Partick Thistle announce plans for new £4m training ground

Alan Archibald says he is ready to put his English ambitions on hold after Partick Thistle announced plans to build a new £4million training ground.

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald (right) joins Managing Director Ian Maxwell (centre) and Thistle Weir Youth Academy Director Gerry Britton as the club announce they will have their own dedicated training ground. Picture: SNS

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The Jags - with the help of Euromillions winners Colin and Christine Weir - have entered into an agreement which will see the club take control of a dedicated training base for the first time in its 140-year history.

They revealed their ambitious scheme for a state-of-the-art facility on Tuesday, just days after Archibald’s team secured a top-six finish and with it the Firhill side’s best league result in 26 years.

It is a performance which justifies the manager’s decision to turn down a move to Shrewsbury earlier this season.

He rejected the Sky Bet League One outfit after declaring he had unfinished business in Maryhill but did not rule out a move down south in future.

However, he now admits he will be hard-pushed to find a better working environment than the one available to him at Thistle.

“If you’re going to leave a good club like this it has to be right,” explained Archibald. “If we keep on building and strengthening here then there’s no reason why I can’t remain here for another few years yet.

“The infrastructure at the club now is really good. If I was going to go anywhere else, that would be the first thing I would question.

“The board here are fantastic, they are always trying to help me. Any time we’ve had a bad run, and we’ve had a few, then the board come and ask how they can help.

“They recognise they have a young manager trying to make his way in the game.

“You don’t often get job security as a manager but that’s what I’ve had here for the last four years.”

Thistle are currently forced to split their training sessions between Glasgow University’s sports ground at Garscube and Lesser Hampden.

But they now hope to have their own facility up and running within the next two years after the Weirs agreed to fund the construction.

Jags chiefs have yet to identify the plot but their plans will see the club’s first team, ladies side and youth outfits all come under one roof for the first time.

Having smashed their way into the top six, Archibald believes this next step could help turn that breakthrough into lasting success.

He said: “It’s amazing. It’s a bit surreal to be honest. It’s been a great week hearing that we’re in the top six and are now about to build a £4million training facility.

“For everyone involved - the players, the kitman, the people who cook our food - it will make a massive difference having our own place to call home because it adds a couple of hours on to everyone’s day when we’re moving about.

“It could even make the difference when it comes to signing a player. If they have a decision to make between us and another club, a shiny training ground could swing them in our favour.

“It’s the sort of thing players ask about. I had to tell a couple of porkies to one lad we signed a couple of years ago by telling him we owned Garscube.”