brodieboy Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 Does anyone have any information regarding the former player the Aitken Suite was named after? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 Just off the top of my head, I don't think he was ever a player, but the Chairman and/or President, with a long history of association with and working for the club. Might be wrong, though.... More knowledgeable people will surely be along soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uberteeb Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 Just off the top of my head, I don't think he was ever a player, but the Chairman and/or President, with a long history of association with and working for the club. Might be wrong, though.... More knowledgeable people will surely be along soon. Afraid not, its only me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy davie Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 Yeah - sorry mate. I know sfa about it as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partickthedog Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 I do not know much about him either but I vaguely recollect from one of the history books that he also had some link with West of Scotland Rugby Club and he was responsible for Thistle adopting West's red and yellow colours. To digress for a moment, has anyone else realised that the classic John Lennon/Yoko Ono song "So this is Christmas" gives special mention to "The Yellow and Red Ones"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicofan Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 Just off the top of my head, I don't think he was ever a player, but the Chairman and/or President, with a long history of association with and working for the club. Might be wrong, though.... More knowledgeable people will surely be along soon. Yes James Aitken I'm sure Cant really add any more I'm afraid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carefulpuntgeorge Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 Jimmy Aitken was a life-long supporter and contributor to Partick Thistle. A batchelor whose life was Partick Thistle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 I do not know much about him either but I vaguely recollect from one of the history books that he also had some link with West of Scotland Rugby Club and he was responsible for Thistle adopting West's red and yellow colours. Jimmy Aitken and Tom Reid were two W o S rugby players who were allowed training facilities at Firhill. The red & yellow rugby tops they were wearing impressed one of our directors at a time that coincided with our desire to change from blue. That's what prompted the colour change. Incidently Tom Reid went on to become Chairman. I've no idea whether Jimmy Aitken was a Jags fan before or even during this time but it would be difficult to attend Jags games and play rugby as well. I imagine back then that both rugby & football were almost entirely played Saturday afternoons. Folk worked on Saturday mornings, sport on Sundays was a no-no and there was no floodlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpool Jags Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 Jimmy Aitken was a life-long supporter and contributor to Partick Thistle. A batchelor whose life was Partick Thistle. On the assumption that he's no longer with us, I'm sure he'd have been horrified if he'd known that we would end up selling Fosters 'lager' in the room named after him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winter of '63 Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 My Partick Thistle Souvenir Handbook 1972/73 contains a message from Chairman James R Aitken. He looks back on the past season as one of the most memorable in the Club's history and looks forward to competing in Europe...a different era. Mind you, he regularly stated that the Board had to repay the loyalty shown by the fans by keeping the team together, then sold Jimmy Bone at a knock-down price. From the photo, he looks in his 60's then and he had a lifetime connection with the club as a fan & board member. He was definitely credited with introducing the red & yellow hoops to the club through some connection with West of Scotland Rugby Club. Although he kept a low profile, he was also an Office-Holder with the SFA. He was Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee which handed out a suspension to a St Mirren player a few days before Thistle were due to play at Love St. Saints' firebrand young manager was widely quoted in the papers complaining about bias against his team. Our manager Bertie Auld said that Mr Aitken was too much of a gentleman to be become involved...but Bertie wasn't and after several days of verbal abuse between the managers a crowd of over 10,000 turned up to see Thistle win. I don't know if the Saints boss learnt a lesson on how to conduct himself - his name was Alex Ferguson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hosie Posted May 26, 2010 Report Share Posted May 26, 2010 Mr Aitken, and it was always Mr Aitken, was an absolute gentleman. I had the pleasure of travelling with him on the bus to away games for a number of years. One of the highlights of my time with the Thistle programme was Mr Aitken taking the time to compliment me on one of the programmes and told me how much he enjoyed reading it. Coming from a man of that stature that was high praise indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ma Ba' Posted May 27, 2010 Report Share Posted May 27, 2010 (edited) Will check this out, but was he not President (or some other position of office) at the SFA in '71 as well as Chairman of PTFC? also Tom Reid was I believe one of the Reid brothers that owned PTFC and Reids of Partick..now Gallus at the bottom of Church Street. just a thought, I think he might merit an article in a programme highlighting his contribution to the club. Edited May 27, 2010 by Ma Ba' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdangerous Posted May 27, 2010 Report Share Posted May 27, 2010 As a wee boy in the early sixties, I used to get the run of Firhill during the summer holidays (my Granny worked there and made the tea for all the players). I was introduced to Mr Aitken a couple of times. I've no doubt Tom Hosie is right in saying he was a gentleman, but he was a very imposing figure to a wee boy like me. Unlike Jackie Husband, who used to let me play snooker on the players' table and spent hours drawing cartoons for me. Happy days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hosie Posted May 27, 2010 Report Share Posted May 27, 2010 Will check this out, but was he not President (or some other position of office) at the SFA in '71 as well as Chairman of PTFC? also Tom Reid was I believe one of the Reid brothers that owned PTFC and Reids of Partick..now Gallus at the bottom of Church Street. just a thought, I think he might merit an article in a programme highlighting his contribution to the club. He was indeed President of the SFL which is why played a role in the trophy presentation. In that capacity he had an atricle in the final programme where he hoped he would be forgiven for being biased in terms of who he hoped won. Re your last point. I think that is a fantastic idea. We would, of course, have carried an obituary when he died and I interviewed him for the programme mid 90s. Well worth digging out those two articles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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