Kris Doolan was devastated by Partick Thistle’s relegation, but the striker is now looking forward to what he believes will be a new and exciting era for the Firhill club.

Doolan doesn’t sugar coat how much it has hurt him to see Thistle drop into the Championship, and he would much rather that they had managed to preserve top-flight football.

But he is now ready to embrace the challenge that lies ahead next season, and he is enthused by the prospect of a new-look Jags eleven come the first game of the campaign.

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By stripping everything back, Doolan is sure that they can rediscover the real Partick Thistle.

“Time hasn’t really softened the blow,” Doolan said. “It’s been a tough one trying to deal with it.

“But there’s nothing to be done now, we just have to look forward. That’s got to be the key. From this point on, we draw a line under it and we learn from our mistakes. And there were many mistakes made.

“Going into this season, those mistakes just can’t happen, and we now look to build on the good things around the club.

“On the playing side, we have stripped the squad right back and it’s a big rebuilding job. The way I’ve come to look at it over the last few days is that it’s actually quite exciting looking forward.

“Yes, I was absolutely devastated to be relegated, and I’m sure everybody was, but now I’m looking at it in a positive way.

“We’ve stripped everything back, and it can be an exciting time now, because it’s all about rebuilding. With that comes a lot of excitement and a lot of freshness, and it could be just what the club needs.”

As well as the raft of new faces that will arrive on the playing side, there are of course experienced campaigners like Doolan himself and Chris Erskine still around the club.

Doolan thinks that it was important to retain a core of players who have played in the Championship before and know what the club is all about, and he reiterated Erskine’s stance that bailing out on the club he loves was never an option.

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“I wasn’t even thinking about going elsewhere,” he said. “It’s not all about money for me and the likes of Chris Erskine. We love the club, and we want to stay around to help that rebuilding job.

“I think that Chris, myself, the manager, we are the right kind of people to have around and I think we can help push the club back to where it should be.

“If we can supplement the core we have with young, hungry players – which I’m sure the manager will do – then that’s a really exciting prospect for me.”

Immediately after the playoff final defeat to Livingston, Doolan nailed his colours to the mast in support of boss Alan Archibald, and he was relieved to see the club stand by their manager despite relegation.

“The board have been absolutely tremendous, and I’m sure the manager appreciates that as well, because there’s not many like that now in football,” Doolan said.

“You are maybe only given half a dozen games sometimes and if it doesn’t go your way, you can find yourself out of a job. I don’t think that’s the way to go.

“One blip in his managerial career doesn’t make him a bad manager. I think he can really build a team that is worthy of winning the Championship.

“There is a freshness and an excitement here now that can start building over the summer, and I’m just glad that Archie is the one who is going to be in charge to take hold of it.”