Kris vows to keep hitting the target

KRIS DOOLAN has vowed to keep banging in the goals for Partick Thistle for many more years to come, after his nomination for the McCrea Financial Services Player of the Year award topped off a dream campaign for the striker.

Doolan has reached double figures for the Jags for the seventh consecutive season, breaking the 100-goal barrier for the club in the process, and helping them to their first top-six finish since 1981.

He may have turned 30 in December, but the model professional sees no reason why he can’t keep producing the goods for Thistle, and there is nowhere else he would rather be.

“It has been a great season, it really couldn’t have worked out any better,” Doolan said.

“To not only reach that milestone of 100 goals but surpass it in the season that we’ve reached our collective goal of making the top six has been really satisfying.

“I have also hit double figures again, and it’s certainly not easy to do it, that’s for sure. It takes a lot of hard work.

“When you deliver that year-in, year-out, then there is an expectancy that will naturally come from that, but I put pressure on myself to score goals every year.

“That’s what I’m good at. It’s what I enjoy doing and it’s where my strength lies, so to me it’s so pleasing that I can do that every year, and I have no doubt I can continue to do it.

“I look after myself really well off the pitch to make sure that on the pitch, I am the best condition that I can be.

“That will prolong my career. I’ll be doing this for years to come.”

Doolan is honoured just to be in the running for the club’s player of the year award, with the quality of those nominated an indicator of why their season has gone so well.

“It is the icing on the cake really,” he said. “Just to be nominated for these kinds of things is massive.

“When you see yourself on that list with players who have played very, very well all season, then it’s great just to be mentioned alongside them.

“Even if one of the other boys picks up the award I’ll be delighted for them.

“It shows how well everyone is doing when you have six players nominated, and I certainly couldn’t argue with any of the other guys who are on the list.”

Doolan can hardly believe the difference in Partick Thistle these days from the club he joined in 2009, with the new training complex particularly exciting the forward.

“I can’t wait for the training centre to be built,” he said.

“For someone like me who was used to training on, let’s say not the best of facilities over the years it will be like a different planet.

“I couldn’t have imagined that we would ever be in this position when I joined. The club weren’t in the best financial shape, and administration would have been close at one point.

“You look not only at our progress on the pitch, but also our progress off the pitch.

“The club is run by good people who care about Partick Thistle, but they also run it as a business.

“We have great stability from the boardroom right through into the playing squad.”