Leaderboard

Ok, Jim, as promised I had a couple of glasses of Shiraz and came up with some memories. As I said, meeting Tommie Smith was an honour and a privilege. Nadia Comaneci had a tale or two to tell. How ceaucescu's son (her enforced boyfriend) tore out her fingernails in a fit of jealousy when she returned from a tour of the States where she appeared on every chat show. She eventually drank bleach in a failed attempt to take her own life.. Navratilova was a delight. Evert less so...mcenroe was a delight, Connors less so...palmer was a delight, Nicklaus less so. The rudest was formula one champion Jacques Villeneuve. Stirling Moss the most charming, even advising me what bottle(s) of wine to bring to our interview. I ghost wrote Nick faldo's 'autobiography' and never got to know him, whilst working with Sandy Lyle on his book was a joy. I was a very lucky lad, being paid to attend Olympics, world cups, Wimbledon, open golf championships etc but nothing - and I mean NOTHING - compares to my memories of attending estadio firhill as a small laddie with my dad.

Hi everyone Over the weekend I was very outspoken in relation to the Sporting Director recruitment post and in particular Levi Gill and Iain Baraclough. Levi very kindly reached out to me about it - which he didn’t need to do and provided a detailed account of the procedure around it and other concerns I had, again he did not need to do that. I have no idea who the sporting director will be but I should add when he or she is announced I will not be concerned with how the process was done to appoint them. We will obviously have our own choices or preferences which is understandable but I thank Levi for reaching out in relation to my concerns in relation to the appointment and also clarifying with me my comments where I unfairly mentioned my concerns about potential bias with a candidate. I was too quick to Jump to conclusions. While I very much love my club and always will do I have been very vocal with comments made and at times it could possibly be seen as confrontational and some posters may feel I have even come across as aggressive with and therefore apologise if I have. Whenever he or she is unveiled I have no concerns regarding the recruitment process for the SD, obviously everyone here will have their own preference. As probably the most vocal poster in relation to the SD appointment it’s only right that I jumped the fine line from being a committed and passionate fan into not being in possession of all the fact or processes involved which in turn no doubt unfortunately upset people and was disparaging towards Levi’s role in the process. Apologies to any upset I caused on here and await with interest to see whoever he or she will be

Iike every jags' fan i would have preferred to win 7-3 playing in the manner if Real Madrid. But fitzy ain't no puskas (although similar in shape) so I'm happy with a grubby win on a horrible afternoon. Might watch the ,'highlights' tomorrow rather than full replay. Tonight I have a full glass and our jags have full points. As most of you know I am terminally ill and wins like today give me a little lift. Jags forever...

