Tuesday 16th March, 2021 at 5:00pm
It’s now a year since Covid hit, changing life in ways we could never have anticipated.
Football has, rightly, not been a priority for much of that time. Getting the game back safely in October and playing football – even behind closed doors – was a sign of better days ahead.
That’s why the unexpected and enforced closure in January was a body blow. We lost all the business planned for the transfer window and as things dragged on, we even lost loan deals. Again, we took a decision to maintain the Club ready for a return to football while operating on a minimal skeleton staff. The Board is grateful to everyone – players, staff, volunteers and fans – for giving us their unwavering support to get through this.
A five strong working group, including our Chairman Jacqui Low, represented the two leagues to get football back. Working on behalf of all 20 League 1 & 2 clubs and in negotiation with the Scottish FA, Joint Response Group and SPFL, it produced the solution to get us back playing. The group worked relentlessly to overcome obstacles and challenges so the time, effort and resilience that’s gone in to achieving this historic outcome of 20 clubs acting as one is not to be underestimated.
From a Thistle perspective, we thank our 19 fellow clubs for their bravery in holding out for the right solution, not the easy one. We are proud to be part of this unified group that, through its own efforts, has allowed football in our leagues to restart. We also thank our players, manager and management team for being prepared to support this 22-game season. It won’t be easy, it may still end up as an 18 game season – but at least our fate lies in our hands.
Now it’s time to look forward to the Cove Rangers game at home on Saturday and getting on with the league again – that feeling will only be bettered when we have you, our fans, back at Firhill.
Until then, stay safe.
PTFC Board
