WITH no Melbourne Victory action to speak of at the moment I have taken to reminiscing about the past four years and some of the players that have pulled on the Melbourne Victory shirt, but now have moved onto other clubs.

Whilst everyone is always interested to check on the progress of players such as Adrian Leijer and Fred, I thought it would be interesting to track down one of the lesser lights and thus went in search of Simon Storey.

After playing a key role in the 2006/07 recording breaking season, where he played in twenty-two of a possible twenty-four matches, Storey decided to try his luck overseas. He now plies his trade with Scottish First Division side, Partick Thistle, where he is currently the second year of a two-year contract for the Glaswegian club.

Partick Thistle are currently second in the First Division, four points behind league leaders St Johnstone with only four games remaining in the season. There is an outside chance that Partick Thistle and Storey himself, may find themselves in the Scottish Premier League next season if they can claim top spot. For Storey, this season has been a pretty exciting one all round in what is an especially even league.

One of the obvious questions to ask was how the Scottish First Division compares to the A-League and for Storey it's the number of games played during the season. "Last season I played forty-four games and this season I'm up to thirty-four so far.  We have a thirty-six game season here and being in three different cup competitions means that the seasons are very demanding", noted Storey.

But there is one thing that the A-League does have over the Scottish First Division and that is the weather. Playing in the middle of a Scottish winter as compared to an Australian summer is a massive difference with Storey pointing out that, "Here in Scotland you have to keep moving to stop from freezing!"

And that's something that the twenty-seven year old doesn't seem to have any problem doing with both fans and management at Firhill appreciating his high-work rate, intelligence and versatility on the pitch.

Storey's time at Firhill Park has also provided him with a number of career highlights with a 1-1 draw at Ibrox against Rangers being of particular note. During his time with the Victory, Storey was particularly noted for getting forward often but he has managed to find the back of the net for Partick Thistle.

When asked to describe the goal he laughs, "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you! I got the ball on the right, cut inside and then curled it into the top left with my left foot from about twenty-five yards."

Whilst in Glasgow, Storey still manages to keep an eye on his former team and even managed to see Melbourne take out its second A-League title. He still keeps in touch with most of his former team mates. "Although he's left, I've known Eugene (Galekovic) since I was four and we just can't seem to shake each other!" laughed Storey.

And while Storey is getting regular game time we also may not see him back in the A-League anytime soon as he points out, "At present I'm really enjoying my time overseas, and whilst I'd like to return back to Australia at some point it would have to be the right timing and opportunity to come back to."

Neil would like to thank both Simon Storey and Partick Thistle Press Officer, Ami Small for their help with this post.