The Thistle Archive

The “Pitt Bull” was a real cult-hero to the Thistle fans who admired his commitment to the cause in terms of his strong tackling, no nonsense defending as well as his rocket-shots up at the other end of the park. Unfortunately, the 27-year-old left back hit the wrong kind of headlines on his debut, being red-carded late in a 1-2 league loss to Celtic, but it was a soft second yellow in truth and it was his steely play which impressed manager John Lambie, so he got a pass and was back in the team as soon as possible. He spent two seasons at Firhill, one under John Lambie and another under Murdo MacLeod. It was a good first season as Thistle finished 8th and qualified for the Intertoto Cup, albeit only after other clubs above the Jags declined to take up Scotland's allocated slot. In the April of his first season he scored one of the best goals ever seen at Firhill, a 30-yard-piledriver which looked like it might burst the net, such was the ferocity of the strike. Alas, it was all in vain, Dundee United winning that particular game by 3 goals to 1.

While born in the United States, Stevie had moved with his mother to Scotland after his parents divorced when he was two years old. His senior career got started with East Fife then Shrewsbury Town but he had been hankering after a Stateside return and this came to be in the springtime of 1990 when he signed for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers before switching to the Wichita Wings 5 months later. He earned his first cap for U.S. national team in a 3–0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago on September 15, 1990. Pittman started the game, then came off in the 65th minute for Troy Dayak. 5 years passed before his second game; a 1–0 loss away to Sweden on August 16, 1995. This was just a few weeks after having played 4 games for Thistle in Europe, which included trips to Austria and France. A very cosmopolitan period! He earned his last cap for the States on January 29, 1997, a memorable trip to the far east in which the U.S. lost to China. Stevie began the game, but came off for Ramiro Corrales in the 60th minute. He came close to making the USA's World Cup squads in 1994 and 1998 where he would have teamed-up with such names as Alexi Lalas and Casey Keller, but missed the final cut on both occasions.

His time as a Jag came to a sad end when he was laughably over-punished for a relatively mild crime. You know it's been a controversial game when the referee feels the need to resign after it, such was the case for Jim McGilvray after the Thistle v Rangers match on 3rd February 1996. The 47-year-old - 21 years in the game - flashed 5 red cards to Thistle men on the day (2 for players and 3 to Stevie Pittman for protesting) and admitted that he knowingly and deliberately turned the other cheek for Rangers, fearing the crowd's reaction! One of the reds was for Rod McDonald who crossed himself when leaving the pitch at half-time. My goodness, catholics, in Glasgow. A clear red card offence!!!

This is how the post-match conversation went:

Pittman: I hope when you go home you watch a video of that f*g game.

McGilvray: I'll be reporting you to the SFA for foul and abusive language.

Pittman: You can't report me when I'm not f*g playing.

McGilvray: Yes I can, and you'll be reported twice now.

Pittman: Don't be f*g ridiculous.

McGilvray: That makes it three.

For his heinous crime, Stevie received an EIGHT (!) game ban from the SFA several weeks later! MacLeod and Thistle showed him no support and, thoroughly disgusted, Stevie left the country for America once more. A few years later, he wound down his career in the juniors before going into management at that level too. His son, Scott, went on to have an excellent 10+ year career with Livingston, where he set appearance records and earned a testimonial.

Stevie is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists →