| Manager | John Lambie |
| Final League Position | 1st in 2nd Division |
| Club Directory | |
| Team Group | |
| Squad List |
The Story of Season 2000-01 by Ken Macfie,
Okay we were in the 2nd Division and far below our proper place in Scottish Football but the progress made by Inverness and Ross County since they joined the Scottish League and this year's introduction of Peterhead and Elgin shows that no team could take their place for granted, even Rangers as it happened. Thistle began as firm favourites for the title. John Lambie brought in Jamie Smith from Stranraer and Paul McGrillen from Stirling. I must apologise to Stephen Craigan as I described him at the time as " a fringe player from Motherwell whom I hadn't heard of". Well we were soon to know all about him. We lost last year's Player of the Year Kevin Budinakaus to of all places, Clyde and Kenny Arthur's early form will be crucial. One important late signing was that of Peter Lindau who had shown good form on loan. As always we were out of the League and Challenge Cup at the First Round losing to Airdrie and Livingston. When we lost 4-0 to Stenhousemuir in Week 3, we began to wonder if our early optimism was justified. However Scott "Trigger" McLean and Big Mad Mental Martin Hardie began to find the net. In fact between 16 September and 4 November 2000, Scott McLean scored in all eight games Thistle played, scoring 9 goals. After Q.1 we had gathered 15 points are were sitting close to the top. Over the next quarter it was Martin Hardie who took on the role of goalscorer, scoring a magnificent 9 goals in a two month period either side of Christmas, a terrific return from a midfield player. In that second quarter Thistle took 21 of the possible 27 points on offer and sat proudly at the top of the Division with a nice gap of 5 points on Stranraer and 7 on Berwick. In Q3 George Shaw returned for a period scoring 3 goals. Unfortunately his presence did not lead to a Scottish Cup run. We easily got past Deveronvale in the second round but Kilmarnock were too strong at Rugby Park. However our League form continued to thrive with the free scoring McLean, Hardie and Lindau hitting the net with regularity. However we should not forget the rest where Craigan and Smith provided a reliable and safe central defence for the first time in seasons. Arthur played well behind them and Archibald thrived in a left back role. Strangely the only team to beat us in the league in Q3 was Stenhousemuir who secured a double over us at Ochilview, our old friend Isaac English scoring . No matter as we secured 20 points in the quarter and totalled 56 points for the season. Stranraer had games in hand but stumbled taking only 5 points from 8 games. Arbroath were now our nearest challengers but our lead over them was in double figures. We won the first three games of quarter 4 which meant that a win at Stirling would give us promotion. March 31st 2001 was the day. Over 2000 Thistle fans travelled to Stirling to witness Thistle's return to mediocrity. The team had a settled look, the solid defence, an experienced midfield marshalled by Danny Lennon and the top three scorers, McLean, Hardie and Lindau. We basked in the Stirling sun. We only had 4 minutes to wait for the first goal. A lovely corner from David McCallum found Lindau at the back post and he headed home. The game was not a classic but we simply wanted the final whistle. Peter Lindau however wanted to do it with a flourish and scored Thistle's only hat-trick of the season. The final whistle went and the party started. The following week crowds flocked to Firhill to see us win our first League in 25 years. The Thistle support were buoyant, taunting the QoS fans about the recent Foot and Mouth epidemic and enquiring in a nice variation on the theme " What's it like to burn a sheep". But Thistle were never going to make it too easy . Clearly the party at Stirling had lasted well into the week and Thistle looked very flat. QoS scored two and Thistle ended the game with only 8 men with Stephen Docherty, Mark McNally and Martin Hardie sent off. Hold the Champagne. We won the league the following week at Forfar and then thumped Stenhousemuir on the last day of the season picking up the Ist Division Trophy that day in front of almost 5000 fans. The final tally saw us win the league with 75 points, 17 ahead of fellow promotees Arbroath. We scored 66 league goals and lost only 32. We had three players who scored double figure goals , Peter Lindau with 10, Martin Hardie with 16 and Scott McLean with 17.
