Gardner Speirs interview
BY Ben “The Arch” Archibald
Today I caught up with Gardner Speirs, perhaps the nicest man in football/the whole world, to get his opinion on Queens Park’s amateur status for a feature article I’m doing. He was so nice that I thought I’d push for a few snippets on his opinions of everything Thistle related, and he was nice enough to indulge me, so here they are:
How are Ricky Little and Paul Cairney getting on?
Ricky Little has been good for us, but we can only get players on emergency loans for three months and we have used up that allowance. He will be going back soon unfortunately. With Ricky it’s been a good chance for him to get used to what is required in the first team and playing in front of a crowd and that’s what Ian was hoping for him.
Paul Cairney was slightly different in that he’d already been here for a while, so he knew what was required of him. McCall offered him a three year deal, and just felt that he needed a bit more experience before getting into the first team reckoning, and he will likely head back in January. He’s still progressing as a player and hopefully the two of them do well when they head back soon.
Would you be interested in getting other players on loan in the future?
We’re like any club. If we’re looking for a player in a certain position, and we see a player we think could do that particular job for us, then we would look into getting them in. The two loan deals have worked well for us as well as Thistle, and if there were other players at Firhill that I think could do a job for us, then I would consider it.
How did you enjoy your time at Firhill?
I had a great few months at Thistle. It’s a smashing club and there are lots of great people at Firhill. If this job offer hadn’t come along, I might still have been there.
Do you think Thistle have a good chance of gaining promotion?
I think they’ve a very good chance of promotion, or at least as good a chance as anyone else has. They’ve got a young squad that’s only going to get better and I could see a few of those players making the step up. There have a great crowd behind them, especially when the club is doing well and I would be really happy for everyone there if they were to get promoted. I’ll always look out for their results, and I wish them all the best.
Is there any chance of you coming back as manager of Thistle in the future?
(Laughing)I’m very pleased with the job I’ve got now and I’ve got a lot more I would like to achieve here before I start looking elsewhere.