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As the joy of Friday settles down we are right back into the mania of the playoffs tomorrow against a team we have struggled to get results against this season. There are arguments though that we could have got more from each and every game though. As an outsider I find it hard to analyse Raith and how they lineup, indeed apart from having a good squad of players what has made them a decent team this season? Anyway, from a red and yellow perspective it is all about what we can bring to the table. Taking a win, however slender up to Kirkcaldy for the second leg would be vital, I feel. I don't see any drastic changes to how we line-up. Despite the results the games have been close and I hope we can get the first part of the job done on Tuesday night. TL;DR - A tight game but Jags to edge it. C'mon the Jags.

Interestingly he did both second legs in the play offs last year - against Queens Park and Ayr only for them to give Nasty Nick the second leg in Dingwall!

Strong season ticket sales made a huge difference, especially. Need to keep those numbers same ball park or better again if at all possible.

Our league gate income has increased by about 25% this season compared to last which probably amounts to £200K plus the TJF £160K. Those two are a pretty decent start to making that improvement.

Bump!

Useful to remember the context behind that £356k figure: Despite unbudgeted c£280k Rangers Cup income (which has no equivalent this year) Despite the Academy subsidising the Club's wage bill by almost £100k (which no longer happens) So in reality, a 2022-23 structural deficit well in excess of £700k on a 4th place finish (or about £600-620k on a 3rd place finish) If you get that down to less than 1/3 of that in one season, that's a pretty drastic improvement, even allowing for £160k or so of "new" income in the form of TJF's pledge. No football club losing that kind of money returns to break-even overnight. Not without incredibly creative accounting. Football budgets are very volatile things in our league, especially when a club is cash-poor. But even on worst case scenarios the Club's financial position is materially stronger today than it was 12 months ago. Quite considerably. The "worst case" scenarios finance-wise now are probably better than what the "best case" scenarios were twelve months ago.

Colin Steven - the only fair and competent official to regeree the Jags! Pity though, if anyone from the SPL reads the statistics above that's Steven's career down the swanny!

They are now reporting under 500 tickets remaining. Lets make sure we maximise the number of Thistle fans at the game: https://tickets.ptfc.co.uk/packages/LZEmOKzmpW/e/rEPGY9wG1D

My own favourite goal was scored in 1963 at Firhill in a top of the table clash Kilmarnock which resulted in a 3-2 ?win forvthe Jags. Attacking the Northy end McParland received the ball out on the left-wing (I think from one of our defenders), carried it forward a few paces and passed inside to Neil Duffy. He also carried the ball forward before again passing inside to Billy Hainey. He did likewise then passed to Gordon Whitelaw who in turn passed outside to Ian Cowan who by this time was at the right hand corner of the penalty area on thev18byard line. Cowan took a few steps forward and blasted the ball high into the net for what I think was the winning goal. So the ball was move at speed in a diagonal left to right direction with Cowan applying the perfect finish. A goal right from the training ground. When the ball hit net it brought the house down. Sadly the newspapers, the main source of news in the early 1960s, hardly made anything of this great goal. Had the goal been scored by the Rangers forward line of Henderson. McMillan, Miller, Brand and Wilson I am sure the whole football world would have heard about it.

I was there. I recall attacking the Northy end he got the ball on the half way line out by what is now the Jackie Husband stand. He set off on a run, swerving right and left beating one united player after another and then belting the ball into the goal from I think just outside the 6 yard box. Not sure about this last bit as it could have been about 12 yards from goal. I read one report years ago saying that Dan walked the ball into the goal but I don't recall that. What a goal and what a player.

Online tickets are on sale for those that can't make Tuesday night's game or will be in a rush arriving at the game so want to get this done in advance: https://tickets.ptfc.co.uk/packages/LZEmOKzmpW/e/9lJGVoe8Er Good Luck!

We are generally getting closer. It always has to be borne in mind that we are playing full-time teams who are going full tilt trying to win the league and therefore will not be letting up one iota. Full credit to the team again. If they can take even a small further step forward next season that would be yet another incredible achievement.

This. We'd even settle for a second class ARR Craib Cup!

