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My Lambie story is a bit of an unusual one. 2009 and i'm heading to Bulgaria for my first lads holiday. We get to Glasgow airport and a few of my friends spot Kyle Lafferty standing getting checked in for a flight to Portsmouth. Minutes later, streams of people walk by us following the full Rangers squad. My mates were mostly Rangers fans, I played photographer for the next 10-15 minutes through gritted teeth. 

Finally, once that all calmed down, we were standing about waiting for a few more friends to arrive, the doors of Glasgow airport opened and in walks John Lambie. I couldn't help but go talk to him, managed to get a picture with him as he stood for a good bit of time telling me stories of his days at Thistle. He had his Division 2 winners medal on a chain around his neck, he was kind enough to show me that too. 

Finally just as we were about to leave him, I asked where he was off to. He was off to Bulgaria and was unbelievably on the same flight as us. He even wandered up on the flight and bought me and my other Thistle fan mate a drink. 

Total gentleman and seemed more than happy to have a chat. I'll never forget that, what a great guy. He'll always be one of my Thistle heroes. 

RIP John Lambie. There will never be one like him. 

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2 hours ago, C. Muir said:

Good bit of him in dressing room and touchline situations in this video. Smoking cigs in the dugout :lol:

"Hit the fuckin big men ya fuckin eejit ye!" 

That is fucking magnificent - that's why we want people mic'd up at the Football. Also - Gerry Collins - used when John wanted the players sworn at but with more volume and slevering. 

Always liked Lambie - sad he's away.

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I think if you were asked to name a ‘character’ off the top of your head from Scottish football many would come up with his name first.  Will watch the Thistle documentary later tonight as can remember thinking it was a cracker at the time.

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Planning on having a Grasping The Thistle watch back at 9pm tonight.

If everyone fancies joining to celebrate a legend of Scottish Football, we'll see you at 9pm on Twitter with the hashtag #graspingthethistle

Part 1 is here...

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4 hours ago, Hammer Jag said:

 

Had his car rammed off the road by an irate Falkirk fan when he was their manager.

 

 

3 hours ago, Believe The Hype said:

I believe the Falkirk fan in question is a member on here

 

Literally the least surprising thing ever.

Met Lambie at East End Park once and he came across as a tremendous bloke. Took time to chat and share stories with everyone. Sad news for his family and those who knew him. 

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Really sad news and a real gentleman and character of our game. Played with distinction for us for 11 years then went on to have real success with St Johnstone. Due to his brilliant managerial achievements people forget he was actually a very, very good player.

RIP Mr Lambie. My thoughts are with your family and friends at this sad time.

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R.I.P Mr Lambie.

Thats how i remember him about town,he was a legend to so many,especially here in Whitburn.

He played football in the town from an early age and after his playing career went onto coaching and management where of course he went onto even greater things with Thistle and Accies,he also was a big fan of Whitburn juniors. Often would see him,roaring the "burnie" on.

My own personal and lasting memory of him was back in the year 2000,one of the guys at my work was dating John's daughter at the time and he said he could get us hospitality ticlets for the Scotland v Belgium match which ended 2-2.

So me and another guy from work got the 2 tickets as we're big Scotland fans.

Little did we know that John who had got the tickets for us was also driving us thru too !!!

We arrived at Hampden with suits and ties on and walked thru the crowds to the front doors.

En-route we heard some of the fans saying theres John Lambie with a couple of his players with him... LOL !!

To his etrrnal credit,john never said we werent when he was approached then for a blether!!

Apart from Belgiums late equalizer it was a great day out,enjoyed talking football with john on the way to Hampden and back to Whitburn.

You'll be sorely missed John but never forgotten!!!

 

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Gutted to hear this news at work today. A Great character who always had a good line for the press.

Dragged the club up to the top flight twice, once not long after we almost went to the wall.

Last met him at Cowdenbeath in our promotion season. He was on good form that day. 

RIP Mr Lambie and thanks for all the good times!

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I think I have the next flag for the North Stand. 

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Sat right behind the dugout when we played East Fife at Methil one night in a cup game.

Kenny Arthur put the ball straight out of play from a goal kick, prompting Lambie to jump up and shout at the top of his voice " For f**ks sake Kenny, can you no' f***in kick the f***in baw f***kin straight ".

 

Another game at Cowdenbeath when he was spotted in among the Thistle fans, prompting a chorus of " Johnny Lambies having a party, bring the vodka and Bacardi (repeat several times to the same tune as Red n Yellow army). After about 5 minutes of it, he turned round and shouted, "No, he's f***in no. And even if I was, you f***in lot woildnae be invited".

