You Couldn't Make It Up!

by Jack Little

The London-based "Sporting Life" reported on 19/1/1899 that Thistle had suspended Walter Lindsay for "insubordination". He was said to be "highly aggrieved at his suspension".  He had been on holiday over New Year and missed his train from Comrie back to Glasgow, missing the Rangers match on 3/1/1900 as a consequence.  It must have taken the Thistle Committee some time to forgive him. His next recorded first team appearance was on 3/5/1902! There was a humorous footnote to this where the paper quoted several cases of English club secretaries being absolutely fed up with the excuses made by Scottish players allowed to go back to Scotland for the New Year along with some of their excuses. One was found out when he sent a telegram to his club (in Lancashire) that he had missed his train but the club secretary discovered the telegram had been sent 2 hours before the train was due to leave. Having promised to get the next train and arrive in time for a cup-tie the following day, the player turned up a week later "very much out of condition".

Publishing date An original Thistle Archive publication, 07-Sep-2020.
Latest edit date Latest edit version 02-Jun-2020.

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