Queen’s Park saved me. So I owe it to them to rescue the club now
He was given his big chance by the Spiders after being dumped by Celtic as a lad. Now Gerry Crawley has returned as president in fight to retain Hampden as their home
GERRY CRAWLEY is a reluctant evangelist. as vicechairman of a digital communications outfit, the president of Queen’s Park neither craves nor especially wants a higher public profile.
Engaged in a grim battle for survival, Scotland’s oldest football club are a rather different story.
For Queen’s, the fear of losing their iconic Hampden home is a clear and present danger.
last season’s relegation to league Two has left the amateurs scrambling around for something less tangible and solid. Relevance.
a Spiders midfielder in the 1980s, the new president pauses over his words as he admits: ‘we have to try to make Queen’s a bit more ... I’d rather avoid the word relevant, but...’
appointed the figurehead of the club’s ten-man committee last month, Crawley accepted the new role at a critical juncture.
Queen’s are currently staring down the barrel of a gun being pressed against their heads by the SFa. The choice is blunt.
Hand over the keys to Hampden and they lose a stadium they have owned in its current form since 1903.
Refuse and Scotland’s governing body will clear off to Murrayfield, leaving the league Two club with an unsustainable stadium and debts and loan repayments totalling £16million.
Crawley has agreed to take all this on to repay a debt of gratitude dating back three decades.
‘I was freed by Celtic when I was 18,’ he says. ‘I was confident in my own abilities because I had come through with players like Charlie Nicholas, Mark Reid and Danny Crainie.
‘and like many young players, I had a higher view of myself than I probably should have.
‘But I went to Oldham athletic on an extended trial, didn’t sign and played Junior football for three months.
‘I was playing at that level and a formidable manager by the name of Eddie Hunter spotted me playing in a Sunday game for St Roch’s against Pollok — and he rescued me.
‘That’s why I’m involved now. at 18, you are beaten. You are released, your dreams are crushed — but Queen’s Park rescued me. I owe them something.’
There are more recent, more notable, examples of players who owe their second chance to the club. One of them recently played for liverpool in the Champions league final against Real Madrid and counts himself as a first pick for Scotland.
‘It’s very easy for players to fall out the system and be lost to football,’ adds Crawley.
‘I’m trying not to say the name of the player I have in mind (andrew Robertson), because it’s overdone in my view.
‘But there is this tradition of Queen’s Park giving people a second chance.
‘we have a position and a role there. There are ex-Queen’s Park players dotted through Scottish football.
‘I want people to know that. I also want us to have a higher profile and a higher membership than we have currently.
‘we’ve just been relegated and I want to look forward now. as an individual, I am competitive. as a footballer, some would say I was over-competitive. But I want our club to be competitive again.
‘we are third overall in the list of Scottish Cup winners (with ten victories).
‘People say: “aye, well, that was a long time ago”. But Hibs hadn’t won it since 1902 until a couple of years ago...’
FORMED at No 3 Eglinton Terrace in Glasgow, Queen’s Park laid the foundations of the modern passing game, supplying the entire Scotland starting 11 for the first ever international with England.
Yet, that’s now 146 years ago and a quote by american Christian evangelist Rick warren could have been uttered with Queen’s Park 2018 in mind.
‘Irrelevance,’ he states, ‘is when the speed of change outside an organisation is greater than the speed of change inside.’
a former midfielder with Celtic, Dumbarton, Brechin City and St Johnstone, Crawley is now 56 and lays no claim to possessing a time machine.
He does want to take a venerable Scottish footballing institution which is out of step with modern football and start making up some ground, though.
Top of the in-tray is the future of Hampden, a thorny issue which could break the club completely.
like the buyer of a second-hand car standing by the road, kicking the tyres with a sharp intake of breath, the SFa have warned they will quit the national stadium and move Scotland international games and cup finals to Murrayfield unless the amateurs agree to hand over the keys.
