Did Thistle ever play without stripes? I found this top randomly on line. I'm not interested in purchasing it but i'm wondering how close to the real thing it is as it doesn't look like your average Jaggy top.....

Anyone around in 1951...........

http://www.uksoccershop.com/p-16522/inverness-thistle-fc-1951--1952.html?aff_sys=webgains&siteid=87979

This may help you CC

Noticed this shirt on Toffs a few years back.

More good pics here for all the Jaggies

http://www.axis32.dsl.pipex.com/photogallery.htm

This may help you CC

At least 4 of these guys ended up at Telford Street!

Quite possibly. There was a fair amount of movement between the teams back then. Much like the ICT / County moves of recent years

Change the colour of hair to grey and Dils Hendry looks exactly the same today!

http://www.historica...ss_Thistle.html

This'll probably give you the best answer. Interesting to note, that Thistle played in a blue and white striped number in the early days, followed a very current ICT-esque blue and red top. Also note that Thistle's first kit was a white and brown striped composition. I'm sure one or two on this site will remember these kits in action!

I see as well that some of the early Caledonian kits included a belt!

Edited February 3, 201214 yr by Renegade

At least 4 of these guys ended up at Telford Street!

Yes, they wanted to win trophies.

At least 4 of these guys ended up at Telford Street!

Yes, they wanted to win trophies.

Aye and they had to wait ten years for the first one.

At least 4 of these guys ended up at Telford Street!

Yes, they wanted to win trophies.

Aye and they had to wait ten years for the first one.

Think your stats are a bit dodgy Alex

At least 4 of these guys ended up at Telford Street!

Yes, they wanted to win trophies.

Aye and they had to wait ten years for the first one.

Think your stats are a bit dodgy Alex

Unless the records I'm looking at are wrong then there's nothing dodgy mate.

In 51/52 season Caledonian won the Highland League, Highland League Cup and North of Scotland Cup. I find no records of them having won anything after that till 61/62 when they won the Scottish Qualifying Cup. In the 63/64 season they won the league again and the Inverness cup. They won the Highland League cup in 68/69

Someone said earlier in this thread that 4 of the Thisle team pictured ended up with Caley. Being pedantic, two of them, 'Joopy' Mitchell and Willie Jamieson started at Caley before going 'up the hill'. Two others, Dave Christie and Rod Clyne did start at Thistle before going to Telford Street. Both Mitchell and Jamieson were in Caley's great 50/51 all conquering team. I'm surprised that they went to Jags immediately afterwards. My recollection was that they went a bit later, maybe 53/54. However I guess my memory is not as good as I thought, if the date on the Thistle photo of 51/52 is correct!

Ironic that in the Sneck, the phrase 'up the Hill' often meant the very opposite........

Only jokeen guys :lol:

Unless the records I'm looking at are wrong then there's nothing dodgy mate.

In 51/52 season Caledonian won the Highland League, Highland League Cup and North of Scotland Cup. I find no records of them having won anything after that till 61/62 when they won the Scottish Qualifying Cup. In the 63/64 season they won the league again and the Inverness cup. They won the Highland League cup in 68/69

As far as I can see the records Alex is looking at are spot on. The ones I am looking at are the official centenary histories of both clubs - Caley All The Way (1986) and The Hub Of The Hill (1985) - and the former confirms to the letter what Alex has said about Caley. The Thistle booklet shows that, although this wasn't any purple patch for them, they actually did better than their town rivals during the period in question, winning the North Cup in 52-53, the Inverness Cup in 53-54 and the apparently short lived Scottish North Cup in 55-56, although none of the three "majors".

I have pasted below a passage from the additional chapter of Against All Odds on the Highland League which I wrote last summer and which, as many members will know, now appears electronically and in entirety on this site.

This also shows that the real "big" move of the decade was actually from Telford Street to Kingsmills!

Caley won back to back titles between 1950 and 1952 at a time when their ranks included the legendary goalscorer supreme Andrew "Jupie" Mitchell along with "Ginger" MacKenzie. Jupie hit the headlines when he scored all 10 goals for Caley in a 10-3 Qualifying Cup defeat of Fraserburgh in 1952 but it was at Kingsmills, where he went the following year, that he really made history.

