The Thistle Archive

Born in Inverness, Donald Park first made his mark in senior football with Hearts, joining the Tynecastle side from the old Caledonian club from the highland capital. He made his Hearts debut during the course of the 1972-73 season, when he lined up wearing the number seven jersey in a home match against Arbroath. Hearts won 3-0 with Park marking his debut by scoring the third Hearts goal. Indeed goals would prove to be a feature of Park's early games for Hearts, no fewer than five coming his way in his first eight games. included in that total was the clincher in a 2-0 victory over Thistle. It was hardly a surprise then considering his early impact at Tynecastle, that he kept his place in the Hearts side for the remainder of the season, something that he was able to do throughout his duration of this his first spell as a Hearts player. Unfortunately he was unable to lay his hands on any honours while a Hearts player although he did make an appearance in the 1976 Scottish Cup Final when he replaced another future Thistle player, Willie Gibson, as his team went down 3-1 to Rangers.

In 1978, after six years with Hearts, it was time for a move with Firhill his destination. Denis McQuade and John Craig moved in the opposite direction to enable the transfer to go through. So just seven days after Park had scored Hearts' goal in a 1-1 Edinburgh derby he found himself lining up for Thistle against his old club at Firhill. Park ended up on the winning team with a 3-2 victory. It took Park seven months to claim his first Thistle goal but when it did come it could hardly have been more important. 1978 had finished with Thistle sitting second in the League but by the time April came around a run of eight games without a win had left Thistle sitting only narrowly above Hearts, who occupied one of the two relegation spots. A midweek triumph at Tynecastle went a long way in securing Thistle's position in the Premier Division for another season with Park scoring the second Thistle goal in a 2-0 win. Thistle's manager of the time Bertie Auld was particularly adept at maintaining Thistle's position in the Premier Division but did so with a team that constantly had to live with the label of being boring and defensive, two adjectives that could hardly be used to describe Donald Park. Standing at 5 feet 8 inches and weighing just under 12 stone he was an all action type player who combined 100% effort with the skill and talent to turn a game. He was also the kind of player that was far from popular with opposing supporters due in no small measure to his combative style of play.

Season 1982-83 proved to be Park's last as a Partick Thistle player and was easily his most productive in terms of goals scored. Admittedly Thistle, managed now by Peter Cormack, found themselves languishing in the First Division, after relegation had been confirmed, despite a Park goal on the final day of the previous season. No fewer than 15 League and cup goals came from Park, including a memorable last minute winner at Tynecastle, making him second top scorer behind Maurice Johnston who helped himself to no fewer than 32. Despite those impressive tallies, Thistle finished the season behind St Johnstone and Hearts who claimed the two promotion spots on offer. Park, unlike Thistle, though would still have the opportunity to once again sample football in the Premier Division the following season as a summer transfer took him from an increasingly cash strapped Thistle back to Hearts. Now the wrong side of 30 his best days were perhaps behind him, but he still managed four League goals as Hearts finished in a highly satisfactory fifth position in the top league.

Park remained at Tynecastle until 1985 before winding down his playing career with, firstly Brechin City, and then Meadowbank Thistle, whom he helped to the Second Division title in 1987. While at Meadowbank, Park moved into the coaching side of things before taking over as team manager. In one of Park's first games in charge of Meadowbank Thistle he very nearly ended Thistle's promotion hopes of the 1991-92 season as he led his already relegated side to a highly damaging 2-1 win at Firhill. There was, however, a happy ending for Thistle seven days later as Thistle clinched promotion to the Premier Division. Park spent a year as manager of Meadowbank Thistle before taking up a joint manager r0ole at Arbroath, with another former Thistle player, George Mackie. Park left Arbroath to take up a coaching role with Hibs where he remained until he was appointed Assistant Head Coach to John Robertson at Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He would later follow Robertson to take up a similar position at Hearts. In January 2006, Park returned to Inverness Caledonian Thistle, when he once again took up the position of Assistant Head Coach this time to Charlie Christie.

1979 - GATHERING OF THE CLANS TOURNAMENT

1981 - GLASGOW CUP