Partick Thistle wants football fans to house new signings. Why stop there?

Partick Thistle is the third team in Glasgow. They’re the team you support when you can’t really make up your mind. 

Thistle fans will be outraged by that. I’m joking, Thistle fans. Thistle is a great club. The ground, Firhill, is a tight, old-school, if oddly cold, place to watch football. The home kit, yellow and red stripes, also feels like a welcome throwback. 

Artist David Shrigley created Kingsley, Partick Thistle’s star-shaped, slightly unsettling, mascot. And they’re fan-owned, as more clubs should be.

But they’re still not Celtic or Rangers.

Anyway, last week they came up with a curious idea. Being somewhat short of resources, they have invited fans to take in new signings and put them up in their homes. So far Partick Thistle have signed two new players during this summer – Paddy Reading, from Ayr United, and Cammy Logan, from Forfar Athletic. It’s not clear if either of them are going to be bunking up with a fan. And given that Ayr is around 40 miles from Glasgow, Paddy could probably commute. 

While it feels like an interesting publicity wheeze, rather than something that could really happen, it does open a debate about both which footballer you’d have stay with you (obviously Eric Cantona and me are due to be best mates, but my daughter has just moved back in, so things could get a little cramped) and also about the reality of how far people are prepared to go to accommodate those in need.

Last week, there was renewed focus on cross-channel small boats. At the ornate state banquet for president Macron at Windsor Castle (guests included Elton John and Mick Jagger) there was warm talk about shared UK and French ideals and closer bonds. 

The desire to stop people traffickers making fortunes on the backs of poor people and find a better resolution to channel crossings was also on the agenda when Macron later met with Starmer. Any policy outcome was unknown at time of going to print.

But it doesn’t help those people who are already here. And while it’s easy to point the finger and claim anybody seeking asylum, or even just a better life, by risking all on an inflatable crossing one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world is on the make, that does not fix the situation either.

There are always people who just get on with being part of a positive outcome. They don’t try to politicise or make political capital out of a complex situation. They just see a person in need and try to help. There are organisations like Refugees at Home and Room For Refugees who pair up those arriving with nothing, and those who volunteer to help them out. We carry some of the details on the pages of Big Issue, but frequently you don’t hear a lot. Because, I suppose, people just get on with getting on.

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I am in awe of them. It’s a selfless thing to do. I think the same of foster carers. These are the people who open up to make life better for those kids for whom things seem closed. They are deserving of national plaudits. 

Some years ago, it was revealed that just ahead of the Second World War, Clem Attlee, then leader of the opposition, took in a Jewish child fleeing Nazi Germany. The child lived with the Attlees for four months. He never publicised this. He also helped the child’s family get out of Germany to freedom.

I wonder if such action today could happen. If a senior politician did such a thing, would it remain gently quiet for 60 years, or would they be accused of performative virtue signalling, of being woke or on the other side, of cynically trying to manipulate the media narrative? The national conversation around this has been darkly muddied.

Maybe the way to help resettle is to have asylum seekers and refugees sign for your local football team, then have them placed with willing fans. The whole thing could be resolved before the season starts. There’d be no complaints about too many young men then.

As Manchester United are still struggling to sign anybody, this could have a very positive outcome on both sides. Partick Thistle, you’re onto something.

Paul McNamee is editor of the Big Issue. Read more of his columns here. Follow him on X.

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