Firhill Stadium (Partick Thistle v Raith Rovers)

Fore more pictures of the Jags at Firhill see this post and for pictures of a Glasgow Warriors rugby game at this ground see this one.

On 26th December I saw my first match in over five weeks at Firhill in the north of Glasgow. Partick Thistle were playing host to Raith Rovers in the the Scottish First Division. Before the arctic weather struck I had made all kinds of plans for Boxing Day. I had considered paying my first visit to Glebe Park to see Brechin City v Ayr United. I had also though about going to Blackburn where Stoke City were visiting Ewood Park. I only discovered last week however that there were no trains on 26th December apart from a few local lines in Glasgow. This meant that my options had become extremely limited. I could have taken a train to Airdrie, I still have to see a game at the Excelsior Stadium, but the Second Division clash against East Fife had fallen victim to the weather. Hibernian were playing Aberdeen at Easter Road and I have not seen the new East Stand yet but there were no trains to Edinburgh today and I did not feel like taking the Citylink bus. Celtic v St Johnstone did not look like the most attractive fixture to me and I had not expected tickets to be on sale on match day for Motherwell v Rangers at Fir Park.

Firhill therefore seemed the easiest option. This was also the first time I took pictures at a football match at the home of the Jags and the first time I have seen Partick Thistle play at home since 2003. Of the four senior teams in Glasgow Partick Thistle's ground is the closest to the city centre, a fifteen-minute walk from Sauchiehall Street. This short walk was a particularly treacherous one yesterday because the pavements were extremely slippery and a few times I was very close to falling flat on my face. Luckily however I made it to the stadium in one piece. I bought a programme and a match ticket (which you have to buy at the ticket booth outside the ground and hand in at the turnstile) and took my seat in the Jackie Husband Stand. This was the only stand open today. As far as I know away fans are usually allocated the North Stand but today the supporters from Kirkcaldy were seated in the northern end of the Jackie Husband Stand. Although I understand that it is cheaper to have only one stand open it does not do much for the atmosphere.

The match was not the most exciting one I had seen in 2010 and there were no goals. Both teams had a few chances and a draw was a fair result but I would have preferred a 1-1 or 2-2. After the game I made my way back to Glasgow Central train station on foot but black ice had made it an extremely treacherous journey. Nevertheless, as always, I made it home in one piece.

Approaching Firhill.

The Main Stand.


First you have to buy a ticket from the ticket booth outside the Jackie Husband Stand, which you then hand in at the turnstile.

The Jackie Husband Stand.


This used to be the South Terrace.


The North Stand was closed today. Away fans were seated in the Jackie Husband Stand.


The Main Stand was closed as well.


Again the Main Stand.


The Jackie Husband Stand at half time.

Sunday 26th December 2010
Scottish Football League First Division
Partick Thistle 0 Raith Rovers 0
Att: 2,036

Dens Park (Dundee v Raith Rovers)

Last Saturday my wife and I took a Citylink bus to Dundee. Gail does not usually accompany me on my groundhopping trips but she had decided she wanted to come along with me to see some shops in the City of Discovery. My main purpose of this trip was my first game at Dens Park, home of Dundee FC. Dens Park has a capacity of about 12,000 and despite the modern stands behind both goals still has a traditional feel to it, more so than Tannadice. The Bobby Cox and Bob Shankly stands were built ten years ago to comply with the 10,000 seated capacity required by the SPL at the time. Both stands hold 3,000. The Main (North) Stand is unusaul in that it is chevron-shaped, the middle bit is further from the pitch than both ends of the stand. The South Stand is an old terrace converted to seating.

Dundee is of course famous for having two professional football clubs, Dundee and Dundee United, with stadiums only 150 yards apart from each other. I had visited Tannadice Park, home of United, two seasons ago but I only managed to take a few pictures of Dens Park at the time and still had to return for a Dundee home game. Dundee United have been the stronger team for a while now, regularly competing for third place in the SPL and 'best of the rest' is as good as it gets nowadays if you are neither Rangers nor Celtic. A few decades ago the Dark Blues were the more illustrious side however, having won the Scottish league in 1962 and reaching the semi-final of the European Cup the following season, having beaten 1. FC Köln, Sporting Portugal and Anderlecht before losing to AC Milan.

