Golden Years
Trip down memory lane:
these are worrying times for partick thistle fans.
As things stand, the Jags are heading down to Scotland’s third tier after SPFL clubs passed a resolution to end the season.
Many supporters will hope league reconstruction helps the club and they can bounce back in the way they did 50 years ago.
Thistle legend Alex Rae was looking for his career to get a boost when he arrived at Firhill in the summer of 1970.
He turned down the chance to play in the First Division to join the recently-relegated Jags. It was to be a life-changing decision. He recalled: “I’d spent the previous season with Bury in England’s Third Division.
“I’d been signed by Les Shannon, but he was off to manage Blackpool before I could unpack my boots.
“We had Jimmy Meadows in charge for a spell, and then Jack Marshall for seven games.
“They then appointed Les Hart, who was the physio, as manager. I think that was a financial decision.
“There were some good young footballers coming through but the results were mixed.
“Terry McDermott was just emerging and Jimmy Kerr was a midfielder I knew from the Boys Brigade in Glasgow.
“He had incredible ability, and I’m certain he would have played for Scotland but for suffering a bad knee injury.
“If Bury kept me on at the end of the season, they had to give East Fife an extra payment on top of the £10,000 transfer fee. That led to me being released and coming back to Scotland.
“There were a few offers, but only two that I really considered.
“I had a long chat with St Mirren manager Alex Wright. But Partick Thistle offered me better money.
“I’d been an apprentice printer and I didn’t want to go back to that.”
Joining a club trying to recover from the drop didn’t worry Alex.
He went on: “I had no qualms at all about joining Thistle.
“Davie McParland told me all about his young players coming through.
“He wanted to build the team around a few experienced players. I was an experienced one at the age of 23!
“There was also Hugh Strachan and Donnie MacKinnon at the back.
“I was impressed straight away with the style Davie had encouraged.
“It was attacking football with a method. “I played in front of Alex Forsyth. But I was often in the left-back position more than him.
“He would go bombing forward and I would slot back into his role.”
Thistle clinched the Second Division title on this day in 1971.
Six months later, Alex was becoming the first Jags’ captain to lift a major trophy in 50 years.
A 4-1 win over Celtic in the League Cup Final shocked the football world.
Alex, who scored one of the goals, wasn’t among those surprised by the victory.
He said: “In the week before the Final, I went out for a bite to eat with Alan Rough, Bobby Lawrie and Ronnie Glavin.
“Ronnie told us he’d had a dream, and we were going to win the cup.
“That was good enough for me.
“The game certainly changed my life socially. People still talk to me about it.”
Alex, now 73, had another spell at East Fife, then played for Cowdenbeath and Forfar.
He’s far from pleased at seeing Partick Thistle relegated in the way they were.
He said: “There’s something that’s not morally right about it.
“I feel there should be an independent investigation into the way things have been done.”