Football fans are a peculiar and complex bunch. Whether it is Brechin City or Barcelona, they come in all shapes and sizes with all matter of opinions and views. However, one thing they all share is the feeling of schadenfreude. A German word which holds a key place in British psyche, but is prevalent in the world of football.
Since January 30, 2013, fans of Partick Thistle have taken great pleasure in the demise of Jackie McNamara. With the club fighting it out at the top of the Irn-Bru Scottish First Division as they aimed to reach the top flight for the first time since 2004, McNamara, along with Simon Donnelly, took the decision to leave a job half-done and upsticks to the vacant post at Dundee United. A sliding doors moment in the recent history of The Jags.
As McNamara set-out on what would prove to be an erratic spell at Dundee United, and then a downright disastrous spell at York City, Thistle have established themselves as a top-flight club with stability, planning and organisation.
The progression the club has made on and off the field has been such that McNamara is an after-thought. There may even be pity once Thistle fans can bring themselves to stop laughing at the way it ended at Dundee United and the way it is going at York City.
In McNamara’s stead, Thistle are being led by club stalwart and legend Alan Archibald. A safe pair of hands who puts the club’s interests before his own, Archibald has a real desire to make the club a success, leaving it in a good place when the time comes for him to exit.
There was talk that the exit would come sooner rather than later as English League One side Shrewsbury Town showed interest in the 38-year-old last month. However, Archibald was swift and forthright to quash any speculation of him moving on.
“I’ve got unfinished business here, of course I have,” he stated at a pre-match press conference.
“We’ve started something here and we’ve took the club on leaps and bounds both on and off the pitch. It’s been a fantastic journey, and long may it continue.”
In months, maybe years, to come October 2016 may go down as another sliding doors moment. What if he left? Would Thistle have flourished or floundered?
Despite being the right side of 40, Archibald is the longest serving manager in the top-flight. Ironically a tag he took on after the departure of McNamara from United last season. He is just a little over two months shy of four years in charge. An eternity in this day and age. In those 46 months he has had criticism laid at his door by Thistle fans, who felt that he had taken them as far as he could after their latest winless spell. But he has always responded to achieve what is expected of him and the club, top-flight consolidation.
Football fans are insatiable animals. Always wanting more, demanding more. Change is often seen as the answer, the easy answer. Change is new so change is good. Like kids, and even adults, wanting the latest toy or product because it is an apparent upgrade when more often than not it is just simply something ‘new’, something else.
For a club as well-run as Thistle, would it have been a risk worth taking? There is the example of Mauricio Pochettino taking over from Nigel Adkins at Southampton despite reservations, and taking them to the next level. Perhaps more pertinently is the example of the club 11 miles to the west. Danny Lennon had consolidated St Mirren in the Premiership, had lifted a trophy but still there were calls for change. One catastrophic appointment led to a malaise which sees the Buddies slumped at the bottom of the Championship without a league win to their name.
Thistle are one point from a place in the top-six of the Premiership.
When McNamara swapped Firhill Road for Tannadice Street he recognised it was a risk but spoke of the shared “vision and belief” he had with the United board. Thistle were second in Division One, five points behind league leaders Greenock Morton, with two games in hand. They had steamrollered teams in Maryhill, scoring on average more than three goals a game. But the same expansive football was being used away from Firhill without the same end product, two wins from nine games. At that point in the season no team had won fewer games on the road.
The trustworthy and reliable centre-back Alan Archibald stepped into the vacant managerial position on an interim basis. By this point Archibald’s playing career was winding down but he was still an important squad member, while he was involved with the club’s under-20 side.
A lot is made of the transition from player to coach, team mate to boss, but the passage was made to look seamless. ‘Archie’, as he’s commonly known among The Jags fans, had frontline experience of the team, the positives and weaknesses, the areas for consolidation and areas for improvement.
