Abdul Osman is not a man to be intimidated by reputations on the field, particularly when he feels that they supersede the level of talent the opposing player in question possesses. That’s why the Partick Thistle captain is relishing the chance to lock horns with the likes of Joey Barton next season.
Don’t get Osman wrong, he admires Barton as a player, but he is unperturbed by the fuss that the outspoken Rangers midfielder has already caused before he sets foot on a pitch north of the border.
The Thistle skipper is delighted to have a high profile name like Barton plying his trade here though, and he feels that his side are up for the tougher challenge that next season’s top division has in store.
“I’ve never played against him, I’ve just seen him play,” said Osman. “It’s a challenge I’m looking forward to. It’s not like it’s [Juan Sebastian] Veron is it?
“He’s just another player – a good player, a challenge.
“People like him coming lifts the league. The first year I played in the SPL all the big teams were in it and it made a massive difference.
“Every game was really tough and it was more competitive. With Rangers back in it and making big signings and obviously Celtic bringing in a good manager like Brendan Rodgers, it will make the league stronger.
“It’s good to be in that environment. You want to test yourself and in most games you’ll be testing yourself against good players and that will only improve you as a player.
‘”It will be tougher for us. But at the end of the day, we’re good enough. I’m quite confident in the team.
“Standards will have to be raised at every team this year. But we’ve made some decent signings and have managed to keep most of our stronger players. It’s another year where we can go for it in the league.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel