Palmerston Park
Encyclopedia
Palmerston Park is a multi-purpose stadium
Multi-purpose stadium
Multi-purpose stadiums are a type of stadium designed in such a way as to be easily used by multiple sports. While any stadium could potentially host more than one sport, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multi-functionality over specificity...

 on Terregles
Terregles
Terregles is a village and parish near Dumfries, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the former county of Kirkcudbrightshire.The name Terregles is said to be a corruption of Brythonic Tir-eglwys...

 Street in Dumfries
Dumfries
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...

, south west Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The site of the ground was formerly a farm called Palmers Toun. This is on the Maxwelltown
Maxwelltown
Maxwelltown was formerly a burgh of barony and police burgh in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire in south west Scotland. In 1929 Maxwelltown was merged with Dumfries....

 side of the River Nith
River Nith
The River Nith is a river in South West Scotland.-Source, flow and mouth:The Nith rises in the Carsphairn hills of East Ayrshire, more precisely between Prickeny Hill and Enoch Hill, 7 km East of Dalmellington...

 in Dumfries. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Queen of the South
Queen of the South F.C.
Queen of the South Football Club is a Scottish professional football club founded in 1919 and located in Dumfries. The club currently plays in the Scottish First Division, the second tier of Scottish football. They are officially nicknamed The Doonhamers, but usually referred to as Queens or QoS...

 The stadium holds 6,412 people. It also holds the currently tallest free standing floodlights in Scottish football, standing at 85 feet.

Ground purchase

Jimmy McKinnell
Jimmy McKinnell
Jimmy McKinnell from Dalbeattie was a professional footballer who played for Dumfries club Queen of the South F.C. and Blackburn Rovers.Jimmy McKinnell moved from Queen of the South to Blackburn Rovers in 1920. He made seven appearances and scored three goals. McKinnell was one of the three players...

, Tom Wylie
Tom Wylie
Tom Wylie from Darvel was a professional footballer who played for Dumfries club Queen of the South F.C. and Blackburn Rovers.Tom Wylie made nine appearances and scored three goals for Queens. He moved from Queen of the South to Blackburn Rovers in 1921. Wylie was the third of the three players to...

 and Willie McCall were all sold to Blackburn Rovers around the same time by Queen of the South. This combined with the sale of Ian Dickson
Ian Dickson (footballer)
Ian William Dickson was a Scottish professional footballer whose played as a forward. He played for Queen of the South, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough...

 to Aston Villa helped to fund the purchase of Palmerston Park in 1921 for £1,500.

Current stadium

Of the 6,412 capacity, there are 3,509 seats. There have been many changes in the ground since it was first opened in 1919, including the removal of the "coo shed" and its replacement by chairman Norman Blount
Norman Blount
Norman Blount is the Scottish former chairman of Queen of the South football club. Blount was instrumental as the new broom that swept through the Dumfries club in the mid and late 90s replacing the previous regime under which the club had gone into stagnation and decline from the late 1960s...

 with a new all seater stand. A challenge game was held in April 1995 to commemorate the opening of the new stand and Queens' 75th anniversary against Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...

. Guests for Queens in the 2 - 2 draw included Davie Irons
Davie Irons
David John "Davie" Irons is a Scottish former professional footballer who has transitioned to football management.His playing career spanned 26 years as a central defender or midfielder...

, future managers Rowan Alexander
Rowan Alexander
Rowan Samuel Alexander is a former footballer and ex-manager of one-time Scottish Football League club Gretna.He is currently assistant manager at Ayrshire junior side .-Queen of the South:...

 and Ian McCall
Ian McCall
Ian Holland McCall is a Scottish former footballer and is currently without a job having resigned as the manager of First Division side Partick Thistle.-Playing career:...

, Ted McMinn
Ted McMinn
Kevin Clifton "Ted" McMinn is a Scottish former association footballer who played as a winger. His nickname is The Tin Man.-Early years:...

, Andy Thomson
Andy Thomson (Scottish footballer)
Andrew "Andy" Thomson is a former Scottish professional football player. He played in 549 league matches, scoring 195 league goals in a career that saw him play for Queen of the South, Partick Thistle, Falkirk and Stenhousemuir in Scotland and Southend United, Oxford United, Gillingham and...

.

Across from this all seater stand is the traditional "old" stand. This is a small, classic looking covered seating stand, where the seating area is raised. There are standing terraces for fans to the left, right and in front of this stand. This stand was constructed after the original main stand burned down in 1964.

The Portland Drive Terrace is a traditional standing area, reminiscent of all UK football grounds prior to the Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....

. At the other end of the ground stands the Terregles Street end. This became the away supporters end after the Norman Blount built stand opened. Prior to the Blount stand in the days of the 'coo shed' fans were able to change ends at half time to stand behind the goal being attacked by their team. The Terregles end is currently closed in need of repair.