Research in 2010 by Nairn based journalist Donald Wilson and former Caley secretary Ian Davidson revealed that it was Jupie with 77 league and cup goals for Thistle in 1955-56 who held the all time Highland scoring record and not that other scoring legend Davie Johnston who amassed 73 for Nairn some seasons later.

But despite the talents of the likes of Jupie, the latter 1950s were a fairly fallow period on the Highland scene at both Telford Street and Kingsmills. After Thistle's league title in 1936 it would be into the 70s before the trophy would return. And Caley's back to back successes of the early 50s provided their only league flags in a period of over 30 years until they won again in 1964, which is my own first recollection of being a football supporter.

Edited February 9, 201214 yr by Charles Bannerman

Caley won back to back titles between 1950 and 1952 at a time when their ranks included the legendary goalscorer supreme Andrew "Jupie" Mitchell along with "Ginger" MacKenzie. Jupie hit the headlines when he scored all 10 goals for Caley in a 10-3 Qualifying Cup defeat of Fraserburgh in 1952 but it was at Kingsmills, where he went the following year, that he really made history.

Charles Your account here supports my view that Mitchell was still at Caley in 51/52 (and probably 52/53 as well). So, as I hinted at in my earlier post, the picture of the Thistle team cannot be from the 51/52 season as the caption says! Maybe my memory is not playing me up after all!

CMIB...his 10 goal feat places him at Caley in 1952 and the Thistle history says he won an Inverness Cup medal with them. Thistle's honours list says they won the Inverness Cup in 1953-54, placing him there at that point, so no conclusive evidence there as to where he was in 52-53. Team lines in old papers would confirm one way or another.

The 1950 top appears to be similar to the one in the photo but with one red sleeve and one black sleeve with the front half red half black like the Blackburn Rovers top.

Also seen a photo from around that time from a game against Nairn that shows the team wearing what appears to be the same as the photo in the earlier post with black sleeves and collar but a white body instead of red and no badge - I assume it was the away/change strip of the time....

Also just looked at a photo taken in August 1966 that appears to be at Kingsmills showing a round collar (White) with what is assumed to be an all red top under the title 'The boys who are bringing back the Kingsmills fans' so there may be another season when the stripes were absent.

The source of the photo in question is the 'Hub' booklet so it is possible that the season reference is wrong....

Just looked at the article on Andrew "Jupie" Mitchell in the "Hub" booklet. It states he rejoined Caley in 1949 after being demobbed and won the qualifying cup and then played for the four following seasons where he won several medals (2 more Qualifying Cup medals, 2 North Cup medals, two League Championship medals, a Highland League Cup medal and a Charity Cup medal) so he was at Telford Street for 1948/49(part), 49/50, 50/51, 51/52, and 52/53.

He won the Inverness Cup and was a runner-up in the Qualifying Cup with Thistle in 1953/54 so the earliest the Thistle photo could have been taken is 1953.

I have checked again the Nairn County photo and it is 1955/56 (taken before the game against Nairn at Kingsmills which ended 11-0 and Mitchell scored four) and 9 of the 11 in that photo are the same as the one above that is listed as 1951/52.

Just looked at the article on Andrew "Jupie" Mitchell in the "Hub" booklet. It states he rejoined Caley in 1949 after being demobbed and won the qualifying cup and then played for the four following seasons where he won several medals (2 more Qualifying Cup medals, 2 North Cup medals, two League Championship medals, a Highland League Cup medal and a Charity Cup medal) so he was at Telford Street for 1948/49(part), 49/50, 50/51, 51/52, and 52/53.

He won the Inverness Cup and was a runner-up in the Qualifying Cup with Thistle in 1953/54 so the earliest the Thistle photo could have been taken is 1953.

I have checked again the Nairn County photo and it is 1955/56 (taken before the game against Nairn at Kingsmills which ended 11-0 and Mitchell scored four) and 9 of the 11 in that photo are the same as the one above that is listed as 1951/52.

Well done for doing the further research, TBB. That agrees exactly with when I thought Mitchell (and Jamieson) left Caley for Jags. Looks certain that caption on Thistle photo of 51/52 is wrong, and that it must be 53/54 at earliest.

I have to say id still like to see a jaggy style black/red striped top used as an away strip at some point in the future

Great pics. Nice to see Donald Park making an appearance!