Winter of '63

To echo the words of Arthur Montford's commentary, that day in 1971 was a once in a lifetime experience. Season 1969/70 was the first season I started going to games at Firhill on a regular basis - I was 13. That was also the first season that Thistle had ever been relegated from the top division. I saw us lose a League Cup game 8-1 to St Johnstone at Firhill. Dave McParland - arguably the greatest ever Jag - took over as manager for season 70/71. He introduced youngsters, we played exciting attacking football and we romped the Second Division, a different class from the opposition. From the start of Season 71/72, the side was filled with young players with flair and personality - Rough was a superb keeper, Alex Forsyth an attacking full back with a thunderous shot, three wingers, Lawrie, McQuade and Gibson, the telepathically linked strikers Coulston & Bone, and my all-time favourite Jags player, Ronnie Glavin. In the quarter final we turned over St Johnstone 5-1 - redemption for the previous beating and probably my choice for the most enjoyable game I've seen at Firhill. Celtic were beaten finalists in the 1970 European Cup, they were in the middle of their 9-in-a-row League winning run and their side in 1971 was a mix of Lisbon Lions and new stars - Dalglish, Macari, David Hay, George Connolly. After just over 30 minutes, we were 4-0 up - it can never be as good as that again!! We lost 7-2 the following Saturday to Aberdeen of course. I haven't seen enough of our current youngsters to form an opinion...but if even one of them turns out to be anywhere near as good as any of the the guys from '71, I'll be delighted. And even if we fluked a Cup Final victory against Celtic next season with a last minute deflected goal from a blatantly offside position...well I'd love it if we beat them.

I have heard about this song...but I can't say I have ever heard it sung at Firhill. Maybe because I think religion is shown too much respect generally, I'm afraid I don't feel any particular sense of shame about the words. Like the Hello, Hello song, I don't think it is a deep theological statement - the sentiment is that Thistle fans don't like pseudo-religious tribalism at football matches...some clubs seem to have grown rich and famous out of this. I'm more embarrassed at the memory of Thistle fans booing Laurie Cunningham when we played Orient in the Anglo-Scottish Cup in the 70's - though back then a black guy playing football in Scotland was a novelty and he was a much better player than we were used to seeing.

Well, I'm an old duffer too ...but still young at heart I'm enough of a traditionalist to think that Thistle's strip is red and yellow hoops...but it doesn't have much style. When we changed 1n 1971 to the yellow top & red shorts it was commented that this "modern" design matched the young exciting team we had at the time. I think red and yellow stripes look better than the hoops...I even quite liked the Jester top, if not most of the players who wore it. One of the points I made in the Board's fan survey was that much of club's leisure/training wear did not make use of the bold club colours, several items are not even red and yellow. I think there should be a real opportunity with the distinctive club colours and good design to produce some stylish kits - the old Liverpool Away strip/pizza delivery boy outfit which appears to be this coming season's effort isn't it.

In his first season with Motherwell, McLeish finished second to Rangers. He left to join Hibs who were already in relegation trouble and failed to save them from going down. They came up the next season and did pretty well in their first season back in the top league. He was initially quite successful at Rangers...something of a pattern in his managerial career. I've always quite liked McLeish - he was a decent player for Aberdeen and Scotland. However if I was a Villa fan, I would be less than delighted at the prospect of him becoming manager. Butcher was the manager of Motherwell when they finished bottom - they were saved from relegation because Falkirk didn't meet the SPL stadium requirements. Motherwell have also avoided relegation on two other occasions because of league reconstruction.

Motherwell would otherwise be a club that I would not grudge any success but I was always aggrieved that they could apparently offer better contracts to Craigan and Burns than us when they had just been in administration. Even more disgraceful was that we voted to save them from relegation because Falkirk didn't meet the SPL stadium requirements...then the following season they voted to allow Inverness Caledonian Thistle to groundshare and relegate us Not surprisingly the two Motherwell supporters I've mentioned this to in recent months were completely oblivious.

Not so much tackles in those days, more like Kung Fu fighting! One of his Chelsea Team-mates said that when Ron "Chopper" Harris was in a good mood, he put Iodine on his studs I know George Best's first game for Hibs was against Thistle at Easter Road. I'm sure he played at Firhill in a friendly as part of the transfer deal for Alex Forsyth to Man Utd.

Thanks for posting these Jaggernaut - the two best outfield players I've seen playing for Thistle. I guess not too many of Barnsley's games were actually televised back then but there was enough there to remind me of just how good Ronnie Glavin was - I particularly liked the final clip when he headed clear from his own area then ran the length of the pitch to collect a through pass and dink a shot past the keeper. Only disappointment was that there was no footage of Ronnie's thundering free kicks and long-range shooting. An astonishing scoring record of 95 goals in 204 games for Barnsley...I'm sure he was top scorer for two seasons for the Jags...pretty impressive for a midfield player. Alan Hansen was not bad either.

