Thistle’s crown of thorns: the holiest team in Scottish football

It’s the evening of Monday 25 May 2026. The sun is setting on a warm and bright summer's day in Paisley as Partick Thistle get set to face St Mirren in the second leg of the SPFL Premiership playoff final. It is the blockbuster finale to the Jags’ fifty-five game, surprisingly excellent season. It will be their highest calibre, most watched, and most scrutinised game of the campaign — and for many of the squad, the biggest ninety minutes of their lives.

The stadium is quiet — the gates are not set to open to supporters for another fifteen minutes. A group of four Thistle players in their tracksuits and training tops join a man wearing a suit and tie and take a wander onto the pitch. They gather just inside the centre circle, link arms, bow their heads and form a circle. 

After a minute they look up and see another player wants to join in. So they make space and go through the routine again. They finish for a second time and see another player wants to join them, so they link arms and bow again. When the same happens for a third time they all laugh. But once again make room, join arms, bow their heads, and for the fourth time in as many minutes… pray.

The Maryhill Magyars would go on to lose the match 1-0 – subsequently missing out on promotion to the Premiership – but the man in the suit, the club’s chaplain Reverend Jonathan De Groot, was confident the players would be able to reconcile the loss. He had spent the season leading bible study sessions, giving out Thistle-branded Gideons New Testament & Psalms, and encouraging the team to “recognise that their value as people isn’t dependent on results or performance.”

The Jags may have ended the 2025/26 campaign with the disappointment of missing out on promotion, but with the guidance of De Groot, many of their players are in the midst of a personal ascension; Partick Thistle is fast becoming Scotland’s most Christian squad. A couple of short seasons ago, there were maybe one or two practising Christians in the Thistle men’s first team. Now, thanks to some charismatic footballing missionaries, there are nearly 10. So who’s driving the Firhill faith revolution? And, perhaps most importantly, is it helping on the pitch?

The salvation of PTFC

‘The Rev’, as De Groot is known to the squad, has been Partick Thistle’s chaplain for the last eight seasons. Initially, he walked into a totally disinterested environment; “In those first few seasons I turned up to training once a week and a lot of the time I thought to myself ‘what am I doing here?’ ‘Am I just a spare part or here to be a ballboy?’” 

But, over the seasons, he’s become integral to the team. “The role of the chaplain is to support everybody.” The 50 year-old said, wearing club branded clothing during our meeting at a training session. “That includes the playing staff, coaching staff, all of their families, as well as the office staff and, as and when appropriate, the fans as well.”He’s become so embedded in the club that, while explaining the role of the chaplain, he was interrupted by Jags goalkeeping coach Kenny Arthur and told in no uncertain terms that he had been sacked as referee of the weekly goalkeepers game of football tennis, as he had missed his duties whilst speaking to The Bell.

Seven years into his tenure, and De Groot was enjoying a typical career as a football chaplain. Some staff were interested in using his services such as counselling and confidential care. Some players too. But devotees rarely surpassed two — in a good year. But, at the start of last season, De Groot got a whole lot busier, and Thistle a whole lot holier.