Partick Thistle will consider legal action in survival fight

  • Published
Media caption,

'Thistle will consider legal action to survive'

Partick Thistle will "consider every avenue" - including legal action - in their fight for survival, says chief executive Gerry Britton.

Thistle were relegated from the Scottish Championship following the SPFL's vote to call the lower leagues and will back an inquiry at Tuesday's EGM, saying "to do nothing risks leaving our game fatally wounded".

The club initially opted against legal action, but now Britton says they will "never rule anything out" as they "have to look after Partick Thistle".

He added: "We'll look at all options because very quickly, within the last couple of weeks, I think everyone can acknowledge that it is now turning in to a quest for survival unfortunately."

The 42 SPFL clubs will be balloted at an emergency general meeting on Tuesday, which was called after Rangers - backed by Hearts and Stranraer - made an official request.

Upon confirming Thistle will support the bid, Britton said it is not about "picking sides".

Rather, he said "everybody's confidence has been shattered" by what has gone on and that the only way to get past these issues is to have a "thorough evaluation of the process".

"Unless something is done urgently to deal with the obvious breakdown in trust between parties, football in this country may never fully recover," he added. "To do nothing risks leaving our game fatally wounded."

In a statement on Saturday, Thistle criticised the "selfish behaviour" of top-flight clubs, who opted to reject any league reconstruction for next season.

However, Britton said the decision was "taken last week before events unfolded around reconstruction".

Thistle also criticised the league for its input into the process, and chairman Jacqui Low wrote to her SPFL counterpart,, external Murdoch MacLennan, to raise concerns.

Britton believes that one potential solution might be to have an executive board with no club affiliations.

"That would remove this self-interested angle which every director on the SPFL board that is connected with a club must have," he said.

Around the BBC

Related internet links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.