Latest news with #StevenMacLean
The Herald Scotland
26-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Incredible £5.7m Queen's Park spend as challenges laid bare
Queen's Park sacked Callum Davidson after their historic Scottish Cup win over Rangers was followed by some poor league form. Steven MacLean saw them through to the end of the season but the reins have now been handed to his assistant Sean Crighton. Further changes will be made at the club as major funder Willie Haughey, and his company City Facilities Management Holdings Ltd, are withdrawing their financial backing from next year. That means cuts will have to be made and club president Graeme Shields revealed the extent of that - current expenditure of £5.7m needing to drop to around £1m. He told Queen's Park's YouTube channel: "So obviously we got notification that City are withdrawing their sponsorship from the end of June 2026. Read more: Brendan Rodgers' pointed Hampden 'message' to Celtic board ahead of big summer Kyogo hints at plans for next season as ex-Celtic star looks to future "Currently, the club's expenditure for thus year to be £5.7m. Once City's sponsorship ends we know we have to get that down to close to £1m, so we basically have to find £4.7m worth of savings between now and June 2026. "It's a massive challenge and it's something we have looked at and set up a change team to look at the change and all income and expenditure at the club. And to come up with ways we can actually find £4.7m worth of savings. "So far, we've identified about £2.3m worth of savings so we're about half way there but it's the next bit that's going to be the hardest. "The academy has gone and that was costing the club, for the elite status, about £1.1m a season. That has gone, although we've been able to retain the under-19s and 17s so we can protect the assets we've got in there and hopefully future training compensation for the club. "But it is an enormous task because you're dealing with people's lives which isn't a pleasant thing to go through." Asked for more information on the club's academy shutting down, he added: "For the academy we did have a number of interested parties come forward with potential investments. "Unfortunately none of them came to frution. Mainly for the scale of the investment because also because most of the interested parties were looking for some kind of equity in the club, which we can't do as a members club. "We need to change the whole model and ownership of the club to accommodate that, which is something we can't do at the moment. We might have to seriously consider that in the future."
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Crighton appointed Queen's Park head coach
Scottish Championship club Queen's Park have appointed interim assistant Sean Crighton as their new head 35-year-old stepped up to assist first-team coach Steven MacLean following Callum Davidson's sacking in previously coached the Spiders' B team and has worked in coaching at Airdrieonians and Greenock Morton. As a former defender, he made 568 appearances, including spells at Airdrie and Livingston."This summer will be one of change at the football club but having witnessed the depth of talent within the club and worked with them over the past year, I am excited for the challenge ahead," said Crighton. Queen's Park president Graeme Shields added: "Over the past year he has displayed impressive leadership qualities around our training complex at Lochinch, working with both the first team and the B team who he successfully led to a second consecutive SPFL Reserve League title."Sean will now begin appointing his coaching staff and prepare the first-team squad for their return to pre-season training next month ahead of the new campaign."Shields also thanked MacLean, who has left the role he took on last month, while Queen's Park say "updates on the first-team playing squad" will club finished eighth this season, avoiding relegation and the Championship play-offs.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Big decisions required after St Johnstone's relegation'
Defeat at Tynecastle on Wednesday night brought an end to 16 years of top-flight football for St Johnstone. But given the club's fortunes in the Premiership in recent seasons, should we be too surprised? It was the 2020-21 season when Saints created history by winning both major cup competitions and finished fifth in the Premiership. All looked to be rosy at McDiarmid Park with a squad full of Scottish talent who knew exactly how to win games of football. But the warning signs were there early on the following season. Despite gallant away performances against Galatasaray and LASK, the European adventures were over by the end of August. A run of eight straight defeats in the league between the start of December and the end of January saw the club plummet towards the bottom end of the table. Although they reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, losing 1-0 to Celtic, there was huge disappointment when they fell at the first hurdle in their defence of the Scottish Cup to lowly Kelty Hearts. Premiership survival was only achieved after play-off success over two legs against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The following campaign in the league was marginally better with a ninth-place finish. But early exits in both cup competitions left a huge sense of disappointment in Perth. Davidson left the club towards the end of the season having been player, coach and then manager over a ten-year period. After a short and unsuccessful spell for Steven MacLean, Craig Levein was tempted back into management. St Johnstone had been purchased by Geoff Brown in 1986, and along with his son Steven, they turned St Johnstone into one of the best run clubs in Scotland, but they had now decided it was time for someone else to take over the reins. And shortly after Saints secured their Premiership place on the final day of the 2023-24 campaign, the club was sold to a group of American entrepreneurs. Levein was sacked in September, just a matter of weeks after the takeover was concluded, with Simo Valkari taking over. And despite some brave performances, including a home win over champions Celtic, they were unable to avoid the drop. Valakri said "there were no excuses" and the team were simply "not good enough". He stressed "things need to change" if they are to bounce back to the top flight at the first time of asking. The 52-year-old also says he wants to stay, but when asked if he expects to be at the club, he answered: "we will see". The next few weeks and months in Perth will be telling, with some big decisions required by those in charge.
Daily Record
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Aiden McGinlay on Crystal Palace transfer radar as Queen's Park starlet gets impressive Eagles report card
The troubled Spiders are bracing themselves for interest in the teenager, who has started three of the last four games under interim boss Steven MacLean Crystal Palace are on the trail of Queen's Park youngster Aiden McGinlay. The 18-year-old has caught the eye in a troubling time for the Spiders. The attacking midfielder has started three of the last four games for Steven MacLean's side and has impressed. The English Premier League club have been scouting the teenager and have got some impressive reports and footage. The Eagles have a track record in looking north of the border as they snapped up Dylan Reid from St Mirren and Scott Banks from Dundee United. McGinlay has previously been on trial at Ipswich Town and a number of other English clubs are tracking him closely. Queen's Park signed the youngster from the Partick Thistle academy and could look to cash in on McGinlay, along with many of their other rising stars. Major backer Lord Willie Haughey set to pull his full backing at the end of next season and the club will be looking to cut its cloth accordingly. The Spiders are still fighting to ensure their top-flight status. We're also on WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here. Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
BBC News
11-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'Valakari has addressed glaring defensive issues'
Four wins out of four. Zero goals in open play are the type of stats Craig Levein, Steven MacLean or even Callum 'loves-a-cup-competition' Davidson could have Valakari has finally addressed the glaring issues we could all see. Everybody in or around the 18-yard box. He's gone to Latvia, Sweden, Croatia and, er, Swansea to rectify these issues and with confidence in the McDiarmid stands increasing, fans are studying the fixture list and getting their calculators match against Kilmarnock on Saturday is massive. Having already beaten them home and away this season, the calculator will be getting swapped for fingers - both for counting a decreasing points gap and for tightly crossing in the hope of doing the Miller can be found at Dogger Saints Podcast, external
