ALAN Archibald hasn’t become a bad manager his problem, if that’s the right word, is he is the manager of Partick Thistle.

And while this great Glasgow football institution is in rude health financially, the club’s history is one of struggle for the most part. They have gone through far worse times than this.

That the pride of Maryhill finds themselves bottom of the Premiership is no huge surprise. Their rise from 12th to sixth last season was far more out of character.

A year ago, the Thistle board went to Archibald and asked what he needed from them. There were no threats or vote of confidence; rather, the directors sough to help their manager, a good guy and club legend.

It worked a year ago. Indeed, Brendan Rodgers predicted that Thistle would enjoy a good season despite them being bottom of the pile, as they are now, with the always vital festive fixtures approaching.

Archibald is missing half a team of senior players. His squad simple can’t cope with that. But two wins from 16 isn’t great and while Thistle have it within themselves to make things better, they need to start winning.

The home game with Motherwell on Wednesday would be a good time to begin, especially after being thrashed 5-1 at Kilmarnock on Saturday.

“I do feel for the manager,” said Chris Erskine who scored Thistle’s goal at the weekend. “He takes the brunt of things when they go badly wrong and it’s his job on the line at the end of the day.

“We all feel bad for him. I’ve known him for a long time now. He’s a good manager and a good man. He’s doing everything he can.

“The thing is, it all comes down to the players. We need to work even harder to try and resolve the situation.

“We are all concerned. Of course we are. We have been in this position before, and that maybe that’s the only good thing we have, because we’ve got experience in how to get ourselves out of this.

“But I would have to say that Saturday was a lot point. It was a dreadful performance. The goals we conceded were shocking."

Thistle were dreadful at the back. Niall Keown sold the first and his own goal made it 3-1. It was that kind of day.

“Our away record is not great but, if I’m honest, we need to sort out everything, not just that,” said Erskine. “We haven't had many wins at all both home and away regardless of who we’ve played. We really need to improve.

“I personally still believe we have enough in the dressing room. I think we all do. It just has to come together and that’s just now happening right now.”

As for Kilmarnock, the appointment of Steve Clarke as manager looks more inspired as the weeks go on.

Kris Boyd and Eamonn Brophy both got doubles and with recent addition Youssouf Mulumbu impressing on his home debut, the Ayrshire side looked a decent unit.

You have to admire Boyd. At 34, he is still scoring goals and setting up chances. He might be a regular on television these days but the old man remains pretty good at the day job.

“As long as I get the opportunity to perform and score goals I’ll do it for as long as I can,” said the striker.

“We’ll continue to go back and look for the next chance and as strikers you’ll never get fed up scoring goals.”

Mulumbu spent six seasons in the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion and while his fitness isn’t quite there, the man from the Congo showed some lovely touches.

“You don’t play 200 Premier League games if you’re not a good player,” said Boyd. “It’s a real coup getting him here, as it is with the manager.

“It’s one thing saying it’s a coup but he has to go and back it up and I think for 60 minutes he did that.

“Youssouf had a few niggly injuries when he first came here but they’ve cleared up and you can see how confident he is on the ball.

“When you get the ball into him it sticks and he can make things happen. A few of the lads gave him some stick because when he came off it was 2-1 and we ended up getting another three after that.

“However, for the club to attract someone like that can only be a positive.”

What Partick Thistle would do for some positivity right now.