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This is increasingly coming across as a very bitter vendetta against the current board/manager and a blind defence of the previous manager. Most of your last post there is not even worth engaging with it's so baseless. You are now dragging down every thread you appear in with your incessant arguments which detract from the sensible points you do have (which are in there somewhere).

On the merits of the transfer dealings, firstly I don't buy that McCall was some sort of genius. He got some absolute duds as well as some decent and some average players. On the whole, pretty average. I think that Doolan has been a bit unlucky. Alston, McInroy and Robinson all looked good on paper and have played at a higher level, so should have been better than they have been. For some reason it hasn't worked out at Thistle and we have a long history of players who were good elsewhere, before and after their time with us (and equally some who were great for us, but failed elsewhere). Ngwenya and Adeloyi both looked to be decent signings, and nobody was sad to see Dowds leave. That said, the gaffer needs to do better next summer as we always looked to be very light weight at the back, and this must be addressed. But the biggest difference between McCall and Doolan is hope. Under McCall, you always thought this was as good as it was going to get. With Doolan he has time to learn from and rectify his mistakes and I still think that he has the nous to get us to the Premier League, maybe not this season, but a good shot at it next. That said, he needs to do something to halt this horrific run, and I'm not sure he has too many options other than changing the keeper. McBeth is an interesting one. I don't think he has played that bad, but maybe his role disrupts the midfield.

I know mate irs just so annoying throwing away that money and we did throw it away after being 2-0 down While there will be a decent crowd at this Saturdays game and against raith and Morton I can’t help but think they would be absolutely bumper crowds and very useful for the income if it was not for our appalling results recently. Again we have completely thrown away the chance of bumper crowds as opposed to them being fairly decent The club truly has been masters of completely throwing away the chance of a lot of additional revenue in 2024

Glad we finally cleared that up.

After losing Turner, Holt, Docherty and Tiffany, our core vest players by a country mile i thought mid table was the best we could wish for. We had no money got told how we were literally going out of business if it wasn't for the Rangers game. I was amazed we could sign anyone pre season so anything was a bonus. Let's just take some humble pie here we are scoring goals for fun and keeping ourselves in a play off position. We are shipping goals and we can't get Oreily onto the pitch as he is injured. Reading the posts about sacking the board and the manager is delusional. Neither of them are responsible for the fact that Neilson in all the goals I watched back is just not a defender but more a footballer. The Livingston game was horrific defending. I'd happily give Williams a shot but I'm worried we would still ship 3. It is what it is at the moment we are still in 3rd and we are still ahead. We were never going to challenge fir the league and the fact we created a big buffer in 3rd was a credit to the attacking play and goals as all teams are going to go through poor spells. Wait till the end of the season before any changes ridiculous to suggest them now when in.my opinion we are in a miracle 3rd considering our goals against.

I outrank you by a few years having first attended estadio firhill in 1956. I am currently receiving treatment for cancer so I might never manage along again. But supporting thistle over the decades has been one of the great joys of my life. Like The Beatles, a nice Shiraz, playing in the snow with my weans and more recently grandweans. I have loved being a Jag and being surrounded by fellow jags at firhill. We might not have the best team in our history at the present time but, by god, they're MY team and I'm mighty proud of them...

You put some Deep Thought into that. Must read those books again!

i've been reading and following all the posts re fan ownership and now this ma heid is buzzin JJ to make a posting about kris doolan is to me well ?? to question his commitment to the the jags is reallly unaceptable Kris was given the managers job he accepted we got to the playoffs last season this season without a much reduced budget we are still in the playoffs let's get behind the team and the manager if this is not good enough for you well JJ move on I am tired of all this negativity re my team and yes I've been a a jags supporter since the late 50's

They typically have a very modest impact (less than the impact of, for example, finishing 2nd instead of 3rd) because a significant proportion of ticket revenue goes directly to the SPFL and most Clubs' bonus structures pay out more to players depending on performances in the play-offs themselves.

