Jump to content

Happy Anniversary!


Jaggernaut
 Share

Recommended Posts

Is that when they were the support act for Mott The Hoople?

 

Queen were touring on their own at the time. They were virtually unknown, but the night before their Stirling gig they appeared for the first time on TOTP ("Seven Seas of Rhye"). Nobody was prepared for the hundreds of extra folk that turned up from Stirling and elsewhere on the Friday night; it was actually mayhem.

 

This was well before just about all of Queen's hits, so apart from SSoR I don't remember any other songs, except I do remember thinking "F*** it, this is really loud!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

I always regret that it wasn't shown on tv..... or was it? Same as yon SC semi against the Govan outfit in 1979... best 0-0 game I ever saw, with a blatantly valid Thistle goal getting blatantly unfairly disallowed.

 

 

Not sure if the Falkirk semi-final highlights were shown. Maybe on the same night?

 

Yes, the Govan mob clearly benefited from H*n-friendly officials that night. Their latter day persecution complex is one of society's great ironies.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

Not sure if the Falkirk semi-final highlights were shown. Maybe on the same night?

 

Yes, the Govan mob clearly benefited from H*n-friendly officials that night. Their latter day persecution complex is one of society's great ironies.

 

Referee IMD Foote and as Robert Reid eloquently says in his Boardroom Banter should be IMD Flute!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was only 11 months old, but my whole family were at the game.

Not sure who was baby sitting. Lol.

We lived in the tenement at the Cowcaddens end of the Garscube Road. It's one of the last standing in that area.

The one above the shop next to the red ash pitch.

 

I'm the proud owner of a ticket from that day, passed on to me from an uncle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure many have read this before, but I'll post anyway for the benefit of those who haven't.

 

As told by John Hansen.........

 

===========================================================================

 

 

''In Scotland, it's League Cup final day at Hampden Park, where Celtic meet Partick Thistle, who have no chance." Those were Sam Leitch's closing words on Grandstand's Football Focus on Saturday, Oct 23, 1971.

 

Not a single voice across the nation was raised in dissent. Who could argue with such a pronouncement? Managed by the great Jock Stein, Celtic were in the midst of a reign which would bring them nine successive League championships, a team bristling with internationals such as Jimmy Johnstone, Kenny Dalglish, Bobby Murdoch, Tommy Gemmell, Lou Macari and Davie Hay. The previous season they had demolished Don Revie's Leeds United on their swaggering adventure to the European Cup final against Feyenoord.

 

Oh, yes, Sam was right, Thistle had no chance. Newly-promoted from the second division and with an average age of under 22, the club had been the butt of every music hall comedian for the best part of a century ("I grew up thinking they were called Partick Thistle Nil" – Billy Connolly), their only claim to fame a Scottish Cup victory in 1921.

 

And then the teleprinter in the BBC studio began to chicka-chicka-chicka. . . Celtic 0, Partick 1 (Alex Rae 9 minutes). . . Celtic 0, Partick 2 (Bobby Lawrie 15). . . Celtic 0 Partick 3 (Denis McQuade 27). . . Celtic 0, Partick 4 (Jimmy Bone 37).

 

The official attendance at kick-off had been 62,470 but by the second half the crowd had swelled as many thousands of Rangers' fans – alerted to the extraordinary happenings at Hampden – departed Ibrox by car, taxi, bus and train to witness their bitter rivals' humiliation in what was turning out to be the greatest cup final upset of all time.

 

Among the stunned faces in the grandstand was 16-year-old Alan Hansen, on the Thistle books as a provisional schoolboy signing, but there in the front row to cheer on his older brother, John, playing at right-back. "It was unbelievable then and do you know what, 35 years on, it's still as unbelievable today," recalls Hansen the elder with a fond smile.

 

''This was Celtic, the best team in Britain. Even without Billy McNeill who was injured, they were frightening. We didn't even want to go out on the pitch to take a look round before the game because they were out there. When we did venture out, Lou Macari came over to wish me well and say, 'At least you'll be going home with a runners-up medal'. He wasn't being mischievous, he was being kind. Of course, we'd no chance. Some of us were full-timers, but goalie Alan Rough had just qualified as an electrician, centre-half Jackie Campbell was a draughtsman, striker Frank Coulston was a PE teacher, and teenage winger Denis McQuade was studying Classics at Glasgow Uni. The year before most of us had been playing for Thistle reserves against Glasgow Police and Glasgow Transport.

 

''The whole thing was surreal. We didn't stay in a hotel overnight as every cup final team now does, so, because I didn't have car, I caught a bus from my home in Tullibody to Stirling on the morning of the game, the train from Stirling to Glasgow Queen Street, then another bus up to Firhill to board the team coach. On the journey to Hampden our manager, Davie McParland, told us we could win because he was paid to say that kind of nothing, but nothing he could say was going to convince us that we stood any hope at all. I mean, how could I even be thinking about winning the cup when I had the job of marking wee Jinky Johnstone? What a player and such a nice guy you could never bring yourself to kick him. Whenever you played against Jimmy he kept up a running conversation. 'OK, big yin, try harder to get the ball this time' he'd say. 'Jimmy,' I'd plead, 'just go past me and cross the ball, will you?' But no, he'd go past, then double back to beat you again. . . and just maybe a third time."

 

But Thistle, who played a cavalier 4-2-4 formation, were a team of emerging talents; goalkeeper Alan Rough would make 53 appearances for Scotland — ''Brilliant shot-stopper," remembers Hansen, "but not so good on crosses. 'My ball' he'd shout, followed a few seconds later by, 'I've changed my mind'." Alex Forsyth (later of Manchester United) and Hansen snr, would become international full-backs, Ronnie Glavin was the thinking man's Rivelino in midfield, strikers Bone and Coulston had a telepathic understanding and while left-winger Bobby Lawrie was the 'Human Bullet', on the left-touchline 'Daft' Denis McQuade could be Pele or Basil Fawlty, depending on his whim.

 

''We'd beaten Motherwell 7-2 earlier in the season but lost 8-3 at Pittodrie, so you never really know which Thistle would show up. Throughout history the club had been known as the 'great unpredictables', but we made unpredictability into an art form. That's why even at half-time, the general consensus in the dressing room was that though we'd probably lose 5-4, at least we weren't going to get gubbed. When did the realisation dawn that we might actually win the cup? With about 10 minutes to go when we were leading 4-1 (Dalglish having scored in the 67th minute) and the Thistle fans suddenly began singing."

 

Hansen describes the closing minutes and the subsequent trophy presentation 'as a blur, though I do remember spotting young Al in the crowd') before it was back to Firhill to change into their finery for the celebration party in the Buchanan Hotel. "Typical Thistle, when we got back to the ground, no one could find a key to the front door. With all the TV cameras there to film our jubilant home-coming, it was all highly embarrassing."

Edited by thistle4celtic1
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good article, but ''We'd beaten Motherwell 7-2 earlier in the season but lost 8-3 at Pittodrie" - scores the wrong way round and both games after the Cup Final I'm sure. Either bad journalism or JH's memory is hazy :) Also, I'm pretty sure Jinky Johnstone would have been up against Alex Forsyth on the other wing, not JH

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forty-six years ago today..... For those of us who were there, the best day ever as a Jags fan! (The second best is up for debate; for me it would be the promotion-winning game at Love St.)

 

I'm guessing Denis was either in the gents or at the bar when this one got taken.

 

IMG_20170826_205129.jpg

Of course 23rd was the great day, not 22nd...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...