An Open Plea To The Queen's Park Committee

wants the job
By The Spider
August 21 2004

There is far too much disunity at many levels of the Club right now, and Queen's need an appointment that buys them time to steady the ship both on the field and off it. All they need do is open the door to let the right man for right now walk through it. That man is Paul Martin.

Whilst this site claims to only represent a minority of the total Queen's Park support, it is clear from Saturday's results of the poll that we are currently running that Paul Martin is the overwhelming favourite for the job as far as queensparkspiders.co.uk visitors are concerned. Despite being offered the alternative stance, Paul was more than happy to go on the record this afternoon to state his desire to be the next Queen's coach.

Thanks to his mum, one of this site's visitors, Paul was already aware of his status as poll favourite and confirmed that he would love to be given the opportunity to pick up where he left off at the beginning of last year when he had to temporarily give up the caretaker position because he was about to embark on the final process of selling off two of his businesses to (ironically) free up more time for himself. Paul also confirmed that David Hunter has already offered to support him in any way possible (which hopefully would include resuming their coaching partnership), so the Club can expect a formal approach from him very shortly.

When asked if he would be disappointed if he didn't get the job, Paul revealed that whilst he would naturally be disappointed not to get the opportunity to prove his worth, it mattered more to him that the Club appointed the right man to take the team forward. Ever since winning his championship medal with Queen's at the age of 35 he explained, Queen's had become his club and he was now a committed supporter (as those who see him regularly attend matches can testify) who ultimately only wanted the best for Queen's and, if he agreed that the successful candidate for the current vacancy was the right man, then he would be just as happy to take his usual seat in the stand.

Whilst there will undoubtedly be many applications from suitable candidates once the vacancy is formally advertised, this writer firmly believes that Paul Martin (and David Hunter if he wants to become involved again too) is the man to take charge of Queen's until the end of this season. That statement is not based on any sentiment for a Championship medal winner, nor for the courteous way that he readily accepts approaches from supporters, but instead on the necessity for Queen's to appoint someone who is capable of restoring stability at a time when the blatant disharmony that currently (and more worryingly publicly) exists at Committee level threatens the well-being of the Club.

All concerned should put their petty grievances to one side for now and consider what's best for the Club that they have been elected to represent, rather than try to score points against each other by backing a wide variety of candidates who have yet to prove their worth. If they vote to take the latter route, they will risk appointing a coach who knows that he does not have their universal support (and ignoring his most recent stupidity, you have to sympathise with Kenny Brannigan who had to work in that environment), and who will constantly be looking over his shoulder for the first knife to be stabbed in his back.

I therefore make this plea for unity amongst the Committee to swiftly move to unanimously announce Paul Martin's appointment until the end of the season. They know him, he's proved that he can get players to play for him, and that he can also get results with a team that plays attacking football. None of this is a guarantee of success of course, and if between now and May Paul has done little to improve our lot, then at least he can walk away knowing that he gave it his best shot. By then, peace and harmony will hopefully have broken out at all levels within Hampden and whether it is Paul or someone else, time can be taken to ensure that the correct appointment is made in sufficient time to allow the Queen's coach to prepare for the following season.

Gentlemen, it's over to you.