The late Brown McMaster gave 20 years of service to his beloved Partick Thistle as director, vice-chairman and ultimately chairman, but perhaps the most important role he played for the club was as a figurehead of the Save the Jags campaign in the late nineties.

McMaster finally succumbed to the cancer he had bravely fought for several years last Wednesday at the age of 66.

Robert Reid, club historian and honorary vice-president, has paid a warm tribute to the former president of the Scottish Football League, a man he credits with playing a fundamental role in ensuring that Partick Thistle are still in existence today.

“Brown brought leadership,” Reid said.

“He was a leader, that’s the word that perhaps sums him up. He rallied people behind him and he got people working really hard for the cause. You need a man at the front of a campaign like that, and I would give him enormous credit for fronting that effort.

“He was a very keen, very passionate football man, and there’s no doubt he put up a very, very brave fight over the last few years.

“That was characteristic of Brown. He was a determined businessman, a family man, and it wasn’t so terribly long ago that he was playing tennis over at Newlands Tennis Club where he was a member.

“He was a man with strong opinions of course, and it’s never completely smooth with everyone in total agreement all of the time, but he did a very good job for Partick Thistle, and we’re all very, very saddened that he’s passed away.

“He was involved with the club for something in the order of 20 years and was chairman at the time of the Save the Jags campaign. These were very, very dark days for Partick Thistle without any shadow of a doubt.

“Although he wasn’t actually involved in starting it up, he took the Save the Jags campaign under his wing and he fought hard for it. I would give Brown enormous credit and praise for the determination and energy he put into Partick Thistle turning the corner.

“That period was dreadful for the club, it really was touch and go whether the club would survive.

But the fans rallied round, we all worked very hard at it and we managed to get the wages paid and picked up from there. It was a long struggle.”

For any young Partick Thistle fans, it may be hard to imagine that the club was so close to the brink of extinction just under 20 years ago, but Reid recalled the gravity of the situation which McMaster helped to lead them from.

“There were two matches in particular, each of which could easily have been the last,” he said.

“We went and played Stirling Albion at Forthbank and St Mirren at Firhill, both of which were drawn, but that wasn’t particularly the most important thing. We had to get the Save the Jags campaign up and running, and we had to be quick to avoid the worst scenario within a fortnight and get the club back on its feet. Brown was central to that effort and he deserves recognition for where Partick Thistle are now compared to where they were then.

 “Today’s situation where we’re struggling near the foot of the Premiership is obviously very worrying, but it’s a million miles away from that. To have the feeling that you might not have your club anymore is absolutely dreadful and we all worked very hard to keep that at bay, there’s no doubt.

“If it’s hard living with Partick Thistle, the very thought of living without them is even more horrifying, and Brown was very much part of putting those fears to bed.”