Winter of '63

Could they not be given the City End of the JHS? This would avoid the issue of them being flanked by those dangerous Thistle fans on both sides. Realistically there are not going to be more than 3000 Thistle fans there so there will be plenty of space.

I don't think I have been to a Thistle game against either of the Old Firm since the 1980's - partly the hassle of getting tickets but mainly I don't want to spend time in close proximity to repulsive morons - just a minority of their fans of course though the rest of them don't seem to have any problem tolerating them. I hope the Club make a stand on this - call it the North Stand stand! It must be our strongest marketing strategy to differentiate ourselves from the two other professional clubs we share the City with - our silence on Rangers last year was a missed opportunity. Celtic fans disgraced themselves in our Stadium at the end of last season - why should our fans be moved just because they can't behave like vaguely civilised human beings? At the very least we should publicise the situation - announcing that they are getting no tickets or a very restricted allocation to be housed in the Jackie Husband Stand would be a good start - show them up for what they are. I don't mind if Celtic are ultimately are given a larger section of the JHS and we get the Main & North Stands but a Football Club just doing the right thing for once and not chasing money or pandering to lowlifes is long overdue. This should be Partick Thistle's role ...it might just persuade me to end my exile from seeing us play the Old Firm.

Sad to hear this. Neil Duffy was my first Thistle hero but although I was too young then to have any judgement on players, from what I know he was probably a good choice - by all accounts he was a very good player with a bit of personality. However my most vivid memory of him playing at Firhill is not a good one - I was about eight years of age and my father took me to see Thistle play St Johnstone. Neil had just been transferred to Saints and Thistle were cruising to a 2-0 victory with about 3 minutes to go...then Neil ran through Thistle's defence twice, scoring one and setting up the other. I was traumatised for about a week. Probably nothing I've seen at Firhill since has made me feel worse.

I did say he didn't make much of an impression! I didn't realise Rangers had reached a Euro Final in 1960/61 - googled this and would add Harold Davis who I would never have got otherwise.

Tommy Gibb for Newcastle in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Whatever happened to the poster Tommy Gibb's Mince Recipe?

It's a good question! I think Willie Wallace played for us without making any impression. Not sure that Billy Ritchie played in a Euro Final - Norrie Martin & Peter McCloy were Rangers keepers in the finals in 1967 & 1972.

Bit of a strange party - there wasn't the edge of having to win the game and we were on cruise control in the first half without creating too many clear cut chances. Dunfermline suddenly became gatecrashers and we had a few escapes before conceding three goals. We did well to fight back to get a draw. Forbes ran the game from deep today and things went wrong when he moved forward to accommodate a rather anonymous McMillan in midfield. Dunfermline fans were a credit to their club - made more noise than a much bigger Morton support. Willie Collum - FIFA referee? - you're having a laugh! I could see Dowie's jersey being pulled from 50 yards away. Some tough calls for Archibald - Elliott, McGuigan, Craig, Dowie - are they good enough for the SPL? Not sure. And Balatoni will have to continue to improve. We will really miss Erskine - a goal and two assists today - it has been great to have that jolt of excitement that something special might happen whenever he gets the ball. But it's a day to celebrate a great season - well done to everyone at the club.

I remember coming out of Firhill after the first League of the season against Falkirk back in August uncharacteristically optimistic and thinking that we looked a very good team so it was fitting that we clinched the title in some style at the Falkirk Stadium. Despite the bumpy pitch, we played some really good stuff today particularly in the second half. Chris Erskine didn't do much then scored another wonderful goal...he is so much a Partick Thistle type player, he shouldn't be leaving! This has been a special season...undoubtedly the most enjoyable since 1971. A brilliant team spirit, an exciting brand of skilful football, a host of memorable goals and backed by an exuberant support - there might just have been a tear in my eye at the end.

I posted after the first League Game of the Season against Falkirk that I thought I had entered a parallel universe - the sun was shining, the pitch had lush grass, Thistle were playing quick passing football and we were 2-0 up after 7 minutes. The season has just been a succession of highs - I don't want to return to the real world any time soon.

I really wasn't that bothered about losing the Ramsdens Final but everyone singing " we score when we want" after the last kick equaliser was still one of the best moments of the season.

A bit of an anti-climax. Unbelievably fortunate to survive the three early one-on-one's - terrible miss by Graham and two great saves from Fox. We then played ok and made a lot of chances though not that many clear-cut opportunities. Lawless was excellent when he came on - would have preferred him to start rather than Craigen. Welsh was good in the first half but looked tired as the game went on. Craig looks as if he has shot his bolt. Disappointed at the news about Erskine and Paton although it wasn't unexpected. We missed Paton's drive tonight and Erskine hasn't been the same since the elbow in the back in the first minute of the Ramsden's Final. Might go to my first away game on Saturday.

Any time I've heard Doncaster, Milne and the Dundee guy Gardiner speak about the reconstruction proposals they have sounded like blustering bullies...no convincing explanation why the whole package had to be accepted or why only their particular version of the 12-12-18 set up and no other option was viable. On the other hand Stuart Gilmour came over as articulate and reasonable - I would have been very pleased if he had been putting forward Thistle's case...particularly as it would have been a very satisfying GIRUY revenge for the second vote SPL stitch-up that cast Thistle into the wilderness. I'm not sure what the real agenda is but I find the scaremongering about the Second Coming of Armageddon or that the SPL clubs are acting in the best interests of Scottish Football hard to believe.

And like all true Thistle fans he was at the Ramsdens Final at Livinston on Sunday.

