PARTICK THISTLE will take coaching influences from home and abroad on board after launching their new youth set-up yesterday.

The SPFL Premiership club, who lost 1-0 to Hibernian last night, are to establish the Thistle Weir Youth Academy in partnership with EuroMillions winners and Jags fans Colin and Chris Weir, who have pledged £750,000 to the scheme to nurture future stars.

The programme will be overseen by Firhill favourite Gerry Britton, who has given up his position as a solicitor to head up the overhaul of Thistle's youth development structure.

Britton said: "We are able to offer the type of programme akin to that first-team players would expect.

"We will have physiotherapy, sports science, nutrition, sports psychology, which is all part and parcel of being a modern-day footballer.

"We are able to start that off with kids from 11 years of age as opposed to waiting until they are full-time and Alan [Archibald] gets them. It is a great boost at this stage.

"I had been running things part-time but, given the opportunity to do things in this manner, it was something that I had to give 100% to.

"We have looked across Europe. This has been whirling in my head for 15 years.

"There are a lot of clubs we have looked at abroad and closer to home that we will take ideas from and hopefully be able to form our own prototype."

The creation of the Thistle Weir Youth Academy is another step in the right direction for the Jags, who have made huge strides on and off the park in recent years.

Thistle have made an impressive start to life back in Scotland's top tier under boss Alan Archibald, with Jags fans flocking to Firhill to see his free-flowing side in action.

Financial results have also improved in recent years and chairman David Beattie is confident the future is bright.

He said: "This is not, at the end of the day, to generate money. This is primarily to create a culture within the youths.

"The money is the cream on the cake, if that happens.

"We work on a neutral budget. Every year, our objective as a business is just to break even.

"Financially, the club is in a much better place than it was in previously and every year it gets better.

"We do put an amount of money into the academy structure just now and we will continue to do that so that this gets bigger."