Congratulations To A Very Special Player

I SHALL post regarding Scotland's Euro qualifier in Tblisi later, meanwhile, I would like to pay tribute to a very special former Scotland player, on what is for him, a very special day.

 

"The Firhill Flyer", Partick Thistle right winger of the 1940s and 1950s, Johnny MacKenzie, celebrates his 90th birthday today. Congratulations Sir.

 

Johnny is the second-oldest living Scotland internationalist, only former Rangers goalkeeper and national team manager Bobby Brown, is older. MacKenzie, however, has a special claim to fame.

 

Of the 1100-plus players who have represented Scotland in full internationals, only MacKenzie, or John-Archie as he is known to his fellow Gaels on Tiree, where he has lived in retirement, is a native Gaelic speaker.

 

Born in Glasgow, to a Skyeman father and a mother from Tiree, young John Archie was raised on Tiree, that island paradise beloved of surers, speaking Gaelic on a daily basis.

 

He later returned to Glasgow to complete his schooling and to start work as an engineering apprentice. He played for Petershill at a time when the Peasies were THE junior team in Scotland. Rangers wanted him, but, after being instructed by Bill Struth to do nothing until he heard from Rangers, he became tired of waiting and joined Thistle.

 

These were halcyon days at Firhill, and MacKenzie was soon ensconced in the number 7 shirt. He went on the Scotland Tour of North America in 1949, playing in the notorious game when Scotland lost to Belfast Celtic, but, he had to wait until season 1953-54 for his first Scotland cap. This was, after all, the time of the Waddell v Gordon Smith debate for the number 7 shirt with Scotland.

 

He played in the ill-fated 1954 World Cup Finals campaign, before, after a stand-out performance for Scotland in the game against the Hungarians, then the outstanding international team in the world, no less a judge than Ferenc Puskas hailed MacKenzie as the best winger he had seen. In spite of this reference, MacKenzie won only eight caps - still a Thistle record until surpassed by Alan Rough.

 

Throughout his career he was a part-timer, working in the engineering works from Monday to Friday, before lighting-up Firhill on a Saturday.

 

He hung up his boots after a final splash in Ireland with Derry City, went back to the workbench and worked until retirement, when he returned to Tiree, to a small cottage overlooking the harbour, where, cared-for by his daughter since his wife's death, he lives to this day.

 

Robert Reid (Mr Partick Thistle) and the other Firhill old-timers who saw him play are few in number now, but, they still insist he was the club's greatest talent.

 

Have a very happy birthday John Archie - and many more to boot.