The Thistle Archive

Thanks for this Michael - I was kinda wondering what you were on about with that quip!!! Yes, hats off to Christopher, he's like our own Derek Rae with all that prep, and I'm always impressed with his ability to call tricky assists and whatnot in real time. The two of you are a great combo, you with your "back in the day young man" routine and all that! Yes, 7 goals from those 2 cup ties alone. On our Archive, we break down every goal by every player in history on their page... http://thethistlearchive.net/maurice-johnston Yes, taking penalties really boosted Kenny's tally (see 'Every Penalty' tab) http://thethistlearchive.net/kenny-watson No, there's been quite a few. QP failed 5-in-a-row from 2008-09. At top-tier level we've also seen Dundee United and Hibs fail 3-in-a-row. Special mention for Glasgow Rangers who have had 3 play-off seasons and failed in their objective every time. This is a bit far fetched, can't see Doolan acting like that. He'll get the boots back on when BBG gets near, and a ding-dong battle for supremacy will ensue, the end result being that both men will shake on it at 150 apiece before retiring simultaneously after the 4-0 Scottish Cup final win over Ross County in 2027-28 in which both have scored a brace. Yes, and we're the only one to have lost both legs too, we were pathetic at Firhill that day. In first team terms just one friendly meeting... http://thethistlearchive.net/match-1956-05-05 Oh yes, will watch it for a third time one of these days!

Hmm, bit of a minefield, as we've played all sorts of supplementary (as well as main) leagues which are not official league games. Even isolating to pure cup games, probably not a record when you think back to the likes of John Simpson bagging 9 against Royal Albert in the Scottish Cup etc, but he'll be up there...

Just brilliant ptd... look at the timing... he's on the verge... 61 - Willie Paul 59 - Brian Graham 53 - Kris Doolan 42 - Willie Freebairn 37 - Kenny Watson 32 - Maurice Johnston 31 - Mark Roberts 30 - John Proudfoot 30 - Liam Buchanan 29 - Chris Erskine 29 - Colin McGlashan

It would indeed, that also came out on Twitter. An exciting wee sub-plot, he could also register a second 'Grand Slam' vs. Ayr on Saturday; 2 in one season would be unprecedented! I presume that I would be correct in saying that any goals in the play-offs would not count towards this particular total, as this would be regarded as a separate competition (although it does have a direct bearing on league promotion/relegation). I am sure that we had this debate over Mark Roberts, when I presented my case for a Doublet for his play off feat against Stranraer, but you ruled me out of order! Reminds me of 'The Prisoner' when Patrick McGoohan asked the great computer who controlled everyone... WHY? The thing blew up! It was a most unsatisfactory ending to the series, but maybe it was brilliant. The query does bring some great but hard questions... were Thistle and Ayr playing a top flight match or a championship match? And it it's a top-flight match, does that mean you're relegated if you lose it? And what of the Thistle v Ross County fixtures? Were Thistle playing a top-flight game or were Ross County playing a Championship game? After 20 years and hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of labour, we've pondered everything to the nth degree. Statistics absolutely demand black lines, there can be no grey. One of the biggest decisions we made was to consult with fellow historians and to follow precedent. This is why - after much debate - we ruled out the Second World War alternative leagues as 'Official League' games, and it's also why we struck off the 5 SFL games of 1939-40 which were deemed void by the SFL itself. On the same basis, the consensus amongst historians and stottos is that play-off games are a separate competition, and we're even more comfortable with that than the wartime lines, it's a fairly easy decision to take when you consider hard the aforementioned questions. Edited to add: it's also worth noting that play-off games existed over 100 years ago before there was automatic promotion/relegation. These would determine who would be in the re-election ballot at the league AGM. There's never been any doubt whatsoever about the status of those games, decidedly and categorically non-league affairs in all the books and published goals tables. Again - the precedent is set. Our deeply considered drawn lines are permanently laid out on our 'About' page under 'Match Category Definitions'... http://thethistlearchive.net/about

