Christie’s captain’s harmband
Jags’ ex-skipper Elliott hoping for new lease of life PARTICK v DUNDEE UTD
CHRISTIE ELLIOTT gave away the captain’s armband at Partick Thistle because the responsibility was changing him as a person and a player.
The Jags midfielder announced his decision to quit the captaincy during a players meeting on Monday following the sacking of boss Alan Archibald.
Elliott was given the role in the summer after Abdul Osman’s end-of-season exit.
However, he admits the honour became a burden as the extra responsibility affected his form during Thistle’s sticky start to the season that ultimately cost the manager his job.
Now Elliott is determined to start afresh, free of the pressures of the captaincy as he looks to regain his form – and the laugha-minute character he used to be in the dressing room.
He said: “There was a meeting to discuss plans going forward and I thought that was my best opportunity to speak to the lads about something that’s been on my mind for the last few weeks – to step down as team captain.
“It was a hard decision because it’s a massive honour and privilege to captain the team.
“But I said from the start I didn’t want to have to change the way I was around the place – and I think it did change. And that started to affect my performances
and my form because I was overthinking everything and always putting myself second.
“I’ve always been the one who has a laugh and I knew there was a risk that could disappear if I was to be the captain.
“But that’s who I am – I’ve always been the one who has a laugh and tries to keep the lads upbeat. So when I became the captain I kind of lost who I am.
“I thought this was an opportunity to start afresh with a clean slate and get my old self back and hopefully get the performances back to the way they were too.”
The club have yet to confirm who will replace Christie as captain when they welcome a Dundee United side who have endured their own turbulent times in recent weeks.
With new boss Robbie Neilson taking charge of United for the first time today, both teams will be largely unknown quantities to each other with chief executive Gerry Britton and academy director Scott Allison in the Jags dugout.
However, Allison insists the team will be as well prepared as possible after a week of thorough research, not only on the Terrors squad but also on Neilson’s former side MK Dons. He said: “Monday was a difficult day for everybody, having lost a couple of guys who were really well respected.
“There was a meeting in the morning where the players had a chance to air their views.
“The chairman and chief executive spoke to them just to be honest with everybody and frank then the players had a meeting amongst themselves. Now we’ve got to dust ourselves down and get on with it.
“The message we’ve been giving them from Tuesday is this is a fresh start and the response from the boys has been excellent.
“The standard in training has been top class and we’ve told them that every bit of detail we are looking at is about the game on Saturday and trying to win that.
“We’ve done a lot of analysis on our own players and on the opposition – and we’ve also analysed their new manager when he was at MK Dons to see if there are any patterns there we can pick up on.
“We are covering absolutely every base to make sure we are prepared for this game.
“We’ll certainly not be sitting back and admiring Dundee United. There’s a really talented group of boys in this team.
“We have demanded intensity from them in training and they have responded to it.”
BY EUAN McLEAN