A true gent and a class act. RIP John.

 

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2 hours ago, John MacLean said:

I suspect for a whole variety of reasons John wouldn't have managed as well in the current, transfer window, football world. He was a fantastic wheeler and dealer in the transfer market. He would always go on about how we were "just two players" short. He'd then sign three and then still declare that he was "just two players short". He knew that bringing in new faces, even if they would be out the door in a week or two, would keep players on their toes. 

He was just about the first manager I can recall who used a psychologist (the master of malapropism John likely called them a physicist). A few days later we beat Rangers 3-0 at Firhill and John went nuts when the psychologist tried to claim credit for the result in the papers. They were swiftly shown the door. 

Of course John was a psychologist himself. From giving the players a glass of champagne each just before kick-off in a game against Rangers in our first season back in the Premier League to wringing a pigeon's neck in the dressing room and telling Declan Roche that he could do the same to him. 

Alan Archibald spoke at a Meet the Manager event last season and talked about how John was in many respects way ahead of his time. There was indeed method to his madness. 

Of course he had his flaws as a manager (which one doesn't?) and his eccentric approach would undoubtedly have put some, bigger, clubs off but he was a perfect fit for Partick Thistle. Four times he was our manager and it isn't that much of a stretch to imagine, had his health been better, that he could have been back for a fifth stint. 

As programme editor I 'worked' with John for many years. Trying to turn his colourful use of language into something readable was often a challenge and that's before you factor in the odd we expletive. 

I last spoke to John last season on an all too rare visit to Firhill. I was glad to spend just a few minutes just passing the time of day with him. He looked well, although we knew he wasn't in the best of health, and he was in top form. 

John Lambie will be thought of by most people as first and foremost a football man but a quick look at his Facebook page (John Lambie on Facebook, bloody hell) shows little other than a few family pictures. His love of his family shines through in those pictures for all to see though and it is his family that I think of most at this dreadfully sad time for them. 

Today is a sad day for Partick Thistle. 

Great post on a thread full of them.

Lambie said himself part of the reason for retiring was the advent of transfer windows. In the pre-internet days under Lambie you'd turn up at Firhill and if you'd missed the team announcement then there's a good chance you'd be asking who the number 5 was only to discover he'd been signed on a one month deal at Armadale greyhound track on the Friday night, too late to make the papers.

His only real mis-step with Thistle was the first season in the 3rd tier after he'd kept us up, he tried to replicate Clyde's strategy of signing a load of juniors but it backfired and the season never recovered. After a bit of a slow start the next season the turning point was a last minute Paul McGrillen winner at QoS and we never looked back for 3 seasons until he retired, back to back promotions, staying up with *by a mile* the smallest budget in the SPL (at least half the other teams in that 02/03 SPL have since went into admin / liquidation) and a Scottish cup semi - the only one in the last 40 years- thrown in.

The spell before that will probably remain my favourite ever just due to me being a young kid and going to all the bigger grounds for the first time, even winning a few. For all that a lot of the stories here have-rightly- focused on his man managment abilities, he wasn't bad tactically either. September 1992 and we're away to Celtic having just lost to Rangers and Aberdeen, beset with injuries and suspensions. He pulls Davie Irons who was having a fairly mediocre spell in midfield back to sweeper in a 5-3-2, Irons plays out of his skin, we win 2-1 (still our last win at Celtic Park though Lambie did record another away victory at Celtic the year they were at Hampden) and Irons plays at the back for the rest of his Thistle career.

Also another story that sticks in my head was another Celtic away game, 2nd last game of the season where he said before the game he'd dreamt Tom Smith would score for us. Smith equalised to make it 1-1 with 5 minutes to go, only for it to be chopped off (for a very dubious offside). Lambie and Collins are raging, Collins gets sent to the stand. 2 minutes later Smith scores again and this one counts. That goal ended up keeping us up on goal difference.

I certainly wouldn't be averse to naming the North stand after him, though there is arguably a stronger case for David McParland.

Sad news, but some of the stories have been brilliant to read.

 

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Gutted to hear this news at work today. A Great character who always had a good line for the press.
Dragged the club up to the top flight twice, once not long after we almost went to the wall.
Last met him at Cowdenbeath in our promotion season. He was on good form that day. 
RIP Mr Lambie and thanks for all the good times!
4C0BFD6E-C560-463C-921D-A4AB9FB05565.thumb.jpeg.685e97c756f7ec0ad18eb55b2e2410d3.jpeg.4e11aadad6fe1431a045c768f86d4d39.jpeg
I think I have the next flag for the North Stand. 


Make it happen
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