By The Spider
April 17 2003

On the evening of Monday, 14th April, Kenny Brannigan came face to face with many Queen's fans for the first time at a meeting arranged by the Supporters' Association in the Social Club at Lesser Hampden.

Demonstrating the enthusiasm that still prevails amongst supporters even at the end of what, cup form excepted, has been a mediocre season at best, about 50 of them turned up to hear the new coach spell out his plans for the future. He was joined by club captain Danny Ferry and top scorer John Gemmell, and they aired their views on a number of topics as detailed below:

The first question of the evening was put to Kenny Brannigan by Supporters' Association Secretary Keith McAllister who asked KB to recall his favourite memories from his early days with Queen's.

Not surprisingly KB immediately selected his debut on 29th January, 1983 when Queen's beat Stenhousemuir 4-1 in a Scottish Cup 3rd Round tie at Hampden. Kenny was only 16 at the time and explained that the game meant so much to him because, not only did he score on his debut, but he was also up against Harry Johnston who just happened to be his PE teacher at school and who became the first of many centre forwards to discover that Kenny wasn't fussy about where he left his boot in when going for 50/50 challenges.

Next on his list was the Cup Quarter Final (Q.P. had beaten St. Johnstone in the next round) which was just 6 weeks later, and in which Kenny made an appearance as a sub. Recalling his mentor Eddie Hunter's words before the game (Where would you rather be son - here at Hampden before 20,000 supporters or down at Glasgow Green with your pals?), KB confirmed that he was so nervous that in truth he probably would have preferred being at The Green after all!

Whilst mentioning Eddie, with whom he remains in regular contact, Kenny recalled a particular piece of early advice he received from his first coach which was to serve him well in a career spanning 22 years and 16 clubs (some more than once though). "Head the ball as far as you can", Eddie suggested, "and volley anything in front of you". Those who saw Eddie as a player know that Eddie himself had followed as a player what he preached as a coach, and there is no doubt that even in his last season as a player, Kenny was still following that simple rule.

Kenny left Queen's at the same as Ian McCall, who remains one of his best friends in the game, a relationship which Kenny insists will benefit Queen's any time that Ian feels that one of Dundee Utd.'s younger talents could benefit by spending a season learning more about the game at Third Division level. Anyway, Jim Leishman was very keen on both Kenny and Ian, and arranged a meeting with a view to signing both of them. Kenny, who had a good job and who wasn't prepared to be rushed into anything, was in first and Leishman told him that if he signed there and then that he could have £8,000 and no questions asked. However, if he came back to sign at a later date, he would only get £6,000. As Kenny already had an offer of £10,000 from elsewhere, he politely declined and then it was McCall's turn. Ian, who didn't have two pennies to his name, was offered the same deal and signed it there and then. Not realising that Kenny was already on a better offer elsewhere, Ian came out and took great delight in singing a wee song to Kenny along the lines of "I've got eight grand and you're only getting six, I've got....etc". Kenny smiled as he pointed out that McCall still sings that wee song to him to this day!

Turning to John Gemmell, Keith asked him if there were any centre halves (perhaps in the Brannigan mould?) who had given John a particularly hard time of it in their on-field battles? John didn't need too much time to consider the matter before naming Robbie Raeside of Peterhead as the one who had given him his biggest kicking to date.

KB advised that Raeside was not in any way typical of Peterhead's playing staff right now as, like John and Danny Ferry, he reckoned that Peterhead were the only team in the Third Division who had played better football than Queen's since he came back to the Club, and that the rest of them simply played a back to front game which bypassed the midfield altogether. Danny Ferry ventured that Queen's style of play was actually better suited to the Second Division as had been proved in cup games against Forfar, Berwick, Brechin & Hamilton where, with the possible exception of Brechin, Queen's had outplayed them all.

Asked why we hadn't been able to get better results in the League this season, Danny said that it was hard to put his finger on that one because, if he knew the answer, he would have done something about it long before now. However, he did believe that confidence, or the lack of it, had a lot to do with it because if Queen's didn't score first then there was a tendency to lose momentum and shape. A lack of fitness most definitely wasn't a factor as he reckoned that Q.P. were probably the fittest team in the Division, and to demonstrate that view he pointed out that they were seldom beaten on second half results alone.