The stated position of the Board after the AGM was that it was possible and indeed was expected. "A three-year-plan to improve on the loss of £355,834 reported for the year ending May 2023 was shared with shareholders. This plan will see a greatly reduced loss posted for this year assuming the club finishes in the play-offs and makes no further progress in the Scottish Cup, unlike the case with progress resulting in the tie against Rangers last season. The managed loss for this season as part of our turnaround plan will be followed by a breakeven for next season with profits expected beyond then. This will be achieved through a combination of growing commercial revenues, improved hospitality offerings and increased attendance at Firhill. The board are developing strategic plans to unlock these new revenues." I am now concerned that we are being softened up for a change in direction. If we can't come up with a sustainable break even budget then lets not mess about with a £80K loss and no promotion. Lets channel our inner Dundee and make a huge loss but actually win the league. Making losses, even if less than the last year's, and still being in the Championship is the worst of both worlds.

A 3-0 defeat today, it was 1-0 for a long period but 2 mistakes were punished late on.

Kind of want us to play our first League Cup game on Sunday 30th June just so Brian Graham can keep his streak going.

Some great stats. Can we request that Colin Steven is the ref for our remaining matches this season ?

This season the Club was budgeting for a six figure loss assuming playoffs (as trailed at AGM). Can’t comment on future seasons in the specific yet, as there are live budget discussions between the Club and Trustees at the moment. But it shouldn’t surprise anyone that it’s almost impossible to break even in this league no matter what your footballing performance unless (a) your team is part time (like Arbroath) (b) you set a relegation budget and drastically exceed that performance (like I suspect Airdrie have done this year) (c) you have exceptionally high sources of commercial revenue (like St Johnstone did many moons ago) or (d) you get a very very good cup run or Old Firm Cup tue (like Morton did last year). For a Club like Thistle, genuinely breaking even on pessimistic footballing assumptions while remaining competitive for the play-offs is virtually impossible. Clubs with similar budget to ours: Raith Rovers, Dunfermline, Inverness CT, Queen’s Park. All will, I am reasonably certain, post six figure losses for financial year 2023-24 (some may even post seven figure losses) once you strip out interventions from their owners.

I thought it might be along those lines. I realise no boom or bust, which is what it should be.

I would assume there may be a slight deficit or close to break even if we were to go up for the accounts that season then we would have a Premiership budget that would take that into account whilst in the top flight. So no boom and bust.

Live on BBC ALBA, keep the sound turned up and catch up on the Gaelic.

Just asking and not wanting to start a big discussion that results on a further 24 pages or so about our finances. As our stated aim is to break even, is it still likely for us to get promoted, either this season or in the future. Or i take it our aim is to do both ?

That is indeed astonishing. At the same time rather worrying on an eggs and basket basis.

Videos, reaction, reports, stats and whatnot all in place... Thistle 2 Airdrie 1 → DANGEROUS DUO ● Aidan Fitzpatrick becomes the first Jag (since our assists records began more than 10 years ago) to register double figures in both the goals and the assists column (11 & 10) in a single season. ● Brian Graham's opener means that he has now scored in a 16th (SIXTEENTH) consecutive month for Partick Thistle in competitive action. With a competitve game from last June, it's a freak-streak, but no surprise to us all the same! ● 78-goal Brian Graham enters the All-Time Top 20 of Partick Thistle's competitive goalscorers. ● 8-goal Brian Graham is now Thistle's third most prolific hitman vs. Airdrieonians; only Willie Sharp (18) and Willie Paul (9) have gone beyond that in competitive action. ● Brian Graham & Aidan Fitzpatrick - jointly acknowledged this week with a Thistle Pin - have an astonishing 49 (FORTY NINE) goals or assists between them this season, with Thistle having scored 84 goals in all competitions so far. ● Stuart Bannigan goes shoulder-to-shoulder with Kris Doolan on 403 competitive appearances (both also aligned on 401 'major competitive' appearances). Only 13 men have went further. ● Thistle have won 7-in-a-row when Colin Steven has been the referee! ● Airdrie become the most-consecutively-beaten club on Thistle territory in all of history. 11-in-a-row takes over from the 10-in-a-row vs. Raith Rovers (1912-1924). ● 4 of those who returned for the play-offs - Brian Graham, Luke McBeth, Aaron Muirhead & David Mitchell - continue 9 games unbeaten in all competitions. ongoing sequences: ● 37 consecutive competitive appearances for Lewis Neilson, 15th Sep 2023 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Steven Lawless - 60 games, 18th Feb 2023 to 6th Apr 2024. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

That’s because SPFL don’t claim a cut for the other playoffs. They don’t contribute to the parachute regime. We’d have been well within our rights to do it for Firhill but I don’t think we’ve ever done it in modern times as the place is never consistently much fuller unless OF come calling.