Queen of the South appoint Peter Murphy to replace Marvin Bartley

New Queens boss Peter Murphy is loving every minute of his first tilt at full-time management.

And he has hardly had a spare minute to himself since taking the job late last week and quitting Annan for Palmerston after seven years.

Murphy is putting the finishing touches to bringing his backroom staff to the Doonhamers including former Queens hitman Colin McMenamin as his assistant manager.

And they will be plotting the club’s return to the upper echelons of the division without making any bold statements.

Murphy said: “This is the third year in League One and the budget is slightly less.

“But after last season I think I need to get a squad together to work to my style and give the fans a team working for each other and giving everything for the team.

“I would ask the fans to be patient as we put a team together and I know in football you don’t get that at times.

“It’s going to be a long season, but I want to give the fans the kind of football that makes them return in their numbers through the turnstiles.

“We need to stick together and the fans to get behind the players.

“And I know it is the old cliché, but the support of the fans can be like a 12th man to them on the pitch.

“Fans had stopped coming back to the ground and we want to give them a reason to return.”

Murphy told how he joined Queens in a whirlwind of a day last Thursday, which had been when he was due to speak to Annan players about new contracts following their weekend draw at Stirling Albion securing a berth in League One.

He said: “I had my interview and another at Queens and got offered the job. Then it was down to Annan and I was supposed to be speaking to players about contracts in the evening but everything was sorted with