| July | 22 | Derry City | Friendly | 0-0 | – |
455
|
|
| July | 24 | Portadown | Friendly | 2-0 | Hardie, McLean |
250
|
|
| July | 26 | PETERBROUGH | Friendly | 0-0 | – | 1,207 | |
| July | 29 | CHESTERFIELD | Friendly | 0-1 | – | 1,532 | |
| Aug | 5 | Arborath | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-1 | McLean | 1,456 | |
| Aug | 8 | AIRDRIEONIANS | (CIS) League Cup 1st Round | 1-2 | McLean | 2,652 | After extra-time |
| Aug | 12 | STRANRAER | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-1 | Hardie, Lindau | 2,357 | |
| Aug | 15 | LIVINGSTON | (Bell's) League Challenge Cup 1st Round | 0-2 | – | 1,805 | |
| Aug | 19 | Stenhousemuir | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 0-4 | – | 1,130 | |
| Aug | 26 | BERWICK RANGERS | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-1 | Hardie | 2,060 | |
| Sep | 9 | Queen's Park | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-0 | Lennon | 4,019 | |
| Sep | 16 | STIRLING ALBION | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 3-1 | Lennon, McLean, Lindau | 2,251 | |
| Sep | 23 | Clydebank | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-2 | McLean | 1,379 | |
| Sep | 30 | FORFAR ATHLETIC | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-1 | McLean | 2,218 | |
| Oct | 7 | Queen of the South | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-1 | McLean, McGrillen | 1,499 | |
| Oct | 14 | ARBROATH | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-1 | McLean | 2,242 | |
| Oct | 21 | Stranraer | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 3-0 | Moore, McLean (2) | 1,101 | |
| Oct | 28 | Berwick Rangers | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-1 | McLean (2, 1 pen) | 1,240 | |
| Nov | 4 | QUEEN'S PARK | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-1 | Hardie, McLean | 4,035 | |
| Nov | 11 | CLYDEBANK | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-0 | Hardie, Lindau | 3,101 | |
| Nov | 18 | Stirling Albion | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-1 | Hardie | 1,753 | |
| Nov | 25 | QUEEN OF THE SOUTH | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-1 | McCallum, McLean | 2,610 | |
| Dec | 2 | Forfar Athletic | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-0 | Hardie | 1,052 | |
| Dec | 16 | Arbroath | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-1 | Lennon | 1,054 | |
| Dec | 26 | STENOHUSEMUIR | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 3-0 | Archibald, Hardie (2) | 2,635 | |
| Dec | 30 | BERWICK RANGERS | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-1 | Shaw | 2,837 | |
| Jan | 2 | Queen's Park | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-0 | Shaw, Hardie | 3,938 | |
| Jan | 6 | DEVERONVALE | (Tennent's) Scottish Cup 2nd Round | 3-0 | Hardie (3), Collins | 3,160 | |
| Jan | 13 | STIRLING ALBION | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-1 | Lennon | 3,113 | |
| Jan | 27 | Kilmarnock | (Tennent's) Scottish Cup 3rd Round | 0-1 | – | 8,836 | |
| Feb | 3 | Queen of the South | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 3-1 | McLean, Hardie (2) | 2,432 | |
| Feb | 10 | FORFAR ATHLETIC | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 4-0 | Archibald, McLean, Lindau, Collins | 3,075 | |
| Feb | 13 | Clydebank | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 4-0 | Shaw, Lindau, Hardie, McLean | 1,111 | |
| Feb | 17 | Stenhousemuir | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 0-2 | – | 1,343 | |
| Feb | 24 | STRANRAER | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 3-0 | Smith, Lennon, Hardie | 2,959 | |
| Mar | 3 | QUEEN'S PARK | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-1 | Smith, McLean | 2,900 | |
| Mar | 10 | Berwick Rangers | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 1-0 | Hardie | 1,405 | |
| Mar | 17 | CLYDEBANK | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-0 | Lennon, Lindau | 2,721 | |
| Mar | 31 | Stirling Albion | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 3-0 | Lindau (3) | 2,748 | |
| Apr | 7 | QUEEN OF THE SOUTH | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 0-2 | – | 3,810 | |
| Apr | 14 | Forfar Athletic | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 2-2 | Elliot, McGrillen | 2,081 | |
| Apr | 21 | ARBROATH | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 0-1 | – | 3,003 | |
| Apr | 28 | Stranraer | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 4-3 | McLean, McGrillen, McNally, Elliot | 1,102 | |
| May | 5 | STENHOUSEMUIR | (Bell's) 2nd Division | 4-0 | McGrillen (2), Craigan, Elliot | 4,625 | |
| Others: | |||||||
| Sep | 27 | QUEEN'S PARK | SFA Youth Cup | 2-4 | Howie, Milligan | ||
| Oct | 3 | Cowdenbeath | Reserve League Cup 1st Round | 5-4 | Dunn, Smith, Walker, Cameron (2) | ||
| Dec | 12 | ROSS COUNTY | Reserve League Cup 2nd Round | 1-2 | ? | ||
| Mar | 25 | RANGERS | Glasgow Cup | 1-2 | Lyle | ||