Wednesday 11th August, 2021 at 3:31pm
A truly unique painting, commissioned by the club to celebrate the special anniversaries of our 1921 and 1971 cup successes, has been created by renowned artist Ben Mosley – and it’s all thanks to yet another assist from Jags legend Ronnie Glavin.
Ben Mosley, an expressionist artist who has created works for Team GB, Wembley Stadium, Manchester United, Alan Shearer and Ed Sheeran amongst many others, now boasts his first ever Scottish football work of art in the colours of Partick Thistle.
The Barnsley supporter became aware of the Jags’ special year via his friend Ronnie Glavin, one of Thistle’s 1971 heroes and a legend at Oakwell, widely recognised by Barnsley fans as one the best to ever play for the Yorkshire club.
Ben’s original artwork, which celebrates both cup wins, features an incredible attention to detail right down to the subtle listing of all the names on the pitch on each cup final day, as well as all the scores on the road to winning the respective cups. The 100x100cm work is in Acrylic but is enhanced by the use of 24 carat gold paint.
Gerry Britton, Partick Thistle Chief Executive, said:
“It’s difficult to do justice to Ben’s Partick Thistle masterpiece – it really does take the breath away. He’s captured all the important details of our wins in a way that is visually stunning. We are indebted to Ben, and Ronnie of course, for this most special of paintings which will take pride of place at Firhill and become a central component of our celebrations this year.”
While the original will remain at Firhill, Thistle are now working with Ben to make a number of different reproductions – such as canvases and posters – available for supporters to buy. Details will be announced soon.
Ben, who personally delivered the painting to the club within a recent trip, said:
“Whilst I’m proud of all the work I’ve done with organisations such as Team GB and others, I love football. I grew up supporting Barnsley FC and I’m proud to have done a lot of work with them as their official artist.
“The mutual link with Thistle is my friend Ronnie Glavin, who used to play with both clubs – he introduced me to Thistle after I painted a huge mural at Oakwell and gave Ronnie a whole wall to himself!
“Ronnie is revered at Barnsley as our greatest ever player. When he came down to watch me paint the mural and saw what I was doing, we became really good friends. He loves Partick Thistle and was always telling me what a brilliant club it is and that he’d love me to try to get involved to do a painting for this very special year. It started with a conversation I had with Ronnie, who introduced me to Jacqui then Gerry and it went from there. It’s been a brilliant project to be involved in, to ultimately help the fans celebrate these achievements.
“The challenge was how best to represent the two cup wins in one piece. I wanted to create something which showed a little bit of swagger. You’ve got the two players standing there looking confident with their arms folded, foot on the ball with the trophy beside them and with the fans behind them – iconic figures showing the glory and history of the club.”
He added: “Gerry showed me around Firhill and it’s majestic here – I really love the character of the stadium, which holds lots of memories for fans. It’s the same at my club Barnsley – tradition and history matter. The uniqueness and personality of the stadium is evident here as soon as you walk in.
“Ronnie kept telling me how important Partick Thistle is to their supporters, this is their club, and I know what he means by that. So, I wanted to create a piece that would make the club proud – it’s a great club with a great name, one of the best names in football!”
The final word on Ronnie came from Ben…
“He’s a living legend, second top scorer of all time for Barnsley. They love him there, he is like a god in Barnsley. Ronnie is modest about it though. And although he’s down there and he loves it, he does always say that Partick Thistle is his club!”