TJF will be compiling and submitting some questions for written answer which we'll make available on the website (once we in turn get the answers) that came from fans ahead of the AGM. Some were asked, but time obviously didn't allow for everything. However, some personal reflections from my own notes In terms of the official business: (a) all directors re-appointed (b) auditors re-appointed (c) Tranche 2 special resolution passed by the necessary majority There was a presentation delivered by the Club Board: Finances Richard Beastall (Chair) delivered the finance report, which forecasts the current season will deliver the targeted losses. There is some ringfenced spending on stadium repairs which is separate and will come out of the Tranche 2 funds. Some preparatory work has been done by the Club Board on next season's budget, and would see the playing budget revert to 2023-24 levels. This is early stage and still needs stress tested. The biggest uncertainty remains footballing performance, as prize-money differences for league position in the top 5 vary by about £90-100k per position, and that can be the difference between (frankly) making a profit and losing a six-figure sum. Tranche 2 should mean, according to the forecasts, that if we run break-even budgets and deliver them from next year onwards, there shouldn't be cashflow problems, though with some stadium repairs being brought forward into this season, the cash low-point looks to be somewhat lower than is optimal. One to monitor. A lot of the Q&A focused on the reality of getting to break-even, with some discussion about where lessons can be learned from other Clubs (both on cost control and revenue generation). There's an acknowledgment that hospitality and commercial growth aren't (yet) happening on the desired scale, but there's specific opportunities for up-side next season on the front-of-shirt sponsor (which is up for renewal). The Board was pressed on whether they would consider a Zero Based Budgeting exercise to try to identify where costs can be better controlled. They expressed an openness to this, provided that relevant expertise and capacity to do so can be secured from the wider support. There was some discussion about the impact of the recent employers' National Insurance increases, which puts about £60kpa on the wage costs for the Club. The impact of this is different for football clubs than for other SMEs as they typically have a lot of match-day only staff who are below the thresholds. Football The finance report covered off some football matters, including Harry Milne's sale (actual numbers don't get reported because of contractual non-disclosure provisions between the Clubs and player). Questions were raised about the football committee and summer recruitment strategy. I think it's fair to say that the Club Board fronted-up that it was, in hindsight, a bit of an exaggeration to call it a "football committee" in the first place. It was a label used to describe the fact that the Club Board would provide support to the football manager with contract negotiations and the practicalities of recruitment, whilst Kris Doolan would, with help from his assistant and various other football contacts, identify and select the desired recruits. The directors mainly involved in that side were Richard Beastall, Donald McClymont and Elliot Gilmour. The Board has readily accepted that this approach hasn't worked as intended, and has led to some sub-optimal recruitment decisions, and won't be sticking with it. The Sporting Directors' role is a key part of those future plans, to support the manager on both the recruitment side and better integrating the Academy pathway. The budget allocation for which is still a matter of live discussion (as it will influence what kind of candidate the Club can attract). I was personally quite impressed with the willingness of Kris Doolan (who was at the AGM) to take ownership of his recruitment decisions. He (frankly) didn't have to be there, but he fronted-up, was articulate and appreciated the constraints within which a sustainable football club has to operate. Whatever folk think of his objective performance this season as a manager, it's clear he's learned and is still learning a lot about that side of the game, and he's a genuine ambassador for our Club. Governance Elliot Gilmour spoke a bit to how the Club proposed to bring its Corporate Governance Manual to life, and developing meaningful KPIs for different parts of the business. He reflected on some supporter engagement work that had helped to shape a 5-year strategy. It was emphasised that a big part of making this work depended on getting supporters involved in the Strategic Working Groups, to build capacity and expertise around the Club leadership team. There was a particularly excellent contribution from the floor by Tim Burrows, who has recently been recruited to support the Finance Working Group. Some of you may remember he was one of those asking awkward (but pertinent) questions at the Tranche 2 open meeting. Speaking personally, I think this demonstrates that the Club's door is open to challenge, and keen to work with people beyond the immediate circle. Women's Team Caroline Mackie gave a summary around the women's team's progress, and it wasn't really discussed further in the Q&A. In short, as we all know, they had an absolute barnstormer of a season last year, attendances rose by about 50% and several new commercial partnerships were secured (which is why, a modest subsidy from the Club aside, they pretty much washed their faces financially last year). Academy Elliot Gilmour gave an overview of the Academy. There continues to be competitive success in competitions (including the U16s CAS Cup and U18s Foyle Cup). Additionally, both Ceiran Loney and Haydon Borland's sales have been a huge boost to the Academy budget, making it completely self-funding. This releases a contingency that the Club might otherwise have had to draw-on. There is a real push in the Academy to make better use of technology to monitor player development, including the use of a player development app (we are apparently the first academy in Scotland to deploy it). There's also some work with a new AI analysis tool called Eyeball, to build in data analysis for the U13-18 pathway. Commercial Alistair Gray gave the overview of the commercial side of the business. It was acknowledged that there had been a sluggish start to the year on both commercial and hospitality revenue streams, but that they were now recovering (particularly around occupancy rates in hospitality). Part of the challenge has been discontinuity in staffing arrangements to support those parts of the business, which recent and new recruitment should begin to address ahead of next season. There's a bit of a call to arms on supporter involvement here, as the more voluntary support in terms of the office that can be provided, the better targeted we can be with paid staff towards revenue-generating activities. Alistair has been leading on the Club's university and colleges engagement programme and aspects of those partnerships could deliver some commercial up-side in the longer term (as well has helping with fan acquisition). Stadium Allan McGraw gave an overview of some of the work that needs to be done on the stadium in the next couple of years, part of which will be funded out of the Tranche 2 funds, and some work is expected before the end of this season. There wasn't much discussion about stadium issues otherwise. Other There were some very valid questions about quality of customer service at the Club (unanswered phones and emails) which they are working on (it's a capacity issue). Some fans raised concerns about the Morton fans in hospitality causing aggro. The Club acknowledged this isn't the first time this has happened and are reflecting on the best way to deal with this without turning away paying customers.

