| The Dark Blues and the Jags were talking again today and, while there was a note of caution from Dens, at Firhill it has now been accepted, by this time tomorrow, the 24-year-old will no longer be a Thistle player.
“I think it will be done, but, until his name is on a contract, I can’t say that for definite and it’s reached the stage where there is nothing more to be said until that happens,” was how Dens boss Jocky Scott put it.
Thistle, though, have acknowledged a man they were desperate to hang on to will be playing against them next term. The price will make the deal the biggest between two Scottish clubs this summer — until now that title belonged to the £115,000 the Dens men paid for Leigh Griffiths, their other big target.
Jocky, meanwhile, continues to be satisfied with how his squad are handling the first few days of pre-season work and today’s double session saw things step up a gear.
“Robert Douglas was back with us yesterday and that means everyone is doing all the work. It’s really been a warm-up so far and, today, the serious stuff started — we’ve even got the ball out now,” he said.
Having seen the squad ravaged by injury last term, this time he is leaving nothing to chance and through club physio Karen Gibson’s contact, top rugby physio Stewart Barton has been brought in.
He has examined each player to ensure their pelvises are properly aligned and given them a series of exercises to keep it that way.
“The theory is that, if the pelvis is out of alignment, there is extra strain on muscle around the body and the chances of injury increase considerably,” explained Jocky. “Stewart’s coming in three times this week, a couple of times next week and he’ll be in the week after that for a day to make sure everything is the way it should be.” |
