IAN MAXWELL hopes Firhill will have one of the best surfaces in Scotland as a result of a six-figure investment this summer.

Renovation work began just hours after the final Premiership clash of the campaign against Hamilton Accies earlier this month and will continue in the coming weeks.

The Jags came under fire for the state of their pitch last term and three home fixtures had to be postponed after adverse weather left the park unplayable.

But Managing Director Maxwell hopes there will be no issues going forward as Thistle put time and money into solving their surface issues.

He told SportTimes: “We will be into six-figures to do the work we are doing. Artificial is £500k to do it properly and it is not something we can look at.

"The argument about grass and plastic is a different thing, we didn’t have the capital to do it.

“The drainage should make a massive difference and we will see how that works out for the next two or three years.

“Hopefully the surface stays a bit longer and the weather is a bit kinder to us. There is no reason why we can’t have one of the best surfaces in the league. It is a lot of work we are doing.

“By the last game of the season, the pitch was covered in grass again and it was fine. It has always played well, it has kept together.

“Guys have come off and said that it looks horrific but it actually plays well. It doesn’t give away under your feet. I have played on pitches where you go to strike the ball, your standing foot goes from under you and you are really worried.

“It is something we will have to look at every five or ten years to make sure the drainage is working.

"Those drains went in 25 years ago. They are digging up the top end and finding rubble from the building of that stand.

“It will make a difference. We are putting irrigation in and new sprinkler heads into the pitch and that will help the surface during and after games.”