Football: Queen’s Park FC is mes que un club

Queen’s Park Football Club, like the famous Barcelona motto, is more than a club. From his newly refurbished office in, the shadow of the national stadium, the man behind the plan discusses the club’s youth development programme. 

After an hour spent in the company of Queen’s Park Football Club Head of Youth Development David McCallum, it is refreshing to leave knowing that all is being done to give the club’s young footballers every opportunity to become successful, not only in football but life.

Away from the glitz and glamour, the fame and fortune of the upper echelons of Scottish football, there are clubs whose purpose is not about the bottom line or trophies, which is not to say this club do not have ambitions.

Queen’s Park Football Club is a symbol synonymous with youth development. (Kaylan Geekie Images)

The 37-year-old has a clear vision for youth players at Queen’s Park and is taking the club’s under-17 squad to Valencia on the Leonardo da Vinci Coaching Initiative.

The Da Vinci project is funded by the European Parliament and administered by the SFA and it will be the sixth time that the club from Glasgow’s south side participates in the project.

The training camp will last two weeks and will incorporate a cultural, sporting and educational programme. A lot of work goes into applying and justifying being selected to participate.

“There is a selection process; you’ve got to put an application in, which is quite detailed and I think the application can put a lot of clubs off because there is a lot of work involved in it to justify why your organisation should be part of these trips. We put a lot of effort into that.

“Part of the commitment to the programme is not only football; you’ve got to subscribe to cultural activities, pre-trip and post-trip activities; you’ve also got to publicise it and we but into all that and we make sure that what we put together, actually happens,” McCallum said.

“It’s easy to say: ‘here’s what we going to do’ but maybe not stick to it. You do get monitored to make sure that you stick to what you’ve proposed. You’re judged on your own merit, irrespective of what football club.

“If you’ve applied and stuck to what you said you were going to do, the club that you work for is irrelevant as long the work you get done is buying into what the programme is about.”

A fortnight seems little time to make a difference but in reality, the gains from such an extensive and intensive programme are of high value to Queen’s Park.

McCallum said: “Da Vinci, we can get players, ranging from 16 to 20-years-old, out to an environment where we can work with them; two practical sessions a day and a theory session in the evening.

“The theory session can consist of some media work. It can consist of doing match analysis on the game and the training sessions as well.

“A lot of activity we can get done in such a short period of time that over here, we might get 30 training sessions done out there in a two week period, where as here, it might take two-and-a-half to three months to get done. That in itself makes it worthwhile for our organisation.”

The trip is about more than football and education, it is an opportunity for players to broaden their horizons.

“We’ve done trips to the salt caves. We are going to Valencia City; we’ve been to Santa Barbara Castle in Alicante … we want to make it cultural; it’s not just about going shopping.

“We will also take in some football matches as well. We’ve been to Levante versus Barcelona and Valencia versus Sevilla,” McCallum said.

The time away from home gives the players a shared and personal responsibility. A tight budget means private tutors are used sparingly and the boys must take responsibility for themselves while abroad.

The Bellshill-born coach says: “Ideally, you’d like to have a teacher but the reality is that it’s difficult to manage that.

“They [the players] bring their schoolwork with them and there’s time assigned to them to get that work done.

“The players help each other out, which is good for the bonding aspect of football. It’s good to see these guys are willing to help each other through areas that are necessary football,” added McCallum.

One obstacle that can be daunting is the language barrier, however, Queen’s Park has taken steps to ensure that the players learn Spanish and study the country’s culture – this is the club’s third trip to Spain – preparing thoroughly before they depart.

“We’ve started language lessons already – we bring in a tutor to deliver those. The lessons are not just about the language, it’s about the country and it’s specific for the area we are going to be in.”

The programme has benefited many young players because of Queen’s Park’s dedication to youth development.

High-profile former trainees include Blair Spittal and Aidan Connolly of Dundee United. However, it is Andrew Robertson who is the brightest talent to have emerged from the Da Vinci programme.

The 20-year-old plays for Hull City in the English Premier League and has earned a senior international call-up to the Scotland team, memorably scoring against England in last week’s friendly at Celtic Park.

McCallum and Queen’s Park’s dedication to enhancing young Scottish players as people and sportsmen is starting to reap the rewards for their hard work and endeavour; long may it continue.

The Queen’s Park under-17s will be away in Valencia from January 5 to January 18, 2015

The battle for Spain’s soul is in their style

“The style of play is very clear. We try to dominate the game and keep the ball. We have had this philosophy for years and it would be a mistake to change it. Our results in recent years justify this philosophy and all our players have adjusted to play this way.” – Xavi Hernandez

Tiki-taka is dead. It is one-dimensional. Spain are past it. They have no plan B. Possession football is boring. It has been found out.

