Ronnie Bradford (football Chairman) - Queens Pre Bradford

Queens Pre Bradford

Norman Blount became chairman of Queen of the South in April 1994. Very quickly new ideas came along that showed that the club was in a new era:-

• The new stand was built within one year of Blount becoming chairman.

• The club became the first senior club in the UK to establish a club museum.

• Queen of the South became the first club in the world to deploy astro turf on the outside of the touch line on a grass pitch (for linesmen to run along). Initially the Scottish Football Association agreed this as a 12 month experiment. However such was the success of the astro turf that the SFA brought the experiment to an early close and sanctioned use of this idea for any other club interested.

• The first senior club in the UK to use a lottery scheme to decide the annual shirt sponsor. Such was the success of the idea that the club became inundated with calls from other clubs enquiring on the best way to set such a scheme up.

The highlight on the pitch of the Blount regime was Queens making it to the final of the Scottish Challenge Cup for the first time. This was in 1997 where a battling Queens side lost out by 1-0 to Falkirk. Man of the match was Queens' Tommy Bryce. However in November 1999 Blount candidly announced that he felt that he had taken the club as far as he could and resigned from being chairman.

Two time divisional player of the year Andy Thomson was transferred for a Queens record fee of £250,000 in 1994. As Thomson was to say on his return over a decade later, "Things have changed quite a bit while I've been away - a new stand, a completely new set-up and a more modern type of training system". Thomson added, "Norman Blount was an excellent chairman."

Players to have signed for Queens during the Blount regime include Jamie McAllister, Derek Townsley, Jim Thomson, David Lilley, David Mathieson and Andy Aitken.