A Lower League Revolution

As our world seems to be falling apart at the seams, so too does our beautiful game here in Scotland. We have infighting, legal battles, calls of conspiracies and amongst the nonsense in the boardrooms, a gloomy picture of the future is emerging. Teams begin to set their sights on the new season, however, it comes at a great cost with the prospect of no fans for months and the mass exodus of players from clubs. You only need to look at big hitters like Dunfermline whos hands were forced to release a whopping eighteen players. These inevitable cost cutting measures have been common across the leagues as clubs prepare to play with thread-bare squads.

There are two exceptions to this. Queens Park in League 2 and Darvel in the West of Scotland League.

Queens Park have certainly caught the eye of many after progressing from their historic amateur roots to go full-time this summer. The Hampden club faced months of great debate between board members and fans but the conclusion was to look forward with this ambitious ploy. It is not unfamiliar to throw money at Scotland's bottom professional league, just look at Cove last season. However, in the current climate and with off the park projects too, everyone would understand if the hierarchy at Queens decided to add more years to their grand plan to soar the leagues. That has not been the case.

Queens boss, Ray McKinnon. Photo credit - Tony Nicoletti 

The Ray Revolution as it is being dubbed is in full flow as Ray McKinnon started the cut-throat process of clearing out his squad and creating a formidable force for a title charge. Stalwarts in the side who fans might have feared would not go full-time, such as captain David Galt and goalkeeper Wullie Muir, have signed the dotted line already giving fans a massive boost early on. You would also be silly to forget their remarkable January window which saw names like Peter Grant, Cammy Bell and Craig Slater move to Hampden. All of these experienced players who have done it in the divisions above will be back for more next season and Queens latest signing may be a sign of things to come. McKinnon pulled off one of the coups of the window so far securing the services of Morton striker, Bob McHugh. Fending off offers from up above, Queens will be delighted to get the man who has hit double figures in the last two seasons at a Championship level.

There's no doubt there is more to come this summer for Queens Park but these exciting moves on the park coupled with their innovative plans to renovate Lesser Hampden can fill fans with much optimism about the season coming and many after.

Going a few leagues below, Darvel FC are a club showing similar ambitions of climbing the pyramid. The club began causing positive press when photos emerged of their state of the art changing rooms and stadium. That is nowhere near the meltdown that they have caused on Twitter recently. As they look set to play in a new bumper twenty team top tier, Darvel boss, Michael Kennedy, has his eyes firmly up the leagues in his recruitment. Jordan Kirkpatrick, Ryan Thomson, Jordan Allan and Liam Caddis join an already strong professional side including the likes of Jason Marr and Ross Perry. Their most recent signing of Ian McShane though has certainly been the pick of the bunch. Most recently at Falkirk, his experience with Ross County and St Mirren in the Premiership will be invaluable in that division. Not many sides at that level can boast the professional appearance tally, not mentioning the cup and league sucess within those, in their own squads.

Darvel boss, Michael Kennedy. Photo credit - Tigarstorm Photography 

Despite all this filling the Darvel faithful with joy, they have been met with a great deal of scepticism as fans of other clubs envy the squad they're building. The club seem unphased by this, publicly outing those who take a jibe at their fanbase or policies. It will no doubt fuel the fire though in top junior sides like Talbot and Pollok but to the on-looker, Darvel must be in the best position to go ahead and win this elusive first West of Scotland format.

Both Queens Park and Darvel can be called fools for adopting this sort of model, with these times putting more strain than ever on sustainability of their tactics. In the doom and gloom of the game though, I think this ambitious attitude should be applauded. If possible and planned carefully, why settle for where you are? Create avenues and seize the oppurtunity when possible. The abuse they will receive in regards to throwing money at it will no doubt come from jealous opposition but that will pale into insignificance if their plans come to fruition.

There are many a success story for these clubs to take heart from, like Inverness and Cove. However, the other end of the spectrum must be at the forefront of their minds as they plan their aspirations. The clubs mentioned afore have, mostly, been managed very well. A blind gung-ho approach could end up disasterous in a Gretna-like fashion. However, for the here and now and the 2020/21 season, Queens and Darvel fans will be some of the happiest watching their new form sides grace the park whenever it may be and their relative success, or not, will be of great interest to many football fans in the lower leagues.