Partick Thistle 3 Queen’s Park 0
The stage is well lit and the sun is giving Firhill a pleasant warmth. The cast is assembled, more than 4,000 fans from around the world. Cameramen hover around the sidelines, capturing images.
Long-suffering Jags fans know we’ve had Thistle: The Glory (a short-lived series which ended dramatically in 1971 after the League Cup triumph) and Thistle: The Comedy – some would cruelly suggest this series has gone on and on.
But now there’s Grasping the Thistle, a documentary in production and headed by an impressive team that includes Netflix shows and an Oscar on its resume.
“It’s a bit unsettling,” says comedian and Thistle supporter Ray Bradshaw. “As a fan, I wonder whether it will be as great as the Wrexham documentary or the Sunderland version, which was… well, not so great.”
The opening shots certainly convey a depressing story.
The shooting began when Thistle missed out on a Premiership play-off spot and the start to this season had been disappointing until Saturday’s derby win.
“The club has been very supportive of Kris Doolan and we were all very optimistic during pre-season,” Bradshaw said. That optimism was realised with the win over Queen’s Park.
Devoted fans enjoy Partick Thistle’s 3-0 win over Queen’s Park
These Swedish fans add an international touch to the events at Firhill
Zander MacKenzie jumps for joy after scoring a late third goal for the Jags
There were emotional scenes as fans celebrated loudly in the sunshine. There is more worrying news in the background.
The club announced earlier last week that it had suffered a loss of £170,000. Promotion to the Premier League is a sporting achievement, but it also has a financial imperative.
Bradshaw and most fans know this. “This is a great season,” he says. “There’s a perception that the championship is more open and winnable.” This raises expectations and also creates pressure.
The waiting room is packed. There is a constant noise, perhaps mixed with nervousness. Thistle assistant manager Paul McDonald takes to the stage to give some team news and welcome his brother, who has flown in from Australia.
A group of Swedish fans sit in a far corner.
Levi Gill built nuclear submarines and now runs the books at Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle mascot Kingsley entertains young fans ahead of Saturday’s game
Supporting Thistle was a joyous experience for these fans at the weekend.
A solitary figure, bow in hand, peers from the doorway. It is Levi Gill, the 34-year-old managing director, who has also come to Maryhill from far away.
Well, Barrow-in-Furness. He’s taken on the task of balancing the books. He was once a project manager at a shipyard that built nuclear submarines.
The thistle, obviously, is more complicated than that.
“The way I describe my job is to divide the operation into on and off the field,” he says. “The coach takes care of what happens on the field and I take care of what happens off the field.”
He is interested in closing commercial deals and connecting with the fans. His trip to Firhill is not just a business matter, it is personal.
He left nuclear submarines behind to take up the role of chief executive of Barrow, the club he supported.
“It took me seven seconds to decide to take that job when it was offered to me,” he says, before accepting a similar position in Altrincham.
Partick Thistle players celebrate their late goal in a decisive 3-0 win
Partick Thistle’s Logan Chalmers evades the challenge of Queen’s Park’s Jack Turner
The sheer joy of being a Partick Thistle fan on match day is evident
“The connection with Barrow came through my grandfather,” he says. He went to live with his grandfather and the two, despite being mutual friends, decided to go to Barrow’s matches.
“My professional life came about by accident,” he explains. “It all started with a chance decision to go and see Barrow.”
His grandfather died recently. “I guess I’m a bit of an orphan now,” he says without a trace of self-pity. “But I’ve adapted here.
This is a real stadium with real fans. I have experienced the power of football. When I moved in with my grandfather,
I was 18 years old and at first the relationship wasn’t very good because we were of different ages. But football broke that barrier.
Sitting at the back of the stands on a sunny day, you are invited to consider what the sunlit highlands would look like.
“On the pitch, we have ambitions to get out of the Championship this season,” he says. “I’ve been going to St Mirren for years – I have a friend who is a fan – and I’ve seen their journey as fans.
We could compare ourselves to St Mirren in terms of community base and commercial ambition and we are capable of being similar.
“St Mirren have made the right decisions and we should be able to match them… why not do it in Europe? That’s the measure, the North Star, but first we have to get out of the championship.”
The Scandinavian bond with the club was forged in bonhomie and baptised with whisky and beer, and then maintained through them.
Peter Holmberg sits at the table with his father, uncle and brother. “This trip is a gift from my family because I turned 50 last year,” he says.
The Firhill club will be the subject of a new documentary called Grasping the Thistle
Fans of all ages enjoy Firhill for its thrills, including eight-year-old Lyle Macleod.
Partick Thistle fans savoured their team’s first league win of the season on Saturday
His uncle first came to Thistle 20 years ago. Peter arrived in 2007 and returns regularly. “This will be my 10th home game, but I’ve been to the Challenge Cup final and a few away games.
I love Scotland as a holiday destination and once left my wife in Edinburgh to catch a train to Cowdenbeath to watch a match.
He takes a sip of beer and confesses that he is a whisky fan. “We once visited Islay to try the malts and flew to Glasgow to watch a Thistle match,” he says.
His father, Lars-Ove, has another link: “He played for Hammarby in the same tournament that Thistle played in Sweden in 1972,” he explains.
“He tells me that the Thistle players of that era really knew how to have fun.” Those of us who know Alan Rough are not too surprised by this revelation.
Holmberg notes that Thistle has become a part of his life. ‘In 2007, we were sitting at the Woodside Inn and two guys sat down next to us.
They were Thistle fans and are now very good friends. One of them took us to the game today and we stopped by to visit him and he is coming to Stockholm.
So why Thistle for the Holmberg clan?
“There’s a more family atmosphere here,” he says. “There’s no sectarianism. When I wear a Thistle shirt on the street in Glasgow, nobody insults me.”
‘Well, maybe they’ll laugh at you,’ he says with a smile.
He added: “Can I put it like this? First of all, I love football and for some reason Partick spoke to me in a nice way. It’s hard to explain but if you find a club that you have feelings for, that’s how it is.”
The overseas connection also extends to Africa. Neil Cowan arrives at the game after a match between Jags and Spiders supporters at Toryglen.
Cowan volunteers for Jags for Good, a community group that seeks to raise money to help those in need.
Setting up food banks and helping with energy bills are at the forefront of the group’s goals, but it also has an important role to play in helping the most destitute.
“There was a guy on the team who had come from Africa,” Cowan says. “He had lost his funding as an asylum seeker and was therefore penniless and homeless. We chipped in to provide him with some money and he stayed with members of the team.”
Cowan knows what a real crisis is like. Before the game he was calm about Thistle’s unconvincing start to the season. “It’s not what I want, obviously, but I think we can fight back.”
His words were backed up by events on the pitch, with Thistle going on to win fairly comfortably after a hard-fought game.
Their first win of the league season has put them in fifth place, placing them in the group of promotion contenders.
At Firhill, stories of family, ambition, community and charity were told. In the dugouts and stands, there is still faith and plenty of hope. Soon you’ll be able to see it all on a screen near you.
