For the first time in its 192-year history, Zambian manager Trebor Mahtal led Scotland’s oldest club Queen’s Park to European qualification in 2059. Queen’s Park broke the big four in Scotland to secure a 4th-place finish, which meant they qualified for the Europa Conference League – before getting a probably unwelcome bump up to the Europa League qualifiers.
That achievement saw Mahtal installed among the fans’ favoured personnel alongside promising winger Josh Mata and former striker Carlo Todser. Mahtal allowed midfielder Ryan Grant to leave at the end of his contract and sold backup players for a profit of £1.2m. He then moved early to snap up promising South American youngsters led by club record signing centre back Pablo Varela for £3.8m from Liverpool FC and midfielder Alex Anaya for £350k from Junior. He also brought in midfielder Ales Vorel for £52k from Sigma Olomouc, full back Goran Anocic for £1.1m from Osijek and 6ft 6in centre back Elvis Rodriguez for £1.1m from Atlético Nacional. But potentially the key signing came later in the transfer window as Mahtal snapped up striker Norbert Durig for £2.5m from Luzern.
Mahtal felt much more confident in his more balanced squad that was packed with potential. He initially opted to stick with the 3-5-2 approach but slightly tweaked a few instructions to take a more offensive mindset. But he later switched to a 4-5-1 with Durig and Santiago Báez playing out wide, which inverted the approach he’d used at Valencia.
Shaky Start To Season 3 In Scotland
The bookies again bolstered their expectations, predicting Queen’s Park to finish 9th with title odds of 250/1. Holders Aberdeen are 1/4 favourites ahead of Celtic (12/1), Hibernian (14/1) and Rangers (16/1). While Mata is 3/1 favourite to be young player of the year with Varela 4th at 5/1.
Mahtal’s third season in Scotland began with debutant Varela heading the only goal at home to Kilmarnock. They faced a trip to Aberdeen a few days after their first-ever European outing (see below) and, unsurprisingly, they lost 2-1 before a 4-0 defeat at Rangers after another European night. That prompted Mahtal into the 4-5-1, which began well as striker Richard Napier scored the only goal at home to Dundee United.
However, Queen’s Park struggled to juggle their domestic and continental commitments, losing at Hibernian and Kilmarnock and at home to Aberdeen in a tricky October. That dragged them down towards the relegation zone, sitting level with 11th-place Dunfermline, but Anaya got them back on track with the only goal at home to Rangers, who were also struggling. A tired and rotated team lost 3-1 at home to high-flying Raith Rovers before exciting 16-year-old winger James Cormack scored his first senior goal in a 2-2 at Dundee United.
Durig had found it difficult to adapt but finally scored his first two league goals, doubling his tally for the season, in a 3-1 win at Dunfermline in mid-December. But they ended the year with a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Celtic, which left them in a lowly 7th place, albeit now 7 points above the dropzone.
Queen’s Park In Europe
Queen’s Park’s first taste of European football was a trip to Austria to face LASK in the Europa League third qualifying round. They lost 1-0 to a penalty and then drew 0-0 at home. That dropped them into the Conference League qualifiers against Vitória and they were much improved, with Napier scoring the only goal in Portugal before losing the home leg 1-0. That sent the tie to penalties, and Queen’s Park held their nerve before Ewan McDonald saved Vitória’s fifth to send them into the Conference League group.
The group began well as Mata laid on goals for winger Fraser Burke and Napier to secure a 2-1 win over TSC. They went uncharacteristically goal crazy in Iceland as Anaya bagged a hat trick in a 6-2 thumping of FH and he scored again in a 3-0 win at Dinamo Batumi before Varela and Napier earned a crucial 2-1 win at home to Derry. That was because the final two games were tricky, and they lost 4-1 at likely tournament favourites Brighton before midfielder Craig Leslie earned an impressive 1-1 at home to Kyiv. And that point was vital, as it just edged Queen’s Park into an 8th-place finish to qualify for the last 16!
The poor league performances meant that all of Queen’s Park’s eggs were in the Conference League basket. They drew Osijek in the last 16 and earned a 0-0 in Croatia before Varela headed the only goal at Hampden Park. Levski knocked out the favourites Brighton 4-3 and Queen’s Park faced the Bulgarians next. Mahtal rested the team ahead of the first leg and midfielder Roberto Paredes, Napier and Vorel earned a solid 3-1 home win. And Burke’s goal in the return leg earned a 4-3 aggregate victory.
That teed up a semi final against Athletic Bilbao, while Stuttgart faced Legia. Queen’s Park started brightly and made it count as Cormack nicked in at the backpost to squeeze in the opener after 23 minutes. Athletic dominated from thereon in, but found McDonald in fine form, as his 7 saves restricted them to a 2-1 victory. Mahtal rested the first team for the irrelevant league game in between the legs
Back on home ground, Queen’s Park bossed the early stages and Cormack again stepped up to get in behind and neatly convert into the far corner after 12 minutes. They moved ahead in the tie as Leslie threaded a ball through for Napier to calmly finish and were in dreamland as Mata floated in a cross for Napier to power in a header. However, Bilbao scored with their first attack after an hour to make it nervy and inevitably equalised from a corner with 4 minutes remaining. A quiet extratime followed, until Burke picked the ball up from a corner and played a delicious one-two with Cormack before slotting in at the far post. Four minutes later, he led a counter to tee up Vorel to settle the semi. And send Queen’s Park into a European Final!!
Seeking League Improvement
Sticking with the cups, Queen’s Park failed in the League Cup amid their European games. They started the Scottish Cup with Cormack scoring two and creating two in a 5-0 domination of Forres Mechanics, only to draw Aberdeen and lose 4-2.
Moving into the 2060s, Queen’s Park’s tricky season continued with a narrow 3-2 defeat at runaway leaders Aberdeen and a 4-1 thumping at Rangers. They continued to struggle, but a heavily rotated side ahead of the Levski first leg somehow managed to beat Celtic 2-0. And they finished the season in 7th to go into the relegation group, and that’s where they finished while Mahtal rotated the team to prioritise Europe. They finished on 51 points after 13 wins, 12 draws and 13 defeats, scoring 47 and conceding 53. Napier was the league’s 2nd-top scorer with 17 in 35, 4 behind Aberdeen’s Enric, who’d ludicrously been loaned from Barcelona, and McDonald kept a league-high 11 clean sheets.
Historic European Final
Queen’s Park realistically had absolutely no chance of winning the Conference League Final, having reached the final in their first-ever season of continental football. They faced off against Stuttgart, who had five players who earned more per week than their entire squad combined. They lost centre back Omar Marklund and semi final hero Burke to knee ligament injuries, so Mahtal lined up:
McDonald; Mullen, Varela, Diop, Mata; Paredes; Cormach, Anaya, Leslie, During; Napier
Subs: Warnock, Wilson, Rodriguez, Francisco, Vorel, Morera, Anocic, Chapman
Unsurprisingly, the referee wasted no time in giving Stuttgart a disgraceful penalty after 8 minutes and their £300k a week striker scored it. But he evened things up after half an hour and Napier slammed the ball home to level the scores. Queen’s Park were impressively competitive in the first half and went close to the lead as Leslie shot just wide from 25 yards just before the break. They came under massive pressure early in the second half as McDonald made a couple of saves before Stuttgart’s winger and second striker crashed efforts off the bar. But the game swung on Varela going against his instructions to step out of defence with 2 minutes remaining and giving the ball straight to Stuttgart’s striker to score.
Disappointment But So Close To Success
Queen’s Park had taken a step backwards domestically but came so close to upsetting Europe in their historic European final. Indeed, they came just 2 minutes away from causing one of the biggest upsets in European football. But, alas, it wasn’t to be and they had a year without football as Mahtal approached his fourth season in Scotland.
Napier was again their top scorer with 28 in 56, with a big dropoff back to Durig with 10 in 49. 16-year-old Cormack massively impressed with 8 goals and a joint-club high 12 assists along with Leslie, while Anaya scored 7 with 5 assists, Burke got 6 goals and 5 assists and Vorel scored 4 with 8 assists.
Mahtal’s reward for youth development was McDonald and Leslie being called up to the Scotland squad, and Leslie became the club’s first academy product to earn a senior cap. While 16-year-old Cormack made it to number 12 on NxGn 2060 and the Under 18s side won their league by 6 points. So there was plenty of promise at Queen’s Park. And the potential was boosted by another decent youth intake led by midfielders Kyle Smith and Kristi McNiff.
For the first time in his managerial career, Mahtal signed a third contract at Queen’s Park to continue his stay in Scotland. Could the lack of continental football benefit them in domestic matters? Join us on Monday to find out!
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