It’s a big welcome back to Josh Todd who returns to Palmerston for a third spell with the club. Josh first joined us on loan from St Mirren in 2018 before he made the move on a permanent basis the following season.
Now he is back and looking forward to another crack at the Championship in Queens colours “It’s all good, I’ve had a round trip and its good to be back. There are not too many familiar faces in the players as there has been big switch around but the Manager was here for a few weeks when I was here before and I’m really looking forward to catching up with people behind the scenes and the supporters”.
His impressive performances for us during his earlier spell earned him a move to the Premier League with Dundee but things didn’t work out “That’s football, I went there and it was six months of being in and out. I thought I was doing well but didn’t get to play as much as I would like. I then went to Falkirk and I started off well there but then lockdown happened and it was stop start, a really weird time and then I went to Ayr where I finished on a high, scoring the goal to keep them up”.
The Somerset Park side were keen to keep hold of the attacking mid-fielder but he opted to make the return to Dumfries instead saying “I had a few different options, different things, its just the way football is, you speak to different managers and you find out what’s best so coming back to Queens was just a decision I made. I know the club well; I did enjoy my time at Ayr but with the stop start two years that I’ve had I was looking for a springboard and from experience I know I can do that at Queens. Like the first time it’s a good club closest to home, it was good to play then and I played some good football, I want to get my career back on track, so I was delighted Allan called me and that he has given me the opportunity”.
Like any footballer, Josh just wants the chance to play regular football “You just want to be playing every game, I just want to be settled and allowed to play my football, when you play every week you feel respected and you don’t have that fear that after 60 minutes you are likely to get taken off – its just not a nice feeling and I’m sure a lot of footballers feel that – so it will be nice to bed in and put a real stamp on the team and hopefully play many weeks”.
Josh who turned 27 today believes that the Gaffer’s style of football will suit him “forward thinking players, runners off the ball that suits me. Like I say, there’s a lot of new faces for me but I’m sure it is new for the manager too so it’s a clean slate for everyone. It has happened at Queens the last few years but once you get the core team involved hopefully, we will galvanise quickly and start the momentum”.
Like the last time Josh is aiming for a top four finish “We did it for eight months when I was here before and then we dropped off but that is the aim for a lot of clubs in the Championship. You will have a few teams who are expected to win the league and a lot of teams within their rights looking for the top four places. Its about momentum because when it comes to money or players a lot of teams in the league are on the same wavelength and are of similar size, so it’s just about momentum and who is on form. We will be looking to start fast and keep that going”.
He is well aware that it is going to be a very competitive league with some big name clubs in the division this year but doesn’t hold any fear “It is good and bad, usually you get one or two who are clear favourites who will be scrapping for the top places, but this year the teams who have come down haven’t had experience of the division for a while so you would hope that teams who have the experience of the Championship can give them a fright and catch them on the back foot. The standard has almost averaged out this year and it’s looking more of a level playing field so hopefully we can have a real go at it”.