Partick Thistle’s production line of talent which club officials believe will secure its playing and commercial future has been secured by further backing from lottery winners Colin and Chris Weir.

The Thistle Weir Youth Academy has enjoyed considerable success since the couple provided an initial £750,000 to get it up and running in 2013, achieving a top five place in the national under-17s league, four star status with Club Academy Scotland and the progression of three players into the first team set-up, while their women’s team is top of its league.

However Ian Maxwell, Thistle's managing director, said the additional £500,000 funding which was announced yesterday had been secured because the Weirs’ wider objectives had been achieved.

“There were no defined conditions as such, although, obviously, there were things they wanted to see like community involvement and the number of kids we were engaging with,” he explained.

“We’re going down to grassroots level now and there are hundreds of kids involved with us, which is what they were looking for.

“It’s as much about that for them as it is about getting kids through to our first team. That will happen over a period of time: that’s not a quick fix.

“We’ll need to wait a few years for that to come to fruition but they were very keen that we embraced the community and that it wasn’t just about the senior side.”

However he bluntly admitted that what will guarantee that the club thrives is identifying players who are good enough to be sold on at considerable profit.

“Ultimately, you want to see kids breaking into the first team and then you want to sell them. That’s got to be our model,” said Maxwell.

“There are a number of clubs which have done well in recent years and that, in itself, should eventually make the system self-sustaining because some of the money brought in will be put back into the academy.

“If that happens then we won’t be reliant on external funding. It will also make Thistle a more attractive proposition for young players.”

Maxwell paid tribute to the work of Gerry Britton, the academy director, for his innovative approach in coming up with ideas such as a recent ‘bio-banding festival’ at which Thistle faced other clubs with players selected on the basis of height and weight rather than age.

"He’s so enthusiastic about everything and that rubs off on all of the coached and all of the parents as well as the kids," he said”

However he also indicated the attitude of Alan Archibald, the first team boss, was central to the academy’s success.

“Everybody has to buy into it,” Maxwell noted.

“It’s alright saying we’re going to bring kids in every year but if they’re not featuring in the first team or round about the squad there is no point.

“Liam Lindsay played the vast majority of games this season, Kevin Nisbet has been round about the first team, James Penrice came on and played the last couple of games.

“So it’s as much about getting them in our first team and getting them in other people’s first teams, in terms of if they are not quite ready for us they need to go and play games.

“When they get to 16, 17, 18, they need to go and play real football.

“The Development League is good to a level but it doesn’t really kick them on.”