Club Update – July 30, 2024

Tuesday, July 30, 2024 at 8:27 PM

Following the club writing to the SPFL and the Scottish Football Association yesterday regarding the events surrounding Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup group stage match against Motherwell, we can provide supporters with the following information.

To clarify, both the SPFL and the Scottish Football Association have confirmed that the fact we were not given the opportunity to bring on Ricco Diack as a substitute in the second half on Sunday was due to human error by a referee.

The SPFL, which is responsible for organising the Premier Sports Cup, also confirmed to us that while this particular error is “unusual”, the “SPFL does not replay matches as a result of errors by match officials”.

While everyone at the club remains deeply frustrated by this situation, we reluctantly accept the explanation offered and, again reluctantly, consider the matter closed.

What is always important in situations like this is that lessons are learned for the future, which is not only important for Partick Thistle, but for our fellow clubs in Scotland and the wider integrity of Scottish football and its supporters. We are grateful that both the SPFL and the Scottish FA have confirmed that they have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.

We can also confirm that we will pay Ricco Diack the appearance bonuses he would have been entitled to if he had been able to play as a substitute on Sunday, an opportunity that was not given to him through no fault of his own.

This episode has been an unwanted distraction for the club this week, but we now consider the matter closed and all attention from everyone at the club now turns to Saturday’s William Hill Championship match at home to Morton.