robphil

Name-dropping alert! In may 1977, I attended a Neil Sedaka concert in the apollo in the company of Ronnie Glavin and our wives at the time...

i was 62 before i had my heart attack in 2012 - pretty good going for a jags' fan who first attended estadio firhill as a five-year-old...

Rough, Hansen, Forsyth, Glavin and bone were all capped but, to me, frank coulston was what made the class of '71 the most exciting thistle team of all time - and that includes the 1963 side which should have won the league!

john hansen told me the following tale when i interviewed him for the daily telegraph a number of years ago...: 'We'd been beaten in successive games so bertie called us in for training on the saturday morning before the next game, announced the team and explained. 'we're bottom of the league, your confidence is gone so we're going to have a practice game against invisible opponents..' "now it's actually really difficult playing against nobody. bertie was an intimidating presence and poor john kennedy, our left back, was supposed to ping the ball down the touchline to the winger. four times in a row john hoofed the ball into the terracing. eventually he finally succeeded in finding our outside-left whose job it was to cross the ball into the near post for joe craig. so what happened? three times in a row Joe headed wide - after 30 minutes we were drawing 0-0 with our invisible opponents. at which point four of the lads who were originally in the team were unceremoniously dropped...!"

The afternoon before The Game ( the '71 league cup final for younger members of our family) David Mc and ally Macleod took lunch in the sadly long-gone Glasgow press club in west regent street. Using everything on the table - salt, pepper, vinegar, ketchup, brown sauce, tumblers etc., - Davie explained the tactics that would rip apart jock stein's mighty Celtic. 'So you think you're going to win, then?' enquired Maggie, the elderly waitress. 'Not only are we going to win, pet,' replied davie mc with a huge grin. 'We're going to shock the world of football,,,' and we did just that...

Even as an poor old pensioner this could induce me to increase my pledge. Brilliant stuff admin - could you now explain brexit to an auld yin who is ready for the farm for the seriously bewildered

Well said

the sainted denis mcquade missed many such sitters amidst his innumerable 'goal of the season' contenders

square goalposts...old floodlights...tenements...a packed terracing...many thanks for wonderfully evocative picture of a bygone age. truly was 'firhill for thrills' in those days of my youth.

Was at Starks park with QoS supporting friend last night; JC was interviewed on the pitch at half-time when he was very, very complimentary about thistle manager and players. Stressed how much he had enjoyed himself at firhill. Definitely sounded as though he wanted to extend his stay among us

The reporter was quoting Caldwell directly. my Fleet Street days are long over...

The quotation marks would suggest the words came out of caldwell's mouth. yes, reporters have been known to adjust the facts for all manner of reasons but tampering with direct quotes is a dangerous tactic

in one interview Caldwell says signing Boyd and Miller would be a 'no brainer''; in his next foray into print he claims kris Doolan was ushered out because he wants to 'build a team for the future'. one of those statements is surely erroneous

harkins and boyd in the same team? i don't know about what 'new direction' we will be taking but i have a depressing notion of what pace that 'new direction' will be played at

why doesn't he ask the players to put the name of their preferred manager next season in sealed envelopes?

the only seat storey should occupy on the bus is the one behind the wheel...

Big al or johnny Mckenzie??? For longevity, I'd go for johnny Mac; but two giants of Scottish fitba'...

maybe you caught him on two bad days but having known the gent in question since he was a teenager i can honestly say he has always been just that - a gentleman...

I, too, am 60 plus years and I, too, wil not be renewing. The last 20-odd months have been far too depressing...

many, MANY thanks, ccjag; just got round to watching your oscar-deserving documentary (just HOW good was denis mcquade?). 'tis quite an emotional experience watching the boys of '71 (and the youthful davie mcp) in action one year on from their hampden heroics. i know stockholm well and and quite understand why the memories you garnered have survived nigh on half a century.

Can not remember my first game but the first BIG match was the 1958 league cup final (our third final in six seasons!) in which we were thumped 5-1 by a brilliant hearts' side. Fortunately, I have a happier league cup final memory to draw upon......

i have been attending estadio firhill for over 60 years; as a child, i watched hearts thump us 5-1 in the league cup final at hampden. i stood on the terracing every match day during the misery of 1970 when scot symon's team of ancients finished stone bottom of the old first division (to paraphrase bill shankly, we were lucky to finish bottom!) i endured the disappointment of 1975 when we missed out on a place in the inaugural 10-club premier league by three points. of course, there have been high points; '71 of course, our great promotion year when archie steered us back into the top flight with erskine and doolan in their pomp. but most of all, just being a jags' fan and all the laughs and jokes shared with the terrific people in red and yellow scarves around me. after 18 months of inexorable decline, however, i have endured enough misery. my season ticket has been placed in hibernation. will it ever reappear? that depends on the people entrusted with running our beloved club...

Don't know if johnny Gibson ever played against us but we must have faced joe craig and Ronnie Gavin with david mcp in the home dugout at parkhead

just read john irving's 'a prayer for owen meany' for the third time. if anyone should be about pick it up for the first time then you are in for a treat...

i was a youngish hack on the sunday post at the time of big jock's accident and sean was a lovely man to deal with as 'caretaker manager'. as barney said, davie mcp arrived some time later