I mentioned last week that I had quite a number of old Thistle programmes so I thought I’d compare one from September 2008 with today’s masterclass version.

£1 got you a 40-page programme which had the usual mix of results, various league tables, player stats and adverts. Interestingly some advertisers from fifteen years ago still provide welcome support for your team so let’s give a big thanks to Ye Olde Anchor Inn and Largs Rangers Supporters Club.

We had raised some funds at a coffee morning earlier that month, we also had the Largs Thistle Patron’s 200 Club at £5 per month (still the same today) and a Lucky Numbers competition which cost 50p. Choose 4 numbers and if they were amongst the 6 numbers drawn in the National Lottery you would win the jackpot which stood at £1850.

There was a page written by The Pie Spy. He/she was very complimentary about our own ‘Steak Pie wi peas and HP sauce’ but reckoned that their recent culinary experience at Kilwinning was even better. Some quotes. ‘The two wifies in the Pie Stall were tickityboo’, ‘steak pies wur good’, ‘a credit tae Junior fitba and the girls wur gud wi the banter’.

A Referee Watch showed stats on which man in the middle dished out the most yellow and red cards. We’d played 9 games and had received 29 yellow and 1 double yellow. Our opponents had received a measly 24 yellows and a fully merited 3 red cards. John McCrossan gave our players 8 yellow and 2^nd yellow in our defeat to the angelic East Kilbride Thistle who received 2 yellow cards. Ross Haswell had been ref at two of our games, any relation to Calum?

The Super League Premier had some surprising names competing in it, apologies to Neilston, Bellshill and Vale of Clyde. We were in the First Division and the Ayrshire District League had Darvel and Troon in their ranks. Johnstone Burgh were in the Central League top division.

Another page included betting odds for the fixtures, we were 4/7 to beat Port Glasgow and won 5-0 to go second top, one point behind Lanark United. If you had punted £2 on a treble which included the 3 teams which won that day you’d have been spending £6.91 winnings in your favourite post-match hostelry.

There were news stories from around the leagues. Girvan had been thrown out of the League Cup for fielding 5 ineligible players and were facing a fine of £500. Glenafton had been fined £200 and docked 3 points for fielding two players who hadn’t been reinstated to the Juniors.

We had a squad of 18 players whilst the Port had 23, many signed for Largs soon after. Our top scorer was James Marks and I think he’s the only one from either squad still playing today. The guys who we signed from the Port were Paul Coyle, Sean Graham, Tam Jamieson, Andy Monaghan, Kevin Struthers and Eddie Walton.

Hopefully you enjoy reading our matchday programme, enjoy the game as well.

I saw a cracking pic on social media when we played Jeanfield Swifts, it was fellow programme contributor Calum Corral with ex-player Gary Davidson.

Gary knows that I’m an avid collector of Theesel memorabilia and previously sent me his 2010 Scottish Cup Final top, also a polo shirt which he wore on that sweltering hot day at Rugby Park. His top is now framed and joins other framed items on my museum wall such as Stephen Connick’s gloves from our playoff win v Ashfield (and his 2013 Testimonial programme), Adam Russel’s shorts from the 1994 Final and a ‘Fryfare of Largs’ 1990s sponsored top from George Wall.

George also provided a red and white top (sponsor was Big Apple Leisure), canvas pics of our victorious West of Scotland Cup and Scottish Cup teams and an Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald Cup Finalist 1991 shield. He tells me that there was a wee bit of naughtiness during that game v beith. The shield sits next to Martin Dow’s 2010 Junior Cup Runners Up medal and a Stagecoach Super League 1^st Division winners medal from 2009.

Our greatly missed Pat Rall gave lots to me: 1994 Cup Final ticket and souvenir programme, scarf with the players’ names on it, Cup Winners pennant, Davy Elliott’s Cup Final jersey, a 1991 West of Scotland Cup Winners jersey (sponsors were Burnside Roofing) and a centenary whisky glass which sits next to the Man of the Match Award whisky and presentation case v Johnstone Burgh 29/12/2007 given to me by Tam Molloy.

