THOMAS O’WARE has revealed that he knocked back the chance to play in the Premiership in order to sign for Partick Thistle.

The defender had a list of suitors after taking the decision to leave Morton in the summer, and newly-promoted outfits St Mirren and Livingston had expressed an interest in taking the 25-year-old with them to the top-flight.

But the managerial unrest at both outfits put O’Ware off committing his future to those clubs, and once he had spoken to Thistle boss Alan Archibald, he knew that there was only one place that he wanted to be despite the club’s relegation to the Championship.

“A couple of promoted teams were in for me but with managers going then I didn’t want to wait any longer,” O’Ware said.

“I wasn’t in a position for me or my family to sit and wait. It’s not as if I’m 19 and staying at home with no responsibilities.

“The offer came from Thistle and I was delighted with it. I knew it was a massive club and it’s a definite progression for me.

“I don’t look at it and say; ‘I’m not playing in the Premiership’, it’s the next step for me and I’ve made a good step coming here. The facilities, the coaching staff, everything about it is a Premiership club.

“At the time this was offered it suited me, and everything fell into place. It didn’t affect my life at home and my family, I’m only 20 minutes away.

“It’s not as if I’ve settled for something either, this was my first choice. It maybe would have been different if Thistle stayed up, but regardless, it’s a massive club and I know I’m personally going to get better as a footballer here.

“The conversation I had with [Alan Archibald] on the phone was brilliant for me.

“He made me feel wanted and the way he was talking about playing football, everything suited me and my family. So, it made sense.”

While O’Ware may not be plying his trade in the Premiership next season, he has set his sights firmly on restoring Thistle’s place there come next summer.”

“Coming here, I’m not expecting to just finish mid-table,” he said. “It’s about promotion, but I know at the same time it’s going to be a hard league.

“Anybody could finish anywhere, I know this league better than anybody, so I know we need to work hard and what’s expected to get to the top.”

O’Ware believes that the key to that will lie in quickly forging bonds between the core of last season’s squad still at the club, and the raft of new players still set to arrive.

“I don’t think that the team with the most money will necessarily go up, that’s not how it works,” he said. “The team with the best team bonding and team spirit will go on and win the league.

“Obviously you need quality, and we have got that, so we need a good pre-season to get that bonding and we need to work hard.

“That’s it. You can have all these luxury players, but if they don’t perform, then it doesn’t matter.

“If you’ve got a good dressing room, then it’s everything. The season Morton went to the semi-final, we had a great dressing room. You do it for each other, and that plays a massive part.”