No rest for Gerry Britton as Partick Thistle reach out to their fans

Gerry Britton believes that relegating Partick, who are two points adrift at the bottom of the Championship with a game in hand and nine matches still to play, would be ‘entirely unjustifiable’. Picture: Bill Murray/SNS

There is a weariness detectable in the voice of Gerry Britton. It isn’t difficult to reason why. The end of football for the foreseeable future as the coronavirus took a grip in mid-March marked the beginning of myriad issues to fill him with concern, and fill his inbox.

Britton’s home office has been a hub of activity, fretting and focusing on potential solutions to problems for which there are no real answers. The game might be in shutdown, but for any individual in a football club tasked with controlling operations, that means the ramping up of workload.

“There has been an awful lot on,” the 49-year-old Partick Thistle chief executive said. “We have to look after our players, our staff, analyse what might happen with the league, consider the implications of that and the government’s job retention scheme and, as importantly as anything else, play a vital role within our community.”

If this crisis has reminded us of anything it is that, in Scotland, football is more of a force for good than is ever appreciated. The outreach efforts for those in need are stitched into the fabric of Thistle, situated in the north west of Glasgow, an area that contains some of the most ingrained pockets of poverty across western Europe. Recognition of how such problems will have been exacerbated by the school closures for families that rely on depleted and stretched food banks, Thistle haven’t sat on their hands. They have stretched them out. As they do throughout the year.

Each summer the Partick Thistle Charitable Trust runs a holiday food programme for children not guaranteed a square meal when outside of the school environment. They link this with a camp where they can pursue a range of sporting activities.

“Right now of course, we can’t offer the camp but we can still get the meals out to as many families as possible,” said Britton. “As well as that we have had players and staff phoning round season ticket holders to see if there are any issues we can help them with. We aren’t naive, we know we can’t magic up solutions for everything, but we will do our absolute best.”

Britton is uncomfortable with pleading poverty in the context of the football operation. “We are denied gate income, and really any major revenue, for the next three months so that is a struggle for any business, but I know there are countless businesses across the world in the same position as us.

“We just need to seek to get through one phase at a time. We are in a helluva lot better position than some others. We don’t have any debt, and have built up a reserve. And because of that we will be able to pay our staff in full up till the end of May. Thereafter, nothing can be said with certainty. We have looked at the whole furloughing programme but believe there are aspects that aren’t as clearly set out as they might be. We still want to pick through all the details to see what we might do with regard to that further down the line. We are humbled that as we are looking to help fans, whose lives have been turned upside down, they are still thinking of us. It is incredible that they have raised £50,000 with a crowdfunder. It shows just how much the club means to them and that isn’t something we would ever take lightly. Their efforts are immense.”

Nothing can prepare a chief executive with only 20 months experience for the global emergency that has whipped up a financial maelstrom. Britton is grateful that he has worn many hats throughout his adult life, not least in pursuing a career as a criminal defence lawyer once he had hung up his boots before the lure of a second return to Thistle proved too great to resist. A club wherein he has been player, assistant manager, manager and academy director.

“I don’t think anyone has the blueprint for how you cope with what we are facing, but my legal background and knowledge of the admin side through my academy role I can certainly lean on, and makes me better placed than others to deal with what’s on our plate,” he said.

Yet, when it comes to the fate of Thistle as a football team, Britton recognises that he and all of those within his club are effectively powerless. It has become apparent that the SPFL will be required to call the league without any further games being played. Restrictions on social distancing and public events are unlikely to be lifted before June in a way that would allow for football games to be staged. With talk of September before there is a playing resumption hopes that the issues of this season could be settled on the field are fading. And that could have desperate consequences for the Firhill club when they currently sit bottom of the Championship.

“The longer this goes on, the more people that lose their lives, the less it seems proper to get caught up in debates about football. But if you are pushing me on what should happen with the leagues, I just think any decisions – and they are really tough – should penalise as few clubs as possible and seek to help as many as possible come out the other side.

“I think to relegate us, when we are two points behind second bottom with a game in hand and nine matches still to play, would be entirely unjustifiable. As much as any financial considerations, mentally this would do real harm to the players, staff and fans. I remember how tough it was psychologically when we dropped out of the top flight two years ago, and that was warranted.

“I do feel that this is the time to be creative with reconstruction, even just for a season, so that clubs don’t suffer for circumstances entirely outside of their control. But, though we can make our case to the authorities, ultimately we don’t really have a voice. It is down to the SPFL board. We can only hope they do the right thing.”