I have chosen my team for tomorrow night. I am sure that others can do better: ARCTIC THISTLE John Chillcoat or Conor Blizzard Ricky Froster Derek White Abdul Snowman James Penguin-ice Ice-axe English Cold McKinnon Aidan Fitzbaltic Chris Eskimo Ade A-freeze Kris Coolan

We (TJF/Trustees) have always tried to be open and transparent and to answer questions and provide answers to the best of our ability on this forum. Unless anyone on here has any objections, I'm now not going to reply to Jordanhill Jag on this thread. The fact that I've not responded should not be taken by anyone to mean that anything he has stated is true. If anyone else has a question about an assertion of fact, or about Tranche 2, or about the Club's finances, we are happy to answer them to the best of our ability and as far as commercial confidentiality obligations allow. You can contact the Trust by email ([email protected]) or TJF by email ([email protected]). It is clear that regardless of what information is provided, or any attempts to engage with the substance of any points, Jordanhill Jag is determined to spam this forum with the same talking points, and to ignore or wilfully misunderstand and misrepresent our attempts to provide greater transparency for other supporters. If you have any concerns about this approach, please don't hesitate to get in touch. But frankly, I've had enough of trying to engage in good faith with someone who is determined not to reciprocate.

I'm personally pleased to see that the Club supports fan groups that are focused on making Firhill a more inclusive environment for groups traditionally marginalised by football. Indeed, the Club's current anti-discrimination policy, which was adopted as far back as February 2018, when those well known left-wing woke-nonsense ideologues David Beattie and Ian Maxwell were (respectively) Chair and CEO of the Football Club, commits Partick Thistle to: "confront and eliminate discrimination whether by reason of sex, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnic origin, colour, religion or disability." And to develop a: "programme of ongoing training and awareness raising events and activities aimed at promoting the eradication of discrimination within its own organisation and within the wider football community" These are commendable goals and are to be applauded. Just as the Club has publicly associated itself with anti-racism (Show Racism the Red Card), disability inclusion (with a thriving Disabled Supporters' Association), and anti-sexism (being the first club in Scotland with a Her Game Too Ambassador) I am proud to see that Partick Thistle has chosen to position itself as LGBT+ inclusive as well, and that gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people are being made to feel welcome as spectators at Firhill. There is absolutely no suggestion here that, by waving a trans rights flag, someone is therefore endorsing the view that trans-women should be allowed to participate in female sports, or making any demands to that effect. The basic message that Proud Jags were promoting on Saturday was, on the contrary, about promoting the long-established UK-wide campaign Football v Homophobia, which has a month of action during LGBT+ history month. If you think that the wider football community doesn't have inclusion issues for LGBT+ people then the chances are you're one of the reasons why it does. I would encourage those who think that this is somehow being "forced down their throats" to reflect on why, when countless other sports have plenty of "out" gay men as professional players, Scottish Football has just one in the entire pyramid. Put yourself in the shoes of (say) any member of the LGBT+ community at Firhill, and how it makes them feel when Partick Thistle shows, very publicly, that they are welcome and won't be judged because of who they are.

With this site closing down in a few days, i would just like to say the above post from @Lindau sums up the forum and Thistle as a club for me. Robert never got home and many of the tributes from Thistle and fellow fans, including the plaque in the John Lambie Stand would not have happened if it wasn't for this forum. Thank you to everybody who contributed Robert and Eunice Watson.

Good reason to post this picture again, taken 2016.

This will be my first in-person game for about seven years, and about fifth in total since I first got dragged to a Thistle game by a crazed/far-sighted distant relative in 1975. Since then it's been a mixture of (mostly) spills and (irregular) thrills following Thislte from Australia but I've loved every romantic moment of being a Jags fan. Let's hope I'm a lucky charm.

Looks like you cannot "like" or otherwise react to an Admin post! This is just to say "Noted and Understood", and "Many thanks and much appreciated".

