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1971 League Cup Final


Lenziejag
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I have just been given a programme from that game.

 

All Jags fans from that time I am sure will be able to rhyme off the team :- Rough Hansen Forsyth Glavin Campbell and Strachan McQuade Coulston Bone Rae and Lawrie sub Gibson.

 

A couple of things I didn’t know from that day. Listed on the pool of players expected to play at no 4 was Charlie Smith. I don’t remember that name so I looked in the wee blurb about each player. It says he was Thistles most expensive buy - 8K from Falkirk.

Another fact I hadn’t realised from that game - Alex Rae scored the 100th goal in League Cup finals

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Charlie Smith was hard as nails. He made a major contribution to our great '70-71 promotion-winning season, and did a great job of taming much of the h u n threat in the famous 3-2 game at Firhill.

 

Unfortunately, I've read and heard that he passed away, but have never been able to find any confirmation.

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Charlie Smith was one of my favourite players of that time. I thought he was very unfortunate not to be involved in the final but Ronnie Glavin did a pretty good job that day, and quite a few more! We could probably do with somebody in that mould these days.

Edited by Lithgae Jag
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To add: Mr McP's foresight and intuition regarding players was bordering on supernatural. Not only did he 'make' Ronnie Glavin, but Alex Forsyth's conversion to what we would now recognise as a wing back, from centre forward, was phenomenal. And what about the great Jackie Campbell's reassignment from right back to peerless centre half? Simultaneously accommodating the introduction of a certain John Hansen at right back.

 

Mr McParland will always, and rightly, be held as our greatest servant, but sometimes when I look back I think he was even more influential than we might've given him credit for.

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I thought Charlie added a "toughness" to the midfield and enjoyed watching him play.

 

He's one of the early 70's guys who did a fine job in a Thistle strip that I rarely see mentioned in the forum.

The other one is Joe Craig.

 

I find it hard to disagree with you, t4c1. For me, when Smith was good, he was very good. But when he was off he could be dodgy. Maybe that was in part due to fitness - I recall him being out of action with injuries a few times more than average, which left him looking rusty. Just how I remember things.

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I remember Charlie Smith but was too young back then to give much of an assessment of his abilities as a player. He was a regular in the side which was relegated in 1969/70 and the promotion winning side in the following season. He started the 1971/72 in the first team but David McParland converted Ronnie Glavin from a promising centre forward into a midfielder and Charlie Smith never won back his place. As I have posted before on here before, Ronnie is my favourite Thistle player - he could make tackles, pass the ball, dribble and score goals too.

 

We had paid what in those days was big money for the Club when we signed Charlie Smith from Falkirk but no transfer fees were paid for any of the famous 12 who played in the League Cup Final...Alex Rae and Hugh Strachan were experienced pros signed as free transfers and all the others were Thistle products.

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