John Harvey
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John Harvey
John Harvey
• John Harvey, 1953 (HA)

born in Scotland

John McDonald Harvey was born on Saturday, 21st January, 1933, in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire.

The 6' 1 (12st 0lbs) defender signed for Davie Meiklejohn's Thistle on Tuesday, 20th February, 1951, having most recently been with Baillieston Juniors.

Aged 18, he made his debut appearance on Tuesday, 25th December, 1951, in a 3-1 defeat at home to Dundee in the SFL First Division.

That day, John became a member of our scoring debutant's club.

He scored the last of his 22 goals on Wednesday, 12th May, 1965, in a 3-2 defeat away to Morton in the Summer Cup.

He played his last game for the club on Saturday, 20th November, 1965, in a 2-0 defeat away to St Mirren in the SFL First Division, having clocked up a mighty 434 appearances as a Jag.

John's club-list included Baillieston Juniors, Partick Thistle and Third Lanark.

John Harvey's Summary Totals
appearances position won drew lost goals
League 293 129 47 117 15
Competitive 420 185 73 162 22
All Games 434 194 75 165 22

Bio Extra

Surprisingly, our man wasn't the first John McDonald Harvey to play for Thistle, for his Grandad of the very same name had done likewise more than 50 years earlier! John Harvey Jr. went considerably longer though; with his playing days in the Partick Thistle first team spanning almost 14 years from 1951 to 1965, John Harvey sits comfortably in the all-time Top 10 in terms of loyalty and longevity. He served under two great Thistle managers in Davie Meiklejohn and Willie Thornton, and, having made well over 400 appearances for the club, the big man was inducted into the Partick Thistle hall of fame in 2009.

John started out as a right sided midfielder who liked to get forward, but later settled as an out and out centre half, his height and strength being considerable assets in that department. Over the years, John's contributions helped the club to many notable achievements, including two third place League finishes (1953-54 & 1962-63), three League Cup finals (1953, 1956 & 1958) and three Glasgow Cup wins (1952, 1954 & 1960). The Glasgow Cup final of 1954 was played in front of 44,500 at Hampden and, after the equivalent of 17 games in 45 days, and against the odds, Thistle were “overwhelmingly superior” to Rangers, yet they were without the injured Bobby Bell for most of the second half. They should have been 2-up before Davie McParland's glorious 18-yard drive (18). It was 21-year-old John Harvey's 25-yarder (81) which made sure for the young Jags side. A great personal memory for John and, indeed, for all Thistle fans who were there!

Another wonderful highlight for John came in 1962-63 when the Jags were gunning for the Scottish flag itself, and he featured in a glorious run of 10 consecutive top-flight wins before the New Year. Of course, everyone knows the story by now, Thistle simply did not thaw out to full warmth after “the big freeze”, and slipped down to third place, albeit that was enough to guarantee European football in 1963-64. John managed to get himself on the scoresheet twice in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, netting in the 3-0 win at home to Glentoran and in the 3-2 win against Spartak Brno in the next round, both of his goals coming from the penalty spot. Only Ernie Yard (3) can lay claim to scoring more goals for Thistle in European competition!

John departed Firhill halfway through the 1965-66 season, strangely without having received an actual benefit match, although he did receive two testimonial payments during his time, aptly for such a tremendous servant. He joined up with the troubled Third Lanark lot in late 1965, who were being managed by the egotistical fraudster chairman, Bill Hiddleston. Financial squabbles amongst players and other staff were rife at Cathkin and, unsurprisingly, John decided to retire as a player after only 6 months there.

John operated public houses and re-established his involvement at Firhill by acting as manager of the social club, before running the succesful Jagspool for several years. In his personal life, John maintained a keen interest in other sports including golf, tennis and bowls, and lived in Bearsden for many years. In August 1998, the 65-year-old John led his Killermont foursome to victory in the Scottish Championships, defeating Irvine Winton by 14 to 9. Brilliantly, Winton were skippered by former Motherwell full back, Willie Kilmarnock. The boys were as competitive then as they were back in the day! John was a member of Allander Indoor Bowls Club for more than 40 years, up until it closed in 2022. He remains a Thistle supporter and is a frequent visitor to Firhill, never failing to answer the call when a half-time draw legend is required!

(WS/AFK/JK)



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