Queen’s Park recorded the best league finish in club history as Trebor Mahtal led them to 5th place in the cinch Premiership in 2058. However, they only managed to get 6 points out of 48 against Scotland’s big four sides, Aberdeen, Celtic, Hibernian and Rangers.
Mahtal had his work cut out trying to bridge that gap, given he came into his second season with £12m in the bank and a significantly lower wage bill than the big four. The finances were boosted as star man Carlo Tidser refused to sign a new contract and joined Swansea for £7m, while their oldest player Joe Saunders left at the end of his contract. That gave Mahtal the opportunity to boost his scouting focus from Scotland-only to worldwide and expand the scouting team from four to 13 throughout the season. As a result, he could target a higher calibre of player for much cheaper.
Case in point was the exciting signing of Uruguayan striker Santiago Báez for up to £1.7m from Defensor. He was joined by Peruvian midfielder Roberto Paredes for £375k from Melgar and French midfielder Bruno Francisco for £200k from Ajaccio. But Mahtal didn’t go crazy with new signings, choosing for now to integrate these three players while retaining his focus on developing young players.
The signing of Báez forced Mahtal into a tactical change he’d been mulling over last season in a bid to both be more defensively solid and add more of a goal threat. He switched to a 3-5-2 with Báez supporting last season’s 30-goal man and new club captain Richard Napier. The young full back pairing of Josh Mata and Richard Mullen will move slightly higher up the pitch with youngster Conor Summers coming into the defence alongside Omar Marklund and James Chapman. And there’s a new-look midfield of playmaker Ryan Grant and promising homegrown talent Craig Leslie.
Second Season In Scotland
The bookies still didn’t rate Queen’s Park’s chances, predicting them to finish 10th with title odds of 350/1, only above promoted sides Kelty Hearts and Livingston (400/1 and 600/1). Aberdeen remain huge 8/15 favourites ahead of Hibs (6/1), Rangers (8/1) and holders Celtic (11/1).
Mahtal’s second season began with a trip to promoted Livingston, and the new strikeforce of Napier and Báez secured a comfortable 2-0 victory. They then hosted another promoted side Kelty and Mata and Paredes’ first senior goals earned a 2-1 win. Báez earned Mahtal’s first draw against one of the big four with a 1-1 at Hibs and young striker Michael Turner’s first two senior goals earned a 3-1 win over Kilmarnock.
The new approach came into its own as a cautious approach worked wonders at Aberdeen. Ewan McDonald made an incredible 15 saves, and Leslie and centre back Jack Thompson earned Mahtal’s first win over the Dons. And a week later, another solid defensive effort earned their first point against Celtic with a 0-0 at Hampden Park – so it was clear they’d made significant progress.
The unbeaten run finally ended at fellow fast-starters Greenock Morton, but Lispise nicked a win at Kelty before young midfielder Euan Sibbald’s memorable first senior goal with a 30-yard bullet of a free kick earned a 1-0 over Livingston. Napier bagged a superb hat trick to thump Raith 4-2 away, before a tricky December began with a solid 0-0 at home to Aberdeen, Paredes’ strike earned a 1-1 at Celtic, who led through a very dodgy penalty, and Mata nicked a 1-1 at home to Rangers. They baked that up by winning 1-0 at Dundee United and 2-1 at Motherwell and a 0-0 at Greenock Morton.
That left Queen’s Park sitting 3rd, having only lost once but drawn 10 of their 22 games, and only scored 33 and conceded 20 heading into the new year. However, they only trailed leaders Celtic by 4 points.
More Cup Adventures
Queen’s Park again cruised through their League Cup group with Napier scoring 7 as they defeated St Johnstone, Kelty Hearts, Montrose 8-2 and Peterhead. They won the battle of the Queens on penalties against Queen of the South in the second round, in which Championship side Ayr shocked Celtic 4-3 away. Queen’s Park then travelled to Ayr and Napier’s late goal nicked a 2-1 win. That sent them into the semis for the first time since losing the Final to Aberdeen in 2051. Slightly annoyingly, they drew Hibs and Napier’s brace earned a 2-2, only to lose an epic penalty shootout 9-8 with goalkeeper McDonald missing the decisive spotkick.
In the Scottish Cup, Sibbald scored the only goal at home to St Mirren and Napier got the only goal at Queen of the South. They then saw off Motherwell on penalties after Napier and Báez strikes earned a 2-2 to reach their third semi final in two seasons. But, for the third time, that was where the run ended with a 2-0 defeat to Rangers after Turner missed an early penalty.
Unlikely Scottish Title Shot?
In what was somewhat of a rarity in recent years, Mahtal signed another contract at Queen’s Park in reward for his overperformance – the first time he’d signed a new contract with any club since Necaxa in 2047. The manager added to his South American contingent by signing Paraguayan midfielder César López on a free transfer from Libertad and 18-year-old Colombian midfielder Octavio Morera for £125k from Santa Fe.
Queen’s Park began 2059 with Napier, Chapman and Mata’s first half strikes downing Kelty 3-1, while Celtic drew with Motherwell to take them 3 points off the top of the league. Celtic’s wobble continued with a 2-1 loss at Greenock Morton, while Queen’s Park’s 3-0 win at Livingston took them top of the Premiership for the first time in late January. A few injuries crept in, but Queen’s Park maintained their lengthy unbeaten run with Turner’s brace earning a 3-3 at Hibs and the midfield pairing of Leslie and Grant edging a 2-1 win over Kilmarnock.
The 16-game undefeated streak ended with a bang as they lost 5-2 at Aberdeen, 1-0 at home to Celtic and 3-0 at Rangers to effectively kill off any outside title hopes. But, for context, it’s worth remembering that Aberdeen spent £118m this season and spend £108m per year on wages, while Celtic spend £34.25m on wages and Rangers £33.36m. While Queen’s Park have the league’s second-lowest wage spend of just £3.5m per year – nearly 31 times less than Aberdeen and over 10 times less than the Old Firm. So even to be competing with them was one hell of an effort.
Realistically, competing for the title was never a target, but Queen’s Park did find themselves in a battle for European qualification with underperforming Aberdeen and overachieving Greenock Morton. Grant’s late header nicked a 1-0 at Greenock Morton, which sent Queen’s Park into the league split in 4th place with a 6-point gap. That quickly became 3 as Queen’s Park suffered yet another defeat to Rangers, but Leslie and a long overdue Báez goal nicked a 2-1 win at Dundee United. Mahtal celebrated his 75th birthday by getting battered 4-0 at Celtic, but they secured another best-ever finish regardless.
Queen’s Park came home in 4th place on 67 points after 18 wins, 13 draws and just 7 defeats, the same amount as champions Aberdeen, scoring 52 and conceding 43. They struggled towards the end of the season, with only three wins in the final 11 games, but they’d definitely made major progress to only finish 8 points behind top spot. Indeed, that 4th-place finish was enough to secure qualification for the Conference League and, after 192 years of existence, Queen’s Park’s first-ever taste of European football.
Báez and Napier were the 6th-top scorers in the league with 11 goals apiece, Mullen’s 8 assists was the 4th-most with Grant and Mata on 7 each, and McDonald kept th 5th-most clean sheets with 11 in 34 – but Aberdeen’s keeper won the golden glove with a ludicrous 17 clean sheets in 25 games. As a result of their success, Mata was named PFA Young Player of the Year and Mahtal claimed the Football Writers’ Manager of the Year and Premiership Manager of the Year.
More Promising Signs At Queen’s Park
A good sign of the quality coming through Queen’s Park’s ranks was Mata unexpectedly placing number 3 in NxGn 2059. And that homegrown potential was boosted by a good youth intake. It was led by 5-star potential goalkeeper Gordon Mallace, who kept a debut clean sheet on the final day of the season, and pacey winger James Cormack, who’s first-team ready at 15, came through valued up to £21m and made his debut against Motherwell in April, plus 4.5-star centre back Ben Young and amusingly-named 4-star midfielder Lewis Lewis.
Indeed, the stars of this season were all homegrown talents, led by Napier top-scoring with 23 in 46, Leslie scoring 12 from midfield and the exciting Mata and Mullan getting 11 and 10 assists from wing back. New boy Báez struggled at times but still managed to score 13 goals, and he would have to improve next season.
Mahtal was delighted with the progress this Queen’s Park side had made in his two seasons in Scotland. However, they didn’t beat any of the big four after Christmas and there were areas of the team he needed to improve if they were to get anywhere near winning silverware.
Could Mahtal continue to improve his Queen’s Park squad in the summer? Join us on Friday to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment