| Hugh Strachan |
 Hugh Mair Strachan was born on Tuesday, 21st February, 1939, in Crookedholm, East Ayrshire. The 5' 10 (11st 4lbs) defender signed for Davie McParland's Thistle on Tuesday, 21st July, 1970, having most recently been with Kilmarnock. Aged 31, he made his debut appearance on Saturday, 1st August, 1970, in a 1-0 friendly defeat away to Tranmere Rovers. Hugh scored his only goal for Thistle on Saturday, 8th August, 1970, in a 3-2 win away to Stirling Albion in the League Cup. He played his last game for the club on Sunday, 3rd February, 1974, in a 4-1 defeat away to Dundee in the SFL First Division, having clocked up 173 appearances as a Jag. Hugh's club-list included Troon, Cumnock Juniors, Motherwell, Morton, Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle. Hugh died on Monday, 22nd May, 2023, in Ayrshire, aged 84. |
 When Davie McParland started to assemble a squad to take Thistle back to the top flight following relegation at the end of the 1969-70 season one commodity that he felt was lacking was that of experience. In search of that he turned to a central defender who was certainly not lacking in that respect. By the time Hugh Strachan arrived at Firhill in the summer of 1970 he had already been a professional for a total of 13 years. He made the step up from Cumnock Juniors to Motherwell in 1957 and after leaving Motherwell he played with Morton and Kilmarnock from whom he joined Thistle in 1970. On 8 August 1970, Strachan made the first of his 173 appearances as a Thistle player in a League Cup-tie, against Stirling Albion in a side that included Alex Rae, who also signed to add more experience to the team. The then manager Davie McParland, in addition to nurturing some fine young talent, made a number of highly shrewd moves in the transfer market but none more so than the signing of Hugh Strachan. In his first season at Firhill he missed just four League games as Thistle won the Second Division Championship conceding just 26 goals (only nine at Firhill) in a 36 game campaign. Strachan's influence though wasn't just limited to events on the park on a matchday. His experience and knowledge on the training ground proved to be a major asset as well and by the time the 1971-72 season started, Strachan had graduated to the Thistle coaching staff. A Thistle programme of the time outlined Strachan’s importance to the cause both as a player and as a coach:
On the park Strachan had a major role to play in Thistle's 1971 League Cup winning team. In a team that included two teenagers, Alan Rough and Denis McQuade, Strachan was by far the oldest member of the victorious team. Not that that showed as Strachan superbly marshalled the defence especially in the second half as Celtic frantically tried to find a way back into the game. It was a credit too to Strachan's fitness that he missed just one game in the 1971-72 season and only two games in the next. He started the following season in the first team as well, but Thistle made a quite awful start and following a 2-1 defeat at Easter Road against Hibs at the start of September he would play just one more game for the club. That last game was on 3 February 1974 in a 4-1 defeat at Dundee. He subsequently rejoined one of his former clubs, Morton, eventually taking up a coaching role at Cappielow. Post career, Hugh remained in close contact with his fellow 1971 legends, many of whom visited him in Ayrshire in the autumn of 2021 around the 50th anniversary, when only ill health prevented Hugh from joining the various celebrations in Glasgow. |
| (NK/TH) |
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