The last of the major domestic trophies to be won by the Dee was the 1973 Scottish League Cup, even though they were losing finalists in the 1980 League Cup Final, which was staged at Dens (the biggest of the Dundee grounds at the time) and won 3-0 by Dundee United. The Dens Park side were relegated from the top flight in 2005 after a few years of financial turmoil and have been desperate to return to the SPL ever since. Despite a higher budget than the other First Division clubs they have been unsuccessful so far and their start to the new season has not been promising either.

The previous weekend I had seen Dundee lose comprehensively to Dunfermline at East End Park and last Saturday they were playing host to league leaders Raith Rovers. The game ended goalless despite a first-half penalty, which was awarded to the men from Kirkcaldy after Milan Misun had fouled Gregory Tade in the box. John Baird's spot-kick was saved by former Celtic goalie Rab Douglas. After the interval Dundee looked the stronger side but they could not find the net. The result meant Dunfermline are now top of the First Division, seven points above Dundee.

Approaching Dens Park.

The Main (North) Stand. Tannadice can be seen in the background.


Taken from Google Maps: only about 150 yards between both grounds. You can also see the odd shape of the Main Stand at Dens Park.

The South Stand.

The Bob Shankly Stand housed the Raith Rovers fans.

The Main (North) Stand.

Rab Douglas saved John Bairds's penalty.

Dundee were not able to find the net either.

Tannadice floodlights in the background.

The Bobby Cox Stand after the game.

The Dundee club shop.

Saturday 18th September 2010
Scottish Football League First Division
Dundee 0 Raith Rovers 0
Att: 4,532

East End Park (Dunfermline Athletic v Dundee)

Today I went to Fife to see Dunfermline take on Dundee at East End Park. I had planned to take the 1:10pm X26 Stagecoach bus from Glasgow Buchanan bus station to Dunfermline bus station but the bus never showed up so I took the X24, which was also late and it left Glasgow at 1:40pm. I knew I was going to struggle to make kick-off now and the bus arrived in Dunfermline at 2:45pm. Had I not been looking for a programme seller outside East End Park I would have been inside the stadium by 3pm however as it happens I was two minutes late and unfortunately still without a programme!

This was my first game at East End Park. I had taken some pictures outside the ground last season (when the Pars were also playing Dundee) but I had to come back in my quest to visit a home game at all 42 Scottish league grounds. Dunfermline were relegated to the First Division in 2007 and with its 12,500 capacity East End Park was fully compliant with the old SPL requirements. The ground has a modern look to it with fairly new 3,000-capacity one-tier stands behind the goals but the 1960s Main Stand gives it a bit of character as well. A drawback of the two-tier Main Stand is the large pillar in the centre of the stand which can obstruct your view quite a bit.

The Pars moved to within a point of First Division leaders Raith Rovers today with a convincing victory over Dundee. The home side were awarded a penalty when Nicholas Riley fouled Joe Cardle. Willie Gibson converted and the Fifers were 1-0 up. Steven Bell then made it 2-0 only minutes before the half-time whistle. After the interval Dundee pulled one back when Gary Harkins headed home but Pat Clarke made sure the three points stayed in the Kingdom when he scored 3-1.

For the pictures I took around East End Park last season see this post.

Approaching East End Park.

The Norrie McCathie Stand.


The North Stand.

The Main Stand.

The Dundee fans were housed in the East Stand.

Willie Gibson's penalty meant Dunfermline were 1-0 up. Note the large pillar, which restricts the view of almost everyone seated in the Main Stand.

