ALAN ARCHIBALD, the Partick Thistle manager, will start putting plans in place for next season as soon as his side have secured their spot in the Premiership for a third-straight campaign.
Victory at home to bottom of the table St Mirren tomorrow afternoon would mean Thistle are mathematically safe and cannot be consigned to the top flight play-off position in the coming weeks. A Jags win could also condemn St Mirren to the Championship if Motherwell can beat Ross County in their key relegation fixture at Fir Park.
It took Thistle until the penultimate game of last season to avoid the drop as they beat Hearts at Tynecastle to ensure they avoided the play-off places, and eventually went on to finish tenth in their first season back in the top flight.
With several key players, including goalkeeper Scott Fox, right-back Stephen O'Donnell and forwards Kallum Higginbotham and Steven Lawless, out of contract at the end of the season, there is little time to be wasted for Archibald as he looks to push the button on his summer schedule and shopping list.
"It is massive to win this game as it will give us another couple of weeks ahead of the clubs below us to take it on again," he said. "It lets us plan pre-season and we had to wait until the last week of the season to sort it all out and it was horrible.
"If we win that extra couple of weeks will be vital as it will enable us to offer players new deals. I have a plan already in place and I have a rough idea of what I want to do and financially it depends on what position we finish in."
With five wins from their last eight games, Thistle have found their form at just the right time to ensure they will not be embroiled in the relegation battle in the final weeks of the season. The same cannot be said of St Mirren, who beat Kilmarnock 4-1 last Saturday to keep alive their faint hopes of survival. Their fate could be sealed tomorrow, but Archibald knows his side will still need to be at their best.
"We won't be complacent but we know if we get a victory we are safe," he said. "That is what we are looking to do. We are focused on St Mirren.
"It was probably a good thing they got their victory last week. Everyone thought they were away and they were going to roll over but you saw what they done last week with a great performance.
"We are well aware of the threat they pose. We found out against Hearts last year, the pressure was off them and they came here and turned us over. That is what it looked like last week."
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