Friday 4th January, 2019 at 5:18pm
2019 is here and Partick Thistle start the new year by visiting Tannadice to take on Dundee United. There have been five additions made to the Jags squad over the past couple of weeks with a few potential debuts on the cards tomorrow and Thistle manager, Gary Caldwell began his chat with ptfc.co.uk by discussing the busy start to the January transfer window:
“We’d been building up to the window for a number of weeks. Making sure, as a Club, that we were ready to act and bring in a few players and we’re happy with what we’ve been able to do so far.”
Gary then gave us a rundown of the four signings he has made since 2019 began.
“Steven Saunders was the first and he brings great experience with him. He’s played in the Scottish Premiership and knows the Championship well too. He’s the right kind of player but also the right kind of character so we were very happy to see him sign.
“We’ve also signed Conor Hazard on loan from Celtic and he’s come in to allow for some rotation. Jamie Sneddon’s played a lot recently but we wanted to have the opportunity to rest him and bringing Conor in gives us that chance. He has pedigree having been brought in by Celtic as a teenager and played with the Northern Irish senior team.”
On top of Saunders and Hazard, Caldwell has been able to secure the signatures of Joe Cardle and Alistair Roy today and he told us a bit about them as well.
“Joe is someone who has been training with us for a few weeks so we’ve had the chance to have a close look at him and get to know what he’s like as a person. At the end of the day, he’s proven at this level and should be a great signing.
“Ally’s another guy who we’ve had in training which has allowed us to see exactly the type of player and character he is. He’s still very young so he’s got potential to improve but we feel he can make an impact on the team straight away.”
Gary also touched on the extension to Callum Wilson’s contract as the young midfielder penned a year’s extension to his deal earlier this week.
“Callum has been outstanding since I’ve arrived at the Club in terms of his attitude and application in training. He’s a player who you can see is improving day-by-day and has earned his place on the bench at the moment as well as his contract extension.
“There is a possibility that he could go out on loan if the right opportunity presents itself but we’ll have to wait and see on that front.”
Going back to the five signings the Club has made recently, Gary says that he has no problem handing them their first appearances tomorrow afternoon if he feels it will benefit the team.
“We’re still waiting on clearance for Joe Cardle so we’ll have to wait and see for him but the rest of them are going straight into the squad. Whatever happens, the team should have a different look tomorrow and hopefully we’ll produce a different result.”
The Jags boss finished by giving an injury update regarding his squad.
“We’re in a pretty good place in terms of the squad. The long-term guys are still working hard to get back to fitness but we don’t really have any little knocks at the moment.
“Souleymane Coulibaly is back doing partial training. He’s probably still a few weeks away from getting back involved on matchdays but we’re delighted to have him back doing some bits as part of the squad.”
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