Pointing out that Danny only had the one goal to choose from(!), Keith asked John Gemmell which goals this season had given him the greatest pleasure. Despite the expectation that the last minute equaliser against Stirling Albion two days earlier would gain a mention, John cited his second goal in the cup tie at Hampden against Hamilton as being his best one, but there was no surprise when he also took the chance to mention that hat trick against Elgin again, singling out the first one as his pick of the bunch.

then, looking ahead to the end of this season, Danny, John and Kenny all felt that East Fife and Peterhead would be the teams to go up at the expense of Morton and Albion Rovers.

Asked to outline his long term plans to take Queen's to a higher level, Kenny advised that he didn't feel that there was nearly enough competition for places right now and that he wanted some more of the U-18 players (like Kettlewell) to seize the opportunity to replace some of the 1st team players who seem to take their places for granted at the present time. The key to success though, he continued, would be to have experienced players forming the spine of the team with youth on the flanks to run the legs off the older players that seem to make up several of the opposing teams at present.

Expanding the discussion to consider the present state of Scottish football as a whole, Danny Ferry said that one benefit of the dearth of big talent at International level at present was that a number of young players were being presented with a great opportunity to break through to Bertie Vogts's team. To the astonishment of some, he cited Neil McFarlane as a player whose chance might come in the next couple of years before revealing that Neil himself, a very single minded and determined guy, had even claimed as much when still a player with Queen's. Knowing Neil well, and clearly having great respect for him, Danny got no takers when he suggested, "and who's to say that he won't play for Scotland one day, and perhaps even John Gemmell some years down the line too?"

Kenny Brannigan preferred to look at the wider picture at club level and pointed out from his own involvement with many other SFL clubs that most of them have a structure which emanates from their first teams. That is to say, each team from the first XI downwards plays the same type of football whatever that may be so that players for the reserves or U-18's could fit smoothly into the same position in the 1st team already knowing what would be expected of them. That was how Queen's used to be when he was a player here, and that was how he wanted them to be again.

Becoming increasingly forthcoming as the evening passed, Kenny revealed some of his pet hates within the game, apart from referees that is, a subject he declined to comment on! One thing that really annoyed him was the way that Queen's spent vast sums on their youth set-up each season, and yet how it was possible for other clubs to come and steal the cream of our youngsters when aged 16 before we even got the chance to get any return on our investment. That neatly led him onto agents, one of his other pet hates, who he claimed were creating an imbalance in the lower leagues by means of subsidies. Citing Steve Kerrigan of Stirling as just one of many examples, some agents were paying more than half of some players wages out of their own pocket, hoping to make a killing at a later stage as and when that player moved on up through the leagues and onto better things. In essence Kenny claimed, particularly by introducing many foreign players to the SFL by this method, agents were preventing good young Scottish talent from emerging in the lower divisions, and he just wished that agents would confine this practice to the SPL and let the SFL become a breeding ground for local youngsters again.

John Gemmell pointed out that part of the problem though was a lack of interest in football at schools level. Until recently he had been involved (outwith Queen's) in coaching sessions with schoolkids, but that interest had waned so much that only a few had turned up the last time that one was held.

Kenny Brannigan went on to say that one thing that saddened him about younger players was how little attention had been paid in their soccer upbringing to focus on whoever their opponent was on the day and put yourself in the frame of mind to do better than him during the game. Kenny was taught at several clubs of the importance of doing this and it played a big part in his own career. Citing Paddy Flannery as an example of a player who could certainly outpace him, as by his own admission most of his opponents could, Kenny explained that he took it upon himself each game to impose himself on Flannery so much that he would quickly move out to the wings just to get away from Kenny, but in doing so took away most of the threat that he posed.

Danny Ferry endorsed the importance of young players taking on board the advice given to them by their coaches and suggested that the better players in the game listen better too. Coaches have the best knowledge of opposition teams and players, and the better players get to where they are by paying greater attention to what they are being told and become even better players as a result.

Kenny Brannigan accepted that he does have some of the better players in the Division at Hampden and revealed that he was in no doubt that John McCormack would come looking for some of them at the end of the season. Whilst KB would obviously prefer to be able to hang on to his better players, he accepted that Cowboy was responsible for bringing many of them to the club in the first place and it was inevitable that approaches would be made at the end of the season. But KB was not disheartened and confirmed that he too had his eye on several players at other clubs whom he felt would fill any gaps that might arise during the summer.

