Jaggernaut Posted June 6, 2024 Report Share Posted June 6, 2024 (edited) Many of us probably have memories of such games, when some personal issues dominate the football ones. Two I can immediately remember. At the end of 1968, my beloved maternal grandmother died on a Friday. I was 13 years old, and didn't really understand much about concepts like mortality and immortality. I went to the Thistle game the next day (she would have approved, I have no doubt; all of her sons - my uncles - were Thistle fans), and believed (?) that it was all a mistake; she would be fine and healthy when I got home after the match (3-1 Jags).... But it wasn't a mistake. The second is the last home game of season 2000-2001. This confirmed our promotion (please correct me if I'm wrong; to be honest, I don't remember if it was vs. Stranraer or Stenhousemuir). For some reason, my mother, who was visiting my uncle's family (all Jags fans) in Northpark Street took advantage of the open turnstiles in the main stand to walk in and up to join the celebrations. To my knowledge this was the only time she'd ever set foot in a football stadium. She said it was fun! All part of Thistle as the backdrop to my life. 69 years old today. Otanjobiomedeto ! Edited June 6, 2024 by Jaggernaut 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted June 6, 2024 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2024 (edited) Another game, and I'd need to look in more detail to see when exactly it was. Vs Hibs. Their supporters were at the city end of the ground in the second half, and at the end of the match they (and me and my pal) were descending those steep stairs down into Firhill Road. All of a sudden, a barrage of bottles and cans rained down on all of us, a "gift" from Thistle supporters waiting to "greet" the Hibees as they exited the stadium. Actually, I don't remember anything else.... I probably just went for a pee in the back of the tenements around Queen's Cross, before walking to see the scores on the screens in Radio Rentals, or whatever it was. Edited June 6, 2024 by Jaggernaut 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifexile Posted June 6, 2024 Report Share Posted June 6, 2024 October 3 1981. We had lost our opening 5 league games, 4 of 6 league cup games and even a Glasgow Cup tie to Queens Park. (No surprise we were relegated that season). It sticks in my mind not because we got our 1st point (a 1-1 draw with St. Mirren) but being met by a neighbour when I got home who said my dad had been taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack. Cue dash into the Western in my mum's car ignoring the fact I was on a provisional licence at the time...dad survived but was in hospital for some time and I remember going up after the next few home games to give him match reports! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robphil Posted June 6, 2024 Report Share Posted June 6, 2024 Happy birthday Jaggernaut. A few glasses of sake tonight?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robphil Posted June 6, 2024 Report Share Posted June 6, 2024 December 1959: thistle 2, Hibs 10. Walking hand in hand with my dad to get the trolley bus from queen's cross to muirend. "But if George Smith's shot in the first minute hadn't hit the post but gone in it might have been very different, isn't to that right dad.." "aye, son, it would have been 10-3..." An early lesson on what it's like to be a jags' fan... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted June 7, 2024 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2024 That Hibs game was perhaps the same season when Dunfermline skelped us 10-1 on the last day, thereby avoiding relegation. (Brown envelopes, anyone?) Hmm, apart from Hibs and Dunfermline, has any other team ever scored 10 against us? (7 and 8 come to mind vs erse cheeks.....) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QXBoy Posted June 7, 2024 Report Share Posted June 7, 2024 When i started reading this thread my immediate thought was of a very painful day when I was 14 years old. Raging toothache from a Friday evenng - hardly slept a minute. Saturday morning off to the dentist. His surgery was on Maryhill Road, between Kirkland Street and Dunard Street. I know his never to be forgotten name, but in view of the fact that I still consider him to be more of a butcher than a dentist, to protect me from possible legal proceedings from any surviving relatives of his I won't reveal it here. Since the mid sixties I have worn a partial denture, part of which includes 2 back teeth, a permanent reminder of where the butcher left his mark. Anyway Robphil, bottom line, it was that same horrible day (19th December 1959) which you also remember1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QXBoy Posted June 7, 2024 Report Share Posted June 7, 2024 4 hours ago, Jaggernaut said: That Hibs game was perhaps the same season when Dunfermline skelped us 10-1 on the last day, thereby avoiding relegation. (Brown envelopes, anyone?) Hmm, apart from Hibs and Dunfermline, has any other team ever scored 10 against us? (7 and 8 come to mind vs erse cheeks.....) Same year Jaggernaut, different season. The Dunfermline game was in April 1959 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted June 7, 2024 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2024 Thanks, QXBoy! Ah dentists..... don't get me started! If you have a good one, hang onto him or her; there are more money-grabbing charlatans around than good, honest dentists! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagfox Posted June 7, 2024 Report Share Posted June 7, 2024 Happy jaggy birthday @Jaggernaut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a f kincaid Posted June 7, 2024 Report Share Posted June 7, 2024 3 hours ago, QXBoy said: Same year Jaggernaut, different season. The Dunfermline game was in April 1959 18/4/1959. It the event, Falkirk only drew their last game and finished 2nd bottom, 1 point behind Dunfermline so goal average didn't come in to it after all. Best not to speculate what was going on that day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dl1971 Posted June 7, 2024 Report Share Posted June 7, 2024 I'm going with thistle v aberdeen in season 76/77. Winter time and we played Aberdeen in front of 13000 on a frost laden pitch. Somner scored and I think we went joint top or second? As a relatively young boy I was dreaming we might win the thing or at least get into Europe. Alas we faded badly but the hope of that game stayed with me for years. It may never have left me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QXBoy Posted June 8, 2024 Report Share Posted June 8, 2024 On 6/7/2024 at 9:26 AM, Jaggernaut said: has any other team ever scored 10 against us? (7 and 8 come to mind vs erse cheeks.....) In August 1948 we lost 8-2 against QOS. Amazingly 21 days later we played them at Firhill - the score? Thistle 9 QOS 0 Maybe things like that led to us being known as "The Unpredictables". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robphil Posted June 8, 2024 Report Share Posted June 8, 2024 Sept 6, 1969: Hibs 5, thistle 1. The first game I covered from the press box for the Sunday post. As I recall, Hibs had another 'famous five' forward line of Peter marinello..Johnny Hamilton,. Joe McBride..Peter Cormack...and Eric Stevenson. McBride scored a hat-trick and my report was peppered with 'all against the run of play... Hibs broke out of defence yet again..with thistle dominant this was not so much a theft as grand larceny..." 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FleetwoodJagreborn Posted June 8, 2024 Report Share Posted June 8, 2024 12 hours ago, dl1971 said: I'm going with thistle v aberdeen in season 76/77. Winter time and we played Aberdeen in front of 13000 on a frost laden pitch. Somner scored and I think we went joint top or second? As a relatively young boy I was dreaming we might win the thing or at least get into Europe. Alas we faded badly but the hope of that game stayed with me for years. It may never have left me... Was ther not another gap due to frozen pitches after that and when we resumed after the postponements we lost 3-0 at parkhead and it went downhill after that ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fifexile Posted June 8, 2024 Report Share Posted June 8, 2024 13 hours ago, dl1971 said: I'm going with thistle v aberdeen in season 76/77. Winter time and we played Aberdeen in front of 13000 on a frost laden pitch. Somner scored and I think we went joint top or second? As a relatively young boy I was dreaming we might win the thing or at least get into Europe. Alas we faded badly but the hope of that game stayed with me for years. It may never have left me... Was that the game that either bbc or stv built the temporary camera platform at the edge of the shed in the home end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FleetwoodJagreborn Posted June 8, 2024 Report Share Posted June 8, 2024 Getting chased out the ground at Dens park, running back to our Erskine supporters bus and the scum smashing our bus window and was bloody freezing all the way home on the bus ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partickthedog Posted June 8, 2024 Report Share Posted June 8, 2024 15 hours ago, dl1971 said: I'm going with thistle v aberdeen in season 76/77. Winter time and we played Aberdeen in front of 13000 on a frost laden pitch. Somner scored and I think we went joint top or second? As a relatively young boy I was dreaming we might win the thing or at least get into Europe. Alas we faded badly but the hope of that game stayed with me for years. It may never have left me... I was at that game. For some reason all I can remember is that Joe Harper was playing for Aberdeen and took a lot of verbal abuse. I am fairly sure that the 1-0 win put us in second place in the league, one point behind one or other of the OF. Veering off topic (apologies), have we ever been top of the top league? The nearest in my memory was 2014-2015 when we played Dundee United in the first game of the season, which was televised, so it was the day before the other fixtures. We drew 0-0, so even with our point, we were second in alphabetical order. A win would of course have put us top. We then went on to beat Ross County and take the lead against Hearts. I am sure that put us top of the real time league table before Hearts unfortunately equalised. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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