Thistle v Millwall? Apart from having to play Rangers and Celtic, I can't think of a less welcome visiting team to Firhill. And why would they want to play us? I think we should promote Thistle as Glasgow's Favourite Non-Sectarian Football Club.

Some good stories on this thread. Queens Park had been my family's team - my father supported them as did my uncle and grandfather. Queens' glory days were long gone and my older brother was a Rangers fan - by a great stroke of luck, he didn't like to share anything with me so I had to find another team. We lived on the South Side of Glasgow, my favourite colours as a nipper were red and yellow so the team I chose to support was...Motherwell After a couple of weeks, 'Well lost to Partick Thistle and I changed allegiance to the Jags - appalling glory-hunting but I was only about 3 at the time, they were a local team and played in my favourite colours . My parents told me I couldn't change my team every time they lost so I have stuck with Thistle ever since. My father liked Thistle fans sense of humour and was happy to take me to a few games - my first game at Firhill was in Season 62/63 during our best ever run of form which took us to the top of the League...it's been downhill ever since. He also took me and my brother to see Rangers at Ibrox as a youngster...I only went once, there was just something about the atmosphere there that I didn't like. The last football I watched with my Dad was the Tennants Sixes on television. He was very ill then and died a few weeks later. Thistle won the trophy and he was cheering on the Jags' star man Paul McLaughlin who had started his career with Queens Park. It was a special moment to share.

Was it not the case that the Inland Revenue were preferred creditors and had to be repaid in full when Thistle were in that situation whereas HM Revenue and Customs only get 6p in the pound from Dundee's administration? It's particularly galling that we sold Gary Harkins to pay our Tax Bill - Dundee bought Gary Harkins and didn't pay their Tax Bill. He will either play for them next season or be sold with the transfer fee being available to stengthen their squad. I agree with both you and Uberteeb that Dundee have worked the system to their own advantage - Bryan Jackson for Manager of the Year?

Retreived my scrapbook of newspaper cuttings from season 71/72 from the attic. There's a picture of Denis in front of goal with a trail of Saints Defenders...he's wearing a V-necked shirt and light coloured socks, the Saints players have the white V-neck and winged collars exactly like the Ebay photo. So I'm convinced it's from the Dryborough Cup game at Muirton in 1971. There's no doubt that the second Ebay photo is from Firhill. Benny Rooney was a regular in that St Johnstone side - I had a particular dislike of them, especially after they thumped us 8-1 at Firhill in 1969.

I'm fairly certain that the first photo is from Muirton and I might even have been at that game! My grandparents lived near Perth and I saw quite a few games there in that era. Thistle played St Johnstone in a Dryborough Cup game on 31 July 1971. This would tie in with Lady IB's inspired recollection about the other photo - I was sure it was Firhill but couldn't work out why Celtic would be playing Saints there. St Johnstone had a very good side then with Henry Hall and John Connolly outstanding - we lost 2-1 at Muirton conceding both goals in the last two minutes. Alex Rae was in our side...but my main memory of the game was Denis McQuade picking the ball out on the left wing, skinning the right back - a fellow called Lambie - waltzing past four other defenders then shooting past the post from six yards.

I'm too young to remember it clearly but the Winter of '63 was so cold that no football was played from January to March...Thistle's title challenge was frozen out...and Real Madrid were spared a fearful horsing at Firhill in the following season's European Cup

Firstly a genuine thank you to the true supporters who were at the game on Tuesday night - you are keeping my team alive...ya dafties Like most people just now I don't have much spare cash so I've only been to a few games over the last two seasons. However, I wouldn't have thought of going to see the Queen of the South game even if admission had been free. A good number of season ticket holders made a similar choice on Tuesday, they didn't go even though they had already paid. I don't have Sky but I did listen to the Barcelona v Arsenal game on Radio 5 while checking the Official Site for score updates from Firhill. If I had wanted to watch football on Tuesday night I would probably have gone to a pub rather than sit frozen at Firhill. I only really cared about Thistle's result though. I'm not convinced that playing the same teams so regularly is such a significant factor in declining attendances. We haven't played Queen of the South at Firhill since last May. We have had one League game at home against Cowdenbeath since 1938 - would Firhill be packed for the novelty of a rare visit by the Blue Brazil? Undoubtedly, the general economic situation, the ready availability of top-quality football on tv and the monotony of repetitive fixtures put people off. However, the two main issues for me are firstly the poor quality of "the product" - punt and chase football on poor pitches in freezing weather; and secondly, I'm just not that interested in nothing-at-stake games - we won't be promoted and are very unlikely to be relegated. In my view a 16 team top League would mean a full season of meaningless games for most teams - I don't think that's the solution. What odds would you want for a bet on any team other than Rangers or Celtic winning the League? I don't think I'd take a punt at 1,000/1...unless they enforce that rule about deducting points for sectarian songs. There have to be radical changes...don't see it happening.

