91Èȱ¬

Experienced goalkeeper Paul Gallacher has signed for Scottish Premier League-bound Partick Thistle.

The 33-year-old, who has signed a one-year deal with the option of a further year, will also take on the role of goalkeeper coach.

Capped seven times for Scotland, Gallacher has played in the top flight with Ross County, Dunfermline, St Mirren and Dundee United.

The First Division champions have also signed striker John Baird.

The 27-year-old spent this season with Dundee, who were relegated from the SPL.

"It's good to get everything sorted," said Baird. "I know how much [the manager] wanted to sign me so it was an easy decision to make after that.

"There's a lot of players out of contract and for the manager to show an interest that early was massive."

Gallacher is also pleased to be joining Thistle.

"It's fantastic," he told 91Èȱ¬ Scotland. "It's great to get it all finally signed and done. The gaffer's been on the phone to me tirelessly trying to get me on board, which has been fantastic. It makes you feel wanted. To now put pen to paper, I'm delighted.

"They've nothing to fear, we go in there with a lot of confidence.

"I'll be looking to do a lot of coaching work here but also obviously push young Foxy all the way and try and play.

"It's a new challenge but one I'm looking forward to."

And manager Alan Archibald hopes to further enhance his squad this summer.

"We probably need another four or five players, minimum," he explained. "We've lost that so we need to replace them.

"Paul brings a vast experience. He's still very, very capable of going and playing in the SPL.

"John brings more experience. We lost Steven Craig, who was our experienced striker last year so hopefully John will fill that void. He's had a year in the SPL and hopefully he can go and build on that and bring goals to Partick Thistle."