IAN McCALL has hailed the importance of Partick Thistle’s Stuart Bannigan after a testimonial for the long-serving midfielder was announced earlier this week.
A product of Thistle’s academy, the 29-year-old – who celebrates his 30th birthday tomorrow when the Jags host Cove Rangers – has only ever played for Thistle, barring a loan spell at Somerset Park at the outset of his career.
McCall was in charge at Firhill when Bannigan was coming through and although he thinks the midfielder could have achieved more in the game were it not for a debilitating two and a half years on the sidelines after suffering a terrible knee injury, he is delighted to be able to call on his services – even if the Thistle boss thinks there is more to come from him this season.
“He has started the season slowly, he won’t mind me saying that,” McCall said. “I remember him as a 16-year-old boy when I brought him in and we put him down to Ayr United, which I think was the making of him. He must have been about 17 and they won promotion through the play-offs. That was great for him.
“He is a player I’ve got the highest respect for, he trains the same way every day and I genuinely believe that if it wasn’t for his two and a half lost years… I think around the time of his injury he was on the verge of leaving Thistle, there was interest from two or three clubs who are bigger than us.
“The way he plays, I can see him being about for another two, three, four years with us. We are delighted to have him. He has had a slow start to the season but I imagine that will pick up soon.”
Bannigan is comfortably the longest-serving member of the Thistle squad but there are others who have returned to Firhill this summer who know the club well. Defender Aaron Muirhead and winger Aidan Fitzpatrick sealed moves to Maryhill during the close season, while Steven Lawless also has a vast amount of experience of playing for the Jags.
Lawless, in particular, has been back to his best since returning to Thistle and McCall believes that having players who understand the demands of playing at Firhill is crucial to the squad’s make-up.
“I think it’s important,” McCall added. “Lawless has made 239 appearances and Bannigan is on 324. It’s good.
Lawless has come back after two or three years of flitting about places and doing okay at times. It just seems that some clubs are a fit for some players and I think we fit Lawless as well – and that’s why his form has been terrific for the last five, six, seven games.
“I think it is important, they know what it means. One thing they do know is that there is pressure playing here in Glasgow between Celtic and Rangers and in front of our crowd. It’s good.”