The article is credited to Robert Philip who I'm sure is a Thistle fan who used to post on the previous forum...but it's full of inaccuracies. Maybe these are down to John Hansen's faulty memory but we lost 7-2 to Aberdeen and beat Motherwell 8-3; we've never lost successive games 7-0 and 8-0; and why would John who played right back be marking Jimmy Johnstone, a right winger? Ronnie Glavin sorted out Jinky anyway - he was taken off injured in the first half. And as far as I can remember, the Thistle fans sang all through the game not just in the last ten minutes. So I wouldn't place much reliance on any of the other comments. Like most Thistle fans I thought we might just win - we had some exceptional young players and were an unknown quantity. I didn't expect us to be 4-0 up by half-time though!

Well I did specifically say that your contributions were "entirely welcome and legitimate". I don't post regularly on threads about the Board because as I stated I don't know enough to have a particular opinion. I feel slightly uncomfortable about you becoming an object of scrutiny on here but I was genuinely curious why an ordinary fan would post so regularly on one specific subject only.

I take your point...up to a point. I actually had the same thoughts about Jaf but I think the significant difference is that this is a subject which he is clearly passionate and well informed about whereas javeajag's contributions don't seem to go much beyond "Nothing to see here, move on". There are lots of topics on here that I feel like that about...so I don't take the trouble to post about them. I don't have an agenda or any insider knowledge...it just seems a bit of an odd obsession.

I don't know enough to condemn the current Directors and the much criticised recently departed former Directors as Their Satanic Majesties but I do think that there are legitimate questions to be asked...and no particular sign that answers will be forthcoming. However, as far as I can see your only contribution to this forum is to reply on threads like this invariably to defend the Board of Directors and to dismiss all criticism as trivial and pointless. That is entirely legitimate and welcome as any debate benefits from the voicing of a contrary view. I do however wonder why this seems to be the only issue that interests you enough to post, particularly when your view is that it doesn't matter. Do you have any opinions on League Reconstuction, part-time football, the playing surface at Firhill, the potential of the young players, Simon Donnelly, or anything else relating to Partick Thistle?

One of my most vivid memories of the League Cup Final is leaving Hampden & seeing two old guys - about my age now - with tears streaming down their faces & hugging each other. Men didn't cry or show any emotion in public back then. "I've waited 40 years for this" one of them said. I was 15 then...I thought Thistle triumphs like that would happen all the time. But as Arthur Montford said in the commentary it was a once in a lifetime day. I watched the video with tears streaming down my face, remembering how great Thistle were then...and how they and life have not been as great as I expected they would be. Thanks to the guys who compiled and posted these videos.

I distinctly remember Billy Reid bemoaning the fact that Old Firm youngsters were given preference for Scotland squads and that despite his recommendations they wouldn't even look at James McCarthy - this was around the time that McCarthy had become a first team regular at 16...maybe they just didn't think he was as good as Stevie Lennon I'm pretty sure that it was only because he was being overlooked by Scotland that McCarthy decided to go with Ireland.

I understand that Insurers discount their premiums to get new customers...they work on the assumption that the majority of their existing policy holders will simply renew automatically at a higher rate. You're right, it is a rip-off...shop around!

The original comment was textbook sexism - she can't do the job because she's a woman. It was a patently stupid remark shown up by the linesman/woman/person calling a difficult offside decision correctly. I did think that it was a bit strange that this footage found it's way into the public domain...I guessed that someone in Sky Sports, part of Rupert Murdoch's Media Empire, held a grudge against Gray or Keays...even stranger when another piece of footage of Gray was released. It was as if someone was out to get him. By an amazing coincidence, there have been newspaper reports that Andy Gray has been pursuing court action relating to alleged phone-hacking against the News of the World, part of Rupert Murdoch's Media Empire. Draw your own conclusions.

The teams which have been promoted in the last few years have not been exceptional - Hamilton were very functional, St Johnstone drew their way to the title and Inverness recovered strongly from a dismal start. All of them have survived comfortably in the Premier League albeit the Accies are now strugling after transferring their best players. The only game I've seen this season was agaist Raith...and they didn't look any better than us. Stirling Albion have only won three games this season, two of them against us. Clearly, you don't have to be that good to be a promotion contender. However, particularly after transferring Buchanan, I don't think we are anywhere near good enough to challenge at the top of the League or progress in the Cup. At best, we will avoid being involved in a serious relegation battle but unless we can continue to introduce young players into the team, 2010/11 will go down as another wasted season.

Putting aside the many issues relating to the Miners Strike, the fact is that miners were starved into submission. As far as I can remember John Martin went back to work in the pits after several months on strike. It's arguable that with his earnings from part-time football, he was in a better financial position than many, but you would have to have a very narrow view of the world to condemn someone for deciding that they had to support their family in those circumstances. Was still funny that the Thistle fans were shouting "Scab" at Martin ten years after the strike had ended!

The loss on running the club for last year was £287,000. We received £170,000 in transfer fees. This reduced the actual loss for the year to £117,000 which is the figure in the accounts. We haven't received £170,000 in transfers this year - we haven't received any! So unless costs are cut, the projected loss for this year will be around £287,000. Hope this helps