He started with a 2-2 draw in the top-of-the-table clash with Morton at Cappielow. A solid inauguration which would turn out to be the most glorious of honeymoon periods. Eight consecutive wins would follow. Two measly goals were conceded. Archibald offered continuation to the playing squad with added refinement. A defender with more than 550 appearances in Scottish football, more than 400 of which came in two spells at Thistle, he embraced the foundations he was left, and while they were decent enough, he improved upon. It wasn’t simply a quick fix but one which offered longevity. He just made it look like the former.
The run of wins were concluded with back-to-back victories over Cowdenbeath at the end of March. The first win took Thistle to the top of the table for the first time since Boxing Day, 2012. The second opened up a four-point lead at the top. The best Morton could muster in response was reducing the gap to two points. But a 1-0 win for The Jags at home to their closest challengers made sure The Ton were kept at arm’s length. Even with three draws from their last four games, Thistle won the league at a canter, 11 points the difference between first and second.
The sole rainy day on Archibald and Thistle’s honeymoon was a penalty shoot-out defeat to Queen of the South in the mad-cap Challenge Cup final, remembered most fondly, if that’s the correct word, for Aaron Muirhead’s sending off. There are unlucky red cards, daft red cards, understandable red cards. Then there’s this.
From 16 league games there were 11 wins and five draws, and Premiership football, under its new guise with the newly-formed SPFL, was returning to Firhill.
From 1903, when they finished eighth behind Third Lanark, until 1970 Partick Thistle were a top-flight club, albeit their only tangible success came in 1921 with their one and only Scottish Cup success. They finished bottom of the 18-team (old, old) Division One in 1970 but bounced straight back up before picking up their one and only Scottish League Cup the following season.
League reconstruction in 1975 saw Thistle drop back out of the top division despite finishing 13th – they were one of eight teams demoted. That signalled the start of a period which has seen five promotions and five relegations. There was a decade spent in the old Division One as well as four years in two different spells in the third tier. The nadir being the time in Division Two purgatory between 1998 and 2001.
For many, Thistle are John Lambie. The alternative. The artists and poets to the Old Firm’s blue-collar visceral hostility. Thistle are a sort of red and yellow. Thistle are Maryhill. Thistle are The Jags. The Harry Wrags. But they are a top-flight team.
The all-time table of Scotland’s top tier has Partick Thistle 10th. Ahead of the likes of Dundee United, Dunfermline Atheltic and St Johnstone.
McNamara started the process to bring them back to the top table. Archibald finished it and continues to dine. Although in the full three seasons in the Premiership he has had to scrap for his place at the table, battle for his seat and work hard for his meal.
Having produced aesthetically pleasing football in their promotion campaign, Thistle aimed to carry the feel good factor into their return to what was now the Premiership. They gave the division a freshness and an added layer of excitement thanks in part to their intrepid full-backs; Stephen O’Donnell and Aaron Taylor-Sinclair were vital to Thistle’s identity as a team in the 4-2-3-1 system.
It was a common occurrence to see both of them not only high up the pitch at the same time, but linking and passing to each other, even in the opposition box. For neutral observers it was bold and exciting. For those housed in the Jackie Husband and North stands there would eventually be concern.
Initially they found their breath; eased their way into the division like a cyclist sticking with the pack into his first mountain climb. Three wins, three defeats and four draws were mustered from the first 10 league games. But then the air got a lot thinner. While those more experienced pushed on, taking the bike to the next gear or two, Thistle dropped – from seventh in October to 10th in January. Seven defeats and no wins in nine games with 22 goals conceded ensured Thistle were very much in the proverbial relegation dogfight. Although when you take into account Heart of Midlothian’s point deduction it was more a dogfight which the loser would survive and be given a second chance of survival in the Premiership play-off.
The ‘fixture generator’ had the prescience to throw up a gimme just when they needed one. A trip to hapless Hearts in the second fixture of the year was suffice to break Thistle’s long winless streak. It was much needed considering another run of matches without victory was to come, six in this case. And they were still to pick up their first win at home, that accomplishment not being achieved until February.
