EVEN amateur clubs are capable of being professional about the way they run their youth system, writes Stewart Fisher.

From Ronnie Simpson and Alex Ferguson to Malky Mackay and Simon Donnelly, Queen’s Park have always been renowned for grooming players for the big time, but from a Portakabin in the south side of Glasgow the famous old club are currently hatching a plan to take their already extensive youth development programme to the next level.

The Spiders already have no fewer than 30 coaches – all of them unpaid volunteers, who don’t even receive expenses – and approximately 160 players from Under-12 to Under-19 level in the system.

The facilities at the club’s disposal include the state-of-the-art surroundings at Lesser Hampden, the SFA’s recently opened indoor training centre at nearby Toryglen and the national stadium itself.

They receive funding from SFA grants, generate revenue through their own extensive community programme, benefit from the privately funded Glasgow Schools programme, and this January will take their under-19s to a winter training camp in Portugal courtesy of cultural exchange scheme with the Leonardo Da Vinci foundation.

Next up, assuming everything goes to plan, will be the addition of an under-11 side this summer, an expansion to three training sessions per team per week, and coveted SFA ‘performance club’ status. Last season, the only non-SPL club permitted to play at such an exalted level were Stenhousemuir.

Seated in a busy office – and watched by a genuine spider, a tarantula called Sydney – the two people directly responsible for administering this scheme, head of youth George Watson and club secretary Christine Wright, are outlining the unique combination of perks and pitfalls of running pro youth when you are only an amateur club. Not least because – as all the club’s players, young and old, all sign one-year amateur deals – it is rather problematic to measure the merits of their system in conventional terms such as the transfer values of the players they produce.

“The amateur side of the club 
is hugely important,” says Wright. “It is not only the players who don’t get paid. The coaches give their time freely, for the love of the game. We lose out a wee bit, because if players leave here, we don’t get transfer fees.

“So that is a bit of a drawback we have in comparison to other clubs. But one of the big draws of kids coming out of here is that it is central in Glasgow, but it is totally non-sectarian.

“We are neither Rangers nor Celtic but we are a Glasgow club and we heavily promote that.”

If the standard bearers of the post-Billy Stark era are Queen of the South striker David Weatherson, Motherwell centre-half Steven Saunders and Partick Thistle’s Paul Paton and Paul Cairney, Paul Ronald and Frankie Carroll are two current members of the first-team squad who are actively involved in helping future generations.

“The people we have at this club are second to none,” says Watson. 
“A lot of them are ex-players, they have bought into the ethos, and they are just putting something back.”

With the club’s community outreach work taking them to Hutchesons’ Grammar School and Williamwood High School, Watson feels the young players in the system are the best he has seen at any point in his eight years at the club, and also feels the club are also starting to make inroads into the local Asian community. “Parents aren’t daft,” Watson said. “They are pretty good at finding out what is best for their kids, and we are just pleased that so many send their kids here.”

Having formerly been caretaker manager at Aberdeen, Gardner Speirs knows all about the work getting done at SPL level. He feels Queen’s Park “stand comparison” with that level. Players have more chance of making it to the first team, and the experience of playing at Hampden every second week helps develop them for the big time.

“It is a wonderful stadium and to play there every second week is fantastic,” said the Queen’s manager. “There is also the facility at Lesser Hampden – it is great to know your training and matches are on every time. I know first-hand that clubs at SPL level are doing wonderful work, but we are extremely proud of what we do and I think if you measure the success of a youth policy in providing players for the first team, then we stand comparison with most.

“It could be argued we’re developing players for the third division, but I think the fact so many of our players have moved up the leagues suggests we are moving in the right direction.”

Things might not have gone exactly to plan for the Queen’s first team this season. But there is nothing amateurish about their youth set-up.