Friday 12th October, 2018 at 2:14pm
When Gerry Britton became Partick Thistle’s Chief Executive in the summer, he thought his days of putting on the tracksuit and delivering coaching sessions were over. But he’s been back out on the training field this week following the departure of Alan Archibald and Scott Paterson last Saturday. It will be Gerry along with Academy Director, Scott Allison, taking the side for this weekend’s Ladbrokes Championship match against Dundee United.
With a huge league fixture coming up and a simultaneous search for a new permanent manager, it’s been a busy week for Britton but we caught up with the caretaker boss earlier today to preview the United match.
Gerry began by talking to us about how training has been after an undoubtedly difficult weekend for all at the Club.
“The guys have played at a very high intensity this week, which has been really encouraging. We had a team meeting on Monday because we felt it was important to make sure the squad’s minds were in the right place. It was very clear from that meeting that there was a determination around every player in the squad and they were 100% focused on what is a very big game this Saturday.”
Returning to the coaching side of things was never on Gerry’s agenda so it’s fair to say it has been a strange week in that regard.
“It’s quite exciting for me because as much as I’m enjoying my CEO role, I’ll always enjoy my coaching. We have a very talented group too, so I’ve enjoyed what we’ve done so far. Having said that, a few days is more than enough for me and, hopefully, I’ll be back in the office full time soon.”
We then moved on to discussing our opponents tomorrow, Dundee United, who Gerry knows will be buoyed by their new managerial appointment.
“There’s not much between any two teams in this league, which means any game is winnable. But at the same time, it also means there is no game that you can take for granted.
“United is a team that has undoubted quality but has fallen victim to huge expectation at times over the last few years. However, they have shown that they can turn up at any point to put on a great performance and we have to be prepared for that.”
Gerry then commented on the style of play he and Scott Allison are planning to use on Saturday, declaring that there will be plenty of attacking intent from his side.
“There’s only so much we can do in a week of training so I wouldn’t expect a massive overhaul in terms of how the team plays. Scott and I are both coaches who have been a part of the academy where there is a focus on attacking football and we hope that we can bring some of that to the team tomorrow. But it was equally important to us that we addressed the need to tighten up the defence to secure a win.”
We ended the chat by talking to Britton about team news ahead of the game tomorrow.
“The long term guys are in the same position. Tam O’Ware is still out as are Aaron Lennox and Shea Gordon although they’ve been progressing well recently and hopefully aren’t too far from returns. Also, Tam Scobbie misses this one because he’s on loan from our opponents.
“In terms of Souleymane Coulibaly, he’s not quite ready yet. He’s working very closely with our sports science team at the moment as he builds his fitness up. It’s been a very long time since he’s played a proper football match but the hope is that within the next week, he’ll be training at full intensity and looking at getting involved in a squad.”
With the Club currently undertaking a change, we want to keep all Thistle supporters up to date. That’s why, for this weekend’s match against Dundee United, all preview and reaction videos will be free to view for every Jags fan.
Watch the preview interviews with Cammy Bell, Christie Elliott and Scott Allison free to view.
Jagzone subscribers will also be able to watch extended highlights of the game.
Can’t make it to The Energy Check Stadium at Firhill? Jagzone members can listen to live audio commentary of the match. JagZoneLIVE begins at 2:45pm on Saturday.
For a full list of all the great content you can access from just £5.99 per month as a Jagzone member, click here.
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