IAN MAXWELL, the Partick Thistle Managing Director, admits the club had little choice but to hand over the Jackie Husband Stand to Celtic supporters next term.

The Jags board yesterday wrote to season ticket holders advising them of a plan that will see home fans moved to the North Stand or Main Stand for the scheduled two matches against Ronny Deila's side. If Rangers can emerge through the play-offs in the coming weeks, the Light Blues fans will also be given the JHS when they head across the city on Premiership duty.

The switches could be worth around £250,000 to the club in extra ticket sales and hospitality income and boost Thistle's revenue by around 10%. The JHS was less than half full when Celtic last played at Firhill in February and Maxwell knows the Jags must explore all options open to them after seeing home gates fall around 600 fans this season.

"Ultimately, football is a business," he told Herald Sport. "Some clubs don't run as a business but, for the last number of years, we have. If you said to any business in the world that you could increase their turnover by around 10%, no business in the right mind can say no to that.

"We are not saying it is a permanent solution. The day we can fill that stand with Thistle fans and we don't need to worry about Celtic fans coming at all, perfect. But, in the short term, we can't guarantee that that is going to happen. We can't guarantee that Celtic fans will fill it, it might not work, but we are not in a position not to try it."

Thistle will play their final home game of the campaign against Kilmarnock this afternoon knowing a victory could keep alive their faint hopes of a seventh place finish this term. It has been an encouraging campaign all round for Alan Archibald's side but Maxwell is frustrated to see home crowds tailing off to the extent they have done.

"It is difficult to gauge why because, on the park, we have done well," he said. "Maybe it is other things and there are other reasons for it. We are looking at other things surrounding the match day and what people can do on a Saturday so that they are not just turning up, watching the game and going home again.

"If we get the 600 back, we will then have a decision to make as to whether we move the home fans again to kick us on, or we will see if it has been disruptive for home fans. That is a decision we can make at the time but it is one that has really been made for us this season."

Having secured their Premiership status for another season, Thistle have wasted little time in moving to bolster their ranks for the new campaign. The Jags yesterday completed a deal to retain influential midfielder Abdul Osman for a further twelve months after Christie Elliott and Callum Booth signed on earlier this week.

Thistle are keen to deal in more of their out of contract stars this summer and Maxwell insists every click of the turnstile will see pound coins put into Archibald's transfer kitty.

"Our budget is based on the numbers this year, that is the only way we can do it," he said. "If we can get towards a 3000 average every week, even putting 300 on at £20 in the seven or eight games before January, that could mean we can say to the manager 'we are doing OK, go and get a couple of players in' and that could push us higher.

"A couple of hundred doesn't sound like a lot but it is. They are out there. It is about getting them into a habit, turning them into a half-season ticket buyer, a full season ticket buyer and becoming a regular here."