Queen’s Park agree to ground-share with Stenhousemuir as Lesser Hampden redevelopment continues into next season

Queen’s Park have confirmed they will start the 2022/23 season at Ochilview Park after reaching a ground-share agreement with Stenhousemuir.

The newly-promoted Spiders are building a 2,500-seater venue next to the national stadium after selling the Hampden lease to the Scottish FA for £5million in June 2019.

However, delays to the redevelopment of Lesser Hampden have forced the Championship-bound club to play elsewhere.

After finishing their 2020/21 League Two-winning campaign at the Falkirk Stadium, Queen’s Park spent the entirety of last season at Partick Thistle’s Firhill.

However, the deterioration of the playing surface ruled out the prospect of extending their ground-share deal.

Now, the Glasgow outfit will travel 25 miles from their city centre base for the start of the new campaign.

A club statement explained that Lesser Hampden will not be completed in time for the Premier Sports Cup group stages in July.

It read: “The redevelopment of Lesser Hampden continues, including the installation of our new hybrid playing surface.

“Securing delivery of key materials has proved challenging, with delays advised by contractors meaning the club will not be able to play our group stage Premier Sports Cup ties at our own ground.

“We can advise today we have reached agreement to play our Premier Sports Cup ties at Ochilview Park, home of Stenhousemuir FC.

“The Warriors are installing a new state of the art artificial pitch, which will provide an excellent playing surface for Owen Coyle’s squad to play on.

“Subject to SPFL approval, we also intend to play a number of our cinch Championship league fixtures at Ochilview while Lesser Hampden is completed.

“We intend to move back to Lesser Hampden as soon as possible and will update supporters on our plans when we have more clarity when we are ready to host matches at our new home.

“We are very grateful to Stenhousemuir FC for their support and we look forward to an exciting opening to the new season.”