Partick

Partick Thistle Football Club was formed in 1876 in the burgh of Partick, which was at that time administratively independent of Glasgow (Partick was not subsumed into Glasgow until 1912). The club's first recorded match (and victory) took place in February against a local junior team, named Valencia. The location of this match, and thereby Thistle's first home ground, was recorded as 'Overnewton Park', which is thought to have been located next to Overnewton Road, just south of Kelvingrove Park. Having established themselves as the most popular team locally ahead of the likes of Partick F.C., in 1891 Partick Thistle joined the Scottish Football Alliance, one of several competitions set up immediately after the formation of the Scottish Football League in 1890. The club won the Second Division championship in 1897 and were elected to the First Division. The following season they were re-elected after finishing in eighth place. In 1900 they were elected back to the top level, having finished as Second Division champions again, but were relegated the following season and then promoted in second place in 1902. This would be the last time Thistle changed their division for almost 70 years. Since joining the Scottish professional leagues in 1893, Thistle had been an unpredictable side, spending four years in the First Division and five in the Second, winning promotion three times. It was during the 1902–03 Scottish Division One season that Thistle set their highest finish in the Scottish league structure, finishing 8th in the table with 19 points. In the following 33 years, they moved from home to home, using parks at Kelvingrove, Jordanvale, Muirpark, Inchview among others. In 1897 they moved to Meadowside, where they played until 1908. After being homeless for over a season, they moved to their present home, 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.

In 1921 Thistle won the Scottish Cup, beating Rangers 1–0 in the final. Johnny Blair scored the only goal of the game, which was held at Celtic Park. The Jags reached the final again nine years later, facing the same opposition, but Rangers won 2–1 in a replay following a 0–0 draw in the first match. In 1935 the Jags won both the Glasgow Cup and the Charity Cup, competitions that were taken seriously at the time.

Although it was over 30 years before Thistle achieved further cup success they not only maintained their top tier status during this period but finished third in the league in 1947–48, 1953–54 and 1962–63. 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, Glasgow. 62,470 fans watched Thistle take a dramatic 4–0 lead at half time with goals from Alex Rae, Bobby Lawrie and Jimmy Bone amongst the many emerging talents in the Thistle squad including Alan Rough, Alex Forsyth and Denis McQuade. Kenny Dalglish pulled a goal back for Celtic, however the final result was never in doubt as Thistle eased to a 4–1 victory. Ironically before the match, former BBC sport broadcaster Sam Leitch stated that "In Scotland, it's League Cup final day at Hampden Park, where Celtic meet Partick Thistle, who have no chance."

Thistle's fortunes on the pitch declined during the 1980s. Although the club had experienced difficult times before, having dropped into the second tier of Scottish football twice in the 1970s, they had bounced straight back up on both occasions. The relegation of 1982 led to the club's first sustained period outside the top tier since the late 19th century. Between 1986 and 1989, Thistle were owned by Ken Bates, chairman of Chelsea, whose intention was to use Thistle as a feeder club for the English team; however few players moved between the clubs during those years, which were also unsuccessful on the field (they finished 8th in the second tier for five seasons running between 1985–86 and 1989–90).

Although this period of exile ended with promotion in 1992, mounting financial problems, including a debt of over £1.5 million, threatened to put the club out of existence. In 1998 in particular the club was close to going bankrupt and was only kept afloat by the fan-organised "Save the Jags" campaign. Despite avoiding financial oblivion Thistle were relegated to the third tier of Scottish Football in 1997–98 and only narrowly avoided a further relegation the following season, finishing in eighth place.

In 1999 John Lambie commenced his third period as manager of the club and under his stewardship Thistle enjoyed a brief revival, winning back-to-back promotions in 2000–01 and 2001–02, the second of which earned the club a place in the Scottish Premier League. SPL guidelines at the time stipulated that clubs would only be eligible for promotion to the league if their stadium had a minimum 10,000 seated capacity. To comply with these guidelines the terraced section at the north end of Firhill was replaced with a 2000-seat stand. Speaking in 2004, Thistle chairman Tom Hughes argued the club did not at the time require a stadium with such a large capacity and building the new stand 'seriously affected [their] competitiveness'. Thistle maintained their place in the SPL under Lambie by finishing 10th in 2002–03, despite being favourites for relegation.

