Love Your Club: Paul Woods – Queen’s Park

Paul Woods enjoyed an excellent campaign at Queen’s Park last year and found himself named in the League Two team of the year. The ex-Harmony Row forward has been tipped to move on to bigger things but at the moment he is enjoying life at Hampden Park.

Here he tells Ladbrokes News why he adores playing at the national stadium and why playing for the oldest club in Scotland is such an honour.

Why do you love Queen’s Park?

I’m going into my second season, and we had a really good year last year.

It’s the oldest club in Scotland and the history is brilliant, getting the chance to play in Hampden, it’s ideal.

I came through junior football and coming to watch games here as a kid and now to play here and for it to be my home stadium is brilliant. There’s loads of history and it’s a great club to be at.

What’s the vibe like in the dressing room?

I’m not really happy with the music played in there! I’m more of an old school rock ‘n’ roll man. The young boys stick on some music, Lil Wayne and things like that, it’s ridiculous music.

There’s one song on repeat that they keep playing because I hate it, ‘Standing on My Own’ is it called? I really hate it. It does get everybody going to be fair. People do have their rituals and stuff pre-game and it does help some people.

There’s a lot of young boys here but they know when it’s time to switch on and tune in.

Describe the fans and what they mean to the club

It’s unbelievable walking out here at Hampden. Last year we played a game here in January against Clyde, it was our first game here after the Commonwealth Games and there was about 2,000 here and that was really good being a local derby.

The fans all concentrate in one area and it helps us a lot. Other teams come and they can get overawed by playing at the national stadium. That plays to our advantage as it’s hard to take in playing here.

The fans are great. They take a lot a pride in the club’s history. We just played some pre-season games at Durham and they were there watching us. You don’t realise until you are in the social club with them how great they are. We have boys coming over from Germany, far and wide.

On social media they all follow you and most games we get people wishing you well which gives you a boost. You see how much it means to the fans. You have to remember it’s a big club and it’s nice to be a part of that.

Can you name a Queen’s Park backroom hero?

Des who works over in the pavilion. He does a lot for the boys. The guy puts his heart and soul into it and he’s become a Queen’s Park fan. He does things like making the toast before training and he’s great for the boys.

What’s the best thing about being a Queen’s Park footballer?

The chance to play at Hampden. You can’t top running out at your national stadium every week. Not many have done it. And representing Scotland’s oldest club. It’s brilliant.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

Fancy a flutter? Sign up today to claim up to £50 in free bets.