Zak Rudden has thanked manager Ian McCall for signing him from Rangers as the Partick Thistle striker looks back on his battle against adversity as a league title winner.
Rudden has hit top form recently but it was a tough start to life at Firhill after arriving from Rangers in January 2020. Injuries and two football shutdowns meant it took him over a year to score his first goal for the Jags. But now he has netted seven goals and two assists as Thistle prepare for the Scottish Championship after winning League One.
Having had multiple loan spells away from Rangers, Rudden is happy to call Maryhill home: “I don’t look upon [my time at Rangers] as a bad time or think that I never got a chance. I don’t like looking back but the fact is I had another year left on my contract and I could have stayed at Ibrox but I thought it was time for me to leave.
“I think I made the right decision. I’ve shown I can do it away from Rangers and, at my age, I want to be playing every week. You never know what happens in football but I’d love to be here next season. This is a good home for me and, even when I had my injuries, the gaffer kept his faith in me and now I’ve proved what I can do.
“I missed a few chances when I was coming back in the past but all that’s behind me now. I still have one more year on my contract and that’s good because I was needing some stability after two seasons out on loan. But I must thank Ian McCall for bringing me in because I went through a tough period.
“I had a knee operation when I was at Plymouth and then a number of niggling injury problems after that. He stuck by me through it all. And it wasn’t just him. Everyone at the club – the backroom staff, the physios and the rest – were right behind me and I’m grateful to them for that. I owe all of them for believing in me.”
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