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 good levels and you look up to someone like that.

“With him being the gaffer as well I’m trying to take as much knowledge from him as I possibly can, especially with him playing full-back the last couple of years. I need to pick up tips from him.

“I want to push on now. Wullie has given me the belief and has challenged me now. But it’s not a case of sitting there saying: ‘I’m in’. I need to push on again. Who’s ahead of me? How can I get that strip? And then once you’ve got that strip how do I keep it?”