Today I'm going back exactly 10 years to 2012 and my trip North of the Border to visit "Firhill for Thrills", home of Partick Thistle and their home Irn-Bru League Division 1 (second tier) fixture against Hamilton Academical (or Accies as they were termed on the cover of the programme). I was up in Scotland with the aim of watching two games that weekend and I had a ticket for Hearts against Dundee the following day. I chose Partick as my other game as I was interested to take in a match involving Glasgow's "other club" but I was one of only 2,603 who chose to spend their Saturday afternoon there. Just be careful if you do want to go and watch Partick: their stadium is in the Maryhill area of Glasgow and they haven't played in Partick since 1908!
That phrase "Firhill for thrills" has been around for upwards of 60 years and was probably coined by the press in acknowledgement of the swashbuckling style of Thistle back then. Thistle are known as "The Jags" (taken from the Scottish term Jaggy Thistle) and the nickname has spawned a disturbing (some would say terrifying) club mascot Kingsley who was designed by Turner Prize nominated artist David Shrigley. Hartlepool's H'Angus the Monkey (remember him?) declared that Kingsley would bring shame on the good name of mascots and Kingsley is certainly striking enough to make one girl "wet my pants". Such fun don't you think?
Perhaps Firhill should be nicknamed "Firhill for no frills" as the ground has obviously seen better days. When I visited, the stand on the far side where the players come out wasn't otherwise in use and behind one goal is a grassy bank, devoid of any terracing and hence not open to fans. Strangely (to me anyway), The Jags wore an all black kit against Hamilton rather than the anticipated red and yellow hoops. Perhaps there were concerns about a clash with Hamilton's red and white hoops but I don't think that would have been a big issue myself.
It took Thistle until the 41st minute to take the initiative with a goal scored by Sean Welsh who bundled home a loose ball which had bounced off the crossbar from a corner kick. 1-0 at halftime became 2-0 on the hour mark following a goal line header scored by Steven Craig (I would have fancied it myself). Five minutes later Steven Lawless made it three from the edge of the six yard box and, with four minutes remaining Steven Craig wrapped up the scoring for the afternoon. 4-0 was a bit harsh on Hamilton but Partick were well worth their win.
Partick's manager? Well that was York City's soon-to-be nemesis Jackie McNamara. However, at this time (brace yourselves York fans), McNamara was a successful manager and Partick Thistle were promoted into the Scottish Premiership that season with McNamara at the helm until January 2013 when he resigned to take up the manager's post at Dundee United. Player-manager Alan Archibald finished off the job that McNamara had started with Partick becoming champions and being promoted to the Scottish Premiership.
CRB Match No. 1914
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