Most of your post-Airdrie updates in place, with a packed edition of 'Stats Watch'. Donald Wilson's capture nails it! Partick Thistle 4 Airdrieonians 0 → A MONUMENTAL SEASON FOR GRAHAM ● Amazingly, it's the first half-time stalemate in the league at Firhill in over a year, Queen's Park on 7 April 2023 being the last. Even more amazingly, Thistle won 4 nil that day too. ● Kerr McInroy hits double figures for competitive assists this season, now joint-top with Steven Lawless in that chart. ● Aidan Fitzpatrick hits the 20 mark in terms of goals/assists combined in all competitions this season. ● Brian Graham - the Division's top-scorer - has now scored against every team in the league this season! ● Brian Graham's brace (his 13th for the club) moves him onto 20 league goals for the season and he becomes only the 4th post-War to hit such a figure. The 3 other members of this super-exclusive club are Willie Sharp (22, 1953-54), Frank Coulston (21, 1970-71) & Maurice Johnston (22, 1982-83). See our (fully sortable) Top Scorers per season tables for the preceding 148 years. ● Brian Graham's tally of 24 goals in all competitions this term is the highest of any Thistle player since Maurice Johnston (35) in 1982-83. ● It's an impressive 3 goals in his 288 minutes for Ricco Diack who has scored in both home league matches with Airdrie this season. On both occasions he scored within 7 minutes of personal action! ● Points-per-game king of 2023-24 is undoubtedly Zander MacKenzie with just 2 losses in 22 games in all competitions this term. See our 'Squad Stats 2023-24' table (note: select the 'full' tab) to drill down more. ● For only the second time in the latest two league seasons, there are no bookings. The other instance? Versus Airdrie at the Excelsior back in August. What's going on?! ● In all competitions, Thistle have now registered 10 consecutive home wins versus Airdrieonians (2009 to date), extending the club-record in the H2H. ● Thistle qualify for the Premiership play-offs for the third successive season, where they will play… Airdrieonians! Third time lucky? ● Kris Doolan's Thistle remain unbeaten in 13 games played in the months of April and May. (c/o Matt Greer!) ongoing sequences: ● 6 competitive games without defeat, 16th Mar 2024 to date. (Longest run since: 6 games, 27th Oct 2023 to 2nd Dec 2023. Joint club-record: 16 games, 15th Nov 1975 to 21st Feb 1976 & 30th Sep 2000 to 13th Jan 2001.) ● 28 games in 3rd place (30th Sep 2023 to date), an extension of the club-record for a position outwith outright top or bottom. Overall, it's the longest run since the club-record of 33 games in bottom pace (12th), set between 20th Sep 2003 and 15th May 2004. ● 33 consecutive competitive appearances for Lewis Neilson, 15th Sep 2023 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Steven Lawless - 60 games, 18th Feb 2023 to 6th Apr 2024. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

^ Re the yellows... we have an excellent way to see that at-a-glance, namely via our Crime Count tables which run from 1997-98 to date. The last time there were no cards in competitive action was back in August this season against... Airdrie! Crime Count 2023-24 →

Some well deserved recognition for our Scottish Cup winners of 1972, line-up added to page... a few questions remain, who's the guy bottom right, and which one of the civvies was a sub, and did he start? 1971-72 Reserves →

Yes, that's what we've done. Was hoping Rovers would list the crowd on their site too, but hasn't happened. Will drop them an e-mail to try and get it signed and sealed...

Wow, great observation! A real difference maker to our position...

From Willie Paul (the pioneer) to Willie Sharp (the Old Firm slayer) all the way to Kris Doolan (the milestone man) and Brian Graham (Peter Pan) via (super) Maurice Johnston in-between, this brand new Partickle explores the exceptional Thistle strikers who've dominated particular teams in the same league season by bombarding their goal nets. An astonishing realisation re Brian Graham ensues... The King Of The Slams →

And Ross Docherty's Hogan v Dunfermline in 2021-22 very much in that category. Plus a cup goal too, but let's not open up that sort of chaotic query!

Cheers guys, and thanks very much for using the site, makes it worthwhile. The hat-tricks page has had a bit of a tidy-up, it was one of the oldest pages and was a bit lacking in design nous, not that it's so much better these days, but you have a go, you know? Every known hat-trick → This brand new page is just for you PTD, you'll remember the Grand Slams, The Triple Crowns, The Doublets, The Hogans and the Meatloafs, now nailed down for posterity! League slams →

We're delighted to report that this celebration of the great man now has a forever home on The Thistle Archive, with thanks to Kenny and to the good people Nutmeg Magazine! John Lambie: Partick Thistle's Ultimate Character Still Stands Tall →

