THE road to Hampden. And by that, we mean the symbolic journey to potential Scottish Cup glory, not the actual trundle along the congested B766 to the stadium via Aikenhead Road.
It’s a not a route Partick Thistle would be familiar with it anyway.
“It’s a long time since we had a cup success and every year we get this thrown at us,” said Alan Archibald, the Firhill club’s manager.
You have to dust down the archives and flick your way back to 1921 to find dog-eared sheets of newsprint documenting Thistle’s last Scottish Cup success.
This weekend, the Jags will continue on that road to the national stadium when they battle it out with St Johnstone for a place in the quarter-finals.
“The players, staff, everybody is desperate for a cup run and we want to do something about it,” added Archibald, who made a cup final appearance himself for Dundee United over a decade ago.
“It annoys me when people keep bringing it up. I think it annoys everybody the longer it goes on.
“It’s a great relief away from the pressures of the league so I think all the players look forward to it.”
Thistle reached the last four of the Scottish Cup back in 2002 while they reached the final of the Ramsdens Cup in 2013 only to lose on penalties to Queen of the South. Almondvale, the venue for that showdown, may not stir the senses quite like Hampden but beggars can’t be choosers.
“We had a wee taste of it in the Ramsdens Cup in terms of the experience of just getting to a final,” reflected Archibald.
“You could see what it meant to the fans that day because they turned out in massive numbers,” he added.
St Johnstone, who beat Thistle on league duty last week, won the Scottish Cup in 2014 and Archibald reckons his side should use that as inspiration as they look to conjure their own silver lining.
“Other provincial clubs have shown it can be done,” he said. “A few have won it and a few others have had really good runs, so it’s irritating that we’ve not been part of that.
“The team we’ll be playing are an example. Not only did St Johnstone win the Cup they were renowned for good cup runs all the time.
“There’s no reason why we can’t emulate teams like St Johnstone and Inverness by winning it.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here