Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald has hit back at pundit Pat Bonner after the former Celtic goalkeeper tipped the Jags for the drop.
Bonner said that either Thistle or Hamilton could end up bottom of the pile come next May as he made his predictions for the season for the BBC.
Archibald was bemused by the slight against his side – who finished ninth last season – and accused Bonner of ignorance when it came to his knowledge of the Firhill club.
“A couple of people have still tipped us to go down, believe it or not,” Archibald said.
“Pat Bonner mentioned us but I don’t think he even knows where Partick is, so that doesn’t make any difference to us.
“You can use it to your advantage as motivation. We know what we are and our aim, first and foremost, is still to stay in the league. There are four teams who should be up there challenging, but the rest are much of a muchness.
“It’s harsh even tipping one team to go down. Someone has to be picked when you’re put on the spot. It’s been better for us because we’ve kept the majority of our best players, whereas usually a lot of them might have moved on. I know how that affects the group.
“The players believe in their ability. We ask for more all the time. The players we kept had the chance to move elsewhere, but we still want more from them too. We don’t want to rest on our laurels.
“We don’t want to be in a position where we’re fighting for our lives, but we have to do our talking on the pitch.”
Archibald revealed meanwhile that captain Abdul Osman is likely to miss out on Saturday’s opening league game against Inverness after only returning to training over the last couple of days.
Christie Elliot is in a similar situation, and while he is set to return to action soon, Archibald is still keen to bolster his defensive options.
“We still have space for one more player,” he said. “We need a defender in to provide more competition.
“Christie Elliott’s been back in training. He gives us that competition and can play in either full-back position, which would allow Ziggy [Gordon] to move into centre-half.
“There’s nothing imminent and we have guys in all the time to have a look at them. We’re waiting on a bit of movement.
Tomas [Cerny] came through the Queen’s Park game fine and Ryan Scully’s had two weeks of full training, so we should be fine on that front. It’s too soon for Christie and Abdul though.”
The Thistle boss also had some words of advice for his opposite number in the dugout at Firhill tomorrow, Richie Foran, as he embarks upon his managerial career.
It wasn’t so long ago that Archibald himself was in a similar position, and he has been impressed by the way that Foran has already stamped his own identity upon his team.
“Richie should just be his own man and stick to what he believes in,” he said.
“I think he will because he always seemed that type when you played against him. He was a real competitor.
“He seems to have changed Inverness already, at least from the two games that I’ve watched. They look a different side. He’s put his own stamp on it.
“They’re direct and I don’t mean that in a long ball sense. They’ve got two very good wide men and they want to get the ball quicker, without being route one. They play some really good stuff.”
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