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| Ceiran Loney |
 Ceiran Loney was born on Thursday, 13th March 2008, in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire. The 6' 3 forward was introduced to Kris Doolan's Thistle in September, 2023, whilst a Partick Thistle U-18 player. Aged 15, he made his debut appearance on Sunday, 17th September, 2023, in a 4-2 defeat at home to a 12-13 Champions Select for Stuart Bannigan's testimonial. There were no goals for Ceiran during his time with Thistle. He played his second and last game for the club on Friday, 3rd May, 2024, in a 4-1 defeat away to Dundee United in the SPFL Championship. At July, 2024, Ceiran's club-list included Partick Thistle and Everton. |
| Ceiran Loney's Summary Totals |
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| League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Competitive | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| All Games | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
 This tall young striker was a Thistle Academy player all of his high school days, earning player of the year at under 11s level in 2018. He was doing so well that term that he stepped up two levels to play for the under 13s, a great achievement at that age. To cap it all off he scored on his debut at that level too! At 14, he was scoring for the Partick Thistle U-18s. Making your debut for the Thistle first team while you're still at high school is also some achievement, and Ceiran added that to his CV when he came on for Blair Alston for the last 25 minutes of Stuart Bannigan's testimonial in September 2023. At that very moment, the 15 years, 6 months and 4 days lad became the youngest-known Partick Thistle player in history! With Thistle leading 2-1, Ceiran might have thought he'd sealed the win with 7 minutes to go, but referee Kevin Clancy adjudged that his angled shot didn't cross the line, a cruel denial of a scoring debut. Looked over to most in attendance! Ceiran's form in the under-18s was such that he came to the attention of the scouting network from down south and, in March 2024, he spent a couple of weeks training at both Everton and Brighton & Hove Albion. His memorable month was complete on the 30th when, at the age of 16y, 0m, 17d, he became the all-time youngest-known Thistle player to make a competitive match day squad, beating Ryan Scully's record by 10 days. Thistle beat Inverness CT by a goal to nil on the day. Ceiran was a mainstay of the matchday squad from then until the end of the season and, in early May 2024, added yet another club-record to his CV when - aged 16y, 1m, 20d - he came on midway through the second-half at Tannadice, where champions Dundee United were enjoying their trophy presentation evening. Becoming the youngest-known Jag in history to make a league appearance, he took over from Jamie McKenzie (16y, 4m, 21d) who had set his record back in April 1997, away to Stirling Albion. Putting things into persepective, the Thistle media team later revealed that, on the morning of the game, Ceiran had sat his National 5 maths exam! Just when you thought Ceiran's tale couldn't get any more fantastical, he and the Partick Thistle Youth Academy - quite rightly - took maximum advantage of his age in the other direction, re-inroducing the striker into the U-16s to bolster their chances in the latter stages of the CAS League Cup in the late spring of 2024. St Johnstone were the opposition in the Young Jags’ semi-final, and it took an 89th minute winner from Ceiran Loney to get past the Saints and book a spot in the showpiece fixture following a collective, hard-fought performance. The final against Dundee was played at Recreation Park in Alloa on Sunday 26th May 2024. Dundee were favourites, but Thistle eventually wore them down and it was Ceiran who put the Jags ahead with a back post header late on, which opened the floodgates and fine goals from Chris MacKay and Caiden Adams secured the cup in some style! The Thistle Academy media team spoke to Ceiran after the match:
Unfortunately for Partick Thistle fans, Ceiran was never seen in competitive first team action at Firhill, signing for the Everton Academy in July 2024. What happened to the good old days when the likes of Maurice Johnston and Jim Melrose cut their teeth properly as Jagsmen? |
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