Lambie returned for a third spell at Partick in 1999, with the club now in the third tier, the club had only just managed to save its existence through the "Save the Jags" campaign, run by the Thistle fans to save their club, which also attracted support from fans across Scottish Football, on an incredibly low budget, following a brush with potential liquidation, Lambie got them into the Scottish Premier League in 2002 via back-to-back promotions, having rebuilt the team, by signing the likes of Stephen Craigan, Martin Hardie and Danny Lennon, as well as bringing on the youth players, such as Alan Archibald and Kenny Arthur Also in 2002, he guided the club to the Scottish Cup semi-finals, where they lost 3–0 to Rangers at Hampden Park. The final stages of the season were chronicled in the BBC Scotland fly on the wall documentary "Grasping the Thistle", known for Lambie's use of profanity.