If you can’t be infuriated supporting the Jags then you’re supporting the wrong team.

In my opinion and I'm not his biggest fan, I thought we was pretty good from the Arbroath game to the Livi game. Since then he's went back to his norm. Either way he should be by now someone that is no longer an automatic pick. Bad enough this season had been Bannigan plus 2 others in midfield but if this season is about transition we need to we phasing him out by this point to ensure next season he's backup

When was Bannigans purple patch apart from Ross County in the cup?

Doolan like most young managers won't be slow in asking advice from the experienced. I recollect he more or less said so. Also saying he's not got a shortage of appropriate contacts. That said both comments above are more than relevant. I'm thinking it's not just defensive coaching we need but also someone to play bad cop to Doolan's good cop. I look at some other relatively inexperienced managers in the division. Imrie, Scott Brown, Duncan F & McPake all have something in common Kris lacks. Throw in Jim Goodwin for good measure and there's five that I'm sure will be able to play the role of bad cop with ease. For balance we require some hard to please, greeting face bugger, who'll not be the least bit slow to get his message across from the dugout. As long as Mr Bad Cop knows his stuff from a defensive point of view.

Just watched the goals again (I don't know why I do it to myself) First one Fitzpatrick gets shown up by McAllister. That is quite an achievement Second one I don't know what Bannigan is marking he just seems to be guarding the corner of the box. McInroy doesn't follow his runner. Third one. Muirhead just lets his man run off him and Stewart has had a flap at a ball he's never getting Fourth one. Milne plays a fairless aimless pass infield when he could have sent it down the line and asked Ayr to defend it. McBeth stands on the ball, Neilson backs off too far and then Stewart has a wee lie down. Apart from McBeth standing on the ball I think I've seen these all before. McBeth and perhaps Neilson have an excuse as they are relatively inexperienced but all the others making mistakes are experienced pro's Last season Fitzpatrick looked a much better player playing in a 4-4-2 with Holt playing as an orthodox leftback. I'm not convinced the combination of Milne and Fitzpatrick works. Bannigan is after a wee purple patch reverting to his norm. Muirhead is really out of form. McInroy has ability but to me looks not fully committed. I think we really need to solidify the team so I think we should be looking at something like this for United Mitchell McMillan-Williams-Neilson-Milne Lawless-McBeth-Robinson-Ngwenya Graham-Fitzpatrick

He got the job mid-season, it was his first managerial role, the club was in a mess, his dad died, he had limited backroom staff, he was wholly occupied on managing the team into and through an extended set of play-offs games, he lost the services of arguably the club's four best players. There was uncertainty over budget/funds available. Then he had a shorter close season once he knew what division we'd be in, to sort out contracts for remaining players and recruit. How can you possibly conclude that Doolan doesn't know what he's doing recruitment wise based on last summer? There isn't a manager out there who gets recruitment 100% right. It is unfair not to take the context in to account.

Right, who had "Socratic logic" on their Thistle Patter bingo cards? 😁

That’s maybe how business worked in the Victorian age, but not in the 21st century.. Every person at every level makes mistakes except 2 categories, liars and folk who do nothing. If a culture is bred where a mistake gets you booted, then mistakes are hidden, decisions never taken and you can’t keep staff or attract staff. Plus company basically stops as no one will make that call due to it potentially being their last. The encouragement to learn from mistakes and be open about them is written into the guiding policies for most businesses within their 9001/9100 systems, HR and ethical protocols. In all the businesses I deal with I have never seen a culture of make a mistake and be fired, continually make them yes, break cardinal rules yes, but not have a culture where folk are terrified to make a decision in case it’s wrong then they are gone. And as an ex Shop Steward the movement would never had allowed that to exist either.

Interesting point about BBC TV coverage Norgethistle. Is it correct clubs don't get anything for being televised? Seems strange any club would have agreed to that given that it only results in less income overall. Can clubs "refuse" to be selected? BBC must be pleased with the outcome. There have been some decent matches this season - ironically including Thistle's.