Defensively Thistle had an issue. Teams became wise to their strategy, while Conrad Balatoni and especially Muirhead, although he had his injury battles, found the step up tough. It wasn’t helped by the presence of the dreamy Gabriel Piccolo. He was as poor as he was handsome, to the point the veteran Lee Mair was brought in to shore up the backline.
Another key signing was Lyle Taylor who had a positive effect in attack, his seven goals in the second half of the season supplementing Kris Doolan’s 11 and the effort’s of the talented but flaky Kallum Higginbotham.
Thistle occupied the dreaded play-off sport for more than a month before slipping back into it in April after a shameful 4-2 defeat to Hearts on the day relegation was confirmed for the Gorgie side. It looked like Thistle could join them as the league entered the split. But four games unbeaten, including crucial victories over Hearts and Kilmarnock, meant Thistle went into the last day in seventh place. Such was the collection of ineptitude in the bottom half that a final day defeat consigned them to 10th place. Yet, survival ensured, mission achieved.
The last time Thistle were in the Premiership they finished 10th in their first season but then followed it up with a dire campaign picking up a miserly 26 points. The mythical ‘second season syndrome’ doesn’t just apply to league winners, it is equally applicable to promoted teams. The three season prototype for such teams should be as follows:
Season 1 – Survival
Season 2 – Consolidation
Season 3 – Progression
Archibald was now looking to achieve what Lambie did back in the early 90s. Consolidate. Not only would Archibald keep Thistle in the league for season number three, he would provide a template, nay, an ode to the mere idea of consolidation. From week three to week 38 Thistle rose no higher than seventh and did not drop lower than ninth.
The league did include a St Mirren side, managed by Tommy Craig, then Gary Teale, that provoked new levels of booing from their own support. Well, until this season where a new, never before witnessed level, was unlocked.
Anyway, Thistle finished 16 points in front of the Buddies and 10 ahead of Motherwell who occupied the play-off spot. The Jags even finished with a goal difference of plus four. The fourth best in the league. This is where Archibald deserves immense credit as the team developed what it takes to be a Premiership side. Resolve, discipline and know-how.
In an interview with The Herald earlier this year to mark the third anniversary of his appointment he explained:
“We are more resilient now. When we came up we were too bold, our full-backs were playing halfway up the park and we could get punished. We are smarter now.”
He could easily have said those very sentences a year previously. Taylor-Sinclair had been lost to Wigan Athletic, while Dan Seaborne and Frederic Frans were added for depth at centre-back. But most importantly the steel of Abdul Osman was added to the midfield. Another player who is still key to Thistle today was added mid-way through the season, left-back Callum Booth.
The Jags still had the raiding of O’Donnell down the right side, but he done so with added protection. The team had a strategy and structure which allowed for that. With no one hitting double figures in the league – Lyle Taylor netting three times, Higginbotham only twice, Doolan failing to reach double figures and, get ready to shudder Thistle fans, Nathan Eccleston scoring once – O’Donnell’s five goals were important.
But more so was the defensive improvement of 21 goals. It was testament to the plan Archibald implemented that without a settled back four for large parts, and the goalkeepers Scott Fox and Paul Gallacher sharing game time, they were able to prove so effective, with the exception of a couple of aberrations, at shutting teams out.
It was between the end of February and season’s end that they really looked at home in the top flight, never losing back-to-back matches and keeping seven of their 12 shutouts.
Survival – check. Consolidation – check. Now for progression.
If Archibald possessed the necessary powers of persuasion he would have had the 2015-2016 season start straight after the culmination of the previous one. Instead he had to witness three of the club’s key men from the previous three seasons move on. O’Donnell, Balatoni and Fox all opted for pastures new. New signings arrived and would turn out to be very hit and miss.
Thistle’s start to the season was very much miss, prompting perhaps the most notable discourse on the future of Archibald. Social media and fans forum fuelled the discussion, but any disgruntlement failed to transpire into large scale calls for him to move on, even as the side started the season without a win in nine, including six defeats.