Playing surface

The grass playing surface is widely recognised for its good condition. Iain McChesney described the surface as simply a, 'Good park'. Jocky Dempster
Jocky Dempster
John 'Jocky' Dempster is a Scottish former professional footballer.- Career :Dempster played with junior outfit Muirkirk before signing for Queen of the South F.C. at the start of the 1969-70 season....

 later said in an interview that among his reasons for signing for Queens was, "I liked the park at Queens. As you know it’s a good park, a good surface." Crawford Boyd
Crawford Boyd
Crawford Boyd from Kilwinning is a Scottish former professional footballer.Crawford Boyd is best known for his time at Dumfries club, Queen of the South The defensive cornerstone of the 1970s returned to Queens during the promotion campaign of 1980-81 to make a total of 321 first team appearances...

 said, "It was a lovely park, it was a treat to play on that park, a lovely playing surface." Ted McMinn
Ted McMinn
Kevin Clifton "Ted" McMinn is a Scottish former association footballer who played as a winger. His nickname is The Tin Man.-Early years:...

 commented, "Palmerston was like a bowling green, you knew when you went to kick the ball you wouldn’t get a bobble."

Attendance

Crowds for Queen of the South fixtures are normally around 2,000 people unless there is a major cup game against higher league opposition. The first league game against local rivals Gretna
Gretna F.C.
Gretna Football Club was a Scottish football club that represented the town of Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway, close to the border between England and Scotland...

 at the end of August 2006 attracted almost 5,500 spectators, which was Queen's highest league attendance since 2002. There was a full house at Queens' 2007 Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup 2006-07
The 2006–07 Scottish Cup was the 122nd staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Tennent's Scottish Cup. The competition was won by Celtic after defeating Dunfermline Athletic in the final.Dunfermline Athletic reached the...

 Quarter Final clash with Hibs
Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...

 in 2007. Similarly, over 6,000 watched the victory over Dundee
Dundee F.C.
Dundee Football Club, founded in 1893, are a football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland. They are nicknamed The Dee or The Dark Blues and play their home matches at Dens Park. Their shirt colour is dark blue. Dundee currently play in the Scottish First Division, having been relegated from...

 on 8 March 2008 for a place in the 2008 Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup 2007-08
The 2007–08 Scottish Cup was the 123rd season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The winners were Rangers, who defeated Queen of the South in the final....

 Semi-finals.

Modern attendances are small in comparison with Queens' heyday in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. For example 10,948 watched the team featuring Willie Savage
Willie Savage
Willie Savage from Burnbank was a former Scottish footballer, best known with Dumfries club Queen of the South.-Early days:Savage was a native of Burnbank who began his football as an inside forward at the local St Cuthbert School and representing Lanarkshire elementary schools against Glasgow...

, Willie Culbert
Willie Culbert
Willie Culbert was a former Scottish footballer best known with Dumfries club Queen of the South.-Queen of the South:Willie Culbert was a 1932 Queen of the South signing from Clyde....

 and Willie Ferguson
Willie Ferguson
William Copeland Ferguson was a Scottish footballer and manager best known for his time at Chelsea and Dumfries side Queen of the South. His position was usually as a left winger.-Early years:...

 in Queens first ever game in the top flight of Scottish football in 1933, the 3-2 win against Celtic. 13,000 watched Queens managed by George McLachlan
George McLachlan
George Herbert McLachlan was an FA Cup-winning Scottish footballer and manager. He was born in Glasgow and played as an outside left or at wing half.-Early years:...

 and captained by Savage knock Rangers out of the Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,, commonly known as the Scottish Cup or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.The...

 in January 1937. However Jackie Oakes
Jackie Oakes
Jackie Oakes was a Scottish footballer who played for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Queen of the South, Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City. Born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, his position was left winger...

 scored Queens’ goal in the game with the highest recorded attendance at Palmerston Park. On 23 February 1952 a crowd of 26,552 squeezed very tightly in to see Queens play in a Scottish Cup 3rd round 3-1 win for Hearts.

In popular culture

Scenes from the film A Shot at Glory
A Shot at Glory
A Shot at Glory is a film by Michael Corrente produced in 1999 and released in 2001, starring Robert Duvall and the Scottish football player Ally McCoist. It had limited commercial and critical success. The film features the fictional Scottish football club Kilnockie, as they attempt to reach their...

, starring Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

, were shot at Palmerston Park during 1999.

Development considerations

Instead of a straight forward promotion meritocracy, the members of the Scottish Premier League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...

 (SPL) have decreed that the club promoted each season as champions of the Scottish League First Division to the SPL must have a stadium with a minimum seating capacity for 6,000 fans. Despite the economic sensibility meaning scalable solutions are used widely in other industries, temporary seating facilities have been decreed as unacceptable by the SPL. This presents a significant barrier to many clubs in Scotland due to the limited budget available from relatively small population bases and the corresponding fan base potential.

Palmerston Park has ample space for the deployment of additional seating should the funding for investment become available. The obstacle for clubs such as Queens is finding the capital for the required investment.
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