Queen of the South youngster thankful for full-time opportunity

Queen of the South youngster Ryan Muir has thanked Wullie Gibson for giving him an opportunity in full-time football.

The 20-year-old was brought into the reserves by Gibson last year when the full-back was unsure of his future in the game.

He said: “At the start of last season I met Wullie while using the gym at Palmerston.

“Before that I was at Livingston during Covid-19 and not knowing what to do and where my football was going.

“But Wullie gave me that opportunity to come in and a platform to get me back in to full-time football which is brilliant.

“When I joined he chucked me in straight away when Allan Johnston was manager which was brilliant for me to get into that full-time environment. He chucked me in the deep end and it brought me on and improved me.

“Last year I was out on loan with Dalbeattie Star so I trained with both. This summer it’s been a brilliant experience coming and training every day with experienced players in the first team.”

Muir is a local lad who has gone from the stands to the first team and said it’s a “dream” to play for his hometown club.

He said: “My uncle is a big Queens fan so I would go with him and with my papa sometimes as well. I joined the club for a brief spell and was a ball boy at games so I’ve done a lot of things around the club.

“That’s what the dream was – to play professional football. And if you can do it for your local team that’s even better.

“There’s a few times where I’d have been watching Queens and Wullie was playing against Queens and I was in the crowd. I don’t think there’d have been too many compliments!”

Now that both men are on the same side Muir is hoping to pick Gibson’s brain to improve his own game.

He said: “Wullie is an experienced pro, he’s played at