It was such a tense match that I didn't really miss the lack of goalmouth action. It was a real triumph of determination and character and by the last 15 minutes it began to feel like a comfortable victory. Morton were again a limited hoofball side and Moore came over in the Sportsound interview afterwards as sour and unimpressive. It was good to see such a large and quiet away support though. We played some decent football at times and defended very well. Forbes was excellent, Bannigan and Doolan very good, and Balatoni outstanding but the whole team showed real spirit tonight. I wasn't too confident before the game but there was definitely something inspirational about Firhill tonight.

From where I was at the front of the East Stand, it initially looked like genuine exuberance with the fans spilling over the hoardings to celebrate with the players who were right in front of them. Entirely understandable - I was screaming like a banshee at the time...moments like that make watching 120 minutes of dire football worthwhile. However there were a few dafties who then took the opportunity to wander about the pitch so they could be seen on the TV - you're not playing, get off the park! Still as far as I know there were no casualties.

I'm probably not in the most placid of moods tonight but I could do without the forum invasion by the "passionate" = barely articulate daftie Thistle fan and the Morton idiot - how old is he? He's the equivalent of an 7 year old boy who thinks making farting noises is funny. Two more that merit a thoroughly deserved head-butt.

Dreadful game & performance - endlessly punting the ball for Queens' central defenders to head clear, failing to move the ball quickly enough and repeatedly passing behind the man. Lawless couldn't keep his feet, Erskine was fairly anonymous and Welsh uncertain. I'm not a huge fan of Balatoni but I thought he was our best player...only Fox and maybe Bannigan played to form. We were crying out for someone to hold the ball and make passes...and take a decent corner - Forbes should have been on about 30 minutes earlier. Queens were not as good a side as I expected but deserved to win...they seemed to have three men on O'Donnell and Sinclair every time they got the ball and choked off our attacks - first shot at goal was after about 87 minutes. The last five minutes of extra time were a bit exciting though. I'm far more disappointed about how poorly we played than that we didn't win...such a shame that so many Jags fans came to watch the team's worst performance of the season by a very considerable distance. Our support was fantastic throughout particularly when we had so little to cheer - although the mini pitch invasion was a bit stupid. "We're Partick Thistle...we score when we want" for our last second equaliser was brilliant.

Radio 5 did a piece on the game early this morning with Jane Lewis. Standard stuff about both teams topping their respective leagues, young managers etc. Presenter: So tickets will be like gold-dust then? Jane : (baffled and under-researched) - er...they will maybe get about 5,000.

Don't understand Charlie's contribution - I've arranged to pass on a ticket to the Swedish guy. I posted on here that I had a spare ticket - he was the only person to contact me which suggests that there is not a huge number of people still looking for tickets.

I always used to buy the programme for every game back then but don't have any other than the semi & Final. Crowd at the quarter final which was on a Wednesday night was 8,500 and for the semi on a Monday night 20,286. Crowds given as 5,000 & 6,000 for the other home ties.

We cruised through the 4-team section which was against Second Division sides - we has already qualified by the last game against Raith, played our reserves and won 5-0. We then beat Alloa easily in the play-off game to take us into the quarter finals. St Johnstone were a good side at that time - they beat Hamburg 3-0 in a Eufa Cup game - and they won the first leg 2-0. The second leg was possibly my favourite ever game at Firhill - we won 5-1...it was like the game against Dunfermline earlier this season. Semi-Final was a comfortable 2-0 victory at Hampden over Falkirk. I remember the Thistle fans singing "Bring on St Mirren" but the Saints lost the other semi to Celtic. I'm looking forward to a great day out in Livingston on Sunday.

I think Mo might have been 11! I'm sure I remember reading an article years ago which mentioned the original connection between McParland and Mojo - it stuck in my mind because I had thought there was too long a gap between their times at Firhill. I could of course have made this up...but in a question between fact and legend, print the legend - you're the Programme Editor, you should know that!

It was definitely reported at the time that the Board had reneged on an assurance that Hugh Strachan would be appointed as a coach and David McParland resigned as Manager on a point of principle. He played 587 games for Thistle and scored 110 goals then managed the side to the League Cup triumph. In fairness, the team was in decline by 1973/4 but all the top players of the next few years - Andy Anderson, Bobby Houston, Alan Hansen, Joe Craig, Jim Melrose, Mo Johnston - were brought to Firhill by McParland. That hasn't happened since he left.

After failing to get to Firhill before the tickets were sold out, a Forum Member came to my rescue and has passed on two tickets. My pal now has a family commitment for Sunday and can't go so I now have a spare ticket. It's East Stand Row A - ideal for the Pitch Invasion! PM me if you are looking for a ticket

It would have been interesting to see the crowd if instead of the Ramsdens Final on Sunday we had been playing Morton at Firhill this Saturday in what would have been a League Decider - my guess is 3,000-4,000 more than we'll get for the midweek game. The crowds at Firhill have been quite disappointing this year considering the success of the team - less than Falkirk and Dunfermline who both have had indifferent seasons. Morton's crowds have been even worse. At least the interest in the Ramsdens Final has shown that there is still a latent support. My own priority was going to the League games on the two occasions when the tickets went on sale and they were sold out by the time I got to Firhill. I did strike me as a bit odd that people were prepared to queue up for tickets but didn't hang around to see the team play. I eventually got a ticket through a Forum Member and I'm looking forward to seeing Thistle in a Final again...even if it is the Copa Del Diddy. I really hope we win the trophy but I will be more disappointed if we lose to Morton.