The last thing my dad said was he was proud of us. He was in a lot of pain, in a real bad way, but he still wanted to talk about Thistle
DOOLAN AIMS FOR ULTIMATE TRIBUTE BY GUIDING JAGS TO THE PREMIERSHIP
IT promises to be Firhill for thrills tonight as an ultra-attacking Partick Thistle side averaging four goals a game in the play-offs continue their push for promotion to the Premiership.
For manager Kris Doolan, however, it will also be a hugely emotional evening as he aims to fulfil a quest that began amid the heartbreak and grief of losing his father.
Avid Thistle fan Lawrence Doolan passed away 24 hours before his son’s side crushed Queens Park 4-0 at Ochilview to complete a resounding quarterfinal 8-3 aggregate victory over the Spiders.
The final conversation the two men had revolved around football and how proud Doolan Senior was of his son and his Partick Thistle team.
Just as Lawrence had loved watching his boy become Thistle’s record scorer during his playing days, Doolan Senior had revelled in the ruthless way his son’s side had kicked off their play-off adventures.
They would continue it in similarly swashbuckling style in the semis, thrashing Ayr United 8-0 over two legs.
Now Doolan hopes to see out the job and deliver the ultimate tribute to his father — and a gift to the Partick Thistle fanbase who supported him during his loss — by restoring their beloved club to the top flight. ‘I guarantee my dad will be watching. He will be shining over us,’ said Doolan ahead of tonight’s first leg against Ross County.
‘I went to see him after the Queen’s Park first leg and he was really poorly, close to passing away.
‘The last thing he said was he was proud of us. He had been watching the game on TV.
‘He was trying to chat as best he could about football, about how he was chuffed about Partick Thistle. He loved Thistle. My dad followed us to every game, home and away.
‘For me, yes there have been sad times and there have been horrible times but ultimately now I can think he’s proud and happy about what we are achieving and what we are hopefully about to achieve.
‘He loved watching us score goals because he watched me do it personally.
‘Even when he was seriously ill, the one thing that was still on his telly was Partick Thistle.
‘He couldn’t get himself up and he couldn’t move. He was in a lot of pain. He was in a real bad way.
‘But he still wanted to talk about Partick Thistle. For me that says it all, that he was watching us and that he wanted to talk about it at the very last kick.
‘Of course it would be emotional and special to lead this club back up. But this isn’t a personal thing for me.
‘I want it for the club, like my dad wanted it for the club because he knew what this club means to so many people.’
Asked the best life lesson his father ever taught him, Doolan smiles and tells a remarkable tale from a bygone footballing age.
It is a story that took place 21 years ago on the gory kicking fields of Ayrshire Junior football but it remains relevant in 2023.
The advice given by his father shaped Doolan’s playing career and also his brief spell in management since succeeding Ian McCall at Firhill in March.
His dad’s influence can be felt on how his son’s Thistle side will approach their two-legged tie with 11th-placed Premiership side County.
‘I was only 15 and I went to play junior football for Kello Rovers and we played Craigmark in the cup,’ recalled Doolan. ‘I wasn’t supposed to be playing because I was only 15, but the manager named the team and I was starting up front.
‘I went in for a challenge with a guy in his 30s, and he ducked and I fell over the top of him.
‘I landed on my back and he just lifted his foot and stamped on me, dragging his studs down my face.
‘I turned my head at the last second, or he could have taken my eye out. I’m pretty sure he said: “Welcome to Junior football”.
‘Everybody played on, while my face and eye were gushing with blood and I looked for my dad.
‘My dad had played for Auchinleck Talbot in his day and there he was, leaning against a barrier, not flustered one bit.
‘He said: “Well, fix it — don’t be there! Why would you get physical with him? He’s too big, so don’t be there when the tackles come in. Get the ball, use good control, pass it quickly and don’t attract those big defenders”. He told me to take the physicality out of football or injuries would happen to me.
‘When I got home, my mum was like: “Aww, my wean!” because my eye was hanging out.
‘It was the strangest bit of advice I had but especially when I came into professional football it made so much sense: move the ball quicker and don’t get physical with guys you can’t get the better of.
‘I learned to move the ball quicker, take less touches of the ball. I got in the box, I finished first time, or two touch. It was one of the turning points for me in my career and now I teach our strikers to take the physicality out of the game.
‘And that’s what we do as a team as well. We take possession of the ball, we look after it, and we take the physicality away from the other team.
‘We have got physicality as well. We can mix it up if we need to but ultimately if we have got the ball and we move the ball quick enough, then it takes the physicality out of it.
‘We couldn’t come into these two play-off final games in better form and we back ourselves in every game.
‘I would love to see this club go back up simply because I know the joy it would bring to so many people, let alone my dad.’
The manager’s three children, Darcie (6), Halle (4) and sevenmonth-old Jax are the latest generation of Doolans to fall under the spell of this Maryhill club.
Tonight, with his kids in the ground cheering him on and knowing his dad will be watching over him too, the Firhill boss is hoping to deliver a result to thrill the entire Partick Thistle football family.
I would love to see this club go back up because of the joy it would bring to so many people