Alex Farquharson

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Alex Farquharson

• Alex Farquharson, c1896 (SJJP) Alexander Farquharson was probably born in Scotland, although his place and date of birth remain unknown to us. * The midfielder signed for Thistle in April, 1898, having most recently been with Renfrew Victoria. He made his first known appearance (as a trialist) on Saturday, 22nd January, 1898, in a 3-1 friendly defeat at home to Dumbarton. There were no known goals for Alex during his spell with Thistle. He played his last known game for the club on Saturday, 24th September, 1898, in a 4-1 defeat at home to St Mirren in the SFL First Division, having appeared for the Thistle on at least 7 occasions. His club-list included Renfrew Victoria, Partick Thistle, Third Lanark, Vale of Leven and Clydebank Juniors. We don't know where or when Alex died. * * If you can help us to improve any of these marked points on The Thistle Archive, then please do get in touch →

Alex Farquharson's Summary Totals

League	4	0	0	4	0
Competitive	4	0	0	4	0
All Games	7	1	0	6	0

Bio Extra

Alex - a centre half - was one of two trialists from the juniors who appeared for Thistle on 22nd January 1898 for the home friendly with a scratch Dumbarton side, who had all but two of their regulars on strike! 1,500 were at Meadowside to see it. Despite the very poor result - a 1-3 loss - the Thistle committee were said to be mightily impressed by Alex and offered him a deal. However, he refused to sign while Renfrew Victoria were still in the running for the Cup but promised he'd give Thistle first option if the chance arose again. A few months later, Alex played as a trialist for both Third Lanark and Partick Thistle within weeks of each other, and Thistle won his signature this time around. 1897-98 had been the first season in the top-flight and they held on for a second season by election. Commenting on the signing in the summer, the Scottish Sport reckoned that Alex had a splendid placing ability that Thistle half backs had been lamentably lacking in. 1898-99 turned out to be a very unhappy one, with a great deal of hostility between the players and the committee and it showed in the results. Disastrously, the first 8 league games were lost - Alex played in 4 of them - and there was to be no recovery as Thistle fell back to the second tier. By October 1898, Alex was dropped to the reserves and pretty much disappeared as a Jag from then on, despite Thistle holding his registration papers for 5 seasons. He made brief appearances for both Vale of Leven and Clydebank at the start of the 1899-00 season but, reading between the lines, there may have been some sort of dispute with Thistle that prevented him signing properly for either club.

(WS/AFK)

Every Game

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(age) 1897-98

1. (-) #5 Sat-22-Jan-1898 [h] L1-3 Dumbarton (Friendly)

2. (-) #5 Sat-16-Apr-1898 [h] W4-1 Ayr (Friendly)

(age) 1898-99

3. (-) #4 Wed-17-Aug-1898 [h] L0-4 Celtic (Friendly)

4. (-) #4 Sat-20-Aug-1898 [a] L2-6 Rangers (SFL First Division - game 1)

5. (-) #4 Sat-27-Aug-1898 [a] L0-1 Third Lanark (SFL First Division - game 2)

6. (-) #5 Sat-10-Sep-1898 [h] L0-3 St Bernard's (SFL First Division - game 4)

7. (-) #4 Sat-24-Sep-1898 [h] L1-4 St Mirren (SFL First Division - game 5)

Gallery

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• Alex is middle of the centre row, c1896. (SJJP)

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