What else do I have? Let’s start with lots of match programmes from 2008 onwards which include the 2010 Final souvenir programme and a programme which shows my first sponsorship, a man of the match whisky for James Marks against Shotts. A 1994 Cup final scarf is part of my collection of 7 scarves (2 are very cosy finest cashmere), I have 11 tops and one pair of Theesel shorts, 3 training tops, 4 bunnets of differing designs, various Theesel mugs, pennants including a player sponsor pennant from 2014, a mouse mat, coasters (lots of!!), club tie, 3 polo shirts, lapel badge, fridge magnets, and the absolutely fantastic Theesel Bible ‘Winning isn’t everything’ by Stuart Robertson.

I’ve been gifted a lot of very kind freebies whilst others have just asked me to put money towards a relevant charity. I’ve also dipped into my own pocket to design and buy a bespoke 2400mm x 1200mm Thistle flag which has travelled to many games and amazingly survived the homeward journey. I saw a local shop near me in Edinburgh advertising Hibs and Hearts embroidered cushions so I thought, ‘why not’ and had a one-off Largs Thistle cushion made. The grandkids love using it as the most comfortable pillow ever. A framed pic of Barrfields is also on my wall and I suppose my various gold and black socks and Adidas trainers can be seen as unofficial merchandise. Also my three black and gold striped clothes posts in the garden, took me ages to paint but well worth the effort

At the recent South Challenge Cup game v Dalry I was speaking to Drew Irving, our Website Wizard. We were both hoping for an extended run in the various Cups this season, agreeing that it gave us the chance to visit grounds that we’d never visited previously.

I knew we were due to play away at Riverside Stadium, Perth, home of Jeanfield Swifts and was looking forward to it until I realised that a sleepover had been booked for two rugrats, aka grandchildren. Game off for me and a new stadium adventure missed. What I didn’t realise was that our Junior Cup tie away to Ashfield will also be a new ground to visit (or new cage to visit, according to a wag on Twitter) as they no longer play at Saracen Park. I’m looking forward to visiting next week following the initial postponement. Memories of my last visit to Saracen Park aren’t nice, getting spat on by someone above me in the stand.

That got me thinking about football grounds where I’ve watched Thistle. I did a count, if my memory is correct I’ve seen Largs play at 66 grounds/parks/stadia. Some of them are no longer in use, such as the original Tinto Park, Abbey Park, Petershill Park, Western Park and Adamslie Park (Benburb, Buffs, Peasy, Renfrew and Rob Roy). I’m certain that Thistle stalwarts such as Tim Ryrie and Alex Anderson will have ventured even further than me to watch us play in the depths of the Ayrshire District League in years gone by.

I’ve also seen a few teams v Largs who no longer exist, these being Coltness Utd, Baillieston, Bonnybridge and Polkemmet. I possibly saw Dreghorn prior to their demise during season 1969/70, my first season watching my new ‘home town’ team.

If you add other grounds where I’ve been to watch either Senior or Junior teams in Scotland I can add at least another 37 venues, this also includes places which don’t exist anymore e.g. Brockville, Boghead, Broomfield, Shawfield and Kilbowie (Falkirk, Dumbarton, Airdrie, Clyde and Clydebank for any youngsters still awake and reading this).

Ground Hoppers travel to watch games throughout the UK and beyond, however it’s not something I’d be interested in doing, I prefer to watch MY team. Any far-flung football games for me are usually secondary to the main purpose of a stag doo, boys’ weekend away or similar. That’s allowed me to watch games at Blackpool, Liverpool, Southampton and Munich, each of them sandwiched between visits to the local hostelries. I’ve got a mate who lives in Barr, South Ayrshire who happens to be a Northampton Town supporter. I fancy a rail trip with Alan to see the Cobblers play at Carlisle, it’s on my to-do list and could be quite a bit of fun.

Barrfields. I’ve played there, been on the treatment table needing stitches, taken the raffle board around it, run on to celebrate victories, and now stand regularly behind the dugout.

It’s home and has been since our 1^st game here on 29^th September 1928.

Any Largs Thistle game v Glenafton for me brings back memories (very happy memories) of our Scottish Cup win in 1994.

Back then I lived in Linlithgow, it was a struggle to get to Theesel games as I had a young family, although for some reason Scottish Cup games were always pencilled in my calendar. I missed the first match which was a 2^nd Round tie away to Hermes in Aberdeenshire, I’m also pretty convinced that I missed the match and replay against St Ants. Maybe saw the home game?

Our 4^th round tie was away to the Fife team Lochore Welfare, that’s when I placed a £10 bet on us to win the Scottish. The local bookie was extremely knowledgeable about Junior football and told me we’d sail past Lochore so he lowered the odds to 33-1. I travelled over to Fife only to find that the pitch was unplayable due to heavy frost, no social media and mobile phones to assist back in the day.

The following week I watched us win 6-0, there was a boisterous Theesel support and I remember seeing a colourful blue bottle of MD 20 20 whizz past the ears of the nearside linesman due to a contentious decision despite our superiority.

Next up were Hall Russell at Barrfields. I’d been at their stadium near Pittodrie in Aberdeen for a Linlithgow Rose game a season or two previously, I think 3 or 4 teams shared the same stadium. Anyway, I headed through to Largs with a pal courtesy of Scotrail which, for me, is never a good mix. Leading 3-0 and with the weather deteriorating I took my mate for a wee tour of some local hostelries and then we journeyed back to Lithgae. Imagine my surprise when I read the Sunday paper to discover the game ended 3-3. I didn’t manage the replay which we won.

The next week was away at Pollock, three of us travelled from the East and had a great wee session before and after our win at Newlandsfield and were a part of the fantastic support that day who witnessed a superb performance. Plenty singalongs.

Semi final v Buffs at Ayr’s Somerset Park on a Friday night was my next Scotrail journey, the section between Kilwinning and Ayr was interesting! My mate and I had a bit of bother finding overnight accommodation as it was Scottish Grand National weekend, we ended up sharing a room with 3 or 4 other randoms who were there for the races. Well worth it as we won 2-1 to reach the Scottish Cup Final, think the crowd was about 7,000. Don’t know why we went into the wrong end before the start but thankfully got escorted to our end of the stadium. Phew!

So, May 15^th at Ibrox Stadium, our cup final v Glenafton. I organised a mini-bus from Linlithgow, pub opened early for us and we had a blast. Fortunately I got past the Ibrox stewards at the second attempt and watched us win the holy grail 1-0. There’s a few tales to tell.

We have five home games during September, whilst that’s good news for our Treasurer it’s not such good news for me, I think I’ve got Writer’s Block. “Creative slowdown” they call it, although I’m sure many of you who read this believe I’ve had Writer’s Block for many years.

During the game against Dalry I met up with ex- player George Wall who captained us in the West of Scotland Cup Final victory in 1991 and played an invaluable part in our Scottish Cup win in 1994. Standing with George was his good friend Joe McLaughlin.

I’d say Joe’s main claim to fame was playing at Barrfields in January last year in the charity match between Largs Thistle Legends and Dukla Pumpherston which raised funds for the defibrillator but Wikipedia made no mention of that game despite Joe saying it was his first game of football since turning 60 years young. He’s a year older than me but there was absolutely no comparison between the very fit, tanned, svelte Joe and your shop-soiled, Buckfast-bellied, red wine-nosed Swanny. It must be a life-style thing.

