The Thistle Archive

The son of Scott McCready (English) and Yvonne McCready (Scottish), and the twin of Cameron, birthed in the USA! What's more, his Dad was a member of the New England Patriots squad which won the Superbowl in 2001, how about that? For a while, Mason (and his brother) were themselves getting into the American football, but Mason's Scottish roots won through in the end and he became a proper fitba' goalie.

The capable custodian progressed through the Thistle Weir Youth Academy from 2015 onwards and was introduced to the first team as understudy to Jamie Sneddon in season 2020-21, finding a place on the bench on 10 occasions. A League One winners medal was a nice end-of-season reward for his patience. In July 2021, he finally got his hands on the ball for the first team when he was introduced midway through the second half of a 2-1 pre-season friendly win at East Kilbride. Just 2 weeks later he answered the call from Gretna, who were in need of an emergency loan keeper. The following month a season-long loan deal was arranged with 5th tier Gala Fairydean Rovers in the Lowland League. A 2-1 win over Rangers B in September was a highlight. However, this deal was cut-short with Harry Stone returning to Hearts, and Mason returned to Thistle in January 2022. By season's end, he had been listed as an unused substitute for 10 competitive matches, repeating his Thistle tally from the previous campaign. This period was interspersed with on-loan games for Benburb where he appeared on 8 occasions.

Pre-season 2022-23 gave Mason another milestone in his career when he made his first start for Thistle, keeping goal for the duration of the full 90 minutes of a 3-1 friendly win at Alloa. With Ian McCall looking to bank on experience for the Championship campaign ahead, it was decided to seek out another decent quality loan deal, and a trial at Cowdenbeath (also by then in the Lowland League) was arranged, which, in July 2022, resulted in a season-long loan deal being agreed between the Jags and the Blue Brazil. However, just one month later, this deal was superceded with a similar arrangement at Dalbeattie Star, also of the Lowland League. In November 2023, a short-term loan deal was arranged with Gretna, followed a couple of months later by a more coveted loan arrangement with The Spartans, chasing promotion from the 4th tier.

With an in-play injury to David Mitchell, Mason was thrust into action for his competitive debut against Clyde in the League Cup in August 2024, but it was one to forget as Thistle went down by 3 goals to 2 at home to the 4th tier outfit. There was much better to come just 5 days later as he got his first competitive start away to top-flight Motherwell to round off the League Cup group stage. Not only did he put in a man-of-the-match performance with a number of terrific saves for the 0-0 draw, he saved a penalty to help earn the (otherwise meaningless) bonus point.