PARTICK THISTLE vice-chairman Tom Hughes says the club's advertisement for a new investor is not a panic move.

The Jags board are on the lookout for a "major investor" to support the development of "the football team and/or the stadium" and the unusual move of advertising in the Racing Post has caused concern among the Firhill faithful that a full scale cash crisis is set to erupt.

However, Jags' vice chairman and finance director Hughes says the move is a necessity if Thistle are not to return to the dark days of the Save the Jags campaign in the late nineties.

He said: "This is not a panic move. What I would say is that it would be negligent of the club not to explore every possible avenue in order to source new and substantial investment in the club.

"You can not make losses forever, and 10 years ago we had to run the Save the Jags campaign and go for a share issue in what were desperate moves to avoid disaster. We are simply doing everything we can to avoid reaching those levels again."

Firhill Stadium itself is valued at around £7million but chairman Allan Cowan said: "We'd only consider selling Firhill as a whole if a new stadium was built and it would have to be within a stone's throw of the current ground. We would not give up the keys and we would never make the club homeless." Man United chief executive David Gill believes Carlos Queiroz is "very much in the frame" to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson, who has revealed he will finally quit within three years. Eddlewood Hamilton beat Queen's Park U-19s 1-0 in the Scottish Amateur Cup Final. Kevin Finlayson has signed a two-year deal at Morton. Glasgow City beat Hibs 2-1 to win the Scottish Women's Premier League. Stories in today's English papers Chelsea will offer up to £50m to sign Liverpool striker Fernando Torres. Jose Mourinho ready for Chelsea return; Frank Rijkaard, Mark Hughes linked; agent rules out Guus Hiddink.