Following Lambie's retirement at the end of the 2002–03 season, Thistle struggled. Gerry Collins (Lambie's previous assistant) was sacked mid-season and replaced with joint player-managers Derek Whyte and Gerry Britton. This change was not enough to revive the team, and Thistle were relegated at the end of the 2003–04 season after Inverness, having won the First Division title, were permitted to groundshare with Aberdeen. In season 2004–05 the team continued to struggle and Whyte and Britton were dismissed mid-season. Dick Campbell, their successor, was unable to avoid relegation to the Second Division. He did return the club to the First Division the following season, through the newly introduced play-off system, having finished 4th in the league. This brought to a close the club's most unpredictable decade, in footballing terms at least: between 1996 and 2006 Thistle had been promoted three times and relegated four times. They were the second team in Scottish football to be relegated from the top flight through successive subsequent relegations, excluding those caused by league reconstruction, after St. Johnstone in the 1980s.

Despite starting well upon returning to the First Division, Dick Campbell was sacked on 27 March 2007, following a succession of poor results. A caretaker management team of Jimmy Bone and Terry Butcher saw out the season before Ian McCall, a former player, was unveiled as manager. McCall's first season saw Thistle finish 6th in the First Division and embark on a successful Scottish Cup campaign, reaching the quarter-finals before being defeated by eventual winners Rangers after a 1–1 draw at Ibrox, Thistle lost the replay 2–0 at Firhill. League form further improved in season 2008–09 with Thistle exceeding expectations to finish 2nd in the First Division, behind St Johnstone. This season saw midfielder Gary Harkins win the Irn Bru Phenomenal Player of the Year and Northern Ireland's Jonny Tuffey become the club's first full international for several years.

McCall quit his post as manager in April 2011, citing personal reasons. Jackie McNamara was initially appointed as caretaker manager before being made full-time manager of the club at the end of the 2010–11 season.

McNamara and assistant Simon Donnelly guided Thistle to a sixth-place finish in 2011–12 season. The following season Thistle started well and emerged as promotion candidates, competing with Dunfermline and Greenock Morton for a place in the following season's top flight. On 29 January 2013 the club gave permission to Dundee United to speak to McNamara about becoming their new manager. The following day McNamara and his assistant Simon Donnelly resigned, to become the new management team at United. Along with Donnelly, Jackie McNamara brought goalkeeper Craig Hinchliffe, Paul Paton and Chris Erskine to Tannadice. Thistle were second in the league at the time and, because McNamara was under contract, compensation was owed to the club.

On 30 January 2013, Alan Archibald was appointed as the club's interim manager, with former Thistle player Scott Paterson as his assistant. On 22 March, the duo were given the job on a permanent basis signing a one-year rolling contract. The following month on 20 April 2013, the club clinched promotion to the Scottish Premiership having sealed the First Division championship with a 2–0 victory away to Falkirk. The title win meant Thistle returned to the top flight of Scottish football for the first time in nine years. The team also lost the Scottish Challenge Cup final to Queen of the South on penalties in April 2013.

Thistle's initial return to the Premiership had mixed success. The team managed to maintain a relatively positive away record, however it was months before Thistle finally secured a home win, with them beating Aberdeen 3–1 at Firhill in February 2014. Thistle managed to avoid the relegation and play-off spots, eventually finishing third-bottom, following a 4–2 win away to Hearts at Tynecastle. Thistle announced the club were completely free of debt in November 2015.

The 2015–16 Scottish Premiership season saw Thistle secure long-term contracts for many of their key players, including Kris Doolan, Callum Booth, Tomáš Černý and Mustapha Dumbuya.