Faced with a ruinous bill if Hampden ceases to be home to the national team, Crawley has employed administrator Bryan Jackson — the Red adair of Scottish football — to put out the fire.
Bound by a non-disclosure agreement, he won’t go into details. But Queen’s Park would like to keep playing at Hampden in return for handing over the keys. ‘I want us to play there,’ says Crawley. ‘It is our ground.
‘Celtic want to play at Celtic Park and we want to play at Hampden. It is our home. It’s synonymous with Queens Park.
‘lots of football people do not seem to understand the ownership model. ‘You hear them say: “why are
they playing there?” well, the answer to that is that it’s our ground.
‘Imagine going to Peter lawwell at Celtic and saying: “Come on now, Peter, give it up. we know it’s yours, but give it up”.
‘Queen’s own Hampden. It’s a national asset — but it’s also a Queen’s asset.’
Citing concerns over the pitch, SFa sources have told Sportsmail there is next to no chance of Queen’s playing on at Hampden if the governing body take control.
Sprucing up lesser Hampden to senior league standards is an option. amongst the ten members of the club’s committee, Crawley admits a ‘healthy debate’ is taking place over an acceptable price for giving up their home.
He says: ‘We are looking for a win-win. Those are the best deals you can come out with. One where you are leaving with a feeling and a conviction you are leaving the room with something.
‘I want to see an outcome that is good for Scottish football. And an outcome good for Queen’s Park.
‘At our club, there is a healthy debate on what a win-win would be.’
Talk of the SFA paying millions of pounds for the Old Lady of Mount Florida ignores the petty jealousies which sweep through the member clubs.
The deal, when it comes, is unlikely to restore Queen’s to their former status as Scottish football’s aristocrats.
Yet the alternative — debts which could sink a Third World nation — appear to leave the Spiders with a weak negotiating hand. Even if the president disagrees.
‘We own a big asset,’ he insists. ‘We are aware of the potential repercussions of failing to reach agreement. We are hopeful we can reach a point where everyone secures a win-win.’
He rejects some of the common accusations levelled at Hampden. Said to be inaccessible and out of date, with poor transport links, the views from behind the goal are the biggest bugbears.
‘I’ve travelled to stadia all over and I’ve never yet been to the perfect stadium,’ he said. ‘Every stadium has a difficulty. I went to the Nou Camp for a Champions League quarterfinal with my family as a tourist and I was miles away from the action.
‘The attitude to health and safety was unusual, people were sitting in the stairwells.
‘I was at the Etihad (in Manchester), to see the Foo Fighters a week last Friday and trying to get away from that stadium was a joke.
‘The criticism is subjective. People are entitled to their opinion.
‘Ideally, with access to a big pot of money, we would have changed it by now. But we all know the Scottish game has its challenges.’ The SFA say that even if they
do secure agreement to take the keys of Hampden, they could still head for Murrayfield.
SOME suspect this stuff is all part of the public game. The bartering and gameplaying which precede a deal. Ditto the talk of Hampden needing ‘tens of millions’ spent over the tenure of a new lease.
‘I have no idea what the SFA feel about future spending needs,’ declares Crawley. ‘But I feel the place is in reasonable condition.
‘Hampden is the home of Scottish football, which is our national game, so the home of Scottish football should be preserved in perpetuity.
‘Listen, who am I to say what a government in totality would choose to spend its money on? Society at large has problems to address.
‘But Hampden generates benefits for the city of Glasgow and beyond.’
Its benefit to Queen’s Park is sometimes less clear.
Gus MacPherson’s side won just two home matches en route to League Two last season.
Crawley, who played 93 firstteam games between 1980 and 1983, suspects opponents sometimes find Hampden more inspiring than the home players.
Yet, even if the stadium offers few of the usual comforts and benefits, it remains a home to Queen’s Park. One worth fighting for.
‘Glasgow is a football city,’ adds Crawley, ‘and you would be surprised if the council or Scottish government were not interested in the future of Hampden.
‘It would be unusual to move it to Edinburgh.’