THE product and the marketplace have changed significantly for Partick Thistle in recent years.

Where once most of the summer arrivals at Firhill were well-known faces from close to home, a number of the men who are pulling on the red and yellow shirt these days have come from further afield.

It is a pattern that has been born out of necessity, the challenge of finding a higher standard of player a consequence of on-field success that will see Alan Archibald’s side play Premiership football for a third straight campaign next term.

It is to England where Archibald has turned for most of his recruits in recent transfer windows and where he is again focusing much of his atten- tion this summer.

With a network of scouts now established to cover Under-21 matches, League One, League Two and the Conference, Thistle have eyes and ears across the country on the lookout for up-and-coming talents or proven first-team stars.

It is the side of the Jags’ off-field operation that fans do not see, but the one that could provide the heroes they will cheer on from the stands next term.

“When you are a First Division club, you look at the Premier League and the lower divisions and you have a bit of scope for players that have been released by clubs,” Firhill managing director Ian Maxwell told SportTimes.

“You know everybody and who is about and you can get players from the Juniors, like Kris Doolan.

“When you are up a division and looking for players for the Premiership, it limits where you can go. There are not many teams above us that will release players that will make us better.

“If you are eighth, you are looking at the top three or four and the money players are on there, they are going down south and not coming to us.

“So we need to look elsewhere and cover as many bases as possible. The network we have in place now has been good for us and hopefully it will continue to be.”

Having made significant strides on the park in recent years, Thistle are certainly moving in the right direction off it.

Their team of talent spotters is headed by Kevin Dillon, the former Newcastle United and Portsmouth player and Reading assistant manager, and sees a host of experienced, well-connected scouts put in the miles in the search for stars.

The process from the initial tip-off or call from an agent to the contract being signed is a lengthy one but the attention to detail is crucial for Maxwell.

He said: “We have got a standard template report that they all fill in so we are looking for the same things.

“You could go and watch a wide man five times and he is brilliant, but his team could win all those games 3-0.

“It is the one they are losing 2-1 that tells you more about him. The match report covers the weather, the surface, who he was up against, what kind of player he was. So rather than them doing a report on what they think you want to know, we tell them what we want to know.

“Did he have a great ten minutes because they were 4-0 up or because they were 2-1 down and he changed the game? It is those details you need.”

The English market is one Thistle have used to great effect in recent seasons, the likes of Abdul Osman, Dan Seaborne and Lyle Taylor all making an impact after moving across the border, while David Amoo made the switch from Carlisle last week.

From their team on the ground and use of the extra-ordinary Wyscout system, Maxwell, Archibald and assistant Scott Paterson can get a true picture of any player’s strengths and weaknesses on the park. It is the mindset and not the technical ability that is the final hurdle to be crossed before a deal is put on the table.

Maxwell said: “It stuck with me when the manager said ‘it is not the ones you are told to sign, it is the ones you are told not to sign’.

“When you get a CV or a video, centre-halves don’t lose headers, they don’t drop runners, midfielders never misplace a pass and strikers never miss chances.

“If you are selling something, you promote the best of him, I understand that. But we need to know if he has had a fight with the manager or been bad in training or has a problem with his diet or drink, whatever you don’t see from the CV.

“Up here, between myself, the manager and Scott, we know someone that has played with him, has managed him or dealt with him, so you can get reports on him.

“Before we make a signing, we do a bit of background rather than just saying ‘we will take him’. We have not had many bad experiences and the manager’s signing rate is good. I am sure that will continue.”