playing home matches at second Hampden Park.
- ^ The Scottish Football League began in 1890, but Queen's Park declined to enter until 1900.
- ^ Last season playing home matches at second Hampden Park.
- ^ First season playing home matches at (third) Hampden Park.
- ^ a b The Scottish Cup was not held in the 1914–15, 1915–16, 1916–17, 1917–18 or 1918–19 seasons due to World War I, or the 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–44, 1944–45 or 1945–46 seasons due to World War II.[7]
- ^ 5th place in the 1928–29 Scottish Division One is Queen's Park's highest-ever league finish.
- ^ a b c d e f g The official Scottish Football League was suspended from 1939 to 1946 due to World War II. Unofficial competitions were held.
- ^ The teams placed 1st–6th were added to the new First Division (below a new Premier Division) with the remaining clubs making up the new Second Division.
- ^ The teams placed 7th–14th were relegated to a new Third Division.
- ^ Home games played at Lesser Hampden due to major redevelopment work at Hampden.
- ^ The Scottish Challenge Cup was not held in the 1998–99 season.
- ^ a b 10th place in the 2001–02 Scottish Third Division and in the 2013–14 Scottish League Two is Queen's Park's joint lowest-ever league finish.
- ^ Home matches in second part of season played at Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie due to repurposing of Hampden for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
- ^ The leagues were renamed for the 2013–14 season, but the divisions remained as before.
- ^ Home matches in first part of season played at Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie due to repurposing of Hampden for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
- ^ Season curtailed due to the Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland.
- ^ Home matches to end of March 2021 played at Hampden Park, the remainder (6 fixtures) played at Falkirk Stadium; matches played behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- ^ Season shortened due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- ^ The Scottish Challenge Cup was not played in the 2020–21 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- ^ Home matches played at Firhill Stadium, Glasgow due to redevelopment work at Lesser Hampden not being completed.
- ^ Promoted in play-offs.
- ^ Home matches played at Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir due to redevelopment work at Lesser Hampden not being completed. Two fixtures played at Hampden Park.
- ^ Eliminated in promotion play-offs.
- ^ Qualified for quarter-finals in tie, but disqualified for using ineligible player.
- ^ Home matches played at Hampden Park.
League performance summary
[edit]The Scottish Football League was founded in 1890 and, other than during seven years of hiatus during World War II,[a] the national top division has been played every season since.[b] The following is a summary of Queen's Park's divisional status:[9]
- 125 total eligible seasons (including 2021–22)
- 42 seasons in top level[c]
- 28 seasons in second level[d]
- 23 seasons in third level[e]
- 22 seasons in fourth level[f]
- 10 seasons not involved – before club was league member
- ^ The incomplete 1939–40 edition has not been counted in the totals.
- ^ The top tier became the Scottish Premier League in 1998, and all four divisions became the Scottish Professional Football League in 2013.
- ^ Has existed between 1890–1939, and since 1946.
- ^ Has existed between 1893–1915, 1921–1939 and since 1946.
- ^ Has existed between 1923–1926, 1946–1949, and since 1976.
- ^ Has existed since 1994.
References
[edit]- ^ a b The Tiny Club, the Giant Stadium and the Deal Driving Them Apart, Rory Smith, New York Times, 21 December 2018
- ^ a b 'Lundere causa ludendi', Ignasi Torne, Panenka magazine, 29 January 2017, via Stuart Spencer / Scottish Football Museum
- ^ New claims show Queen's Park refused to go pro over love for Hampden Park cash, Gordon Blackstock, Daily Record, 26 April 2020
- ^ Scotland's oldest side Queen's Park to turn professional after 152 years, Sky Sports, 14 December 2019
- ^ Hampden Sale Completed, Queen's Park FC, 4 August 2020
- ^ Lesser Hampden J.B. McAlpine Pavillion Construction, QPFC.com
- ^ "Scottish Cup - Past Winners". Scottish Football Association. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "Summer Cup". Scottish Football Historical Archive. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
- ^ (Queen's Park) Competition History (By Season), FitbaStats
External links
[edit]- History at Queen's Park FC official website
- Soccerbase
- FitbaStats
- Football Club History Database
- Playing Records at QPFC.com