Partick Thistle’s Player/Assistant Manager, Ian Maxwell, knows how it feels to be booed by fans of St. Johnstone and whilst the last time it happened, it was quite a surreal experience for him, he will have no qualms if the Perth fans are booing him again this Saturday.
The Jags are facing Maxwell’s former club in the Scottish Cup Fifth Round at McDiarmid Park on Saturday and the 35-year-old knows that a win for Ian McCall’s men will be as welcome as he was when he made his last appearance as a St. Johnstone player in May 2005.
Maxwell explained: “I had been at St. Johnstone for three seasons however, I had agreed to join St. Mirren at the end of my deal. I signed my pre-contract but we kept things quiet however, it leaked out just before the sides met on the last day of the season.
“It was a bit of a strange day because when the teams were read out on the tannoy, the St. Johnstone fans booed me and the St. Mirren fans gave me a cheer. Thankfully, the game ended up goalless and there were no more shouts at me.”
There are certainly no hard feelings on Maxwell’s part as he added: “I enjoyed my time there as St. Johnstone were a big club then and they are probably an even bigger club now.”
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axwell ventured back to McDiarmid Park on Tuesday night to watch the Saints against Hamilton Academical and he saw nothing in the game that changed his view that the Perth men are favourites to go through.
The central defender said: “It would be great if Partick Thistle won through. However, we are the underdogs and it will be a really difficult tie. We are looking forward to it and we have been playing well recently, so we will see what happens.
“As well as being a great result, financially it would be great for the club to get through another round.”
Maxwell is one of the most enduring figures in the SFL having started his career nearly 18 years ago at Queen’s Park. His early playing career was combined with attending university where a degree in Civil Engineering was earned, although Maxwell also made history during his time as a Spider.
Scotland’s oldest club took on the then infants of Ross County in the Dingwall club’s first ever competitive match as a Scottish Football League club in August 1994 and Maxwell was on the scoresheet. It was a great debut for the new boys as they won a Coca-Cola Cup tie 3-2 with Maxwell’s delight at scoring an equaliser with two minutes remaining quickly extinguished as Ross County grabbed a late, late winner.
Five years were spent at Hampden with Maxwell saying, “I got my degree and then got my chance to join Ross County. They were part-time then so I stayed down in Glasgow, worked on a contract with West of Scotland Water and trained with Clyde.
“I would travel up to Dingwall for games and it was certainly a success as we won the Third Division title.”
Civil Engineering was never returned to as full-time football was offered and County were promoted the following season as well with Maxwell staying in the centre of their defence as they kept their place in the First Division for the next two seasons.
Donning St. Johnstone colours was next for Maxwell as he moved in the summer of 2002 and he was joining a strong squad looking for promotion following their relegation from the SPL during the previous campaign.
Maxwell said: “It was a big step up for me in terms of the size of club I was joining and there were some great players there. Paul Hartley, Keighan Parker, Simon Donnelly and Graeme Jones were all there and with the squad we had, we should have done better. Falkirk won the League in the first season and the squad gradually got broken up.
“I spent two years there under Billy Stark and then almost a full season under John Connolly however, I had agreed to join Gus MacPherson and his assistant Andy Millen at St. Mirren by the time Owen Coyle was getting started.”
There was a nice touch of irony this week with Millen playing for Queen’s Park, whilst Maxwell went about his Assistant Manager duties with Maxwell saying: “You are never sure what will happen in football next but I know Andy will do a good job for Queen’s.”
The Paisley side won the First Division Championship in Maxwell’s first season to give him a second League Championship medal and the following year he took part in SPL football for the first time in his career.
Maxwell said: “My time at St. Mirren allowed me to complete playing in all four leagues in Scotland. Not a lot of players get to do that and I am quite proud of doing it, especially as I worked my way up to it as opposed to the other way round.
“I keep telling our Goalkeeping Coach, Craig Hinchcliffe, that I have done that as he was at St. Mirren at the same time after playing in the two lower divisions for Arbroath but he never got to make a SPL start.”
In the summer of 2008, Maxwell moved to Firhill on a two year contract as a player and featured prominently as the Jags finished second behind a St. Johnstone side that were finally returning to the SPL.
Shortly into the new season, Ian McCall’s right hand man Gerry Britton gave up his post to take up a career practising law and Maxwell made tentative steps on helping McCall out.
“I was an experienced professional by that stage and had been thinking about what happens next, so I gave Ian a hand until David Irons came on board. David only stayed for a short time as money became an issue at the club so when he left, I went and spoke to Ian about helping him again.
“It made sense to the club for me to carry it out until the end of the season as it was added to my playing duties and did not cost them anything either. I was learning from Ian so I was winning as well.
“I came back this season as a Player and Assistant Manager so I am delighted.”
And how good a teacher is Ian McCall, Maxwell was asked.
He advised: “Ian has been great with me and one of the best things about him is that he will ask me what I think. Not only me, he also asks Jackie McNamara, Simon Donnelly and Ian Cameron, who are all involved in coaching at the club.
“Ian will make his own mind up but he asks for opinions and I have worked with a few Managers where it is their way only so it is quite refreshing. At the start of the week, I will lead a lot of the training for the players but Ian’s presence grows as the week goes on.”
The start of the season was a test for everyone connected with Thistle as results were not the best and there was little money available to bring in new players.
Maxwell said: “It was a tough start to the season and we only brought in one new player who was Iain Flannigan and we lost a few games in a row. We had little money to chop and change but you could look at things two ways.”
“You could just get on with it or you could complain about it, we went for the former approach. We had a bad run but we saw signs of improvement and knew that we were not far away from getting things right.
“We are much more solid as a team now and the experience amongst the players has grown which is great for the club and the players.”
Maxwell reckons that there is nothing like playing the game regularly to enhance a player’s development saying: “It is great for young guys to be associated with the likes of Rangers or Celtic but we have players here aged 20 or 21 that are playing in games where points and bonuses are at stake.
“Bryan Hodge joined us from Blackburn Rovers and Scott Fox was at Celtic, two good players but only now are they getting experience under their belts by playing regularly in competitive games.
“We have signed Scott on a new contract as he has benefited from having Bryn Halliwell breathing down his neck and we also tied up Kris Doolan and Chris Erskine as they are showing that they have adapted to playing in the First Division after starting their careers in the Juniors.”
Willie Kinniburgh signed on the dotted line on Thursday to extend his deal and contract negotiations are not over in Maryhill.
Maxwell added: “There are still a number of guys in the existing squad that we are keen to keep. We saw when Gary Harkins left us after finishing in second place that finding experienced players ready to take over is really difficult to do so we want a strong experienced core in our team ready for next season.”
After six months of officially working in his combined role, Maxwell has found his feet saying: “I love my two jobs although as a player, I have not featured too often this season. It is just getting to the stage where I am comfortable with it. By that I mean jumping from being a player to Assistant Manager is a big jump regardless of where you do it but it can be a bigger jump at the club you are playing at.
“Whilst a number two’s job is to bounce between the players and the Manager, I have taken steps to create a gap with the guys I used to play with. I don’t get changed in the changing room now for instance as that area belongs to the players.”
There is only one thing Maxwell would change or rather Mrs Maxwell would.
He said: “I take bad results much harder now. As a player, I could switch off after a short while at home but my wife has noticed that if we have a bad result, it takes me longer to switch off, if at all, now.”
“Hopefully, it will be all smiles after the game at Perth.”
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