I HAVE been lucky enough to meet many inspirational people during my time in football.
From fans and players to managers and directors there have been numerous individuals that had a lasting impression on me even to this day.
Few have impacted more than the man who sanctioned my signing for Queen of the South — former chairman Norman G Blount.
This was the man who gave me a chance to rebuild my career in 1994 at a time when I was in a slump and couldn’t see a clear road to recovery.
Along with Billy McLaren he gave me a chance and I will forever be grateful to both for it.
It wasn’t just to me that Norman Blount offered a brighter dawn however, he was also dragging the Palmerston club out of the doldrums and back into some type of shape fit for purpose.
Make no mistake about it, Norman Blount set the club on the road to where they are now with his business acumen, drive, ambition and vision.
Cup finals, European football and League Championships weren’t the norm before Norman.
In fact, before I arrived at Palmerston the club had stagnated for years and lacked leadership, purpose, professionalism and credibility.
It needed modernisation. It needed a board pulling in one direction. It needed galvanised from inside to out and from top to bottom.
In short it needed someone exactly like Blount.
He was a local businessman with kudos and clout.
The local pharmacist created a new chemistry around the old ground and reconnected with a support that was disillusioned and desperate for a return to the halcyon era of the ’50s and ’60s.
He headed up a new board and hit the ground running by negotiating the sale of star striker Andy Thomson for a club record fee and immediately used the cash to construct a new stand — doubling the seated capacity overnight.
At the same time he was building that structure he was also giving his new manager McLaren — a Palmerston favourite and someone who was directly aligned to the standards expected of the chairman — funds to rebuild the squad and infrastructure around the football department.
From scouting and medical support to a new emphasis on player development the club was turned on its head in a heartbeat.
But it wasn’t just on the pitch that Norman Blount focused his efforts. He helped Queen of the South become the first UK senior club to establish a club museum and also introduced the shirt sponsorship lottery that brought in more money than any individual business would have been willing to pay — a scheme that was copied across every senior division in Scotland.
And Palmerston was the pilot for synthetic touchline areas for linesmen to run along — something that was extended ahead of schedule to many other clubs such was its success.
But, how did things go ON the playing surface?
Well, the appearance of the club in its first national Cup Final in 1997 wasn’t a bad start. Sadly the game finished in a 1-0 loss to Falkirk at Fir Park but I will certainly never forget the sight of the M74 nose to tail with buses bedecked in blue and white for the Doonhamers’ day out.
Yes, things were progressing even back then.
Throw into the mix that younger players such as David Lilley, Jamie McAllister, Andy Aitken and David Mathieson were introduced to the squad during Norman Blount’s tenure and that speaks volumes too.
And that’s why he was recently inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Dumfries. Those around the club and the town know how big a role the unassuming Blount played in the transformation of Queens.
Ronnie Bradford and then Davie Rae — who was also inducted — continued that work but had solid foundations to build on courtesy of Mr Blount.
You really couldn’t put a value on what this brilliant man has done for Queen of the South.
A Hall of Fame induction is the least he deserves.
Thanks for everything, NGB.
Des Mc KEOWN
SCOTTISH SUN