Queen’s Park host Ayr United in the Scottish Championship on Friday, 18 September 2026, with live coverage on BBC Scotland and iPlayer from 19:25 BST. Ayr United go into the game one place and one point above the Spiders, who are currently second bottom of the table.
The fixture comes with Queen’s Park still defying expectations. When reports emerged last year that Lord William Haughey was ending his financial agreement with Scotland’s oldest football club, the assumption was that the Spiders might slip back down the SPFL towards lower-league obscurity. Instead, Sean Crighton’s side remained defiant last season, coming close to the promotion play-off places before finishing sixth. The academy may be no more, but the under-17s and under-19s sides are thriving after both won their respective leagues last season.
Haughey’s presence remains in the background, with his City Charitable Trust helping to transform the club’s Lochinch training ground in Glasgow’s Pollok Park. Manager Crighton said: ‘One thing we’ve got here is a great training centre. And, obviously, at Lesser Hampden, the pitch is unbelievable. We’ve got the facilities – we need to be a good Championship team.’
Queen’s Park are also buying into the Craig Mulholland Scottish FA vision of developing young Scottish talent, with a view to the balance sheet. The club helped Scotland captain Andy Robertson and Rangers captain Lawrence Shankland earn valuable early steps in senior football. Crighton is keen to continue that tradition. He pointed to Josh Fowler’s move to St Johnstone, where he is doing well in the Premiership, Seb Drozd’s move to Partick Thistle, where he is flying, and Henry Fieldson’s move to St Mirren. ‘We’ve got a barrowload of them,’ Crighton said. ‘Young Ross McLean has come into the team last year a couple of times and progressed well this year. He’s a manager’s dream, he’s very versatile – he can play in the middle, he can play wide, he can play at the back. Tyrece McDonnell as well. I think he made 26 appearances last season.’
Crighton added that Queen’s Park need to be that kind of club because it is Queen’s Park’s history, noting that the players in the national team started at the club. When he got the job, he said, the aim from the outset was to help players progress, involving not just him but everyone in the building. He said he has a sense of pride that Queen’s Park have managed to have those players play for them and then move on.
On the pitch, central midfielder Scott Martin, a relative veteran at 29, is impressed by the emerging Scottish talent around him. He highlighted Aiden McCallion, a central midfielder on a co-operation loan from Rangers, as someone who has been great since arriving, gets on with his work and is very tidy on the ball. Lewis Stewart, also on a co-operation loan from Rangers, is lightning. Martin said that at Rangers the players must be used to dominating the ball and having time, but in the Championship it is a totally different game: end-to-end and high intensity. He believes it will be a great experience for them because they are learning a totally different side of the game that they might not learn at B team or under-19/20 level, and that the way they have fitted in has been absolutely top notch.
After a good League Cup group campaign, the start of the Championship season has been more challenging for Queen’s Park. Martin, however, is in no doubt they have what it takes to stay in the division again this season as they prepare to host Ayr United. ‘Anybody can beat anybody,’ Martin said before Friday’s BBC Scotland TV match. He described the Partick Thistle game – a 0-0 draw – as their turning point in the sense that they found the belief that they can go to, in his opinion, the hardest place in the Championship and grab a point.
Martin added that in terms of where they are this season, he thinks they are OK. There have been parts of games where they play really, really well, and the challenge is putting that together and being more consistent. He acknowledged they have a youngish squad at times, which can be difficult, but said they are not far away from being a right good side again.