First Division sides Falkirk and Partick Thistle meet in one of the most exciting ties of the Fourth Round of the Scottish Cup and for one of the Partick players, it gives him an opportunity to reflect on three successful Scottish Cup Final appearances and also a great experience although ultimately disappointing result, in the colours of this weekend’s opponents.
Jackie McNamara is the Jag with the medals and he is delighted to not only be playing in a competition he enjoys, he is glad to be playing in this season’s competition after breaking his leg against Ayr United in March of last year.
The defender started his career at Dunfermline Athletic before moving to Parkhead in October 1995 to join a Celtic side who at that time were the Scottish Cup holders following their 1-0 win over Airdrieonians at Hampden in May, 1994 when Pierre van Hooijdonk scored the winner.
McNamara said: “Overall, the Scottish Cup has been a good tournament for me. I have won it three times as a player with Celtic and, of course, I scored the opener against Hibs in the Final back in 2001.
“Apart from the Hibs success, I was also successful against Dunfermline in 2004 and Dundee United a year later.”
In fact, McNamara never lost a Scottish Cup Final he started in for Celtic, as injury kept him out of the 1999 Hampden defeat by Rangers, and he was a substitute when the Ibrox club repeated their success with a 3-2 win in 2002.
McNamara’s career in green and white hoops ended after the Dundee United triumph and he moved on to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a two year stint followed by a season with Aberdeen before joining the Bairns.
In May 2009, McNamara was back at Hampden on Scottish Cup Final duty however, it ended in disappointment as Rangers defeated Falkirk 1-0.
The 37-year-old said: “I was fortunate to get to another Scottish Cup Final when I was at Falkirk and that felt differently to the Cup Finals I had reached when I was at Celtic.
“There were different expectation levels as at Celtic, you were expected to win all three tournaments every season whereas at Falkirk, it had been their first Cup Final since 1997.
“The feeling was different and that added to the occasion for me.”
McNamara said of that Final showdown: “We did well however, Nacho Novo scored the only goal with a well hit volley just after half-time and we could not force an equaliser.”
A further switch in McNamara’s career saw him leave a then SPL Falkirk side to join Partick Thistle on loan almost 11 months ago however, that spell as a Maryhill player was cut short after just four games following a limb break suffered in a midweek game at Somerset Park.
McNamara said: “It was not a good experience at Ayr. I had a cruciate injury at Wolves but this seemed worse and that was maybe due to it occurring in a later stage of my career.
“It was a bit unsettling in the days afterwards as the time I was going to be out for seemed to get longer and longer and the work required to get me fit again seemed to get more complicated.
“I never feared that I would not play again but a surgeon made me stop and think when he said it would be 18 months to two years before I was okay.”
Before his heart sank further, the surgeon gave a fuller explanation with McNamara saying, “It would be that period of time before I would be pain free from the injury but I could play again much quicker than that if I wanted to.”
McNamara is, thankfully, back playing and he has established himself in a Thistle side that have improved over the past five months.
He says: “I joined Partick at the start of the season but I was late getting into the side because of the injury.
“I started playing in the first team again in September and since then, I have played in all the games I could have, apart from when the Manager has gone with a different system.”
The Falkirk cup tie is a game that McNamara wants to be involved in regardless of the system Manager Ian McCall adopts saying: “This should be a really good game to play in and you tend to get an excellent atmosphere at Falkirk.
“They will start as favourites to win, especially at their place, but we will be out to give a good account of ourselves.
“I have played in our last two games against Dunfermline and Raith Rovers and I am really pleased that I have not missed a game with injury since I came back and I want to be involved in this one.”
The recent weather has not helped the former Scotland man’s well-being as he advised: “The pain in my leg gets worse in the cold so it has not been great recently and training on astroturf is not really ideal for me. I now have metal pins in my leg but you just have to get on with things.”
Thistle and Falkirk have played twice already this season with the Bairns winning a Co-operative Insurance cup tie between the sides 1-0 in August with Thistle gaining revenge with a League win by a similar scoreline the following month.
Despite their success in that last game, McNamara is convinced his side are underdogs saying: “We are second favourites in this game but I have played in a team this season that has beat them so we know it can be done. We need to be well organised and ready for a hard game.”
The Jags side that McNamara graces is a real mix of youth and experience with the 33 times Scotland capped player commenting: “There are some really experienced players at Firhill with the likes of Simon Donnelly and Alan Archibald as well as myself.
“There have been some youngsters breaking through this season and they have done well but there is more to come from Thistle in terms of young players developing.
“Hopefully, the young players at Partick who I share a dressing room with now will go on and have as long a playing career as I have.”
McNamara speaks from a position of strength about the potential at the Glasgow club as he helps coach the future stars of the club.
He explained: “Simon and I take the Under 19s on a Monday and Tuesday and that is an area I want to build my future career in once I finally stop playing.”
This September marks the twentieth anniversary of McNamara starting to play when he signed for first club Dunfermline Athletic and former Falkirk boss McCall was a senior player when McNamara was beginning his career at East End Park.
“I was a young kid at East End Park when I first met Ian,” said McNamara before continuing, “So I have known him a long time and it is frightening to think we first met nearly 20 years ago.”
Despite the relationship between McCall and McNamara standing the test of time, it will be a much changed Bairns side that they face compared to the Cup Final squad that McNamara was involved in 20 months ago.
There are similarities with his current colleagues as McNamara explained: “Falkirk are like us in terms of youth and experience but I reckon Tam Scobbie and Burton O’Brien are the only players left from that Scottish Cup Final which is quite surprising when you consider that Final was just over a season and a half ago.
“A couple of youngsters have broken through that were playing in the youth team when I was there but that is about it in terms of players I still know there.
“The Manager has also changed as it was John Hughes that was in charge when we went to Hampden and then Eddie May took over and then Steven Pressley, so it would be fair to say that not too much has stayed the same since that game.”
As he starts his eighteenth Scottish Cup campaign, McNamara was asked if he still enjoyed playing and he replied, “Oh yes, you cannot beat playing and you are a long time retired so I intend to play for a while yet.
“Another Scottish Cup run would be great for me and for everyone at Thistle. Winning this game and getting a good Draw in the next round would be a nice start to the year.”
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