PROUD PRESTON PROUDER THAN EVER
— Jonathan Oldbuck | 28/09/1886 —

Nowadays it is only a club with a great reputation that can draw in Glasgow. The time was when any club from England would bring together thousands, but these days, for the present at least, are no more. There are several reasons for this. In the first place, there is too much football; and in the second place, there is wide-spread depression in trade, and people, however willing and anxious they may be to support the game, can't afford to do so. When times are good they spend their money freely, but in bad times like the present they must be sparing. It is only when a team of the splendid reputation of the North End comes to Glasgow that "the million" turns out, and the eagerness with which they follow every movement, and the cordiality with which they applaud every piece of good play, makes one sorry that they should be so placed as not to be able to follow the game regularly, and also gratify their tastes as much as they undoubtedly would do were times more prosperous. The crowd at Hampden Park, however, was a large one, but it was only large because the North End has at the present moment a reputation for skilful play that no other club in England — aye, in the world — can boast of. Had it been the Blackburn Rovers instead of the North End, I don't think there would have been halt the number of peoplepresent.

It is not generally known — indeed, I have not seen it mentioned anywhere — that up to Monday last the match was just hanging by a thread. The Preston players — or, to speak more correctly, the Preston executive — did not want to come to Glasgow at this time, and I think I am right in saying that it was only because the Queen's Park had made all their arrangements that they gave way. The Preston players reached the ground soon after three, and were in the pink of condition. An Edinburgh evening paper says that some of the Preston men were at the Ayr races, but I am not sure that this is correct. Some of them, I know, only arrived in Glasgow on Saturday morning, Mr. Sudell accompanied the team, and he exhibited the same keen interest in the play that he always does on great occasions, Mr. Sudell has a mighty power over the players, all of whom respect him much as servants respect their master. He was radiant with delight on Saturday.

It is needless to say that the match created great interest, not in Glasgow merely, but in many parts of England, chiefly Lancashire, where the Preston players are great favourites, and where their doings are followed with keen minuteness. The North End, it will be remembered, played the Queen's Park for the first time in April last, and the result was a draw, the English team just getting their goal as the whistle blew. It was a sensational termination to a sensational match. The Queen's Park on that occasion had a scratch team, and it was considered, not by the Scotch press only, but also by the English press, to be a most creditable result for them. But there is a different story to tell this time. The Preston players not only won, but they gave the Queen's Park one of the biggest, if not the biggest, dressings they ever got. Certain it is, no English club has ever achieved such a splendid triumph over the Queen's Park. The result has many lessons — it shows that the amateur has little or no chance against the professional, and it also shows that Scotch football is not what it was two or three years ago. This opinion has been forcing itself gradually upon me, and it has always been with reluctance that I made even the faintest admission as to the decline of Scotch football, but after this result the matter is so manifest, so apparent, that there is no use in disguising the fact further. It was patriotism that made me cling tenaciously to the opinion that Scotch football was invincible, but even patriotism, good and noble as it is, has its limits, and these limits I hold have been reached. Of course, there is some consolation in the fact that the Preston North End team is a team composed of Scotchmen, with two exceptions, but those who have left us and gone to England to play for their living are not now recognised as Scotchmen. This, of course, is the football point of view of the case.

We have given a pretty elaborate account of the play in another column, and I don't think I can add anything fresh to what is said there. The game from start to finish was all in favour of the Preston North End. The Queen's never had to endure so much pressure, and altogether their position was most humilitating. The Queen's had a short look in at the start, but that was all. The Preston men, by as clever play as ever I saw — play that reminded me of the good old days when the Queen's Park were in the zenith of their fame, and when they played much as the Preston men now do — fairly got the better of the home men, who again and again made mistakes that in juniors even would not be pardoned. The play of the Preston men on Saturday was very different from the play they showed against the 3rd Lanark; and, going back a little further, it was different, very different, from what they showed on the same ground in the month of April last. Their play then was disappointing in the extrene, and led many to believe that they were a much overrated team. But at the time, you will remember that I said the Englishmen were hampered. They did not know how the crowd would receive them, the professional question was then just decided, and its settlement was not agreeable to many of the Scotch football followers; and knowing this, the Preston men, being Scotchmen themselves, knew that if they resorted to anything that had the suspicion of trickiness they would be hooted and jeered at. This was true of the first match, and it was true of Satruday's also, though to a much less extent. The Preston men made up their minds beforehand to play as they play at home, and now that they did this we see the result — a splendid victory for them, and an unexampled defeat for the Queen's Park.

The game, as I have indicated, was all in favour of the English. They had the ball under the Scotch bar eight times, but twice the shots were not legitimate ones, and the referee rightly disallowed them. In the first half the Preston men had two goals, and in the second they got four more before the Queen's Park scored their only point, which was scored a minute or two from time. The match, in view of the rather bad form which the Queen's Park have been showing this season, was expected to result in a win for the Preston cracks, but no one for a moment thought the result would be so one-sided. The Queen's Park were overmatched in every department of the game. They could not play to keep themselves warm. Their following up was wretched, and their passing was not at all accurate; indeed, all the times I have seen the Queen's Park play, and I have seen them scores of times, I never saw them show such poor form. They could not possibly have done worse, and in view of the coming cup tie that is always a morsel of consolation for the Queen's Park supporters. By the 16th it is to be hoped the Scots will be in finer form, so as to make the game worth witnessing. On Saturday it was not worth the money so far as they were concerned. Too much had better not be based on this result by Englishmen. The coming tie, I believe, will be a win for the Lancashire players, but the victory will be nothing like Saturday's.

Had the Queen's Park been victorious on Saturday, or had they even made the game a draw, I believe it was their intention toscratch. But all that is out of the committee's heads now. But all that is out of the committee's heads now. They will range their men against the Preston players on the 16th, and will do all they can to show that they are not quite so bad as Saturday's result would make one believe. There will be some changes in the team. The best men in the clib will be pulled in for the occasion. W. Sellars will not be in a position to play, as he is lame at present, but Gray and other crack players who are members of the club, but who play for other teams, may be asked to lend their assistance. I would ask the committee to abolish the three half-back system. It never has worked well all the time the Queen's Park have adopted it, and there must be more training among the forwards; they are not smart enough, and they do not pass to one another with anything like precision or accuracy.

The North End taught them a lesson in passing on Saturday, and in this, as in other things, it looked like son teaching father. Jimmy Ross, who plays centre, is a wonderfully clever player, and a rare shot; he scored several times himself. Dewhurst was rather clumsy, and was the most inferior man in his team. Gordon was clever; indeed, all the forwards, with the exception of the amateur, played splendid football, and were cheered over and over again for their nimnle play. The backs are sterling men also, but sometimes they held their opponents with their hands, which was decidedly wrong of them to do. They have enough ability without resorting to such illegitimate practices. Lambie, of the Queen's Park, was the best man. He worked hrd, and has many good qualities as a player. Sommerville did not come off, partly because he was not fed, and partly because he was too narrowly watched. W. Arnott did well, considering that he had little preparation for the game; he can afford to lose a little of his weight. Smellie was unwell — or recovering from illness — and should not have played. Gow was good; so was Stewart; and at times A. Watson was clever; while Gillespie sabed some stinging shots, although two of those he let past might have been saved had he been on the alert. This completes my criticism of a game that willl long be remembered — not with pride, but with feelings of melancholy sadness — by the supporters of the Queen's Park Club.