Winter of '63

That sounds a bit patronising considering that you misinterpreted my initial post on this thread...your post was that "There is more interest in Thistle from the US Forces". Frankly, this is not a proposition I find remotely credible. It may be that you have spoken to a US Serviceman who has an interest in Thistle but it hardly leads to your general conclusion about "the US Forces". This is a pointless exchange - I'm just grumpy about our failure to win away from home.

I quoted the part of your post that there was more interest in Thistle from US forces - I doubt that is the case. I then gave my own opinion on my club giving free entry to all military personnel - how dare I.

This must be one of the unlikeliest propositions posted on this forum. There is an increased level of uncritical glorification of the Military, though at least not quite to American levels. Not all soldiers are heroes - there is no reason why they should all be given free entry to games at Firhill.

STJ - I think you are the guy who has the excellent site with vintage Thistle photographs. You may be a bit younger than me and therefore not immediately recognise the players from the '71 team - they are:- Jackie Campbell, Jimmy Bone, Alan Rough,Frank Coulston, Johnny Gibson, Denis McQuade, The Lord Provost, Alex Rae, David McParland, John Hansen, Chairman James Aitken, Alex Forsyth, Bobby Lawrie and Hugh Strachan. Not sure why Ronnie Glavin - my all time favourite Thistle player - is not in the photo.

Where's Ronnie Glavin?

The four guys I mentioned had played a few games in previous seasons but Davie McParland found their best positions - Alex Forsyth and John Hansen were midfield players who became the full backs, Ronnie Glavin was a striker who became a midfield player, and Jackie Campbell - who was regarded as one of the old heads in the team...I think he was 24 at the time - was converted from a right back to centre half. I reckon that the final was John Hansen's seventh game as a right back.

No, Blackpool Jags is correct - this was the first League game of Season 71/72 - we turned over both Rangers and Celtic within the space of two months. John Gibson was magnificent in that match...though he only lasted 45 minutes after being the victim of an assault by John Greig, the man voted the greatest living Ranger by their fans. I checked this a year or so ago when Tom Hosie asked for information about players who played in earlier rounds of the League Cup. John Hansen,Alex Forsyth, Jackie Campbell and Ronnie Glavin were only brought in to the team during the campaign - they had played less than ten games in their positions by the time we reached the Final. The same 12 played in the Semi Final against Falkirk and the Quarter Final Second Leg against St Johnstone but I was surprised at some of players who played in the Sectional Games - we had already qualified before the final group game and rested several of the first team. The full list with some barely remembered names is Ian Reid Nobby Clark Bobby Gray and Bobby Gray Senior - nephew and uncle Charlie Smith Ian Dick Jim Logan - only played one game for Thistle Donnie MacKinnon Jim Mullin Tommy Rae Andy Anderson - debut as sub No idea who was given a medal. I need to get out more

I'm surprised that Nobby Clark played as many as 154 games for Thistle. If they had "squad players" back in the Seventies, Nobby would have been in that category - never quite good enough to have been a regular first choice but a decent enough player to come in when needed. I suppose that Andy Anderson's tendency to get injured and Jackie Campbell's contractual dispute with the club gave him a few opportunities. I do remember that he played - and came close to scoring - in the game against Honved. Strange to think that a journeyman professional for us actually played in Europe. I knew he had gone to Queen of the South after he left the club, but 340 games for them is a creditable achievement.

December 1962 - Thistle 3 (Hogan, Whitelaw, Hainey) Airdrie 0 Crowd 12,000 It was Thistle's ninth successive win in our best ever run in the top League - 15 games unbeaten. The crowd went mental at half-time when the scores were put up on the board at the City End - Rangers were losing, Thistle were top of the League. I was just a nipper and didn't know what a League was...or that this was as high as we would ever get. The Winter of 1963 was the worst of the century and virtually no football was played in the UK from the New Year until March...Thistle never recovered their form after the break and faded to a disappointing third. I think my first away game was at the Cliftonhill Superdome in November 1970. Davie McParland's great side was beginning to shape - 6 of the team played at Hampden less than a year later...we lost 1-0!

That would be another Conspiracy Theory for Celtic fans.

Ironside was a special investigator for the Police - anyone looking for legal guidance would learn far more from re-runs of ace attorney Perry Mason...he never lost a case. Raymond Burr played both parts in these ancient TV Series. Yours A pedantic Lawyer

I agree with most of this and historically , the F*nians were indeed a political organisation ...but they were an Irish Catholic movement whereas the IRA have, as far as I am aware, no religious affiliations. And in popular West of Scotland parlance, it's a word with clear sectarian connotations. Similarly, I understand that there was a recent conviction for religiously aggravated breach of the peace for use of the H word - I always thought this referred to a bigoted Rangers supporter but the Court seem to have considered that there was some religious element. But surely nobody thinks that there is some profound theological debate between Old Firm fans - it's just tribal baiting which cleans up at the Box Office. But if attempts to enforce the proposed no legislation are put into effect - and I think that the intentions are well-meaning and long overdue - arguments about sectarian/political intent will be raised...and nothing will change. There is a danger that our Hello, Hello song, which is clearly a jibe at the pseudo-religious sentiments of the Old Firm, will be used as a distraction from the real problem - so it might be better to drop it from the songbook. Maybe attempts to put pressure on sponsors and broadcasters rather than attempting to charge the "minority" of offending Old Firm supporters might be more effective in addressing the issue. Personally, I'm offended by the sheer stupidity of it all...

Personally I think there is too much deference to religious organisations and royalty so I like our song for similar reasons that I dislike God Save the Queen... plus the National Anthem is a dirge with an anti-Scottish sentiment in one of the obscure verses. We have sung this song for as long as I can remember - and although I haven't been to a game between Thistle and either half of the Old Firm for years because I found the whole atmosphere posionous , back in the 70's we always tried to shout down any non-football songs from their repertoire. My recollection of my Criminal Law course from many years ago is that under Scottish Law just about anything can be a Breach of the Peace - I'm sure we were referred to a case where a member of the Salvation Army was done for playing a cornet. I also remember a Police Officer at the Terry Butcher/Frank McAvennie Trial from a few years back being asked in court if he had observed any conduct amounting to a breach of the peace, dryly replying that there was an ongoing breach of the peace in the stadium throughout the whole of the match. So I'm pretty sure that any Thistle fan who sang either version of the words might well be found guilty of breach of the peace and probably in the present climate with the aggravated sectarian element. The new legislation will no doubt throw up some interesting legal arguments - Ned 1 "Up the 'RA" Ned 2 "Ya Fen**n B*****d" One of them is making a political statement, the other committing an aggravated sectarian offence. They are both bawbags and I don't want to have to listen to that stuff in football grounds. My own view is that Scotland doesn't really have a serious problem with sectarianism outwith Old Firm tribalism. Unless any Thistle fan is up for being a test case and potential martyrdom, I think we have to accept the reality that we can't allow the Club to be drawn into this argument.

We had already won our League Cup Section so we played virtually a reserve side in the final game against Raith Rovers - it was a midweek game at Firhill and we won 5-0. The Stadium Announcer mentioned that he was looking forward to seeing our young substitute, Andy Anderson, make his first team debut as he had heard great things about him. Andy came on in that game for Jackie Campbell, the other central defender was Donnie MacKinnon. All three worthy of Hall of Fame status in their own right. Ian Dick played in goal, the right back was Logan and Jimmy Mullin was up front in that game - I only have a hazy memory of them but presumably they are all in the Hall of Fame too.

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.