Jags need the Lambie magic to beat drop
I just thought he was a mad, crazy man, but what he did was a minor miracle
POIGNANT reflections upon the past will mix with a pressing need to influence the future at Firhill tomorrow.
Partick Thistle announced yesterday that the North Stand of their ground will be renamed after legendary manager John Lambie, who died earlier this month, aged 77.
New signage will be in place when Hamilton, another club who benefited from Lambie’s idiosyncratic style, visit for an immensely significant fixture in the contest to avoid relegation.
Lambie’s family will be guests of honour at the match, while a minute’s applause will be held in his memory. Come kick-off, there could hardly be a more fitting tribute than to recreate some of the old magic the great man once summoned within this ground.
Current Thistle manager Alan Archibald was a trainee during Lambie’s second stint in charge and a key player when the freeswearing, cigar-smoking, pigeonkick fancier returned again to lead the club back to the top division via successive promotions.
Recollections of those days bring a smile to Archibald’s face. Despite a budget lower than many of their competitors, Lambie kept Thistle up before stepping down in May 2003.
Typically, he marked the occasion by singing a song for an adoring Maryhill public.
Archibald will not be reaching for the microphone any time soon. Bottom of the Premiership by a point — and five points short of the safety of tenth place — his side’s five bottom-six fixtures offer a final shot at redemption.
It’s a testing scenario for all involved.
But Archibald will know Thistle could do far worse than approach it with the determination so often seen in Lambie’s days.
‘He came and saved the club again when we were a penalty away from going down,’ said Archibald of his old boss.
‘He galvanised people and gave them the self-confidence to go and play.
‘Listen, sometimes he wouldn’t talk to you for a week and then he would start you on Saturday. That’s the way he was. He got the best out of players and the club. ‘He was a great guy. ‘I didn’t always respect the way he did things when I was a 16-year-old — I just thought he was a mad, crazy man.
‘When I walked into Firhill at 16, there was a half-naked guy screaming at me to get off the effin’ stairs! I wasn’t allowed to cross him on the stairs because of superstition.
‘That’s the kind of character he was. When he came back again, I played under him and he was outstanding.
‘It was a minor miracle that he did what he did. He didn’t always get the plaudits because of the character he was.
‘Everyone focused on the madness and the cigars and the crazy trips to Blackpool.
‘But he was a very good manager, getting back-to-back promotions and staying in the league with a very small budget.
‘He did something years ago that people speak about now when I go on courses.
‘They talk about creating an environment within a club. John did that back then, but we didn’t know he was doing it.
‘It was everything from getting good kit men in to make the club a friendly place to signing good players. Not always the best players, but the right people for the dressing room at the right time. He was fantastic at that.’
Pleasure Beach rides weren’t required to leave heads spinning on Lambie’s jaunts to Blackpool. Oceans of booze were sunk in an old-school method of squadbonding that Archibald hasn’t been tempted to reprise.
‘I’m on a rollercoaster,’ he deadpanned.
‘Blackpool was just madness. ‘We would go down there on the Sunday, the Monday and usually the Tuesday for the pigeon convention. Then we would play in the Scottish Cup on the Saturday. It was what it was — a drinking session.
‘I remember we signed new players who turned up at the hotel to meet us and ask where the training facilities were.
‘He (Lambie) just turned and went: “There they are there, son.” He was pointing to the beach! That was it. But we went out the following Saturday and got a performance.’
A performance is the least Thistle need this weekend. After finishing sixth last season, this term has been one long tale of woe. So much so, in fact, that winger Chris Erskine called for the club’s Player of the Year award to be scrapped when he found out he had been nominated.
After a run of four straight defeats — and no goals in five matches — the mood of tomorrow night’s awards dinner will be determined by what happens on the pitch against Hamilton.
‘I would bin all Player of the Year awards,’ argued Archibald.
‘‘I didn’t like them when we were in the top six. It is all about the team for me.
‘I understand where Chris is coming from and I think he is right. The last thing anyone wants is to stand up and get an award when you are at the bottom end of the league table because you can’t have played well if you are there.
‘I will be honest, like Chris, I don’t even know who picked the nominations. It should be open to the whole squad because I don’t think anyone has done well enough individually and that’s why we are where we are. But the club have commitments to sponsors and it isn’t as if we decided just to have a dance last week, it has been arranged for a year. There are the whole academy awards, too, not just the first-team ones.’
Securing their livelihoods will be of greater concern to many Thistle players. Contract renewals have to be put on hold until the club know what division they will be in next season.
‘I think everyone understands that,’ added Archibald (below). ‘Half the squad are up this summer. I say to the lads all the time they are playing for their futures — either here or elsewhere.
‘Other managers might be looking and saying: “If they go down, we’ll take one or two of their players”.
‘Regardless of whether it is about staying here or getting a contract elsewhere, you have a responsibility to look after yourself. That is football. ‘I know we are on a bad run but things are still in our own hands. It is like a new mini-league starting after the split and we have a chance to get out of trouble.’