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A sense of impending doom - the overwhelming feeling for Jags supporters following the club update just three days after that disastrous day in Dingwall.

Many fans were still coming to terms with the fallout of that fatal day when the statement was released on the club’s social media platforms. Partick Thistle would return a significant loss of around 280k for the 2022-23 campaign. The loss was partly due to anticipated investment into the club failing to materialise alongside the decision of the previous board to stretch the playing budget outwith its means in the hope of promotion to the top flight. The penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Ross County proved the final nail in that coffin.

A mass exodus would ensue as 11 players left the club, including instrumental figures Kevin Holt, Ross Docherty, Kyle Turner and Scott Tiffoney, as the cash-strapped Jags found themselves unable to match contract offers from the many potential suitors the incredible playoff run had garnered.

The Firhill faithful were under no illusions. The season lying in wait was bound to be tough, with survival, as a functioning football club, at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The club would require the full backing of its supporters, and the fanbase duly obliged, snapping up over 1000 season tickets within 48 hours of their launch.

The overwhelming support continued all summer long. The Jags Foundation committing to £170,000 worth of cash injections into the club throughout the season. This, compiled with season ticket sales approaching the 3,000 mark, would ensure that Kris Doolan would receive a revised budget to assemble his playing squad, and in doing so, give Thistle a fighting chance this term.

Rookie manager Doolan cautiously approached his first transfer window. The first month of the window saw very little transfer activity at the club as the Jags held out for their main targets. The waiting game would soon pay off though as Kerr McInroy and Lewis Neilson would eventually join the squad on loan, having completed pre-season training with Kilmarnock and Hearts respectively.

READ MORE: Partick Thistle earn buffer in third with win over Morton

The season opener saw Thistle host fellow promotion hopefuls Raith Rovers, a side who, under new ownership, had been heavily backed in the summer. The Jags would get off to a flying start with marauding wing-back Jack McMillan, picking up where he left off last season, poking the ball home from close range to put the Jags ahead after only five minutes played. Doolan’s men would double their advantage on the stroke of half-time when Aidan Fitzpatrick got on the end of a scuffed strike from McInroy, to stab the ball past Kevin Dabrowski in the Rovers goal. The men in red and yellow would head for the changing room to a standing ovation from the Firhill crowd.

Partick Thistle supporters know fine well that the job is far from done at half-time. That all too familiar spectre of chucking away comfortable leads would rear its ugly head once more as Raith Rovers produced two late goals from nowhere to steal a point. A sign of things to come for the Kirkcaldy outfit.

The following weekend the Jags would taste defeat on the road in what proved to be a frustrating affair against bitter rivals Airdrieonians before a thrashing at Tynecastle in the League Cup left fans fearing the worst. The summer recruitment had left much to be desired.

Thistle had to bounce back, and bounce back they did. A series of convincing victories over Queen’s Park, Greenock Morton and Ayr United had the Jags sitting pretty in the promotion playoff places.

Only two league defeats since August have no doubt been cause for re-evaluation of the targets held both internally and externally at the club in what was a summer of huge transition for Partick Thistle. Doolan himself alluded to the matter at the recent meet the manager event at Firhill, claiming his side will refuse to give up the ghost in their hunt to overthrow Dundee United at the top of the Championship table.

The Jags have a sizeable task on their hands when it comes to their ambitions of winning the league title but the upturn in fortunes has Doolan’s side sitting comfortably in third place.

The feel-good factor is certainly returning to Firhill and provided the club have a successful winter transfer window, the possibilities are boundless for the Maryhill Magyars in their continued quest for Premiership football.