"While appreciating the signal honour of the committee of
the Queen's Park F.G. in asking me to write the history of the club, I would
mention that I was very reluctant to undertake such a responsibility, and it
was only on the solicitations of personal friends that I eventually
consented. Sensible of my literary limitations, these, however, while always
uppermost, seemed to lose their terror the more my researches were
prosecuted; and if the work may not be as worthy as the engrossing character
of the subject deserves, it, at all events, has the merit, if it can claim
no other, of being a faithful record of the great and imposing part which
the Queen's Park F.C. has played in moulding the history of what is
universally acknowledged to be the most democratic of our national sports.
"Two courses were at least open to me. One was to deal
chronologically with events, making the labours of each season stand by
themselves; the other, which was ultimately adopted, was to treat in chapter
form the more outstanding incidents and results in the practical operations
of the club, as well as its legislative and administrative activities.
Possibly the former would have been the more interesting; but the latter,
in its historical presentment, provides a wealth of information which should
be highly useful, if only for purposes of reference.
"It is impossible to give the names of all who have so
generously come to my help in supplying incidents and documents of much
interest and value; but I cannot omit to mention Mr. John K. M'Dowall,
secretary of the Scottish Football Association, Mr. J. C. Grant, and my
life-long friend, Mr. Robert Livingstone, for their valuable cooperation,
while it is almost superfluous to add that all officially connected with the
club have contributed in various ways to make my task "a labour of love."
"THE AUTHOR."Glasgow, October, 1920.
