Comments on: Thistle Team Photos 1

By: JOHN WHITELAW

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:54:10 +0000

Yes reading posts on this site has certainly tested my memory and am open to be corrected if I have got anything wrong. I have seen the Jags only twice in the years since I left. Both times they lost so I must be a jinx!! I preferred playing to watching but have enjoyed this nostalgic walk down memory lane. I don’t remember the chained up dog but do remember some bears and gorillas in their team! Somebody did say to me ( think it was Arthur Whiteside ) before our game that Perthshire had played a team from up north a season or so before in the Junior Cup. After the game they discovered their dressing room had been totally cleaned out. The poor souls had to make the journey back up north in their football gear. Am sure Hughie can confirm or correct.

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By: exiled

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 08:36:34 +0000

Thanks John.
Funny how the passing of the years plays tricks with memory.
Great days.
No game nowadays would ever be played on such a pitch.
I remember the old Perthshire setup very well, can you remember they had a mangy mutt- the Glasgow equivalent of the hound of the baskervilles – chained up outside their “pavilion ”
An earlier or later ( cant remember ) Jags team had their clothes stolen there once.

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By: hugh kerr

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:43:40 +0000

I remember Johnny as well I recall we were playing at Yoker in what I think was a Scottish tie the referee pulled Johnnny over to book him for a tackle but after hearing his name said i will let you off this time but don’t do it again.The Bellshill game was a replay which eventually took place after 5 attempts. to play it after we had cleared snow from the pitch.My big mate Willie Anderson picked you up from the station. Sadly Willie is no longer with us.

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By: JOHN WHITELAW

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:27:48 +0000

Hi, I scored with a header in the 1- 1 draw at Bellshill. I recall they printed a programme but I didn’t keep it unfortunately. I was up in Aberdeen for Christmas and returned to play in the replay which must have been around 28 th Dec. A committee member picked me up at Queen St Station. It was touch and go about the game being on. But it went ahead on a treacherous icy bone hard pitch. We won 5 – 2 as I remember but doubt I scored 4 goals. Possibly a hat trick. I was more chuffed with a hat trick I scored against Glasgow Perthshire in a league game down there on an ash pitch and changing rooms akin to a Beirut Hotel. The two bears at centre back were threatening to break my legs. I believed them! Glad we didnae wash our own shorts.!! So it was nice to stick 3 in the pokey and get it right up them.

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By: exiled

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:01:45 +0000

John, you are correct re the game at Aberdeen.
Didnt you score 4 goals in a crushing defeat of Bellshill on a snowbound Gasworks Park in the Scottish?

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By: JOHN WHITELAW

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:17:09 +0000

My posting was a wee bit ambiguous. I should clarify that Chris tried to talk me out of signing for Carluke not in getting married. As it ended in divorce maybe he should have. Will be 60 in May so time does fly ! A colleague who retired a year before me was Robert Biagloglowski (known as Robert A to Z ) He signed for the Thistle in my 2nd season from PO Phones, but was often on Johnny s treatment table He too had happy memories of our time at Gasworks PK

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By: hugh kerr

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:00:03 +0000

my goodness John we have finally found out something good about Chris we are both back in the thick of things again me as treasurer and chris as v.p. It;s always nice to hear from old players and maybe someday soon we might see you at a home game. Did not think you were retirement age but how time flies.

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By: JOHN WHITELAW

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:44:50 +0000

HI Hughie, Yes if post 1999 then guilty as charged as I moved back to Centre 1 in Oct of that year. I retired recently and my new found time allowed me to browse this site with fond memories. There`s nowt wrong with your memory as I did end up in the Western Infirmary getting stitched up after the DH game, made worse as ash had not been properly cleaned out the wound. Thanks for the compliments. One regret I have is leaving the Thistle to play for Carluke as I was marrying a girl and moving there. I was naive and should have listened to Chris who tried to talk me out of it !!

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By: hugh kerr

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:55:12 +0000

Your correct John because wee Willie Mckinlay left us the following season and went on to win the Scottish with Cumnock 1n 1979.The game was played at the links playing fields just up the road from Pittodrie.Are you by any chance a tax inspector or work at centre 1 e.k. When I was made redundant from Hoover I worked there for 1 year and I am sure I saw you or your double when I was arriving to start the 5-10 shift. Ali Duff was some poacher he could not tackle to save himself but he could not half take a chance . He averaged 40plus goals every season he was with us. You were not a slooch yourself when it came to scoring goals and I can recall a game at the now defunct Duntocher Hibs where you ended up with a nasty cut on your shin and I was fined £10 by the league for words with the referee who I believe was a Dr. Cathcart who duly reported me as he had not properly checked the boots of the players resulting in your injury. Even if you are a taxman we will forgive you as you gave us many good days when you wore the red and white

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By: JOHN WHITELAW

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:07:37 +0000

Re comment about a game in Aberdeen near Pittodrie. In the run in the Junior Cup that ended in February 1977 infamously at Rob Roy , we played a preliminary tie against Aberdeen Parkvale. It must have been circa November 1976· We won 4 _ 1 as I recall and for a change I scored a couple of goals ( usually it was Alistair Duff …poacher supreme) Aberdeen were actually playing Dundee United more or less at the same time as our game was going on. One of them won 3 _ 2 as I recall. The Thistle took us up on the Friday and put us up in the Douglas HOTEL just off Union St. Willie McKinley ran a quiz on the bus on the way up which Billy Henderson won ( well he was a teacher) His prize was a De Luxe malt whiskey box (which only contained a miniature on opening it up ) Could this be the same trip/ game / time? The previous season I remember us being knocked out early doors away at Yoker by 2 _ 1 but not playing any Aberdeen team. Hope this helps.

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