Partick Thistle Football Club

With the year 2009 about to pass into the pages of history and a brand New Year about to begin it seemed an appropriate time here on www.ptfc.co.uk to catch up with manager Ian McCall and take both a look back and a look forward.

With the start of a New Year comes the opening of another transfer window and the attendant speculation that comes with it. While we don't exactly deal with multi-million pound transfers here at Firhill there is still plenty of speculation during this time. With that in mind and before moving on to other subjects the manager was able to provide an update on the current situation with regard to January comings and goings.

"Jamie Adams will be signing for another month when his current loan deal expires but we expect him to be returning to Kilmarnock when that month expires in February. Steve Lovell is also due to sign for another month and we are still hopeful that we might be able to extend his time at the Club until the end of the season. Much though will depend on the situation at Bournemouth but all things being well Steve will be in the squad for the fixture with Morton on January 4^th."

"Greg Shields should be signing a deal that will keep him at Firhill until April at least with the possibility of an extension beyond that. Getting clearance for Greg though is a lengthy business and nothing has been completed yet."

"Leaving during January will be Willie Kinniburgh who is joining Clyde on loan and Paddy Boyle is another player that will go out on loan although we aren't sure where that will be just yet. In addition to those two players there could be another one or two leaving with, perhaps, a further one coming in."

Having dealt with the latest transfer news Ian turned his thoughts to the year just about to finish.

"I'm very happy with how the Club is progressing both on and off the field. Not just in 2009 but since I first arrived at Firhill. The one cloud over the last 12 months has been the sale of Gary Harkins and Marc Twaddle. I was in full agreement with the Board of Directors in the decision to sell both Gary and Marc. The Board have been fantastic to me since I came to the Club and I think that they are doing an excellent job. Their next job though, and it is no easy task, is to try and have us in the position where we can keep at the Club the next three of four players like Harkins and Twaddle that come along even if there other clubs that can offer to double or sometimes even treble, their wages."

"I know that we have talked in the past about 3-5 year plans but these things are fluid and evolve depending on circumstances. If truth be told I think that last season we were a lot closer to winning the league than we thought we would be. To get to the second last game of the season still with a chance of winning the league was, given that we working with no more than 17 or 18 players at the finish, a great achievement."

"This season we want to do equally as well if not better than last. Nobody at Firhill has a crystal ball so we couldn't have foreseen one individual providing Dundee with the spending power that they have and that spending power makes it very difficult for the rest in the First Division this season. As we go into a New Year though we certainly haven't given up on our pursuit of Dundee at the top of the league."

"In many ways the two games that we have played against Dundee this season have been pivotal. I think that most people would agree that at the very least we should have taken 4 points from those two games. If we had managed that the present league table, with Dundee having 5 points fewer and us 4 points more, would look very different indeed."

"One thing that I think is apparent right now is that we have a squad with a nice blend of experience and youth and a squad of players, some very talented indeed, that care about playing for Partick Thistle. Some of the football that we have played this season has been excellent. The young players that we have like Jonny Tuffey, Paul Paton, Liam Buchanan and Paul Cairney are all major assets for Partick Thistle."

"Moving away from first team matters and looking at the general situation at the Club I'm delighted that Gerry Britton is remaining in the Club structure and will head up Youth Development. I'm delighted too that Bobby Dinnie is putting together an affective scouting system. These are areas where there is still room for improvement but they are in their early stages of development. I'm keen too in the next year or two to get a proper community programme in place at the Club."

"Returning briefly to our scouting system you can see the benefit of it already with the recruitment of Kris Doolan and Chris Erskine from the Junior ranks. Kris Doolan has been very unfortunate not to have featured more often this season while Chris Erskine, especially when you think of where he has come from, has been excellent this season. In many ways he is a typical Partick Thistle player."

"This is my third season as manager of Partick Thistle and my feeling for the Club has only intensified during that time. This is a special Club. An unique Club in many respects. As much as I am keen to try and rid Partick Thistle of the ‘cuddly toy' image I don't want us to lose that sense of uniqueness that we have either. What other clubs would have their stadium announcements in Spanish, as we will have at the Morton game, in tribute to a departing Assistant Manager nicknamed The King of Spain?"