We can confirm that, yesterday evening, one of the four candidates in the Fan Representative Director Elections, Adam Jebali withdrew from the race. When beneficiaries receive their ballots, there will therefore be only three candidates’ names, rather than four. Each beneficiary will still be able to vote for up to two candidates.
We recognise that Adam’s candidacy attracted considerable social media comment, given he has stated he supports Thistle and another Glasgow team. Under the current nomination rules, anyone who is a beneficiary is eligible to stand in the election. As Adam has publicly indicated, he is a Partick Thistle season ticket holder, which makes him eligible to stand under those rules.
For the avoidance of doubt (and to clear-up some confusion) there were only four candidates who put themselves forward for these elections. There was no “pre-vetting” or “shortlisting” exercise. Every candidate who put themselves forward, and who could prove they were a beneficiary, was permitted to stand.
Every beneficiary has the opportunity to stand for the privilege of being a director of our football club. It is not for us as the election facilitators to encourage or dissuade people from standing. It is for the beneficiaries to decide who best to represent them from the candidates who put themselves forward. We thank all candidates who have put themselves forward this year and would always encourage as many people to consider standing in future to give the fans the maximum choice.
We plan to review the Fan Rep Director elections process after this set of elections, and to reflect on the experiences of other fan-owned clubs with directly elected fan representation. We are also exploring the introduction of a Fan Rep Director Code of Conduct, to make more explicit the expectations of those seeking to represent the fans in that capacity.
We all want to see Partick Thistle’s support grow. Part of that, inevitably, means convincing those with other prior footballing allegiances that Firhill is the better home for them. Reasonable debate and discussion is an inevitable and normal part of any election campaign, but we’d reiterate that personal abuse is not acceptable.
Ballots will be issued on Wednesday 22nd October, and beneficiaries will have until 10pm on Wednesday 29th October to cast their votes.
