McCall can’t wait to welcome home Thistle legends of ’71

IAN McCALL reckons the word “legend” gets thrown around a lot these days but the Partick Thistle manager is adamant it is the only fitting term to describe the class of ’71 as the Jags gear up for the celebrations of the 50-year anniversary of their sole League Cup triumph tomorrow.

Jock Stein’s Celtic were humbled in the 1971 showpiece occasion as Thistle pulled off one of the greatest shocks in Scottish football history, racing into a 4-0 lead at the interval and surviving a second-half barrage to seal a remarkable 4-1 victory over one of Europe’s greatest teams.

The 1971 team will be at Firhill for tomorrow’s Championship clash with Dunfermline, and McCall is determined to send them home smiling.

“It would be great just to win,” he said. “It is a big, big day for the club and we have all sorts of things organised. I’ll be going over to hospitality before the kick-off to speak to everyone and that’s something I never do but I’m going to do it on Saturday because it’s the 1971 team.

“I don’t know whether that brings extra pressure but ... the word legend is bandied about way too often.

“If you win seven trophies at Celtic or Rangers then you’re a legend. Well, I’m sorry but you’re not. These guys, though, are bonafide legends because what they did 50 years ago was really special.”

Thistle’s free-scoring start to the season – they have racked up 23 goals in nine outings – has thrilled their supporters at this early stage of the campaign. The strike partnership of Brian Graham and Zak Rudden has been particularly fruitful.

“To score 10 goals in two league games is very good,” McCall added. “Brian Graham, since he joined, contributes an awful lot.

“He’s well above one in two and Rudden is always going to score goals. We’re a team with an awful lot of confidence and long may that continue.”