I think he is then out of contract, so that will be the last we see. Good move for the big man as he will get regular game time. Aero has been a great servant to the club over 2 spells and I wish him well in whatever comes next

It's hard not to be reactionary after a result and performance like that and I haven't read any of the above so apologies if this has been stated before, here are some of my thoughts on leaving Firhill tonight. 1. We were outfought, outthought and outplayed from the first whistle. 2. Doolan has no ability to change a game in our favour. We may have changed a player at half time but the players were sent back out in the exact same formation as the one that was battered in the first half. We then wait until the magic 70 minutes before making a sub when we are clearly going nowhere that leaves us so devoid of shape we may as well have just ended the game there. 3. The application and fight shown by some Thistle players today was embarrassing. I can handle getting beat, I can't handle the clear downing of tools when that 3rd goal went in. Our so called leaders in Ashcroft and Graham should have been rallying the troops, instead we had Ashcroft blaming anyone but himself for the goals we lost and Graham didn't utter a word. Ashcroft has been great recently but he was shocking today. 4. Charlie Sayers is looking very much like another to join the long list of English academy players that can't handle Scottish football. He's young and has played very little football but he is so passive and lacks zero aggression which is what you need as standard at our level. To be fair to him, he had zero help from the guy in front of him. To hand him a 3 year deal seems pretty naïve at the moment. 5. I've said all I need to say about Fitzpatrick before, an absolute waste of talent. Perhaps it is the way we are playing but he was a man down from the off. The ref better check behind him when he gets home, that is where Fitzy spent his whole game hiding. 6. I'll give some credit to Dan O'Reilly. Stuck out on the left by himself for the whole of the second half, he never stopped plugging away. I'm not one for shouting for a manager's head but Doolan must be coming under serious scrutiny now. We have an expensive squad, we have decent players who are seriously underperforming and we are losing games now due to managers knowing exactly how Doolan sets his team up. I'd feel more confident if Doolan was learning from his mistakes but he isn't. We play the same team by and large every week regardless of result. The guys on the bench must be wondering how they get a chance. Pretty scunnering end and start to 24/25.

In 1914 and 1939, when the nation needed men and women to serve in the country’s armed forces, Partick Thistle FC were one of the many clubs whose players and former players became soldiers, sailors and airmen, and not all of them came home. Seventeen Jagsmen paid the ultimate price serving their country. We commemorate them all in our feature piece, 'The Partick Thistle Fallen', updated for remembrance Sunday, 2024. The Partick Thistle Fallen →

We will be bringing a couple of hundred strong group to the game on Saturday of players and parents to give many of them their first taste of senior football. (Although plenty of Thistle fans in the group). We are a club based the north and west of the city and play in Scotstoun Stadium, have been running for a couple of years and have 150+ girls aged between 6-16 training and playing each week. We have competitive and community teams and are always looking for new players, so check out the website or come and see us on Saturday if you are interested. https://phoenixgirlsfc.co.uk/ So if you see a bright pink top on Saturday you know who they are and hopefully they are converted to lifelong Thistle fans 😉🔴🟡⚫

Very enjoyable day out in a relaxed location. Great for those with young children, as you could wander about anywhere and the grassy bank on the far side from the stand was nicely angled to provide an excellent view. First half we were very sound defensively with Bud in goal and Ashcroft and O'Reilly at centre back mopping up everything. Reading looks a good acquisition at left back. You could see that he was an experienced player who knew what to do. Trialist right back (Cammy Logan?) also impressed and took his goal very well with a shot into the roof of the net when anything lower might have been saved or blocked. Lawless looked up for it. McKay eased himself back in to playing football with some nice touches. He was not particularly penetrating but did combine neatly with Falconer to set him up for the first goal. Main disappointments in the first half were Diack, who kept falling over and never got into the game, and Mackenzie. I was willing Zander to do well in centre midfield, but he kept losing possession. Second half was a different game entirely with mainly a different team. The young goalkeeper Cameron has a bit to do yet to become a confidence inspiring back up for Bud, and sadly was at fault for the Glenafton goal, allowing himself to be dispossessed by their striker, who trundled the ball into the net. McBeth tried to co-ordinate the defence, but there were some shaky moments with his young colleagues. Further up the park we were much sharper in midfield and attack, Stanway was very prominent in winning possession and driving the team forward, and seemed to be embracing a leadership role. Fitzpatrick had one electrifying burst where he ate up ground on a defender, but was a bit quiet apart from that. Chalmers was excellent and the go to player through whom most effective attacks were directed. To me the main and perhaps surprising encouragement was young Thomas Horn at centre forward. Unlike Diack, he gave the defence no peace and was up and at them the whole time. Took his goal brilliantly, powering past the goalkeeper and firing home confidently from a challenging angle. Unlucky not to score more. It would be great to see him really kick on this season. Not the most robust of games, just an understandably gentle easing in, but several encouraging signs to keep us all optimistic!

