Husband Jackie Image 2 Partick Thistle 1947

Description

Dunfermline, Fife born centre half John “Jackie” Husband began his football career with Yoker Athletic from where he was signed by Partick Thistle in October 1938, making his Scottish League debut in a 4-0 win over Hibernian towards the end of March 1939. Fairly immediately thereafter, the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 substantially interrupted his career, although because he was in a reserved occupation he was able to play for Thistle throughout the conflict. His greatest triumph at Thistle came in 1945 where he captained the team to a win over Hibernian to win the wartime Summer Cup (the competition that replaced the Scottish Cup during the war).

Generally considered one of Thistle’s greatest players, despite the fact that in his career of 368 appearances for The Jags, in which he scored 12 goals, only 72 were in peacetime football. Husband was acknowledged with both a wartime cap for Scotland against England in April 1946 and a further unofficial Victory international appearance against Switzerland the next month. On his Scotland debut his free kick set up Jimmy Delaney to score the winning goal against England at Hampden Park in front of 134,000 spectators.

After the War he became Partick Thistle’s club captain, and was selected for Scotland, playing in a 2-2 draw with England at Maine Road in August 1946, a fundraising match against England for the bereaved and the survivors of the Burnden Park Disaster of the previous March, winning his only official cap in a 3-1 defeat to Wales at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham in October 1946. Husband was also selected for The Scottish League when they lost 3-1 to The Football League at Hampden Park in March 1947.

He scored the last of his 12 goals for Partick on Saturday, 30th August, 1947, in a 3-3 draw at home to Falkirk in the League Cup, his only goal for Partick Thistle in peacetime football, before retiring in 1951, his last match for the club in a 2-1 neutral-venue friendly win against Third Lanark on 26th May 1951.

Besides a two year spell as manager of Queen of the South between 1967 and 1968, where in his time at Palmerston Park he worked with players such as Allan Ball, Iain McChesney, Jim Kerr, Lex Law and Billy Collings, Husband served Partick Thistle for more than 50 years, serving as player, trainer, coach, kitman, physiotherapist and mentor, serving the club he loved under 17 managers until his death aged 73 in April 1992.

In 2007 Jackie Husband was inducted into the Partick Thistle Hall of Fame. The East Stand opposite the Main Stand at Thistle’s Firhill Stadium is named The Jackie Husband Stand.