Second Hall of Fame Inductee
Wednesday 1st April 2009
The 1980s were not a happy decade for Partick Thistle. True, the decade began with Thistle an established Premier League side but following relegation in 1982 it was a fairly rapid decline. A succession of managers failed to address that decline with a procession of barely adequate players coming and going through the dressing room door at Firhill.
If the decade was marked by the poor quality of the players that represented Thistle there was one notable exception.
Kenny Watson began his career with Montrose before moving to Rangers in 1975. Although more a fringe player than anything at Ibrox he was twice capped for Scotland at under 21 level while a Rangers player and competed against the likes of PSV Eindhoven and Valencia in European competition.
When Thistle's then manager Bertie Auld paid a reported £50,000 for Watson's services in the summer of 1980 it was considered as something of a coup for Thistle.
It took the newly arrived Watson a little time to win the Thistle fans over upon his arrival at Firhill but by the end of his first season as a Thistle player he had played a part in Thistle's Glasgow Cup triumph which was supposed to herald the start of a new successful era for the Club.
That it didn't exactly turn out that way is an established fact. Following the relegation of 1982 there were a couple of near things with regard to promotion back to the Premier League but after failing the second time around to secure a place back in the Premier League the only change of division was likely to come in the opposite direction.
That Thistle never actually dropped down to the Second but his contribution was hugely significant all the same.
Whether playing in midfield or defence Kenny was rarely anything other than excellent and was the one Thistle player that was coveted by other First division teams. As injury limited his contribution in the latter years of his Thistle career his absence became more and more pronounced as Thistle struggled on the pitch.
His final appearance in a Thistle jersey came in August 1988 before injury finally signalled an end to his career. It was cruel in the extreme that with the John Lambie era shortly to begin that Watson, after holding many a poor Thistle team together, didn't get to play a part in Thistle's revival.
There are many players that that have made higher profile contributions to the Thistle cause than Kenny Watson did. However, perhaps because of the troubled times that he represented Thistle through, his contribution deserves every bit as big, if not more, recognition.
In total Kenny played 315 times for Thistle and scored 54 goals.
The 2nd Partick Thistle Hall of Fame Dinner will be held in the Alan Rough Lounge on Friday 8th May.
Tickets are priced at £45 and can be purchased through the Business Club by emailing enquiries@mccreafs.co.uk
