Thursday 21st November, 2019 at 10:21am
Three Black Cats (TBC), the new owner of Partick Thistle, has unveiled the members of the interim Board that will run the Club until it passes in to fan ownership early in 2020.
The new Directors are: Colin Weir, Dr Charan Gill MBE, Ian Dodd, Alan Caldwell, Andrew Byron and John Penman. Further details are below. There is one final Director; his appointment will be confirmed in due course.
Given the interim nature of the appointments, there will be no Chairman, with chairing of Board meetings done on a rotating basis. As before, Chief Executive Gerry Britton will attend Board meetings with input from manager Ian McCall.
TBC’s priorities for the interim Board in the coming months are to ensure that the management team is supported in the January window and that the Club returns to its previous stability. It has also asked the PTFC Trust and Thistle for Ever group to work together to bring forward a workable model for fan ownership – under a new united banner – that will be developed with input from the Thistle fanbase. This will then be approved by TBC and the Thistle Board prior to the shares being transferred to fan ownership by 30th March 2020 at the latest. If work concludes sooner, the transfer will happen earlier.
A spokesman for the TBC said:
“We are grateful to the Directors for agreeing to take on their roles at this important time for the Club. They were selected for the skills they can bring to Thistle. After a period of uncertainty, it’s time to put the focus back on the football and support the management team in the key January window.
“We are also pleased that these two fans groups will come together, to work with fans, to prepare for what will be the most significant period in the Club’s history with fan ownership. We will offer any support they may need to deliver this within the agreed timescales, including funding legal work that may be required.”
Directors
Dr Charan Gill MBE is a well-known business entrepreneur who has spent most of his life working in Glasgow’s West End. From humble beginnings, he built the largest chain of independently owned Indian restaurants in Europe which he sold to focus on personal interests. His Ashoka restaurant were one of the Club’s first shirt sponsors and he has maintained close links with Partick Thistle ever since.
Ian Dodd retired at 60 to spend time travelling after a highly successful career acquiring experience and knowledge in a range of business sectors, including the motor industry, oil and gas industries, banking sector and corporate property/facilities. Ian joined Thistle’s Board in 2010 and over that period has had special responsibility for the stadium and facilities management.
Alan Caldwell is a graduate in Applied Economics, who worked in financial services for 13 years before joining the Civil Service in 2008. Over the past 11 years Alan has performed key organisational roles within government. Alan has been a Thistle fan for over 35 years and for the past two years he has been a Trustee on the Partick Thistle FC Trust. He is currently Vice-Chair of the Trust.
Andrew Byron has worked for an Investment Bank in Glasgow for the past five years and has a degree in Risk Management. Over the past two years, Andrew has been a Trustee of the PTFC Trust, initially as a Co-opted Trustee, then an elected Trustee where he held roles as Vice-Chair and most recently Chair. He has been a Thistle fan for over 20 years and has performed various roles at the Club, from ball boy to matchday volunteer and office worker at Firhill.
John Penman had a career as a journalist covering politics and business for over 25 years for the Sunday Times, Scotsman, Business am and Daily Record among others before joining Lloyds Banking Group in 2009 to oversee its corporate communications in Scotland. He has his own consultancy advising corporates on matters ranging from communications to public affairs to sustainability and inclusion. John was also part of the working group which set up the media regulations for the Scottish Parliament. He has been following the Jags since the mid 1960s, having inherited his support for Thistle from his late father who came from Port Dundas.
