FREDERIC FRANS hasn't come to Firhill for thrills - he has come for peace and quiet.

After two brushes with madcap owners and crazy club chairmen, the defender is content in his new Glasgow surroundings after completing a move to Partick Thistle.

His eight-year career with Belgian outfit Lierse came to an acrimonious end when the club's Egyptian president filled the team with Pharaoh fellows and bombed Frans from the first team.

Leaving his homeland for the UK, the 25-year-old thought he had seen it all in the game, but that was before he crossed paths with extrovert Italian Massimo Cellino.

The Belgian did enough to impress Leeds boss Dave Hockaday, but didn't pass the owner's wacky means test.

Frans said: "I thought I had seen everything when I left Belgium - but then I was at Leeds! My agent spoke to the owner and he said if Dave Hockaday liked me I would sign. I played two games and he said he wanted to sign me.

"I had to give Cellino details about my star signs and all this stuff. He doesn't like the number 17 or the colour purple, among other things!

"We heard a few strange stories, like the one about Paddy Kenny not getting a deal because his birthday was on the 17th! Crazy!

"I was just very happy to be signing for Leeds, as it was a big step. But then I started to get suspicious when the deal wasn't done and two Italian centre-backs arrived.

"Still, Hockaday said he wanted me, but they lost in the cup to Brentford and he got sacked so I was back home."

With a deal signed and his future, for the next few months at least, sorted, Frans can focus on football once again.

He could make his Jags bow against Dundee United today and has quickly settled into his new surroundings.

He said: "It is not so crazy here, everything is nice. It's a small club but everyone knows what they are doing.

"At Leeds they had more money but it was still garbage. After training there was no food and things like that. Here everything is done properly. I hope to show the people I can stay longer."

Frans has arrived at Firhill with an intriguing story to tell, but also an impressive pedigree in the game.

He was captain of Lierse until his fall-out with the owner and has represented his country at three youth levels.

A deal with Thistle until January could lead to bigger and better things for the defender, especially with Belgian football's stock rising so high right now.

Frans said: "I played with the likes of Eden Hazard, who was younger, but so good he stepped up, and Christian Benteke, who was also a couple of years below.

"There are so many good young players. They changed the approach a few years ago.

"They stopped worrying about the results. When I was about 10 or 11, my team used to go and play against the big teams like Anderlecht and beat them because they were concentrating on playing football the way it should be played.

"By the time they got to 16 they were battering us. They grew up playing football.

"Now we have another new generation coming through who might be even better than the current group. There are some brilliant players you haven't heard of yet."