On 7 May 2016, Thistle secured their Premiership status with a 2–0 away victory to Kilmarnock, with goals coming from Steven Lawless and Kris Doolan. This result meant that Archibald overtook former manager Davie McParland as the record holder of top-flight victories. On 8 April 2017, Thistle beat Motherwell 1–0 to secure a place in the top six for the first time since the league split was first introduced to the Scottish top flight in 2000–01.

In the 2017–18 Scottish Premiership, Thistle finished in 11th position, narrowly avoiding 12th place with Ross County being automatically relegated. Thistle subsequently went into the Scottish Premiership play-offs against Livingston, who had finished second in the Scottish Championship in their first season of returning to the league. On 17 May 2018, Thistle lost the first leg 2–1 away at Almondvale Stadium, with Kris Doolan getting Thistle's goal. Livingston then came to face Thistle at Firhill on 20 May 2018. Livingston won the away leg 0–1 after Keaghan Jacobs scored in the 46th minute. Thistle were relegated to the Scottish Championship after a stay in the top flight of five years. Subsequently, speculation surrounded whether or not Archibald would remain as Thistle's manager. On 24 May, Thistle announced on their website Archibald would remain as Partick Thistle's manager going into the Championship next season. As a result of Thistle's poor season, a number of players were not offered a new contract by the club including captain Abdul Osman, Callum Booth, Steven Lawless, Mustapha Dumbuya, Paul McGinn and Ryan Scully. Transfer listed players were Adam Barton, Niall Keown and Miles Storey. Australian midfielder Ryan Edwards triggered a relegation contract clause, allowing him to leave the club immediately. After a poor start to their 2018–19 Scottish Championship season, Archibald was sacked as manager on 6 October 2018 following a 2–0 loss to Ross County, leaving Thistle 8th in the Championship.

On 15 October 2018, Thistle announced that former Celtic and Scotland international Gary Caldwell had been appointed as Archibald's replacement. Chairman Jacqui Low said "Put simply, he plans to build a strong defence that allows us to then push forward and play attacking football."

Thistle's first season in the Scottish Championship after relegation was a difficult one; the club were one of the promotion favourites but after a poor first half of the season they were sitting bottom by December and facing the possibility of back to back relegations. Caldwell performed a large squad overhaul in January including the key signing of Scott McDonald who went on to score 7 goals in 13 games. Caldwell managed to turn the season around with the club finishing in 6th position and avoiding further relegation to League One with a 3–0 away win to Queen of the South thus removing the threat of the relegation play-offs. Although safe, Caldwell released striker Kris Doolan who ended his decade-long stay at the club after being informed that his contract would not be renewed. Other players to depart included Miles Storey, Scott McDonald, Niall Keown and Souleymane Coulibaly.

From June 2019 and during the run up to the start of the 2019–20 season, a consortium led by Chinese American billionaire Chien Lee and American businessman Paul Conway looked to buy Partick Thistle, with talks going on throughout the beginning of the season. Partick Thistle Trust, a supporters group and the single biggest shareholder at the time with 19.28% of the club, released a statement urging shareholders not to support the potential takeover bid. By November, the takeover had not taken place.

Thistle made another poor start to the Championship season, picking up two points in the opening five games. Following a 1–1 draw away to Arbroath, Caldwell was sacked as manager.

After the sacking of Caldwell, Partick Thistle appointed Ayr United boss Ian McCall as their manager on the 23rd of September 2019.

On 21 November, Euromillions winner Colin Weir completed the takeover of Partick Thistle, instead of the consortium led by Chien Lee and Paul Conway. Weir purchased a majority shareholding and a holding in land at Firhill, Weir then immediately gave the land back to the club. Weir's takeover included the plan to gift the shares of the club back to the fans, to ensure Partick Thistle became a fan owned club, with a Working Group of The PTFC Trust and Thistle Forever plus an interim board overseeing the transfer of shares. After Weir's takeover the club announced that the plans for Partick Thistle's own training ground were to be shelved with the focus instead on completing the takeover and transfer of shares to the fans. In December 2019, majority shareholder and lifelong Jags fan Weir died at the age of 71.

