CHRIS ERSKINE finally has his happy ending at Partick Thistle, and there are few who could begrudge him it.

The 35-year-old, who has enjoyed four playing stints at Firhill across 12 years, has been a central figure in the club’s recent history. After being plucked from the Juniors, Erskine was there as the Jags won the First Division title in 2013. He was there when the Maryhill outfit achieved their highest league finish in decades as they sealed sixth place in the Premiership in 2017, and he was there the following year as the team suffered the heartbreak of relegation.

He was there during Gary Caldwell’s ill-fated tenure as Thistle manager and even last year, when the Jags found themselves in the third tier and promotion seemed a distant prospect, there was Erskine; determined as ever to play any role he could to help the team.

Those efforts spanning over a decade have been rewarded. Erskine, now training to be a fireman but still hoping to continue playing in some capacity, is the latest former player to be inducted into Partick Thistle’s hall of fame.

“It’s a massive honour,” he says. “To get inducted into the hall of fame is a massive honour for any player and it’s the pinnacle, really. It’s the best thing that can happen to you. I’m over the moon about it.

“Medals and stuff like that are nice but something like this – the guys that are already in the hall of fame are part of the fabric of the club. To have your name in the same place as them and to be thought of in the same way as guys like John Lambie and Chic Charnley definitely makes it a wee bit more special.

“It’s something that can’t be taken away from you. You’re in the club’s history books and if you had said that to me when I first signed for Thistle, I would have laughed at you.

“An association like that can take over your life. It’s not just you that buys into it, it’s your family as well. Even now and when I wasn’t at the club previously, my family will still text me asking if I’ve seen the Thistle score.

“I had a few spells away and came back again but getting inducted into the hall of fame means that association never ends. I had to leave when Gary Caldwell was there and never left on my own terms so when I got the opportunity last year, I thought I’d be able to do it on my own terms and end on a good light. Then I ruptured my hamstring, which was an even worse end to it.

“Leaving the club that way and ending my association with it was kind of devastating. But the thing with this is that it means my association with the club will never end, and that’s amazing.”

As Erskine, who has nearly 300 Thistle first-team appearances to his name, alludes to, his induction brings with it a sense of closure. For someone who has departed the club four times, only once – his initial move to Dundee United – could have been said to have been made on his terms. And even then, the supporters weren’t exactly enthralled at the prospect of their best player leaving for a divisional rival and giving him an especially cheery send-off.

Erskine’s second stint ended with a loan deal reaching its conclusion, the third occurred when he had fallen out of favour under Caldwell and was unceremoniously shoved out the back door and the fourth, which arrived last season, was perhaps the most painful of all. A few minutes into a second appearance from the bench after joining the club on loan for the second half of the campaign, the playmaker picked up a season-ending injury.

“I got the chance to come back last year and I thought a few months to try and help the club win the league and play a few games would have been a good end – I’d have been happy with that – but obviously things are taken out of your hands when you get an injury like the one I got,” Erskine explained.

“Thistle won the league anyway and that’s the main thing but it would have been nice to play a bigger part in it and get a medal. Getting inducted kind of makes up for that but I would have liked one last chance to play in front of the crowd at Firhill. That would have been amazing.”

Erskine is pining for one final Firhill bow but he might not have too long to wait for it. Long-serving midfielder Stuart Bannigan was due a testimonial in the summer of 2021 that was postponed because of Covid restrictions. A new date is still to be set but Erskine hopes that when the time comes, he gets the nod from his good friend.

“I hope so, aye! If I don’t get an invite to that I won’t be happy, I’ll be on the phone to him,” he says. “That would be good. If Banzo is having his testimonial at some point he’ll invite me, so that would be nice.”

A proper farewell to the fans is all that Erskine is really missing and for someone who means so much to so many of them, few former players deserve it more. Earlier in the week, Ian McCall described Erskine – affectionately dubbed ‘Squiddy’ by the Jags support for an unusual limbs-akimbo running style – as the ‘archetypal’ Thistle player. “He’ll beat three men, put the ball in the top corner and then fall over the ball,” came the assessment from the Thistle manager, who first brought the midfielder to the club in 2009.

Erskine laughs: “I can’t really argue with that! I think the fans probably do remember me for falling over the ball as well but that’s part of what made the relationship so special.

“I don’t think at any time anyone thought I was the best player in the world but I was just accepted at Thistle. Even when I was at Dundee United, it wasn’t really accepted.

“A Thistle, people would think ‘he’s fallen over the ball but next time he gets it he’ll score’. That makes you feel more comfortable and that means you play your best football because you don’t feel that pressure to be on the top of your game all the time.

“The gaffer is one of those guys that gets the club, he’s like all the other guys in the hall of fame. He speaks regularly about what the club means to him and what a special club it is. He has got a good relationship with the club and when you see what he has done for them over the years, he’s done really well.

“When I was there we got close to getting promoted and he’s come back and restored the club back to what it was. They still have a wee chance of getting promoted to the Premiership this year. To take the club from where it was in League One to having a chance to getting out of the Championship is amazing. When you’re speaking to him you know just what the club means to him and I think the fans do as well.”