Whilst rightly giving Cowboy his due credit for some of the players he has inherited from his predecessor, Kenny also gave himself a little pat on the back for the signings of David McCallum and Mark Cairns whom he inferred he had almost stolen from under the noses of interested clubs thanks to his contacts in the game pointing him in the right direction to the extent that neither player's availability had yet been made public by the time he was able to get to speak to them. Cairns in particular, he explained, was the model professional and the entire way he conducted himself, even to the extent of bringing in his own neatly laundered training kit, was a great example to the younger players at Hampden who still had a lot to learn.

Towards the end of the meeting, Malcolm Mackay Snr. joined the top table hoping to provoke some slightly more juicy questions from supporters. He maybe got a little bit more than he bargained for though as the first couple of questions that followed related to major issues which are sure to be the subject of much debate prior to, if not at, the AGM itself.

The first came after it was pointed out that our two most recent championship successes were as a result of the then Committees allowing Messrs Hunter and McCormack sufficient time to build a squad which was capable of achieving promotion. How long then, Mr. Mackay was asked, would Mr. Brannigan be allowed to do likewise? A master politician, Malcolm spent several minutes talking about how important it was to allow a coach to settle in, and also referred to KB's earlier statement that he had some new players lined up for next season. However, no matter how deftly Malky attempted to appear to answer the question without actually doing so, something he was quite well known for at Committee level, he had not reckoned on the persistence of his questioner who boldly suggested that Malky would be well suited to fill the vacant post of Minister of Information in Iraq, and once more he was asked to state for the record how long Kenny would be given. After a second attempt to avoid giving a definitive answer, he eventually conceded that KB would still be coach at the end of next season. That will no doubt come as a surprise, albeit a welcome one to Kenny, whose current contract runs out in a few weeks time, but perhaps the rumours that the Committee were divided over his appointment are untrue and that the exact duration of his contract can be confirmed to Club members upon request at the forthcoming AGM.

The second question to Malky, this time from a different member of the audience, related to the incorrect announcements that appeared in the press concerning the appointment of a new coach, and asked how that could have come about. Whether intentionally, or perhaps just not understanding the nature of the question, Malky spent several minutes talking about the complexities of Iain Munro's prior contractual obligations and how they had played a part in the confusion that he was to be appointed. However, the main point behind the question was that an answer was being sought as to how the press could have gained prior knowledge of the supposed announcement of Munro's appointment, and then also for Brannigan's appointment. In essence, albeit in a subtle manner, Malky was being asked whether there could have been a leak from within Committee as it is well known that the newspaper in question is well connected within the corridors of power. However, if such a thing happened, Malky was not prepared to comment and suggested that mere press speculation had been responsible for the unofficial announcements days before official statements were made by the Club in either instance.

It may appear strange to some as to why questions of this nature would be raised at a meeting of this sort, but it was Malky who had instigated them by suggesting that the meeting was perhaps a little bit too reserved for his liking. Always a believer that stirring these things up a bit is a good thing, perhaps the bold Mr. Mackay got slightly more than he bargained for this time!

A final question was posed from the floor regarding the extent of the Club's present scouting system. Malky confirmed that whilst other clubs did take some of our 16 year olds as Kenny had pointed out earlier, we also looked long and hard at our opponents youngsters too and that there were three coaches at every game from U-12's right through to U-18's where it wasn't just our players that our youth coaches were keeping a watchful eye on. KB added that he also had some reliable contacts outwith Hampden, Eddie Hunter being just one of many, who kept him appraised of potential signing targets. Indeed, and perhaps surprisingly to many at the meeting, some of these contacts were bosses of Junior football teams who would rather that some of their players came to a team like Queen's rather than end up at some of their bigger competitors.

At this point, mindful that almost two hours had passed very quickly, Keith McAllister drew the meeting to a close and thanked everyone for their attendance and participation. Not all such meetings are as well attended as this and the Q.P.S.A. Secretary was clearly heartened by the renewed enthusiasm that his efforts had generated.