New boy Spittal’s out to emulate his fellow former Arab Erskine

The 21-year-old has signed a two-year deal at the club after turning down the chance to stay at Dundee United, and he is sure that he can produce his best football under the guidance of Thistle boss Alan Archibald.

He insists that he has made a step up in his career after swapping the Championship for the Premiership.

“Hopefully I can do something similar to Squiddy,” said Spittal. “I played with him at United. He’s a great player, and I’m really looking forward to playing with him again.

“I’m just really looking forward to this season and what is to come.

“At United last season it was difficult. At the end of the season, I started to hit a wee bit of form, but earlier in the season I wasn’t playing as well as I would have liked.

“Hopefully I can find a wee bit of consistency in my game, and hopefully I can produce that this season.

“When I spoke to the manager, he was talking about where he sees me playing my best football and I agreed with him, so hopefully I can hit the ground running. I see myself predominantly out wide, either on the right or the left, so we’ll see what happens come the start of the season.

“It’s obviously nice when the manager sees you as an important part of his team, but there’s only so much you can say. I’ve got to do what he wants me to do on the pitch.

“Having played against Thistle in the past, you see the brand of football that they try to play.

“They play in an attractive way. They try to get the ball down and play, and hopefully I can fit into that once we get going.

“This is obviously a step up coming back to the Premiership, and it’s one I’m really looking forward to. I can’t wait to get started.”

This summer brought Spittal his first real taste of uncertainty so far in his career, and he wants to repay the faith that Thistle and his new manager have shown in him.

“It’s been a weird summer being out of contract, so I’m delighted to get it over the line,” he said.

“It’s the first time I’ve been in that situation and it was a strange feeling, but I’m really pleased to be here.

“When the season finished, I spoke to the manager here and once I found out that he was interested then I was obviously really looking forward to coming here.

“I had the option of coming here or staying at United, but the chance to come back to the Premiership was one that I couldn’t turn down.”

Spittal’s attention now turns to the start of pre-season training next Tuesday and getting to know his new team- mates. He is sure that with the squad that is already in place, as well as some shrewd additions, that he can part of a Thistle team challenging at the right end of the table again next season.

“Hopefully we can try to look to build on last season,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s going to be difficult with the teams that are in the division and with Hibs coming up, but hopefully we can do that. A lot of people didn’t really expect us to hit the top six, and hopefully we can build on that now that we’ve got a taste of it.

“It didn’t really surprise me they made the top six.

“At the start of the season they didn’t get the results they would have liked, but they hit form at the right time and got a lot of good results, so it’s time to build on it.”