Firhill Stadium: Partick Thistle

Thomas Nugent [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Whilst Patrick Thistle would be an amazing name for a Hollywood movie star, Partick Thistle is the name of Glasgow’s third top-flight football team behind Rangers and Celtic. They play their home games at Firhill Stadium and have done ever since the ground opened in 1909. In the past Firhill has also hosted rugby union and rugby league games and has acted as the temporary home of both Clyde and Hamilton Academical.

In 2000 the stadium was used as one of the venues for the Rugby League World Cup. Another rugby link for the ground occurred in 2007 when Glasgow Warriors rugby union side used it for their home games. When Hampden Park was used for some of the football games in the 2012 Summer Olympics, Queens Park used Firhill Stadium for their home matches.

Stats

Firhill Stadium Photos

• Jackie Husband stand Jackie Husband stand
• Firhill Stadium Firhill Stadium
• Kingsley the Mascot Kingsley the Mascot
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Firhill Stadium Seating Plan & Where to Sit

At the time of writing there are just three stands at Firhill Stadium. There is nothing at the South end of the ground, despite attempts by the club to build some seating there on a number of occasions. The North Stand is also nothing too special, built in the early 2000s when the club graduated to the top-flight and had to build a new stand to meet Premier League regulations. The Jackie Husband Stand runs along one side of the pitch and is a single-tier section of seating, whilst The West Stand is the main stand in the stadium and is often referred to a such as it contains the dugouts and changing rooms. It was built in 1927 and is currently used to house away fans.

Partick Thistle Ticket Prices

Ticket prices for Partick Thistle matches are so blessedly easy to understand it seems almost redundant to lay them out for you; nevertheless, here they are:

• Adults: £20.00
• Concessions: £15.00

How To Get Partick Thistle Tickets

You can buy tickets from the main ticket office from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, at the turnstiles on a match day as long as games haven’t sold out (cash only), online and over the phone.

Where to Buy

Getting To Firhill Stadium

Glasgow is one of Scotland’s best cities, with a great vibe to it. Here’s how to get there and to the stadium:

Train - From London Euston a train to Glasgow Central will take about four and a half hours and from there you’ll have about a half an hour walk to reach the ground. Kelvinbridge and St. Georges Cross Underground stations are both within about fifteen minutes walk of the stadium.

Bus - Bus numbers 60, 60A, 61 and 7A all run from Glasgow Central close to the ground.

Car - If you’re driving to Firhill Stadium from England then you’ll want to take the M6 to the A74(M), which becomes the M74. Get onto the M8 and leave at Junction 16 for the A804 and then follow signs to the ground.

By Air - Glasgow International Airport is eleven miles from the city centre and Glasgow Prestwick is around thirty-five miles away.

Taxi - Getting a taxi from Glasgow Central to the stadium will take just under fifteen minutes and will cost in the region of £10.

Parking Near Firhill Stadium

There is some on-street parking near to the ground and it’s reasonably safe to park up anywhere between the ground and Kelvin Bridge. Keep your eye out for parking restrictions, though, or you might get your car clamped or towed away.

• See Available Parking Near Firhill Stadium

Useful Resources

Firhill Stadium Hotels

Glasgow is, alongside Edinburgh, one of the biggest and best cities in Scotland. Here are some of the hotel options you’ll want to consider for your stay:

Albion Hotel - £60+

405 - 407 North Woodside Road, Glasgow, G20 6NN

This pleasant, 3-star hotel is less than a ten minute walk from Firhill Stadium. There are 21 rooms, with a TV in the common area and free Wi-Fi available. More details.

The Alfred - £80+

1 Alfred Terrace, Glasgow, G12 8RF

Just over ten minutes walk from the ground is The Alfred, a nice 3-star hotel that’s also close to the city’s Botanical Gardens. There’s a continental breakfast included in the price of your room and free internet access for hotel guests. More details.

Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel - £100+

1-9 Grosvenor Terrace, Great Western Road, Glasgow, G12 0TA

Glasgow’s Hilton is located in an impressive looking building and has six meeting rooms, self-parking and free Wi-Fi in the reception area. There’s a restaurant and a bar and it’s all around fifteen minutes from the stadium. More details.

Pubs & Bars Near Firhill Stadium

As one of the country’s biggest and most exciting cities, there are plenty of places to go for a pre-match pint in Glasgow. Here are some of our choicest choices:

Facilities

There are a number of supporting pillars in The West Stand of the stadium that can impair your view, but other than that everything is as you’d expect. There are places to buy a drink or two, get a pie or a bite to eat and reasonably good concourses.

Prices

• Programme: 3.00
• Pie: 2.20
• Cup of tea: 2.00

Hospitality

There are a number of hospitality options available on a match day at Firhill Stadium, with the club keen to offer you a welcoming and enjoyable environment for all of your corporate and special occasion needs. Match day hospitality is available game by game and comes with a pre-match visit from staff/players, two course meal, exclusive padded seating, cash bar throughout the day and a visit from the man of the match post game and more. If you’d like to watch a match in even more style then you can go for the Premium Match Day Experience which includes the above as well as a signed match ball and social media shout outs, plus they can tailor the experience to suit your requirements.

Private Hire

There are six different function suites at Firhill Stadium, all of which are available for your private hire needs. The Board Room is the smallest, with seating room for twelve people and a full capacity of twenty, whilst The Alan Rough Suite can seat one hundred and eighty people or welcome two hundred and twenty in total. Whether you’re looking to host an engagement party, a wedding, a birthday party or simply just a business meeting, the home of Partick Thistle offers you a unique location for your event and caters for pretty much anything.

Stadium Tours & Museum

There aren’t any tours of the ground available to the public at the time of writing, although you might get one as part of a hospitality package (it varies), but we’ll let you know if that changes. There’s also no museum at the stadium.

About Partick Thistle

Formed in 1876, the club’s name is somewhat tenuously linked to its history when you consider that they haven’t played in the Partick district of Glasgow since 1908. They are the lesser known top-flight team in Glasgow, but still have a rich history that includes being a founder member of the Scottish Professional Football League when it was formed in 2013. Thistle have enjoyed a degree of success over the years, winning the second-tier league six times and both the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup once apiece.

Interestingly, when the club was formed Partick wasn’t a part of Glasgow. It was a separate burgh that wasn’t incorporated into the city until 1912. During the 1980s the club suffered a decline in its fortunes on the pitch and they ended up getting relegated from the top-flight in 1982. After a decade in exile the club nearly went bankrupt and only managed to stay afloat because the fans started a campaign called ‘save the jags’. The club has a series of, frankly, strange well-known supporters. When doing Pantomime in Glasgow David Hasselhoff declared Thistle to be his ‘favourite underdogs’, Hollywood movie star and Scottish national Robert Carlyle is a fan, and French international midfielder Paul Pogba apparently ‘keeps track’ of the club’s results.

Firhill Stadium History

Kelvingrove Park, Jordanvale Park and Muir Park all hosted Partick Thistle games prior to the club moving to Firhill Stadium in 1909. The ground for the new stadium was bought from Caledonian Railway for the princely sum of £5,500. The area that is now empty at the South end of the stadium used to be a terraced section, but it was demolished in 2006 when it failed to meet Scottish Football Association safety criteria. It is called ‘The Bing’ by Partick Thistle supporters - not to be confused with the Gentlemans Club of the same name in AMC's The Soprano's.

Things could have been significantly different for Thistle. After leading a nomadic lifestyle for the first few years of their existence it seemed as though the club was happy to settle at Meadowside, a stadium on the banks of the River Clyde. They were happy there for seventeen years before having to make way so that a shipyard could be built there. That was when the decision was made to relocate to the Maryhill site that would become Firhill Stadium.

Future Developments

In 2014 the club announced that they had submitted a planning permission application to Glasgow City Council to develop the South end of the stadium. At the time of writing nothing further has occurred regarding this issue, though the intention is still there.