With Dundee United, flailing under McNamara, taking on the amateurish role portrayed so well 12 months previously by St Mirren, a fine sequence of results between October and the end of the year, including two defeats of the Arabs, lifted Thistle from 12th to seventh. Relegation was never going to be an issue despite the money being discarded with reckless abandonment at Tannadice in their vain hope of holding onto their top-flight status.
Tomas Cerny was an upgrade on Fox, Mustapha Dumbuya was a more than adequate replacement for O’Donnell, and, once he found his feet, David Amoo proved to be a powerful and dangerous wide man, albeit he suffers from that well-known wingers’ curse. Yet, progression was conspicuous by its absence.
Neither Frans nor Seaborne were truly reliable, although that did open the door for the talented and unflappable Liam Lindsay to make a serious breakthrough. Key midfielder Stuart Bannigan, so adept at knitting the team together in midfield with his tenacious play without the ball and self-assuredness with it, didn’t radiate quite the same influence before his season came to a cruel end with a serious injury in March.
There was also an issue with the system. Archibald was, if not castigated, certainly questioned, and perhaps rightly so, for his continued use of 4-2-3-1. He had tried flipping the shape of the midfield but there were elements of the home support pleading for him to change it up further with a two-pronged strikeforce. The only issue was who to play alongside Doolan? The Jags’ talismanic striker has found himself on the bench at times over the three full seasons in the Premiership as Lyle Taylor thrived or Archibald tried someone else. Rarely was Doolan unleashed alongside a partner for a sustained period of time to build a rapport.
Not once in the 2015/2016 season did Doolan start up front alongside Mathias Pogba, who offered substantial proof that talent is not genetic. No more than a useful battering, testified by his two league goals, but could he have been a useful foil for the instincts of Doolan? The physicality of Ade Azeez this season suggests so. Yet, no matter who has been signed in attack, Archibald has always returned to Doolan. The wily striker saw off the threat of Pogba and that of Antonio German, yes a real life person, to score six goals in the last two months of the season to reach 14 leagues goals, his best haul since 2010/2011, to help Thistle finish a place lower in ninth, albeit with the same number of points.
The three seasons in the Premiership has given Thistle a platform to build, allowing them to invest in infrastructure, the academy and deliver a more holistic approach. A buzzword for club’s seeking to be innovative and forward-thinking. Yet, you can’t dispute the fact Thistle are both of these.
More staff have been added behind the scenes to help move the club forward. The work on the youth academy has seen it grow to a four-star level – the highest achievable rating from the SFA is seven-star – while the women’s team continues to progress steadily.
Last season also saw the introduction of Kingsley. The mascot spawn of Pikachu and Lisa Simpson. With an increased digital and social media presence, alongside a new website, Thistle were looking to break from their cuddly image while keeping that uniqueness and authenticity they have always craved and possessed as the third club in a city home to two behemoths.
Archibald has played an integral role in the off-field success, a figurehead who won’t rock the boat and endeavour to do the job set out in front of him. Another who deserves immense credit is former-player turned managing director, Ian Maxwell, one of the most-respected individuals in his role in Scottish football. It gives Thistle a continental structure. It is a format which more clubs could implement, someone who has the playing experience and can empathise with the management team, providing a crucial strand between them and the club’s board.
With that support structure in place, Archibald has a trusted confidant, and it lends Thistle another voice in front of the media and to communicate the club’s ideas with fans. The management team fit with the club’s image, close-knit. While assistant-manager cum lead singer of Oasis tribute band Scott Paterson may come across as taciturn to those on the outside with his role in the background, he is an important link with the players and a trustworthy lieutenant for Archibald.
The duo earn great respect and admiration from the playing squad. They embrace modern-management and seek feedback from the team in an open and approachable environment. Despite being one of the youngest managers in the league he is also the one who has been in his job the longest, picking up experience and continuing his learning as he progresses. His leadership is not that of dictator. There is a democratic rather than autocratic approach to his players, involving them in decisions and seeking their opinions – a number of his players have already begun their coaching badges, including 22-year-old Ryan Edwards.
