JACK McMillan has revealed that the Partick Thistle connection at Livingston sold him on a loan move to Firhill.

The former Motherwell full-back signed a one-year contract extension with Livingston yesterday and immediately joined Thistle on a deal until the end of the season, hooking up with fellow former Livi defender Steven Saunders again.

And he says that advice from Saunders and the likes of former Thistle players Stevie Lawless and Chris Erskine had a major bearing on his decision to join the Championship strugglers.

“I trained with Chris Erskine twice before I came here, and I’ve been with Stevie Lawless all season,” said McMillan.

“He said it was a good club that was run well, they have good fans, so he said he was really happy for me to be going there and trying to help them get out of their struggle.

“Steven Saunders has come here as well and I spoke to him before I got here, and he has really good experience which I think he has already brought to the defence.

“I get along with him really well, so I text him straight away as soon as the opportunity came up, and he told me that the club was really good and that was good enough for me.

“I’m delighted with the move. Thistle have always been a big club with a good fanbase, so I’m really happy to be here and hopefully I can make a contribution.

“From a personal point of view, I’m here to hopefully get regular football, but I want to help the team get out of the tricky spot they are in at the moment in the league.”

McMillan has mainly played at right-back so far in his career, but he hopes that his ability to play in a number of positions can be an asset for his new manager Gary Caldwell.

“I’m quite a versatile player,” he said. “I can play right wing, right wing-back or at right back, so I’m hoping that I can bring a lot to the team.

“I have a lot of energy and I can get up and down the park, and I like to get balls into the box for the strikers.

“I’ve played a decent amount of games for my age in the Premiership and the Championship, so that can only stand me in good stead.

“I’ve also had experience of being in a team that is struggling. It’s very tough when you are down the bottom of the table. I played with Motherwell when they were struggling a bit, and there is a lot of pressure on you.

“That experience can only help me through this this, and hopefully we can dig our way out of this situation.”

To that end, McMillan was buoyed by what he saw in his first training session with his new teammates yesterday.

“There are a lot of decent players in there, and the club has made a lot of good signings so far in the window,” he said.

“I hope that the new boys along with some of the experienced pros in there like Kris Doolan can give us a chance of digging our way out of trouble.”