1. It 2.Is 3. Far 4.Too 5. Early 6. For 7. These 8. Predictions 9.Now 10. Morton

The way I see it the PTFC Board have no experience of running a football club apart from what has been learned on the job. This left Doolan with little practical support, not even a Maxwell or Britton type mentor. Baraclough has an experience in Scottish, English and International teams (including at u21 level). My hopes are he appoints a manager who will take us up the way, able to work on the budget set out to him. He will work actively on the recruitment side facilitating transfers in and out of the club. Working with the manager sign players that are going to have an impact and not just squad fillers. Streamlining the player budget and utilising it to maximum effect. Maximise the footballing teams within the club to run as efficiently as possible. Having a gateway for academy and apprentices to the first team will be a vital part of building a squad this season. It is a tough set of tasks and ones where we have faltered in recent seasons. I wish him luck but hopefully that will augment an ability in the role in following a setout strategy. Good luck Mr Baraclough.

I do not believe that losing Brian Graham next season necessarily means we are losing a 20-goal-a-season striker in the metaphorical sense. Despite having such a prolific scorer, we only managed one more goal than Morton this season. For me, that highlights the real issue, which is our one-dimensional approach. Everything is geared towards getting the ball wide and crossing it to Graham. Our midfield is completely ineffective when it comes to creating chances through the middle. The fact that Bannigan and Crawford, our two mainstays in central midfield, failed to score a single goal between them all season is frankly embarrassing. It also says a lot about our recruitment strategy. Look at Morton. Their more defensive central midfielders, Blues and Lyall, managed to score seven goals between them. That is the kind of contribution we are sorely lacking. If Graham does move on, we need to focus on changing both our playing style and our recruitment approach. A 20-goal-a-season striker is far easier to replace if the midfield can contribute a fair share of goals. Falkirk did not win the league with a particularly prolific centre forward. They did it by not relying on one focal point and instead having four players who each scored at least eight goals. While Graham’s goals have undoubtedly carried us, they have also kept us stuck playing in a predictable way. If he is not here next season, I am genuinely interested to see how the new coach reshapes our attack. He might not be as big a loss as some fear, provided a few of our attack-minded players step up and find the net.

The Great Unpredictables...The Coupon Busters...The Maryhill Magyars...what a team. I really should know better after 65 years of supporting The Jolly Jags. No matter what happens next, our defence over the last 180 plus minutes has been utterly brilliant. We frequently discuss our great forwards on this site but the lads who conceded but one goal against the two best teams in the league stand as tall as Jimmy Davidson, sandy brown, Jackie Campbell, Alan Hansen and so many memorable others. The sun is in the sky this morning, The Jags are in the playoffs, and I feel G..R..E..A..T. I love all you thistle fans out there ..

Young Robert really enjoyed going to concerts and thankfully he managed to get to quite a lot. In 2009 with the help of a charity that was started by ex goalie Bob Wilson and his wife, we got to a Coldplay concert at Hampden. The charity sent us tickets and also arranged for us to meet Coldplay before the concert. They spent about 15 minutes chatting and getting photos with us and also signing Robert's concert programme. I have nothing but praise for them to take the time to meet a fan and his parents just before they went on stage at a sell out concert. Below is one of the many photos we took that day, that shows us with the band. It was a very enjoyable concert and a great memory.

