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EuroMillions winner buys football club and gives it back to fans

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 09: Partick Thistle's Shea Gordon celebrates mafter scoring to make it 2-1 during the Ladbrokes Championship match between Partick Thistle and Greenock Morton, at The Energy Check Stadium at The Energy Check Stadium at Firhill on November 09, 2019, in Glasgow, Scotland (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group via Getty Images)
Partick Thistle's Shea Gordon (Credit: Getty Images)

Colin Weir, who won the EuroMillions in 2011, has completed his takeover of Partick Thistle.

The 71-year-old took home £161 million eight years ago and is a lifelong supporter of the Glasgow club. Having invested £2.5 million initially in The Jags, as well as setting aside nearly three times that amount to develop a new training complex, he has purchased a majority (55%) shareholding in the club.

Weir also bought a holding in the land at Partick’s Firhill Stadium and will immediately give it back to the team.

Next on his agenda is to develop a fan group that will help run club matters through ‘community ownership’.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 09: Partick Thistle main stand during the Ladbrokes Championship match between Partick Thistle and Greenock Morton, at The Energy Check Stadium at The Energy Check Stadium at Firhill on November 09, 2019, in Glasgow, Scotland (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group via Getty Images)
Partick Thistle's Energy Check Stadium (Credit: Getty Images)

The club released a statement saying that they are ‘planning for an exciting future’ and that ‘work will begin immediately on developing plans’.

In his own statement, Weir said: “This is a major financial commitment on my part as fan owners will not need to repay a penny - but I believe this gives fan ownership the best possible start."

Club statement in full:

The takeover of Partick Thistle by long term Jags fan Colin Weir allows the club to begin planning for an exciting future with the prospect of becoming a fully-fledged community owned club.

Colin’s generosity means we begin this process in a strong position. The club is debt free and for the first time in over a decade now has full ownership of Firhill.

Work will begin immediately on developing plans for community ownership. At its first meeting, the interim Board agreed that the priority at this stage is to ensure the club has stability on and off the park.

Although we are in a disappointing position, pushing up the league table towards the play offs has to be the least of our ambitions this season.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 25: during the Betfred Scottish League Cup quarter final match between Celtic and Partick Thistle at Celtic Park on September 25, 2019 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Partick Thistle coach Ian McCall (Credit: Getty Images)

Ian McCall and the football management team have already achieved some great results in the short time since they were appointed and we are just one game away from a national cup final.

We all know what Thistle means to Ian and we are confident that along with Alan and Neil, they are the right people to help take Thistle forward on the pitch.

It will be our job as the board to work with the chief executive Gerry Britton to provide the support they need to get Thistle back where we belong.

There is a lot of hard work to be done on and off the pitch to achieve that success but we believe that this is the beginning of an exciting new era for the club.

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