Partick Thistle 'rescued' by lucrative Rangers Scottish Cup tie as worrying Firhill financial situation laid bare

Partick Thistle wouldn’t have been able to pay their players’ wages if they hadn’t landed a Scottish Cup draw against Rangers as the club’s dire financial situation was laid bare in a club statement, with the board admitting to “budget errors”.

The Jags Foundation painted a bleak picture on the back of the club announcing a £280,000 loss for the season. The Firhill side missed out on promotion to the Scottish Premiership after a heartbreaking penalty shoot out playoff final defat to Ross County. The board of the supporters group shared a statement with the club before publishing and they claim the financial situation was so dire that a lucrative tie against the Light Blues at Ibrox saved them from even bigger losses.

Eight Partick Thistle board members, including chair Jacqui Low, resigned in December last year with PTFC Trust the majority shareholder. And the club admitted: “Following their appointment mid-season, the club board quickly established that we did not have sufficient funds to complete the season with a substantial cash-flow deficit. We secured our immediate future via loans to the club from directors, with longer-term investment now being sought.

“Despite these measures, the implementation of cost cuts and the benefit of revenues associated with both our cup runs and our progress to the cinch Premiership play-off final, we will still return a significant loss of around £280k for the season just ended. This loss was to a large extent caused by an anticipated investment into the club not materialising, at the same time as the previous board committed to an increased playing budget for the men’s team with the objective of achieving promotion.

“There were also some errors with the original budget which meant