I was there on Tuesday. Have had a busy week since! I took quick notes on the iPhone and have now put these into some semblance of order as below. Apologies that the formatting has not quite come through as I would have hoped. This is not an official record and no doubt there is a lot I have omitted, misunderstood or unfairly edited. It does not come with any agenda and should not be used to promote anyone else's agenda, as there will have been further explanatory or qualifying comments I have not recorded. Anyway, hopefully it is of some help. Please do not shoot the messenger! PARTICK THISTLE FOOTBALL CLUB BOARD QUESTION & ANSWER 27/08/2024 SUMMARY OF TOPICS ADDRESSED 1. INTRODUCTORY FROM THE WRITER • Notes by supporter in attendance-no official role • Not a court stenographer-not pretend to be complete/comprehensive record • Questioners and answerers not identified to avoid data protection issues • Random of mixture of questions/comments pre-submitted and from the room • Have tried to group by topic which may not coincide with chronological order • To paraphrase Eric Morecambe, I may have played most of the right notes, but not necessarily in the correct order 2. BOARD • Brief introductions (including new General Manager) • Turnover/stability of board members and senior employees • Transparency-more and better communication will come • Improved customer service to fans o Answer phones and return calls more efficiently o Replying more quickly to email and other communications • Corporate Governance Manual-skills based recruitment process • 5 Year Vision document • Some similarity to Exeter City approach • Look to replace expertise/input re hospitality • Unusual to function without Chairperson. Have thus far worked well collegially but will keep under review • Work with TJF on Fans’ Charter • Fan experience forum • Fair Game Index encouraging, but can do better in several areas 3. FINANCES • Aspiration to be mid-table Premiership club competing regularly in Europe • Cannot keep going back to investor (who seems to have other friends/contacts also willing to invest) • Build infrastructure and revenue streams so that continued investment not needed • Unexpected operations to treat injuries contributed to previous losses. Injuries unfortunate-not due to any inadequacy in Garscube facilities • Tough to break even in Championship. Huge disparity with Premiership income • Impossibility of competing effectively for promotion without investing in squad • Disparity in prize money per place in table. Low budget means low finish and consequently less to spend next season • Measured decision to invest more in team this season. Window of opportunity when no big budget big beast in Championship • Budget now for £280K loss this season, then review. Not sustainable long term • Tranche 2 is on the table-decision is for fans-if voted down, cash flow can be managed for this season, but player budget would be substantially reduced next season • After Tranche 2 club would still be 65% fan owned. Money is for infrastructure, not control • Anticipated increase in commercial revenues • Maximise existing offerings: o Season tickets-generally on track with last season which was huge increase on norm-Euros expense contributed to lag in take up o Hospitality o Lotto • JagZone paywall unfortunate but is substantial contributor to revenue. 700 subscribers. More and better digital content promised. • Losing revenue due to smaller away supports this season • Unlikely further pre-window signing unless exceptional opportunity presents itself. Already have best squad in league despite disappointing early results • Every effort made to retain best players. Not always possible to match rival offers • Women’s team helped by success of men’s team. Full time a long way off. Have come so far so fast but difficult to make next leap when budget a fraction of leading 5 competitors • General encouragement to support club and team in every way possible. Have to work together to be competitive. 4. ENCOURAGING/WELCOMING NEW SUPPORTERS • General theme of inclusiveness/absolutely everybody rather than segmenting. Within that try to attract specific groupings: o Women/girls/younger children-growing market with huge further potential  Improved toilet facilities absolutely essential  Face-painting came up numerous times  More entertainment  Women’s team support good way in o Students-new initiatives o Kids football teams-pester power o Visitors to Glasgow, especially those here over a weekend and looking for easily accessible football  ensure PTFC represented on relevant visitor websites  better signage locally o OF families looking for a less toxic environment-evidence that this is gaining traction o Disabled Supporters o LGBTQ/Proud Jags o Public transport users-unfortunately First Bus removed offer. Seemed to be used by many not necessarily going to Firhill! 5. STADIUM • Not considering move from Firhill (would require fan vote) • Keep city end/bing development under review, but no immediate plans. Not need more seats or hospitality areas • Jackie Husband and Main Stands requiring increasing maintenance • Roof repairs • Broken seats • Adverts on stair risers • “Sweat the asset”-make more use of facilities all week round • Separate training ground not a realistic prospect Pyrotechnics-dangers emphasised

Not for a while. He pulled his hamstring next Tuesday.

