Coronavirus – advice for fans

Thursday 12th March, 2020 at 9:56pm

Following the latest advice from the Scottish and UK Governments, we would like to update you on the impact this will have for Partick Thistle and what measures the Club is taking to play its part in preventing the spread of Covid-19.

Our highest priority must always be the health of staff, players and supporters. Our decisions have been made with that as our guiding principle. Some of what we are doing goes beyond Government advice.  But we feel we have a duty to the Thistle community to minimise the risk as much as possible.

1. Based on the latest Scot Gov advice, Saturday’s match against Alloa goes ahead. We do not have the option of cancelling this unilaterally as this would leave the Club open to sanctions from the Scottish football authorities. Please keep up to date with social media and www.ptfc.co.uk in case this situation changes.
2. We would urge all fans to consider their own personal circumstances and whether attending the game would put them at risk, especially if you or someone you take to the games falls into the vulnerable categories of being over 60 years old and/or with underlying health conditions.
3. In line with today’s new advice, any supporter who has experienced some or any of the potential symptoms should not attend and should follow the medical advice and self-isolate for the recommended period of time (a minimum of a week).
4. We will continue to do as much as we can to encourage supporters to ensure they follow the personal hygiene guidance which helps mitigate the spread of this virus. In addition to the need for frequent handwashing, make yourself aware of the guidance around social distancing (staying a minim of 2m/6ft away from others) and use all parts of the stadium to achieve this if possible.
5. The Aitken Suite will not be open pre or post match, nor will there be a Playerzone. We are also cancelling all Club events at the stadium until further notice. This means that the Pizza, a Pint & a Title Winner night scheduled for March 13 will not go ahead and will be rescheduled to a later date. The Ladies Day event is also postponed. In addition, we will not be hosting any hospitality in the stadium on Saturday, including the boardroom.
6. From Monday until further notice, on the instruction of the Scottish Government, all games will effectively be played behind closed doors. We are looking at options on how we can allow supporters to follow games played at The Energy Check Stadium at Firhill in other ways and will approach the SPFL to ask that restrictions on streaming games live should be relaxed.
7. Club staff will operate from home from Monday and this will apply across all levels of the Club, including the Academy and the Charitable Trust. Only the first team squad and team staff will have access to Firhill until further notice.

We understand the inconvenience these measures will cause but we are facing an unprecedented situation.  It is everyone’s responsibility to each other to ensure that we do all we can to minimise the impact.

We will communicate further on other measures we may adopt and inform you as soon as possible if anything changes.