“I learned a lot from Jackie (McNamara),” Archibald told The Herald. “He was approachable and talked to the players outside of the dressing room. I had played under the sort of dictator manager. Jackie was different. You could chap on Jackie’s door. You were not terrified, you did not walk by the manager’s office on tenterhooks. I learned from that. The door always has to be open.
“I still ask then at half-time: ‘Well, what do you think? Am I seeing the same game as you?’ I can get insights from that. If I see it totally different, then I will tell them. But I want to know what they are thinking.”
Archibald comes across as placid, monotone in press-conferences, inoffensive even. But there is a definite spark to his character. His pacified nature can turn quickly into passion and aggression on the sidelines. As you expect from a no nonsense centre-back, he doesn’t allow himself to be pushed around and stands up vehemently for his club. He was direct in the summer over the fixture row – Thistle were handed two trips to both Celtic and Rangers prior to the split – and Celtic playing Inter Milan in a ‘glamour’ friendly which forced the Thistle game to be postponed – the second time in three seasons the club have been affected.
There have also been off-field controversies which he has had to deal with, expanding his experience of the ever-demanding manager role. First Jordan McMillan, who had performed well for Thistle and was seen as an important first-team player, failed a drugs test before Steven Lawless fell foul of the Scottish FA rules which prevents players from betting on football. While Lawless was only banned for two games (a further four were suspended until the end of the 2015-2016 season), McMillan parted company with Thistle having been given an initial two-year ban for testing positive for cocaine. Having had it reduced by a month he is now free to return to playing.
McMillan, in an interview with the BBC, slammed Thistle for abandoning him. However, it was more a shot at the club in general rather than particular individuals, such as Archibald. His standing with the players has not been affected.
One only needs to hear the words Edwards had to say about his management team. Although you certainly don’t expect him to come out and criticise his superiors, it appears sincere.
“Christie Elliott, Kris Doolan and Abdul Osman are doing the coaching badges too along with me, and the management team have been encouraging us and have helped us,” he told the Evening Times.
“They’ve allowed us to go and do it which has been good because we’re in training as well.
“The manager and Scotty Paterson have been brilliant. They put on really good training sessions and I’ve learnt a great deal since I’ve come in.”
The prodigal son came home. Chris Erksine’s return to Firhill for his third spell with The Jags was the headline news during the summer in Maryhill. He had agreed a contract well in advance of the start of the new season, and Squiddy was welcomed back with open arms. His loan spell in 2014 may not have hit the heights but the Thistle fans were still cooing over his enchanting influence in the promotion season.
With Osman, Lawless and Bannigan all attracting attention from elsewhere there were concerns than one, two, heaven have mercy, all three would leave. Yet, as excited as Thistle fans were over Erskine’s signing, there was an equal amount of relief when the previously mentioned trio stayed on, especially the former and latter.
With Frans and Seaborne both departing, and only the middling Danny Devine as a replacement, there was clear unease about the state and depth of the club’s centre-back options. There was only two, Devine and the inchoate talent of Liam Lindsay. Yet, the club coasted through the group stages of the reformatted Betfred Cup before securing a win on the opening day of the Premiership at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle; the eclectic trio of Amoo, Erksine and Lawless bringing some funk to proceedings behind Doolan.
But as Thistle have the capacity to do, it was followed by an eight game winless run in the league, with the added embarrassment of defeat to Championship Dundee United in the Betfred Cup. Even with changes to the team which defeated ICT it was an abhorrent display at Tannadice in the 3-1 defeat. The performance itself was galling to fans, but more so was the fact they have yet to have a decent run in either of the cups under Archibald.
Fans had been patient as Thistle built and consolidated in the Premiership, after all that is the main objective, to be a top-flight outfit. Yet, fearing that any progression and forward momentum had stalled, and the team not even threatening the latter rounds of the cups there was apprehension about how much further Archibald could take them. Fans were asking themselves, as the league form deteriorated, is Archibald the right man to take the club forward? He had brought the club up from the Championship, maintained their status but could he bring the club on further, to the next level?
