As Mark Twain almost certainly never said, news of Queen's Park's demise has been greatly exaggerated. When reports emerged last year that Lord William Haughey was ending his financial agreement with Scotland's oldest football club, the general assumption was the Spiders might easily slip away back down the Scottish Professional Football League web back to lower league obscurity. Instead, Sean Crighton's side remained defiant last season as they came close to flirting with the promotion play-off places before finishing a commendable sixth.
Yes, the Queen's Park academy may be no more, but the under-17s and under-19s sides are thriving - both won their respective leagues last season. And businessman Haughey's presence remains in the background, with his City Charitable Trust helping transform the club's impressive Lochinch training ground in the heart of Glasgow's Pollok Park. "One thing we've got here is a great training centre," manager Crighton says.
"And, obviously, at Lesser Hampden, the pitch is unbelievable. We've got the facilities - we need to be a good Championship team." They are also a Championship team that is very much buying into the brave new Craig Mulholland Scottish FA vision of developing young Scottish talent, with a view to the balance sheet. Queen's Park helped both Scotland captain Andy Robertson and Rangers captain Lawrence Shankland earn themselves some valuable early steps in senior football.
Helping emerging talent flourish is something Crighton is keen to continue and develop. "Josh Fowler's moved on to St Johnstone, doing well in the Premiership," Crighton points out. "Seb Drozd has moved on to Partick Thistle - he's flying over there.
Henry Fieldson's gone to St Mirren. "We've got a barrowload of them [this season]. Young Ross McLean has come into the team last year a couple of times and progressed well this year.
He's a manager's dream, he's very versatile – he can play in the middle, he can play wide, he can play at the back. "Tyrece McDonnell as well. I think he made 26 appearances last season." And the manager added: "We need to be that club because that's Queen's Park's history.
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