QUEEN’S PARK will always hold a special place in Ian McCall’s heart. The Glasgow club were the first to take a punt on the Partick Thistle manager as a player and offer him first-team football, and the 58-year-old is adamant that the Spiders gave him a platform that acted as a springboard for his entire football career.
The Jags host Owen Coyle’s team this afternoon and will be hoping to strengthen their grip on top spot in the table with another Firhill win. That challenge will be made a little more difficult due to the absence of centre-half Kevin Holt, who is awaiting the results of a scan after leaving Pittodrie on crutches on Wednesday evening.
McCall was given a rude awakening into life as a professional player with Queens – their manager at the time was a certain Mr Eddie Hunter – but he believes the famously angry coach gave him the kick up the backside that his career needed.
“I was toying with the idea of doing something else and I went up to live with my friend in the west end of Glasgow,” the Thistle manager recalled. “I was going to go to university – to be a sports writer, believe it or not!
“Eventually I started playing for the uni team and I got myself really fit. I wrote a letter to Hamilton, Thistle and Queens Park. Queens wrote back to me and said to come in for training and a week later I was in the first team. I had two magnificently enjoyable seasons there.
“I don’t doubt that Eddie gave me the career I had. I’m not saying it was great, it was mediocre, but he gave my career because he provided me with that hunger. I’m not daft enough to know he didn’t have that effect on everybody, I think he scared a lot of players s***-less, but he was great for me.
“Eddie Hunter, goodness me. I remember after 17 minutes against Stirling Albion at Hampden, Eddie came out of the dugout.
“I was itching because it was a wet pitch and he shouted ‘McCall, ya f******* wee allergic b******, stop scratching!’. He also told me I could be the quickest substitution ever and I was, I was taken off after 42 minutes.”
McCall continued: “I got to tour the world – I was selected for a team called the Middlesex Wanderers, which was a Great Britain amateur select. We got to go to Indonesia, Sumatra.
“I have got fabulous memories and there was sadness when they turned professional but I think it was probably the right call.”
Queen’s Park’s rise up the SPFL pyramid in recent years has led to some unflattering comparisons to Gretna’s unsustainable surge up the leagues over a decade ago but McCall, for one, isn’t having it.
“I hear a lot of people giving it the Gretna stuff about Queens but it’s a club very dear to my heart,” he added. “Yes, the budget that they’re spending is a lot more than a lot of teams but I think they are trying to do it properly.
“I think they are building an infrastructure – the chief executive, the director of football, the manager, the assistant manager. So I don’t think it’s that type of thing.
“The challenge for Queens, obviously, is to increase their fanbase. They won’t be able to do that until they get Lesser Hampden up and running and I’m not sure how that’s going.
“I think what they are trying to do is great. I don’t think it’s a Gretna-type story in any way. I know that’s been labelled at them.”
McCall is hopeful that Holt’s injury will not be a long-term one – the Jags boss estimated the defender would be out for between two and six weeks – but he is confident that the likes of Darren Brownlie and Tunji Akinola can fill the void at the heart of defence.
Aaron Muirhead and Ross Docherty also had their evenings cut short after picking up knocks in the 4-1 defeat to Aberdeen. The former will receive an injection and will be available for the next few games, McCall says, while the latter is 'a bit sore but we think he will be okay'.
“Darren Brownlie and Tunji did well when they came on the other night so there are people,” he pointed out. “Jack McMillan can play centre-back and Lee Hodson is a full-back. This is why you have a squad.
“[Brownlie] is the type of guy that even when he is fit, he needs a run of games – and the centre-backs have been playing very well.
“He's found it hard but I would think he will get a game in the next week or so. He is nearly back to his best playing weight. He's maybe a couple of kilos away, four or five pounds. He is certainly training better.
“His knee is fine. We felt we had to be fair with Darren because he was a really big player for us. Hopefully his goal the other night gives him a bit of confidence.
“I think [Akinola] has played a number of games where he was excellent and he has just fallen below that. We are waiting for him to come again and I'm sure that will happen.”