McCall made several changes during the January 2020 transfer window, including bringing in the likes of Brian Graham, Zak Rudden and Darren Brownlie, with veteran striker Kenny Miller among those leaving, but Thistle continued to struggle. Thistle were knocked out of the Scottish Cup in a 2–1 home defeat against Celtic, and later lost in the Scottish Challenge Cup semi final to League One side Raith Rovers.

Scottish football was stopped in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at which time Thistle were in last place in the Championship (two points behind 9th place Queen of the South, although Thistle had a game in hand). A vote was subsequently taken to curtail the Championship, League One and League Two seasons, which meant that Thistle were relegated to League One. After talks of league reconstruction (which would have prevented Thistle being relegated) fell through, and following an anonymous donation, Thistle joined a legal action by Heart of Midlothian (who were relegated from the Scottish Premiership) against the SPFL. After a hearing at the Court of Session, a Scottish Football Association arbitration panel ruled that the SPFL had acted within its powers and therefore confirmed the relegations of Hearts and Thistle, meaning Thistle had now been relegated twice in the space of three seasons, dropping from the Premiership to League One.

The 2020–21 Scottish League One season was a stop-start affair due to COVID-19 and shutdown mid-season for a number of months before restarting in March, with the clubs agreeing to a further reduced 22-game season rather than the 27-game season originally planned. After a mixed first half of the campaign in League One, Thistle went on a fantastic run of form in April, winning six games and drawing two, as they secured the 2020–21 Scottish League One title on 29 April 2021 after defeating Falkirk 5–0 (their first trophy for eight years) and promotion back to the Scottish Championship at the first time of asking. Thistle manager Ian McCall described the title win as the most satisfying of his career.

On their return to the Championship Thistle finished 4th in the league securing a promotion play-off place. Thistle lost 3–1 on aggregate to eventual finalists Inverness in the Premiership to end the 2021–22 season.

Thistle made a good start to the 2022–23 season, sitting top of the Championship after the first 10 games. However, a poor run of form followed. Despite picking up slightly in later weeks, following back to back home defeats to Hamilton Academical and Cove Rangers and a 3–2 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox in the Scottish cup, manager Ian McCall and assistants Alan Archibald and Neil Scally were sacked with Thistle sitting 5th in the Championship table. It was also confirmed former player and hall of famer Kris Doolan had been appointed interim manager.

After the departure of McCall it was announced that former player and club hall of famer Kris Doolan would take over as interim manager with Paul MacDonald as his assistant. After winning twice away at Ayr United and Dundee and a goalless draw with Arbroath as interim, Doolan was appointed permanent manager of Thistle on 3 March 2023. In Doolan's first game as permanent manager, he guided Thistle to a 3–0 home win over Raith Rovers.

Thistle finished the 2022–23 season in 4th place under Doolan, meaning they entered the play offs at the quarter-final stage. Thistle won the quarter-finals 8–3 on aggregate over 3rd place Queen's Park, becoming the first ever 4th place team to progress past this stage in the Premiership play offs. Thistle then followed this up with an 8–0 aggregate win over 2nd place Ayr United in the semi finals, to advance to the Premiership play off finals. Thistle faced Ross County in the playoff finals. Despite winning the first leg 2–0, Thistle lost the second leg 3–1, taking the tie to extra time, no winner could be found and the match went to penalties, which Ross County won 5–4, meaning Thistle remained in the Scottish Championship.

In Doolan's first full season in charge, Thistle finished 3rd in the Scottish Championship, meaning they once again entered the Scottish Premiership play offs. Thistle beat 4th place Airdrie 3–2 on aggregate to progress to the play-off semi-finals, where they faced 2nd placed Raith Rovers. Thistle lost the first leg at home to Raith 2–1, but won the away leg 2–1, meaning the tie went to extra time. No winner could be found by either side, therefore the tie progressed to a penalty shootout, which Raith won 4–3.