Saturday 11th September 2010
Scottish Football League First Division
Dunfermline Athletic 3 Dundee 1
Dunfermline: Gibson 20 pen, Bell 42, Clarke 78.
Dundee: Harkins 51.
Att: 4,037

Victoria Park (Ross County v Inverness Caledonian Thistle)

Today I finally I made use of the Sunday Mail/First ScotRail promotion, which offered return tickets to any destination in Scotland for only £15. The offer ends on 31st March so time was running out. Because of the bad weather in recent weeks I had not dared to venture very far however I did not want to miss out on today's Highland derby and in fact I had ordered the ticket for the match a few weeks in advance on the internet. With the previous games against Inverness Caley Thistle, both home and away, well attended this seemed the most attractive fixture if I was to travel all the way to Victoria Park in Dingwall, home of Ross County.

It is a fair journey travelling from Paisley to Dingwall. After the three-and-a-half hour journey from Glasgow Queen Street to Inverness it was another 30 minutes on the train to Dingwall. I arrived in Dingwall about 50 minutes before kick-off. There were a few pubs near the station, which also happens to be very close to Victoria Park, but they were all very busy and I decided I was not that thirsty. With not much else to do I walked straight to the ground and I was not the only one, many fans, both home and away, were in the stands early. Today's attendance of 5,928 exceeded the population of the town of Dingwall which is only 5,026 according to the 2001 census.

The match itself was an entertaining and lively derby game but unfortunately there were no goals today. Also I left about 15 minutes before time because I did not want to chance missing the connection to the last train from Inverness to Glasgow, especially with St Mirren's first appearance in a cup final since 1987 scheduled for the next day. Luckily the game remained goalless in my absence.

Approaching Victoria Park.


The home turnstiles.


The away turnstiles.


The Jail End Terrace.


View from the Jail End Terrace.


The West Stand.


The East Stand.


The North Terrace housed the Caley Thistle fans.


Plenty of incidents in this Highland derby.


...


Another view from outside, almost 6,000 were still inside, I decided to catch the 16:37 train to Inverness.

Saturday 20th March 2010
Scottish Football League First Division
Ross County 0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0
Att: 5,928

Stark's Park (Raith Rovers v Greenock Morton)

Today I went to Kirkcaldy to pay my first ever visit to Stark's Park, the home of First Division side Raith Rovers, who were taking on Morton. The journey from Glasgow Queen Street to Kirkcaldy took about an hour and 20 minutes by train, changing at Edinburgh Haymarket. I arrived in the town with some time to spare and I had a couple of pre-match pints in the local JD Wetherspoon's, The Robert Nairn. From there it was a fifteen-minute walk to the ground.

Stark's Park is an unusual ground and not as modern-looking as I thought it would be. The Scottish Ground Guide gives an all-seater capacity of 10,104 (meeting the old SPL requirement of 10,000) however the Railway Stand has fallen into disrepair and apparently has no safety certificate and can therefore no longer be used. Even most of the seats have been removed now as you can see in the pictures. The two stands at both ends of the grounds are very modern and have a capacity of just over 3,000 each. The most interesting stand is the Main Stand which runs for less than half the length of the pitch but extends around the southeast corner of the ground. The total capacity now is about 8,100 (which meets the current SPL requirement of 6,000).

This was my second Morton game in five days after last Tuesday's cup game against Celtic. Today the men from Greenock were the deserved winners. Peter Weatherson (who else?) scored the two Morton goals. Kevin Smith's 79th minute penalty brought back the suspense and ensured an entertaining finale however Raith were not able to salvage a point.

First a couple of pre-match pints in The Robert Nairn in Kirk Wynd.

Approaching Stark's Park.

The facade of the Main Stand.

The North Stand housed the Morton fans. My seat was in the South Stand, which looks almost identical.

The Railway Stand is no longer in use. The stand does not have a safety certificate and most of the seats have been removed.

The Main Stand, which runs less than half the length of the pitch.

The South Stand.

Kevin Smith's penalty gave the Raith fans hope again.

The South Stand after the game.

Saturday 23rd January 2010
Scottish Football League First Division
Raith Rovers 1 Greenock Morton 2
Raith Rovers: Kevin Smith 79 pen.
Morton: Weatherson 33, 52.
Att: 1,702