When the news dropped on Tuesday morning, it had an air of grim inevitability about it. Two years to the day since Kris Doolan took charge of his first Partick Thistle match – a 1-0 win away to Ayr United – the Championship club announced that the manager and his assistant Paul McDonald had been relieved of their duties.
The pair paid the price for a title charge that never really got going and with the Jags’ place in the play-offs looking increasingly under threat, the board decided to act before the situation worsened.
For supporters, it was a punch in the gut. Most would agree that the call was the right one, but it is impossible to tip-toe around Doolan’s status as a club legend in Maryhill. He might just be the most popular person connected to the club, and the parting of the ways prompted was a period of collective mourning as the red-and-yellow army pondered what might have been.
Inside the club, though, there was little time to reflect. The question now was who was to lead the first team while the search for a successor got underway, and there was an obvious candidate: Brian Graham.
The 37-year-old is already making himself in the women’s game as manager of a Partick Thistle side that consistently punches above its weight in the SPFL, and an eventual move into full-time coaching feels inevitable once he decides to hang up his boots. Alongside Mark Wilson, Thistle’s Under-18s manager, Graham has led the first team since Doolan’s dismissal and the pair will be in charge for Saturday’s home fixture against Airdrieonians.
The Jags skipper was sad to see Doolan go, but accepts that something had to change if Thistle were to get their promotion push back on track. However, he is in no doubt that Doolan’s legacy at Firhill has not been tarnished a jot by the way things ended.
“Listen, it's never nice when somebody loses their job,” Graham said. “I've been involved with Ian McCall, Alan Archibald, Neil Scully and now it's Kris Doolan and Paul McDonald.
“It’s unfortunately it's part of the game, but at the same time it's never any easier, especially when you speak to both of the guys after it was announced. And then I bumped into Kris yesterday, so it's not nice.
Kris Doolan and Partick Thistle parted ways on Tuesday morning (Image: SNS)
“The guy's been a legend at the football club on the playing side, and he's done well as a manager, so we need to wish him well. We need to move on quickly. It's a quick turnaround in football. We've got a game coming Saturday that we need to prepare for it.
“As you can imagine, he's obviously just lost his job. He was not in the best of moods [when we met]. But Kris is a lovely, lovely fella, and he understands the game, and we had a good chat yesterday.
“I've got a lot of time for Kris. He made me the captain of the football club, and I'll forever thank him for that. So it's never nice when that situation arises, but it's football. Everybody knows the industry you're in. When you're a manager at a football club and things aren't going particularly well, you're going to lose your job, and that's just the nature of the beast, I'm afraid.
“Of course he will [always be a legend]. The guy scored over 100 goals for the football club, and the fans adore him, so I don't think that'll change. The fans still love him. That's just the way it is, but they want results in the football pitch, and unfortunately, that's why he's lost his job. Us as players need to take huge responsibility for that as well, but it's not about looking back, it's about looking forward, and how we can affect the game come Saturday.”
With every crisis comes opportunity, though, and that is exactly what has been presented to Graham and Wilson. Between the former’s management experience with the women’s team and the latter’s impressive playing career, there is no one Graham would rather have by his side as he embarks on this new venture.
“They offered me and Mark the job to help,” he explained. “They offered for both of us to go and help out the team. As captain of a football club, and now being at the club for over five years, you're not going to say no, are you? You need to put the club first. First and foremost, you need to put the club first. That's what I'll do. Until I'm told otherwise, that's what I'll continue to do.
“I've known Mark for a number of years. We were team-mates at Dundee United. We used to travel in together at Dundee United. He's obviously been the Under-18s manager for the last year and a bit. I was in every week, chatting to him on a daily basis about football, so on those terms, I've got no problems with that.
“If I'm on the pitch, if I'm not on the pitch and if it's Mark on the side, we understand our roles, we understand what we need from each other and we'll work well together.
“No [I won’t need to phone other managers for advice]. The only time I'll be asking is for advice if it's about a player and trying to find a background about a player who I'm trying to sign. So that's that.
“I've been in the management game now a number of years. I've built up a lot of experience. I've built up a lot of connections in the game. And Mark's the same. Mark's a Champions League player for Celtic. Let's not forget that as well. He's had a fantastic footballing career. And he's a very good coach. So the both of us know the task at hand come the weekend.”
Mark Wilson is manager of Thistle's Under-18s side and a close friend of Brian Graham's (Image: SNS)
Even with Wilson sharing the load, this week’s developments leave Graham a busy man. Between captaining the men’s team, managing the women’s team and his punditry for BBC Scotland, his schedule is anything but forgiving. Taking on more work still pays testament to the striker’s character, although he is aided by the fact that the women’s side is currently on an international break.
“It's quite a full plate,” he noted. “It is a full plate, but that's the life of Brian Graham, unfortunately. My plate has been full for the last four-and-a-half years, so I'm willing to help the club out whether I've been asked to do so.
“That's the role that myself and Mark have been asked to do and that's the role we'll do until we're told otherwise. We'll keep training going this week. We'll prepare for the game as we need to do on Saturday and hopefully we can get out there on Saturday and win the football match.
“It's funny how things work in life, especially in football, just coincides with the women having an international break. It's just a funny little world sometimes.”
It does appear that Graham is approaching something of a crossroads in his career. His efforts with the women’s team are widely regarded, and he is comfortably the top scorer for the men’s side with 15 goals in all competitions this season. He also happens to be closing in on a century of goals and could well hit the landmark before the end of the season.
So, where does Graham see his short-to-medium-term future: in the men’s game or the women’s?
“To be honest with you, I've not really thought about that,” he said. “I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. My full focus on everything at hand at the moment. It's full throttle. I just need to concentrate on everything I'm involved in, where I'm involved in it. Listen, there will be hurdles along the way. There will be bridges that need crossing, but I'll deal with them when they come up.”
Speculation will undoubtedly abound as to whether or not Graham will eventually get the gig permanently. Considered a frontrunner by the bookies, his chances of landing the job will ultimately depend on how the team fare in competitive matches under his and Wilson’s guidance.
Graham would, of course, have to be interested in such a proposition – and when it was presented to him directly, the centre-forward was non-committal.
“Listen, I'm in a position now, I'm 37 years of age,” he said. “There's many bridges need crossing. I'm not going to say a definite yes or no to you right now. That's not in my thought process at the moment.
Brian Graham says he is fully focused on Saturday's match against Airdrieonians (Image: SNS)
“My thought process is Saturday and getting three points. There's many hurdles and tunnels we need to go through and we'll cross all those once we get to it, but I'm not going to give you a definite answer on that one, unfortunately.”
Then there’s the matter of his playing career. If push came to shove and he had to hang up his boots to take on a full-time coaching position, would he leave the pitch forever to take up residency in the dugout?
“I’ve spoke to a club full-time this year about potentially taking that job on,” Graham pointed out, referencing an alleged approach from Raith Rovers earlier in the campaign. “I didn't take that job.
“I've obviously had other offers while I'm still playing. Football changes on a week-to-week basis. You don't know what's coming the next week. As I said to you, there's many bridges needing crossing, and we'll cross them when the time is right.”
For now, Graham will be taking things one step at a time. Airdrie remain front and centre of his mind, and he will meet with the board next week to discuss the next steps.
“No [I haven’t been given a timeline from the board],” Graham added. “I'm led to believe we'll take the game Saturday and we'll probably have another conversation next week and we'll take it from there.”