For younger readers, Joe started his career with Morton in 1977 and then signed for Chelsea for a fee of £100,000. He played at Stamford Bridge for 6 seasons, making over 200 appearances in the blue shirt. A fee of £650k took Joe to Charlton which at that time was their record transfer. Another substantial fee of £500k took Joe to Watford where he captained the Hornets for two seasons before returning to Scotland. Joe now runs Soccer Icon USA, a company that specialises in sending top young footballers, boys and girls, to develop their football career and study at Colleges in America. I’d bet a few USA dollars that if George Wall was 45 years younger his good pal would be arranging a lucrative pro-career for Geo in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Another face that I noted in the crowd at the Dalry game was regular attendee Dicky Brock who became Manager at Barrfields for a 2^nd time in season 1989/90 and led the team to our West of Scotland Cup Final victory against Renfrew the following year. We also reached the final of the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald Cup (Ayrshire Regional Cup) that season, losing to b**th in extra time, and were beaten by bei** in the semi final of the Irvine Times Cup (Ayrshire Cup), again after extra time. Not a bad first full season for Dicky. I’m sure he used to be player sponsor for Nicky Jamieson who now plays professionally so he certainly has an eye for a player, he’s sponsored Craig Forbes this season. I had a few pints with Dicky after a game last season, I must hook up with him again soon and write down some of his tales for this column.

Hey, who said I had Writer’s Block? I think I’ve discovered a cure, two large glasses of red wine on a wet Sunday afternoon.

Would you believe that I played as a trialist goalkeeper for Dalry Thistle Boys Club back in the 1970’s?

And they actually wanted to sign me despite losing a last-minute winner in a 2-3 defeat!
90th minute, me holding the ball about to punt it up the park, boy punches it out of my hands, my temper made me chase after the culprit only to realise their centre forward had toe-poked the loose ball into an empty net.

My next remonstration was with the referee, hey nothing changes, here I am almost 50 years later still having issues with officialdom. You wouldn’t want me to change, would you?
Now living in the East, my nearest ex-Juniors stadium is Musselburgh, 3 miles or so from home. I’ve watched Theesel win there in the Scottish, the handy wee pub near the ground with cheap beers and haufs has recently become gentrified. I don’t think William Crawford and others like myself would be welcome there now despite us having spent a few dollars keeping their predecessors in
business when The Theesel were in town , maybe 2009? I think we won 3-1, Stephen Quigg and Archie Halley were our management team at that time, an absolutely fantastic victory which didn’t go down too well with the locals.
Our 2010/11 Scottish Cup run was short, beating Royal Albert 2-0 only to get gubbed by Renfrew in the next round. What to do on Scottish Cup days? Well, the Musselburgh v Ladeside quarter final ticked my boxes, especially as James Marks was playing despite his change of allegiance to that lot over the hill so I made my way to Olive Bank. Slik was very poorly served by his team and Ladeside were pumped 2-0. Believe it or not, the game was held up for a few minutes to allow a ten-pin bowling ball to be removed from the playing surface. I can’t smuggle in a beer bottle but that lot can smuggle in a 21cm diameter ball weighing 6.5 Kg!!!!

Dalry’s cup run that season included wins v St Rochs (7-1), Glencairn (2-1), Neilston (5-1), Haddington (2-1), Rob Roy (3-1).
They travelled to Musselburgh for the semi-final in April and lost 1-0 (I watched as a neutral but annoyed the locals for occasionally shouting in favour of the North Ayrshire team). East v West is definitely an issue in Musselburgh.
Unfortunately, Dalry couldn’t manage a victory at home, a 1-1 draw allowed Musselburgh passage into the final. A friend of mine, long time Mussy supporter, told me that he and his friends weren’t going to the 2 nd leg as they were a bit apprehensive (feart) about going to North Ayrshire for such an important game.
I went to the final at Rugby Park and confidently predicted that Musselburgh would score from a free kick as I’d seen it happen at those games. I was correct, their player Chris King equalised but Talbot triumphed 2-1 in extra time.

As the saying goes, ‘West is Best’. Theesel are Better.