Kris Doolan remains fully focused on the task at hand as interim Partick Thistle manager and insists he cannot allow himself to be distracted by questions over his future in the dugout.
The fans’ favourite succeeded Ian McCall earlier this month and has faced an unforgiving fixture list in his first three games in charge, with all three taking place away from home.
Four points and two clean sheets were picked up on visits to Somerset Park and Gayfield as the Jags prepare to make the trip to Dens Park this evening.
Doolan has not spoken to the board about his situation and he is adamant that his focus lies squarely on the team’s next game.
“It’s been a sharp learning curve but that’s the way it was always going to be – it’s sink or swim,” he said. “To me it is about making sure I give the players as much help as I can. It is about passing things on to the boys but a lot of it is down to their professionalism and me trying to guide some things.
“I am trying to make sure we are in the best frame of mind and coming up with a game plan for each match. It is one game at a time right now and that’s all I can do.
“There have been no more discussions about me taking the job longer term. I was tasked with a game and we got through that and got three points at Ayr. We then got a point at Arbroath and now we are tasked with the Dundee game.
“We are just focused on Dundee and I won’t let anything derail that as the players and fans deserve us giving our full focus on this game. We can’t do anything other than that.
“I honestly haven’t even thought about [my position]. I think I am too professional in the way I go about it that I won’t allow myself to be thinking about anything other than Dundee now.
“It’s a short-term way to look at it but I think it is the best way under the circumstances. That’s all we can do and that’s what everybody deserves: to give our all. Not only as a players on the pitch but also as a coach and as a manager. We are fully focused on the next game. The most important game is always the next one.”
The Thistle players certainly won’t be shy of motivation on Tayside this evening. Win and they will once again be right in contention for promotion – and Doolan is all too aware how quickly things can change in Scottish football’s second tier.
“The league is so tight,” he observed. “We know the way the Championship is – if you can string one or two results together then all of a sudden your season can look very different. We understand that but the next game is always the most important one.
“In the Championship everyone has something to play for and I think that’s really important. It doesn’t matter if you’re at the top end of the division or the bottom, everyone has something to play for now. Every game means something.
“I don’t think you will see someone running away with the Championship and likewise, nobody ever gets lodged at the bottom. Everybody in the league is fighting for a cause and we are no different.”
Thistle will make the trip to Dundee without centre-half Kevin Holt, midfielder Cammy Smith and striker Anton Dowds as the trio are injured. Holt, a key player for the Jags, is probably the team’s biggest loss but Doolan prefers to view it as an opportunity for another player to stake their claim – just as centre-back Darren Brownlie did against Arbroath on Saturday.
Doolan said: “After the Arbroath game there are a couple getting patched up and down, as you would expect, it was such a hard-fought game. But we’re hopeful that they’ll pull through.
“All the players, once we get them all back, it’s a lot healthier in terms of numbers. But right now it’s up to us to try to make sure that we give other people an opportunity.
“I think that’s what happened on Saturday. Kevin Holt is a big miss for the team but Brownlie comes in and he was fantastic. It’s about getting opportunity, football is about opportunity, and if you take it then you might happen to stay in the team. We have got to encourage that type of environment, people to get opportunities and then to take them.”
