The Thistle Archive

● Alan Archibald, 2016 (SCZ)

MANAGERIAL SPELL

(Wed-30-Jan-2013 ↔ Sat-06-Oct-2018; 5y,8m,6d)

At the time of Jackie McNamara and Simon Donnelly's departure for Tannadice, Alan Archibald was in a player-coach role, whilst Scott Paterson, out of the game at that point, had recent coaching experience at Aberdeen and Livingston. Initially appointed on an interim basis, they were almost universally backed to lead the club permanently, finally getting the board's nod to do so, seven weeks in. By then, Archibald had won the First Division manager of the month award for February, and was relentless in gathering points from thereon. Making a mockery of his initial reluctance to take the job (“I didn't want to be the guy who messed it up”), he greatly improved on McNamara's (relegation-form) away record, coming from 8 points behind to win the title and collecting silver medals in the Challenge Cup. Finishing Top 6 in 2016-17 was an excellent achievement, a career highlight for both men.

Archibald was on the verge of becoming just the third Thistle manager in history to register five consecutive Top 10 finishes, but it all went horribly wrong in the end; never were the thin lines between success and failure so accute. The team spirit which had served him so well previously had dissipated 5 years in, and, after the meek surrender to Livingston in the relegation play-offs, the writing was on the wall. Negligence in close-season recruitment between manager Archibald and chief executive Britton meant that Thistle were 3 substitutes short for the opening League game, and the poor start which ensued came as no surprise to many of the growing critics in the fanbase. By the start of October, 4 losses in 5 had Thistle sitting 8th, and the duo were relieved of their duties in the immediate aftermath of a home loss to Ross County, bringing a largely succesful 6-year reign to a sad end. Archibald was Scotland's second longest-serving boss at this time, outlasted only by Peterhead's Jim McInally.

Alan was in charge of Thistle, his only managed club, for 276 games in total.