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.
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.
Key
Champions | Runners-up | 3rd / Semi-final | Promoted | Relegated |
The Scottish Football League was founded in 1890 and, other than during seven years of hiatus during World War II, [lower-alpha 1] the national top division has been played every season since. [lower-alpha 2] The following is a summary of Queen's Park's divisional status: [9]
The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded in Scottish culture. It has reflected and contributed to political, social and religious division and sectarianism in Scotland. As a result, matches between them have had an enduring appeal around the world.
Queen's Park Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish football pyramid. Queen's Park is the oldest association football club in Scotland, having been founded in 1867, and is the 10th oldest in the world.
Hampden Park is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football team. Hampden Park is owned by the Scottish Football Association (SFA), and regularly hosts the latter stages of the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup. A UEFA category four stadium, Hampden Park has hosted six European finals including the 1960 European Cup final between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt which, with a crowd of 127,621 in attendance, is the highest ever recorded attendance for a European Cup final.
Third Lanark Athletic Club was a Scottish football club based in Glasgow. Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the 3rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, the club was a founder member of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1872 and the Scottish Football League (SFL) in 1890. Third Lanark played in the top division of the SFL for the majority of the club's existence, and won the league championship in 1903–04. The club also won the Scottish Cup twice, in 1889 and 1905. Third Lanark went out of business in 1967, as a result of mismanagement, six years after having finished in third place in the SFL. Third Lanark's former ground, Cathkin Park in Crosshill, is still partially standing and is used for minor league football.
Cathkin Park is a municipal park in Glasgow, Scotland. The park is maintained by the city's parks department, and it is a public place where football is still played. The park contains the site of the second Hampden Park, previously home to the football clubs Queen's Park and Third Lanark. The site of the original Hampden Park is just to the west.
The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish League Challenge Cup or Scottish Challenge Cup, and currently known as the SPFL Trust Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an association football knock-out cup competition run by the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). It is recognised as the third most prestigious knockout trophy in Scottish football, after the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup.
The Excelsior Stadium is a football stadium in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the home ground of Airdrieonians of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). Since the 2021–22 season it has also been used by Celtic for the home matches of their women's team in the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) and B team in the Scottish Lowland Football League, as well as by Glasgow University F.C. of the West of Scotland Football League. It is an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 10,101, and has a 3G artificial surface.
Lesser Hampden is a football stadium in Mount Florida, Glasgow, Scotland, owned by Queen's Park F.C. and located immediately beside the western end of the national stadium, Hampden Park. Since 2023 its sponsored name has been The City Stadium.
Hampden Park in Glasgow is the primary home stadium for the Scotland national football team. This has been the case since 1906, soon after it opened. The present site of Hampden Park is the third location to bear that name and both the previous locations also hosted Scotland games. Scotland have also played many of their home games in other stadiums throughout their history, both in friendly matches and for competitive tournaments.
Glasgow Tigers are a motorcycle speedway team from Glasgow, Scotland. Formed in 1928, the club adopted the Tigers nickname in 1946 and compete in the British SGB Championship. The team race at Ashfield Stadium and celebrated their 75th anniversary in 2021.
The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now competed for between the senior teams of Clyde, Partick Thistle and Queen's Park and the youth teams of Celtic and Rangers, and has used both knockout and round robin formats to determine the finalists.
The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup Committee (GCCC) at their discretion, but no criteria were ever published.
Hampden Park was a football ground in Crosshill, Renfrewshire. The home ground of Queen's Park from 1873 until 1883, it was the first of three stadiums to bear the same name, and hosted the first-ever Scottish Cup final in 1874.
Donald Hunter McLean is a Scottish former amateur football who played in the Scottish League as a wing half back for Queen's Park.
Queen's Park Women are a Scottish women's football team based in Glasgow, associated with the men's professional team Queen's Park. They were formed in 1999 as Wellpark before changing to their current name in 2002. They currently play in Scottish Women's Premier League 2, the second tier of the national league system. The team play their home matches at The city Stadium, New Tinto Park and occasionally at Nethercraigs Sports Complex.
The Original Glasgow derby is the name for the old rivalry between crosstown Scottish football clubs Queen's Park and Rangers, both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are two of the most successful in the Scottish Cup, and the rivalry between them was one of the more intense in the early years of Scottish football, before being overtaken by the Old Firm rivalry from the 1900s onwards. The highest Scottish Cup attendance figure for the fixture was recorded on 18 January 1930 at Hampden Park for the first round, when 95,722 fans attended. The two clubs met in the top flight for last time during 1957–58, the final season before Queen's Park's relegation. The club retained their amateur status from their foundation in 1867 until 2019, which meant it was extremely difficult to compete at the highest level and the intensity of the derby dramatically declined after 1958 as the Spiders never returned to the top tier.
Over the 150-year history of football in Scotland, most teams have occupied several grounds as their home; this has occasionally involved a relocation to another community altogether. Grounds which have been in continuous use for several decades have been extensively redeveloped, particularly since the 1990s, with a few exceptions. This article and the accompanying tables focus on those Scottish Football League / Scottish Professional Football League clubs which have moved to a different stadium, including temporarily, since the 1980s when this became more frequent.