Rae at Queens helm in historic year

Mar 20 2009 by Craig Robertson, Dumfries Standard Friday

MANY chairmen have taken the hot seat at Palmerston – some loved, others not so loved.

It’s current incumbent Davie Rae has been there for nearly six years and in that time there’s been more highs than lows.

He’s Queens through and through and proudly boasts the club’s most successful moment – last year’s Scottish Cup final – as a landmark moment under his reign.

But no-one is bigger than the club.

And the retired farmer considers his main role as chairman to be looking after and protecting “The Queens” for generations to come.

“Being chairman of Queen of the South at this moment in time, I’m only a historian passing through,” he told the Standard as the club celebrates 90 years.

“I’m only looking after the club.

“I’ve been seven and a half years on the board and five and a half years as chairman and you do the job until someone else comes in.

“I’m looking after it just as those people in the past have looked after it.”

When he took over from Ronnie Bradford in 2003, Rae’s main aims were to continue with the rebuilding of the club and to keep it on a solid financial footing.

A bit of success would have been nice, but he could never have predicted the incredible cup run last year that saw them beaten by Rangers in the final.

He said: “That was certainly my highlight as chairman.

“For all we got beat off Rangers last year, if you look back on records, we’ve had our moments.

“Before I was born, my uncle saw them knock Rangers out the Scottish Cup at Palmerston in the first round and they beat them 1-0 away back in 1937.

“I’ve seen them beat Celtic at Palmerston, I’ve seen them beat nearly every team at Palmerston.

“Queens are steeped in history, they’ve had great moments.

“You talk about football being full of highs and lows but Queen of the South’s had quite a few highs, maybe when you average it over the 90 years we’ve had more lows but we’ve had quite a few highs and just recently they’ve come through and done reasonable well.

“What we’ve got at now at Palmerston is a really good youth set-up and hopefully we’ll get some home bred players in Queen of the South.

“About six years ago three players all got through together – Willie Gibson, Paul Burns and Scott Robertson – and it would be great if we got another one or two coming through.

“We’ve got good coaches that are keen to go for their badges.”

That final against Rangers saw the team go into the UEFA Cup and Rae can remember a surreal experience of being at the draw in Switzerland.

He said: “I remember in the morning of the draw Sky TV came forward and said: ‘We’d like to speak to you on the telly’, there were cameras all over the place on me and they had the European Cup there as well.

“Anyway, I just talked about Queen of the South and Dumfries, and I remember saying afterwards to them why did you want to speak to me, the chairman of Queens, what about your Barcelonas, your Real Madrids, your Arsenals, your Man Uniteds, your Liverpools and your Chelseas?

“They said: ‘We can speak to them anytime but we wanted to speak to a good team and their chairman!’

“So that was the Queen of the South brand name travelling abroad, all over the world, that was fantastic for the Queens and a real PR exercise.

“I really enjoyed that.

Since I came on as chairman there have been far more highs and than lows so let’s hope it continues.”

Those triumphs on the park have not come without the talents of the management team.

Leading that is Gordon Chisholm.

And he wants to steer the club towards more sucess.

He said: “I am delighted to be managing the club in its 90th anniversary and I am hoping to bring as much success to the club as possible.

“Now we are trying to build for the future and I am looking forward to being able to do that.

“Last year will be a season that will live with me for the rest of my days.

“It was a fantastic achievement for everyone involved with the club.

“And I really wanted to build on that, and after the start we had this season, for me it has been really frustrating.

“I want us to be up there competing in the later stages of cups and challenging at the top of the league.

Last season was so successful and we started this campaign like a house on fire and the frustration is all the injuries we had at the back of last year.

“So going into the 90th year, it is an honour and a privilege to be managing the team, and going into the future hopefully we can build on last year’s success.”