WE kick off the new Ladbrokes Premiership campaign against Hamilton Accies this weekend ... and I am hopeful it will be another season to remember for Partick Thistle and our fans.

It is our third term at this level and we head into the first fixture on the back of a good pre-season schedule.

It was a much-needed break for us over the summer after another good season last time out, but it is always nice to get back into it and the last few weeks have been productive for us in terms of our preparations.

The boys came back fit and we have had a good few weeks of training sessions and matches leading up to the new campaign.

The new players have come in and settled in really well.

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Tomas Cerny was signed early on and has shown his class, David Amoo is someone who we tracked for a while and we were pleased to finally get him, and Gary Miller will be a really good addition for us.

The boys here always make everyone feel welcome and the three of them have settled in well. It is a good bunch of lads and a good dressing room here.

Hopefully we can add a couple more to that and we want to bring in quality. If we can further strengthen the squad, that would be great and hopefully allow us to kick on again.

We still need a couple of players, but they have to be right for us and I am sure we will get them.

For the players who left us over the summer, we wish them the best of luck; that is football and people move on.

We want to bring in players who fit into the way we play and do things.

With Sean Welsh coming back, that is like a new signing for us as well. We want him to concentrate on getting back to full fitness and he is certainly getting there, which is a massive bonus for the club.

The promising thing for Alan and I is the way the younger players – the likes of Liam Lindsay, Jack Hendry, Declan McDaid, David Wilson and Jordan Leyden – have performed and come on. We have no qualms using them in the first team.

There is a freshness to the squad ahead of the new season and everyone is looking forward to getting going. I am sure the fans can’t wait to get back to Firhill and follow the team around the country.

First and foremost, the aim is to stay up, and hopefully this season will be another one where we improve and progress as a team and a club. I don’t see why we can’t do that.

As always, it will be difficult, but we have got the players to push us forward.

You always want to start well and we have a very tough opening game away to Hamilton on Saturday.

We will prepare properly, and hopefully we can get off to a good start and give ourselves something to build on.

We will always be tagged as a team that will be battling to stay in the league, but we are pleased with what we have achieved over the last couple of seasons and we are looking to progress once again.

A club like Thistle will always get that thrown at them and it is a wee incentive for the boys. If we are amongst the favourites to be relegated, I am sure the boys will use that to their advantage and it will spur them on.

Over the past few seasons, the boys deserve a lot of credit for what they have achieved. We adapted to the Premiership well in our first season and improved in terms of points and our league position last term.

They deserve credit for the way they play the game as well. We are hoping to build on that this season and I am sure we have got the players in the dressing room who can do that and push us up the league.