Partick Thistle

The Jags: Glasgow's red-and-yellow pride.

Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland, and currently plays in the Scottish Championship. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) since its formation in 2013, having previously been members of the Scottish Football League.

Quick Facts

Primary venue: Firhill Stadium

Lore & Background

Partick Thistle was formed in 1876 in the burgh of Partick. The club's first recorded match (and victory) took place in February against a local junior team named Valencia. The location of this match was recorded as 'Overnewton Park'. In 1891 Thistle joined the Scottish Football Alliance.

The club won the Second Division championship in 1897 and were elected to the First Division. In 1900 they were elected back to the top level, having finished as Second Division champions again. In 1921 Thistle won the Scottish Cup, beating Rangers 1–0 in the final. On 23 October 1971 Davie McParland's team secured the club's most famous result against Jock Stein's Celtic in the League Cup final at Hampden Park, winning 4–1 with goals from Alex Rae, Bobby Lawrie and Jimmy Bone.

In 1998 the club was close to going bankrupt and was only kept afloat by the fan-organised 'Save the Jags' campaign. In 2013, they became inaugural members of the newly-formed Scottish Premiership under the management of Alan Archibald, and remained there for five consecutive seasons.

Reader's Guide

Partick Thistle play at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill district of Glasgow. They played their first home match at Firhill on 18 September 1909, in a 3–1 victory against Dumbarton Harp. Since 1936, Thistle have played in their distinctive red-and-yellow jerseys of varying designs, with hoops, stripes and predominantly yellow tops with red trims having been used, although in 2009 a centenary kit was launched in the original navy-blue style to commemorate 100 years at Firhill. Since 1908 the club have won the Scottish Second Division (third tier, now Scottish League One) twice and the Scottish First Division (second tier, now the Scottish Championship) six times, most recently in 2013. Thistle have won the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup in 1921 and 1971 respectively.