Heard this before? Like a broken record player, stuck on the same tune, repeating the same lines over and over.

Anyone ascribing to these ludicrous notions is a fool. In sport there is no room for sentiment in the present. Only in hindsight and with time, can the past be altered to fit the narrative of the here and now.

Nostalgia is a dangerous emotion; feeding off altered memories that bring about a warm feeling of happiness relating to the past, whatever the truths.

This is the curious dilemma of Spain — see also Barcelona. The good times have made way for a collective derision of football’s fickle “armchair pundits”, social media’s “Twitterati” and even preposterous opinions from some pundits and media.

The collective dismantling  of Vicente del Bosque’s team by the Netherlands in Salvador has led to another wave of derision from football’s perennial hecklers.

Louis van Gaal’s team won with style, pace and hunger, all driven by a fierce desire for revenge.

Revenge for being outclassed four years previously at Soccer City, when the Dutch were said to have betrayed their heritage attempting to assault their opponents in pursuit of victory and glory.

Spain came through, as they always do, defeating Holland while sticking to their philosophy, never betraying their style or wavering from their belief in it; never wavering from the physical battering, winning the biggest game of all.

They have an incredible record in competitive matches, losing four of 65 — including the 5-1 defeat in Salvador.

The defeats came against the United States of America in the Confederations Cup semi-final in South Africa in 2009, Switzerland in the opening game of World Cup 2010 and Brazil last year in the Confederations Cup final.

You will have to go back to October 2006 and a Euro 2008 Qualifier versus Sweden, to get a fifth loss.

Take into account the World Cup 2010 sandwiched between the 2008 and 2012 European Championships and the clamour to forget all they have achieved amid one — albeit comprehensive — beating, the eagerness to write them off is confounding.

With success comes jealousy and envy. Spain’s rise to the top of the world game coincided with Barcelona’s all conquering team.

The sustained success of both sides has led to a disdain for possession based football that borders on revulsion.

Both are compared to the great Brazil team that won the 1970 World Cup.

Measure one trophy against the backdrop of La Furia Roja’s three consecutive tournament triumphs and it’s hard to believe the dislike that they endure.

Every football fan loves Brazil; the Samba style, joga bonito, the iconic strip; Pele, Socrates, Zico, Garrincha, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Neymar. How exotic.

Ah, nostalgia again. Strangely enough, most football supporters under the age of 50 will not have seen many of the ”great” Brazilian teams play, not even highlights on television.

Yet the remembrance of things past shines brighter in the current collective conscience of the modern football hipster as though Spain’s achievements are somehow not worthy of praise.

If that is not the case, they have certainly been forgotten awfully quickly.

This goes back to the success of the Catalan club, coinciding with the national team from 2006 to 2012.

Both teams’ affection among the hipsters and pundits can be traced to two defining results.

Not the Blaugrana’s loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final rout in 2013.

Or the national team’s loss to Switzerland during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

It was Chelsea’s defeat of Barcelona in the 2012 Champions League semi-final and Spain’s loss to Brazil in last year’s Confederation Cup final.

Football trolls around the world celebrated those defeats; ”the death of tiki-taka.” ”Possession football is outdated”; ”they’ve been found out” etc.

Strange considering all the silverware tucked away in bulging trophy cabinets that resemble a pirate’s loot.

Never mind that they are losing in semi-finals, semi-finals which if they win,  they probably go on to win the competition.

When they do lose, it’s through the opposition employing negative tactics and copious amounts of good fortune or they get thrashed by a team playing to the limit of human endeavour.

Parallels can be drawn with the contempt shown towards Pep Guardiola and Bayern this season.

Lose one game and the dynasty is over, the philosophy outdated and flawed. This happened with Luis Aragones and Del Bosque when a defeat reared its ugly head.

The happiness that ensued, not from the superb Dutch attacking performance but, from the schadenfreude, derived from the reigning champions implosion has left a bitter taste in the mouth.

The 21st century hipster fan is a parasite, leaching the joy from two of the finest teams to have played the game and for no particular reason than ignorance and narrow-mindedness.

Whether Spain can summon one last hurrah is neither relevant nor important.

The future of their style and manner in which they set about winning and entertaining, will continue long after the core of this great generation retire.

They have left a mark so wonderful and audacious on football that it may be a long while until their ilk is seen again.

In elite professional sport, achieving success — even fleetingly — by playing with swagger and substance, while entertaining is almost unattainable.

Spain has achieved this, Barcelona achieved it and football is better for it.

One of the greatest exponents of tiki-taka, Xavi Hernandez, said it best: “We will win or die by this style of play.”

If this wonderful group of champions are to bow out of the World Cup, they will do so on their terms and in style. Show me another team that can lose with grace and class and style.