page_title: History of Queen of the South F.C.
section_title: Bradford and Rae Eras
hierarchical_section_title: History of Queen of the South F.C. / Rebuilding and Revival / Bradford and Rae Eras
caption_attribution_description: English: Gordon Chisholm outside Palmerston Park, Dumfries
context_page_description: Queen of the South Football Club is a Scottish professional football club formed in March 1919 and located in Dumfries. Queen of the South are officially nicknamed The Doonhamers, but usually referred to as Queens or QoS. Their home ground since formation has been Palmerston Park. They joined the Scottish Football League at the start of the 1923–24 season.
  The club's national honours include winning the Division B Championship in season 1950–51, the Second Division Championship in season 2001–02 and in season 2012–13 and also the Scottish Challenge Cup in season 2002–03 and in season 2012–13. Queen's led Scotland's top division up until New Year in season 1953–54 and Queen's highest finish in Scotland's top division was fourth in season 1933–34. The club reached their first major cup final in 2008 when they reached the final of the Scottish Cup, where they were runners-up to Rangers.
context_section_description: Queen of the South's recently improved record was blotted during the 1999–2000 season. At the end of a poor season only a controversial points deduction for Hamilton Academical saved Queen of the South from relegation to the Third Division.
  John Connolly was appointed manager in July 2000. With captain Jim Thomson Queen's ruled the Second Division to take the title in 2001–02. On 20 April 2002, like 51 years before, this was clinched with Queen's winning away at Forfar Athletic. This time it was 3–0 with goals by forwards Peter Weatherson (2) and Sean O'Connor leading to jubilant fans pouring onto the pitch after full-time. Goal scoring midfielder John O'Neill was awarded divisional player of the year. The following season saw Queen's victorious in the Scottish Challenge Cup with Robbie Neilson playing. Brechin City were condemned to a 2–0 defeat in the final at Clyde's Broadwood Stadium. In the Scottish Cup third round Queen's held Aberdeen to a 0–0 draw at Palmerston before losing the replay. Bradford left due to ill health in June 2003. Davie Rae took over as chairman.
  John Connolly left the club in May 2004 to join former club St Johnstone, with his former assistant Iain Scott taking over. With a second consecutive fifth place spot in 2004, Queen's became the first part-time club to remain in the new First Division for more than two years. Queen's then finished fourth in the First Division in 2005 – their highest finish since 1963.
  Iain Scott parted from the club with the club second bottom of the league in 2005–06. Dumfries-born Ian McCall, by this time also a BBC media pundit, was appointed manager in November 2005. McCall brought in Gordon Chisholm as his assistant. Seven new players were acquired in the January transfer 'window'. Queen's went on a run, losing only once at home since November and collecting 23 points from their last 12 games. It secured its First Division survival with a 1–1 draw at Brechin City on 22 April 2006.
  A poor start to the 2006–07 campaign saw the Dumfries side bottom of the league after 21 games. Inspired by the goals of January transfer window signing Stephen Dobbie, a twelve match unbeaten run led to the side avoiding relegation in the penultimate game of the season. A Scottish Cup run that included a replay penalty shoot-out victory over Dundee saw Queen's make the quarter-finals before Hibernian won 2–1 at Palmerston. McCall's time at Queen's was soured when Queen's were fined £20,000 after McCall fielded an ineligible player in the cup run. Chairman Davie Rae described the fine as, "A substantial sum". Queen of the South and Ian McCall parted company at the season's end.
  Davie Rae led the club to full-time football at the start of the 2007–08 season. Gordon Chisholm was announced as the new manager on 28 June 2007 and appointed Kenny Brannigan as assistant. After an injury-filled start to the season, Queen's picked up with a 10-game unbeaten run in all competitions that started in January. This run propelled Queen's to 4th in the Scottish First Division, where they finished the season.
caption: Gordon Chisholm
exif: {"Image Make": "CASIO COMPUTER CO.,LTD.", "Image Model": "QV-R4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Jasc", "Image DateTime": "2008:05:26 21:37:48", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "276", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, 22, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "29230", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3543", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "19/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:05:25 15:16:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:05:25 15:16:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "7/15", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "13/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "88", "EXIF FocalLength": "76/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "480", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "640", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "29106", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "74", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}