Axe falls on Scottish club legend as 38y/o shown door amid budget cut - 'not easy choice'

The Jags hierarchy stated that the decision “was not taken lightly”, but with the Glasgow side currently fourth in the Championship yet in danger of slipping out of the play-off positions, they have decided that action needed to be taken.

Thistle are just six points ahead of fifth-placed Raith Rovers after they lost 3-0 to the Kirkcaldy outfit at Stark’s Park last weekend and have only won one of their past five matches.

Doolan took charge of Thistle in the spring of 2023 and came so close to guiding them to the Premiership, losing the play-off final in agonising circumstances to Ross County on penalties. The same fate befell them last season in the semi-finals after being defeated by Raith in the semis.

Doolan is a club legend for Partick after scoring 121 goals in 401 games, but after talks at board level on Monday, the call was made to relieve the 38-year-old and his assistant manager Paul McDonald of his duties. Brian Graham and Mark Wilson have been placed in caretaker charge ahead of this weekend’s league match at home to Airdrieonians.

“The board have made the difficult decision to part ways with Kris,” said Partick chairman Richard Beastall. “This was not an easy choice.

“When Kris left as a player in 2019, it was said that ‘He is, and always will be, a legend at Partick Thistle Football Club.’ That remains true today.”

“On behalf of everyone at the club, we thank Kris for his dedication and wish him the very best for the future. He will always be welcome at Firhill.”

Thistle recently announced that they are cutting the playing budget by 20 per cent in a “rebalancing” bid, while key defender Harry Milne moved to Hearts on the last day of the transfer window and Scott Robinson joined Hamilton Accies.

In statement released at the start of the month explaining those decisions, Beatsall said: "The decision was made to rebalance the football budget when the transfer window opened by moving players out as a first step. The next step was to reassess the squad once this was achieved as well as looking for potential new signings and contract renewals.

"This reassessment also looked at squad commitments for season 2025/26, for which several of our players are already contracted. Further, both players advised the club that they were keen to pursue the interest being shown.

"These two transfers allowed us more headroom to support our plans for this season and next, however they necessitated an immediate change of focus in the transfer window, which was closing imminently.

"That change of focus resulted in the loan signing of Ethan Drysdale from Heart of Midlothian and the permanent signing of Hamilton Academical captain Scott Martin.

"These deals were done to ensure that our outgoing players were replaced and that no additional holes were created in the squad because of our unplanned business."