HERALDSPORT understands that Partick Thistle manager Gary Caldwell has had his transfer budget pulled, as an insider called the day-to-day running of the club “a shambles”.

Alarm bells are ringing among Thistle staff around a proposed takeover of the club by NewCity Capital, the investment firm headed by businessman Chien Lee, who also have controlling stakes in English Championship club Barnsley and French side OGC Nice.

Sources within Firhill have claimed that the prospective new owners are not treating promotion to the Premiership as a priority this season, and that new chairman David Beattie has withheld money Caldwell was promised by the previous board to build a side that could challenge for the title.

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It is believed that a figure of around £200,000 was still remaining in the transfer budget, and that Caldwell had earmarked four further arrivals to supplement his squad for a promotion push. HeraldSport understands though that the Thistle management have now been told that any further players will come from the fringes of the Barnsley squad on loan once the takeover is completed, and they will have no further money to spend.

That is despite the sale of youngster Aidan Fitzpatrick to Norwich City for £300,000, and the club banking a similar figure from a sell-on clause that was triggered upon Liam Lindsay’s move to Stoke City from Barnsley this summer.

The Scottish football authorities are currently performing due diligence around the proposed takeover of Thistle, specifically around rules relating to dual ownership.

The Thistle players and staff were forced to make their own way to Alloa for Saturday’s Championship opener, and the squad and management team remain unclear over whether this will be a standing arrangement throughout the season for away games.

Meanwhile, HeraldSport can also reveal that plans for Thistle’s training ground have been shelved after problems in gaining planning permission. East Dunbartonshire Council insisted that the club foot the bill for new roads around the potential site in Kirkintilloch, but Thistle were unwilling to meet the cost of doing so.

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Colin Weir, the Euromillions winner who has bankrolled the club’s Thistle Weir Academy, was a driving force behind the proposed new training ground as director of the ‘Three Black Cats’ group. He has however now ended his involvement with the club following the removal of close friend Jacqui Low as chairman and the re-appointment of Beattie, meaning the search for an alternative site is now dead.

Beattie had stated that he would be contacting Weir to discuss his ongoing involvement in the club, but that approach has been rebuffed by Weir.

Partick Thistle have been contacted for comment and are expected to respond soon.