Uncle Roy, what a guy! (not really) 😉

Most of the post-Arbroath updates are now in place at your Archive... Arbroath 0 Thistle 1 → WE DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE ● For the third game in a row, the full matchday squad is Scottish-born. ● 17-year-old Thomas Horn becomes the 2,025th Jag in our A-Z of first team players. ● In all competitions, we've now seen a first half goal in 25 consecutive Partick Thistle matches, the longest such run since 1959 (25). ● Aidan Fitzpatrick hits double figures in our competitive goals chart for 2023-24. ● 4 of Aidan Fitzpatrick's 10 goals this season have been scored against Arbroath. His 5-goal total against the Red Lichties is bettered only by Denis McQuade (7). ● For the first time in history, Partick Thistle register back-to-back league wins at Gayfield! It's one of 5 club-records on the go versus Arbroath, 3 league wins on the trot also being an historical first. ongoing sequences: ● 24 games in 3rd place, an extension of the club-record for a position outwith outright top or bottom. ● 58 consecutive competitive appearances for Steven Lawless, 18th Feb 2023 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Chris Erskine - 70 games, 27th Aug 2011 to 2nd Mar 2013. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

Although not an "official" source The Thistle Archive is the best place in the world for Thistle attendances, since we put so much effort into getting it right, way beyond what anyone else does. As with many aspects of our data collection, we've got a published policy in place for it, and we dig and dig and dig, season in, season out, across every single era, aligning with experts wherever we can. Many of our attendance figures post-war come from the official Scottish League submission, which was a mandatory requirement for clubs to make. If we can't get an exact figure, we go with the contemporary average, often from several papers. Re the latest debacle, it's often the case that one representative from OPTA supplies data which feeds multiple stats sites (including the SPFL) and if they get it wrong, multiple sites accept the feed and also get it wrong. We see this on assists every other week. And don't get us started on Brian Graham's imaginary "hat-trick"! Anyway, according to our policy, we accept the figure given by the home club as being definitive, and Arbroath say 2,048, so we go with that.

The 5 M's is a strange co-incidence. In all of history, based on a 1-5 query, it was only seen for the first time on 4 March 2023, the 3-0 home win vs. Raith Rovers: David Mitchell, Jack McMillan, Harry Milne, Connor McAvoy, Aaron Muirhead Most common surname letter in a starting eleven is 7 (M's again), seen only in 1988, 3 times in close proximity, firstly in the 1-1 midweek Scottish Cup draw at Station Park on 3 February 1988: Archie MacLean, Alan Dinnie, John Workman, Bryan Purdie, Budgie McGhie, John McCormack, Pat Kelly, Willie McGuire, John McNaught, John Mitchell, Ian McDonald Re the close proximity thing, will skip that on the grounds of time constraints, if you don't mind. Most common surname in the first-team A-Z: 25 - Smith 24 - Robertson 22 - Wilson 19 - Brown 19 - Campbell 17 - Stewart 16 - Murray 14 - Ferguson 14 - Gray 13 - Gibson 13 - McDonald 13 - Thomson Actually, we recently passed a club-record in that regard. 24 games in 3rd place is the longest run in the same position when considering mid-table positions only. The previous joint-record (20) was set in 6th place (1915) and 9th place (2015).

Haha, nah Jagger, forever and ever. Our latest full match hub going all-in today celebrates Meiklejohn's immense Jags of 1954 vintage, behold McGowan aloft with the club's 20th trophy won. “Rangers fans may desert to Firhill” said the Times! Full match hub now packed with all sorts of goodies... Thistle 2 Rangers 0 →

Hero Jagger, thank you! Er, could you add the linesmen for us as well, thank you please!?

Big thanks to Kenny Pieper for digging into his old programmes and knocking off around 40 of our missing refs, we're over the moon! The mega-quest continues... now 88% coverage all-time, just 16 to find in competitive games since the war. Can you help? Get in touch here! Who was the referee? →

Just the 43 competitive wins for Partick Thistle vs. the tainted Govan pound - it's never enough! Today we fast-forward a packed match hub looking back to the classic 4-3 in March '77, one of the all-time greatest nights at Firhill... Roughie's prayers worked! Thistle 4 Rangers 3 →

With an eye on Sunday's cup final we're inspired to fast-forward the match hub for this famous win at Ibrox. Andy Anderson had Colin McAdam in his back pocket and the Jags were a joy to behold. Thanks to the amazing efforts of collector Miles McClagan you can get a flick through the full match programme via the 'Scrapbook' tab... Rangers 0 Thistle 2 →

A cracker of GEORGE MACKIE in the summer of '76... and look who's best man! George returned the favour for Gordon a year later; the two were happy hooligans on the pitch at Wembley in '77! Page more fully developed today... George Mackie →

Inspired by the Draw, Lose or Draw podcast's excellent production (embedded - check it out), we've fast-forwarded the full match hub for the classic match on 4th May 1993... Thistle 3 Rangers 0 →