Read on Twitter
Today marks the silver jubilee of one of the weirdest and most ridiculous games in Scottish football history - when Partick Thistle had three men sent off against Rangers. One for crossing himself, another shown three red cards despite not even being in the squad...
Thistle v Rangers, 25 years ago today. A solid, competitive game at a packed Firhill, on a grim, snow-damaged pitch which Rangers won 2-1 - thanks to two excellent goals by Paul Gascoigne.
The referee for the match was one of the SFA’s top whistlers, as they used to say in the tabloids - Jim McGilvray, from Edinburgh.
Gazza, in his first season at Rangers. was at the centre of the action. He scored the opener, and was booked for leaving the field of play to celebrate.
Rod McDonald, who’d joined Thistle from Walsall that season, hit a lovely equaliser, before Gascoigne put Rangers 2-1 up.
Rod McDonald, who’d joined Thistle from Walsall that season, hit a lovely equaliser, before Gascoigne put Rangers 2-1 up.
Gazza was also involved during the game in what could best be described as a robust running battle with young Jags midfielder Billy McDonald.
At half time, McGilvray told Rod and manager Murdo Macleod that the player would be ‘reported’ for crossing himself. Macleod would later say it wasn’t made clear that Rod had also been booked for doing so. So when McDonald put in a solid 2nd half tackle on John Brown...
Billy McDonald’s tussles with Gascoigne grew increasingly heated, with the young midfielder repeatedly being held off by the England star’s elbows. By the end of the game, the sponsor’s logo had been ripped off Billy’s shirt.
After one too many run-ins, McDonald followed through with a kick at Gazza. You can guess what happened next...
However, Gascoigne himself did not receive another booking - despite being equally as aggressive with McDonald. McGilvray admitted after the game that he should have sent the England player off, but feared red-carding Gazza would have sparked a riot among the Rangers support.
After the game, Jags captain Steve Pittman - who had missed the match squad through injury - confronted the referee about his decisions to card the McDonalds but not Gascoigne. For doing so, McGilvray showed him THREE red cards.
Pittman would subsequently miss eight games through the suspension, which basically ended his Thistle career and he left for the fledgling MLS.
McGilvray meanwhile immediately resigned as a referee - saying he felt he should never have had to book Gascoigne for celebrating in the first place, and claiming the new rules were ruining the game. He sold his story to a Sunday tabloid, to a bit of furore.
It’s safe to say Thistle were unimpressed by his actions during and after the game… https://heraldscotland.com/news/12041072.oliver-angered-by-referees-words-on-gascoigne-affair/…
“The referee in our game against Rangers chose to send Rod McDonald off, apparently for blessing himself, and he chose to send Billy McDonald off for having allowed his youth and inexperience to get the better of him,” chairman Jim Oliver said afterwards.
“Yet, the same referee chose not to caution Paul Gascoigne a second time because the official says his action might have caused a riot. So, he is saying that because there were only several thousand Thistle fans in the ground they didn't matter.”
Thistle, losing three key players, ended up in the relegation playoffs where they were beaten by Dundee United and began a grim yo-yo up and down the lower leagues that, in part, led to the cash issues which inspired the Save the Jags campaign.
Gascoigne, meanwhile, went on to win Scottish player of the year as Rangers secured their eighth title in a row, before his celebrated turn at Euro 96 that summer.
And McGilvray? He never refereed another game.
It’s one of those games that seems to get forgotten about, despite the absolute insanity around it and the aftermath.
The highlights are on YouTube if you want to see them. It’s a typically decent, competitive mid-90s match. Well, most of it…
The highlights are on YouTube if you want to see them. It’s a typically decent, competitive mid-90s match. Well, most of it…
