Partick Thistle Football Club

The second half of last season proved to be a frustrating time for Partick Thistle. As Inverness Caledonian Thistle embarked on a run that would see them eventually run out First Division Champions by a comfortable margin our own title hopes by comparison were extinguished on the back of an indifferent run of results.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however. For some time manager Ian McCall had been keen to add the services of the vastly experienced Jackie McNamara to his squad and in February he managed to do just that, bringing the then Falkirk player to Firhill on loan.

Jackie made an impressive Thistle debut at Dens Park against Dundee even though Thistle were, a shade unfortunately, defeated. The following week Jackie set up Liam Buchanan for our opening goal in a 2-1 victory over Ross County and in the next two away games again demonstrated just how influential a player he could be in a red and yellow jersey. The later of those two games though, against Ayr United at Somerset Park, came to premature end for Jackie. A challenge that produced an all too audible crack and saw Jackie leave the field on a stretcher had most people fearing the worst. Those fears were confirmed the following day with the news that Jackie has sustained a broken leg. His season was at an end.

Not though his time as a Partick Thistle player.

Last week it was confirmed that Jackie would be back at Firhill this season. This time as a fully fledged Thistle player and in a player coach capacity.

www.ptfc.co.uk caught up the newly installed player coach on Saturday not long after he and close friend Simon Donnelly had returned from taking a morning coaching session with the full-time under 19 players.

We would return to the subject of coaching a little later on but it was only natural to start the conversation on the subject of Jackie’s fitness.

“I’ve done a bit of running the last couple of days which has been good. It’s just a case of getting the balance right now. I’m hopeful of being back in action if not for the first league game of the season against Raith Rovers then the following week when we are at home to Dundee.”

After picking up such a nasty injury it must come as a relief to be so close to full fitness once more.

“It wasn’t something that I worried too much about. During pre-season the start of the new season can’t come quickly enough for every player and I’m no different though I’ll admit that after my injury I’m extra keen to get back into the full swing of things.”

In terms of coaching Jackie is already in the full swing of things. Has coaching always been something of interest to Jackie?

“Yes, it’s the next step for me and it is something that I’m really looking forward to. It’s going to be good working alongside Simon Donnelly and I’m really looking forward as well to working under Ian McCall who is a good guy. It’s no coincidence that a lot of people have gone on to bigger and better things after working with Ian McCall. Just look at John Hughes and Owen Coyle for example. Myself and Simon will be looking to learn from the manager.”  

After being a player for so long I wondered if it felt strange at all for Jackie to now be the person passing on the benefits of his experience?

“It does a little bit when I think about the number of pre-seasons that I’ve done. When you think about it your career seems to go past relatively quickly and I’ve been a full-time professional now for 20 years. I’ve been lucky to have managed to stay in the game for as long as I have and hopefully I can pass on some of the experience that I have gained during that time onto the young boys at Firhill. I know from my time here last season that there are some talented young players at the Club right now and we want to try to help develop them into first team regulars. This has to be the way forward for Clubs like ourselves. You need only look to Hamilton to see the success you can have with a good youth system.”

The ideal scenario for both Jackie and Simon would be to playing alongside those players that they are coaching during the first part of the week in the first team on a Saturday.

“That’s what we tell the young boys what their aim should be, to get into the first team and try and push us older players out of the side.

One suspects that once Jackie is fully fit it will be no easy task to dislodge him from the Thistle first team.  Thistle look like the being the beneficiaries of Jackie’s experience and know how both on and off the field.