The injuries to Dumbuya and Bannigan had not helped matters, while Ziggy Gordon, seen as quite the signing, struggled with what was asked of him. The fragility of the defence and poor game management has been exposed with the concession of late goals at home which have cost the side five points.
One of those games, a 1-1 draw with Ross County, saw the concession of a goal deep into stoppage time. They then almost contrived to see three points turn to zero as The Staggies were a yard either side of Ryan Scully from nicking a winner. Yet, there were early signs of not only recovery but a change. The game would be the last in the winless run.
Having recognised that something needed to be amended, taking into account those unavailable through injury and the potential of one of his new signings, Archibald devised a new strategy. One which was much removed from his 4-2-3-1 template, and followed a trend in this season’s Premiership: the back three.
Erksine and Gordon were the prize captures of the summer transfer window, and it allowed the recruitment of Adam Barton – remarkably for a Scottish side, Thistle paid a fee – to go under the radar. Signed from League 2 side Portsmouth, there was not a lot known or expected of him. However, fans will now understand why he was labelled the “orchestra leader” by Phil Brown while at Preston North End (as per Evening Times).
Originally stationed in midfield, the elegant passer was moved into the backline to harness his distribution qualities, both short and long, giving Devine and Lindsay the freedom to concentrate on defending – his impact earned him October’s Player of the Month. With Gordon not offering the same attacking qualities as O’Donnell and Dumbuya, he was benched and Christie Elliott given the role which he has performed diligently. With Erskine and Lawless injured, Edwards has linked midfield and attack effectively.
For opposition teams, so used to setting up to face 4-2-3-1, it has been quite the transformation, with different depths and angles of attack to defend against. None more so than a front two. Doolan has been Thistle’s go-to-guy, even if, at times, Archibald seems intent on finding someone to replace him. Like the couple who do nothing better than breaking up, looking for someone else, something else, they always find their way back together. Doolan has netted 36 Premiership goals in just 73 starts, a laudable record for someone who was playing non-league seven years ago.
The addition of Azeez should see Doolan come on even further. The powerful Englishman may not be the most composed or reliable in front of goal but his pace and willingness to stretch play laterally and vertically occupies defences and opens space for others.
The same formation brought back-to-back away wins at in Tayside before a 2-1 defeat to Aberdeen at Firhill where Thistle had their chances and competed well.
The timing may have been no more than coincidental but the recent upturn came a couple of days after Archibald put the speculation of a move to Shrewsbury to rest. As he astutely noted, with a dollop of self-deprecation, “when you’re second bottom of the league you don’t expect people to come calling, so that was a bit surprising. We’ll take that as a compliment though and batter on.”
During his tenure there have been a number of junctures where calls for his removal have piqued, but the overall consensus is of a fan base who wants Archibald to be the one to take Thistle on. There would have been little surprise if the words of Joni Mitchell started playing on loop in a number of fans’ head when his future potentially looked away from Maryhill.
His time at the helm has been a success and he could lead them to further success. There is not sufficient evidence that Archibald is no longer capable of progressing the team and club further. Plus, while it is not an essential quality, he is a figure Thistle fans can relate to, there isn’t the disconnect you get at some clubs. A genuine warmth exists between fans and manager, players and manager, and board and manager. It is a unique position to be in and it would be foolish to have let Archibald walk away easily. With a contract until 2019 has unfinished business to attend to.
It would be appropriate to finish with words from a player who has shared the club’s and Archibald’s journey from a team in danger of being a perennial Championship side to one now established as a Premiership team.
“On and off the pitch, he’s had a big influence,” Doolan , speaking to BBC Scotland. “It’s no surprise that people are taking notice of that and hopefully we can keep hold of him.”
“Alan is a massive figure round the club and he symbolises all that’s good about Partick Thistle.
“He’s built something here that’s long-lasting.”
Written by Joel Sked
With thanks to Marc Wallace and Ben Archibald (not related . . . I don’t think)
Sources
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37214322
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/21249708
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37714948
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14238754.Alan_Archibald_managing_a_life_less_ordinary_at_Firhill_as_he_approaches_three_year_anniversary/