Former Newcastle defender Gary Caldwell has hit the headlines after asking his Partick Thistle players to pick their team for Saturday's crucial relegation clash with Queen of the South.
The Buddies travel to Palmerston Road in what is a do or die clash at the bottom of the Scottish Championship.
Partick sit two points above the relegation play-off spot but defeat could well see them sucked into danger.
And our sister title Record Sport revealed the Firhill boss requested that his players privately write down their preferred starting line-up.
Their envelopes were then handed in at Tuesday’s training session, as Caldwell, who has also managed Wigan Athletic and Chesterfield, prepares for one of the biggest games of his fledgling managerial career.
Caldwell, who started his career at Newcastle, played in a similar game at Stoke during his playing days at Wigan and revealed he wants to know who his players trust most ahead of such a crucial game.
“I understand how much pressure is on this game on Saturday," Caldwell told Record Sport.
“As a player, you want people you can trust next to you. You want people you can believe in.
“In pressure situations, you know who’s going to be there by your side.
“So we put it out to the players to see what their feelings are on who they wanted to play alongside them against Queens.
“And they’ve been brilliant with it. Everyone came in yesterday with their team sealed in an envelope.
“It was anonymous so there’s no back-stabbing or sneakiness involved in it.
“And in training afterwards, the players were in great spirits.
“There has been nothing massive or dramatic come from it – but it’s given us a little insight into what the players are thinking.
“And anything that might help us going into the biggest game of the season will be of value to us.
“When I was at Wigan we played Stoke City away on the last day of the season. Around six teams could have gone down that day from the Premier League.
“We won 1-0 and stayed up. But it was the most nerve-wracking game I ever played in.
“We’re all in the same boat here at Thistle, we all want the same thing. So whatever we can do to make the players feel more included, we’ll do it.
“We want to know who players are comfortable with on the pitch.
“You have to involve players in the process. It doesn’t take away from the fact that myself and Brian work 24/7 to get the best for the club.
“We know what our best team is, what the best combinations are, but this adds another string to our bow in terms of who the players feel they can trust.
“We’re fully focused on winning this game of football. We’ll prepare as well as we always do this week.”
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