The Thistle Archive

Signed for a then Thistle record fee of £25,000, Alex O'Hara became a Partick Thistle player in October 1977 when he signed from Rangers. Rangers had recruited O'Hara from Glasgow Amateurs and handed him his first team debut, while still just 16, and he wasted next to no time in making a mark - in his first season at Ibrox he scored five times. After his successful first season at Rangers O'Hara found it somewhat harder to force his way into the first team but by the time of his arrival at Firhill he had played 32 games for Rangers and had scored seven goals. It was understandable then why Bertie Auld rated his new signing so highly. Commenting in a Thistle programme shortly after O'Hara's arrival, Auld has this to say about his new player: “He has added a lot of skill and endeavour in the highly competitive midfield area. I feel that he will prove one of the bargain buys of the year”. Certainly O'Hara wasted next to no time in making an impact at his new club.

He made his debut as a substitute against Dundee United, but the following week he was in from the start and scored the Thistle winner in a 2-1 win at Ayr United. He scored eleven goals in his debut season, a tally he would surpass just once as a Thistle player. Of those eleven goals, three of them came in one match, a Christmas Eve fixture with Ayr United at Firhill. A whisky firm entered into a sponsorship deal whereby they donated a case of whisky to every scorer of a hat-trick. Alex's treble, only the second Premier Division hat-trick by a Thistle player (the first being Jim Melrose) made sure that there was something a little extra to celebrate at Christmas. All in all it was a highly successful first season at Firhill for O'Hara. In addition to scoring eleven goals, and reaching the Scottish Cup semi-final, a feat he would repeat the following season, he received a call-up into the Scotland Under 21 squad for a fixture with Wales. He remained, however, uncapped.

O’Hara scored eight goals in his second season, and in 1979-80 the total dropped to five but he did have the satisfaction of scoring twice in the course of a 4-3 win against his former club Rangers. The 1970s had been in the main a successful decade for Thistle and the 1980s too started in a positive fashion. In 1980-81 Alex topped the scoring charts for the only time during his stay at Firhill. His total of twelve goals was two more than Tony Higgins, the next player on the scoring list. Despite the departure to Hibs of manager Bertie Auld, Thistle, with Peter Cormack now at the helm, survived comfortably enough in the Premier League. That would all change the following season with Thistle relegated to the First Division on the last day of the season.

Thistle's hopes of an immediate return to the Premier Division were seriously hampered by a dreadful start the next season and they finished behind promoted St Johnstone and Hearts in addition to Clydebank. After missing out on promotion from the First Division the first time around, Thistle looked set to make no mistake the next season. At the turn of the year they led the League by some distance and promotion looked all but secured. The second half of the season though was little less than a disaster. After the sale of Maurice Johnston to Watford it hardly helped things that O'Hara, who had scored eight goals up to then, missed the best part of three months of through injury. He only returned to the team for the final game when, typically, he scored the winner in a 2-1 win at Falkirk. By then though promotion had gone, and by the start of the next season so too had O'Hara.

After leaving Firhill O'Hara signed for Morton and he would spend the next six years at Cappielow clocking up a little short of 200 League appearances and once again taste Premier Division football. His association with Morton ended in 1990 and his last season in senior football was spent playing for Hamilton Accies. His final port of call was in the Ayrshire Juniors with Glenafton Athletic, then managed by his former Thistle team mate Alan Rough.

1981 - GLASGOW CUP