This is all actually quite straightforward to answer. In February 2024 (note more than a month after the last Club AGM) the Club and Trustees signed the Club-Trust Agreement, which spent two months out for consultation to fans before that. It was prominently drawn to the attention of all season ticket holders, TJF and Jags Trust members, and indeed the fans more generally. The CTA sets out a range of reserved matters which require Trustee (and in some cases, Beneficiary) approval before the Club Board can take them. This is completely normal at fan owned Clubs, and our own CTA is based on that used by Exeter City. As part of that, Trustee approval is needed for several of the things James Alexander has raised above. In particular, the Club’s budget must be approved in draft by the Trustees before it is formally adopted by the Club Board. The Club Board remains responsible for the content and delivery of the budget, but its broad parameters are subject to Trustee agreement. TJF also held discussions with the Club Board, at the same time, to discuss what we would propose to our members with regard to the Football Club pledge for 2024-25, so that the Club Budget could reflect that. As part of the budget approval process, the Trustees were presented (this year) with two variations of the same budget (both detailed Excel documents with plentiful commercially sensitive information). We were also shown the management accounts and a presentation summarising the key changes planned from the previous year. After we gave some feedback on the budgeting assumptions, and some other business decisions had been set out to us supplementary to those original documents, a revised budget was presented and formally approved in early June. This was the first time we had done a budget exercise under the CTA and there were some key learning points. For example, we agreed, supplementary to the CTA’s terms, that management accounts would be regularly shared with the Trustees, so that we can assess the in-year performance of the finances against start-of-year projections and raise concerns if this deviates drastically. In terms of the scrutiny process, it was mainly Andrew Holloway and me who helped develop the Trustees’ position, with some assistance from Morag on The Jags Trust side. We had a detailed meeting at which five of the then six Club Board members were in attendance. As Andrew said at our AGM, they were all fully engaged with the process and gave detailed and candid views on what they felt was and wasn’t achievable. In terms of major expenditure, you will note that the CTA requires trustee approval in relation to any contract, or series of contracts, amounting to a value greater than £50k. The only carve out here is for footballing employment contracts, which do not need trustee approval. There is also a requirement for consent to be sought to change the role and responsibilities of the CEO/equivalent. When the Club Board signalled its intention to hire Levi as a General Manager, that therefore also required trustee approval. It helped that the Trust had, at the Club Board’s invitation, been involved in the open recruitment process, with Lynsey Kane and Morag McHaffie (respective chairs of the two trustees and in the former case an HR professional) sitting on the interview panels for the recruitment, to ensure that applicants properly fitted the role of a CEO/GM at a fan-owned Club. Ultimately, however, the decision to select Levi as the preferred candidate was (rightly) for the Club Board. Fan owned, but not fan run. So, very simply, the Club is run by its Board and its General Manager, subject to certain decisions requiring the approval of its majority shareholder. Just like any other football club.

Happy new league season all. May @Camallain be one of the more prominent posters after each game in coming 9 months or so. C’mon Jags ❤️💛🖤

Just to echo how much of a godsend this forum has been (well mostly, not necessarily after a disappointing defeat!) but as a hub for discussion with fellow fans since I think the tail end of the first Mccall era about 15 years ago. Through promotion season 12-13 and ensuing years up in the Premiership, this forum was fantastic to have especially when I studied then lived & worked in Germany for a few years. Though I don't know many of you in person I'm bound to have seen some of you at Firhill, in the pub, or laterally serving in Alan Rough Lounge last season (guy that resembled Prince William if you must know). Admin, thank you for all the time & effort you have put into this which is far too easily taken for granted - it has not gone unnoticed 👏

What a fantastic performance - i didnt see it coming. No failures- it was brilliant. amazing from BBG, true jags legend - if you can’t see that, i can’t help you. Never thought we’d see someone else hit 100 goals after doolan, and here we are ten years later and its happened again. cabt compare the 2, as mentioned above, a lot of dools goals came in permier league, often playing up front himself. But he played with much better players that graham has, and also took way longer to do it, what a great but pointless debate to have, they are both legends and im so happy i got to see both their careers

Brian Graham appreciation post

I was not there, but I heard that there was a long delay in the drinks being served. For some reason, the Hamilton goalkeeper had been put in charge of this.

The view seems to be held by several posters on here that, if only some rich benefactor had stepped in, bought up the shares the directors were off-loading and somehow taken us back to the glory-days of Thistle being a huge and successful club, all would be rosy at Firhill. Well it didn't happen. No multi-millionaire came forward with bottomless pockets and offered to fund us out of the financial drain we faced. Fan ownership was one solution and one which a lot of fans were willing to show faith in. A few fans are putting a lot of effort in to making it work and are supported by a large proportion of the rest. This is done with a background of a barrage of constant criticism from a few people who have a dislike of fan-ownership but who never once have come up with any viable alternative.

As an ally (and with 5 female descendants all following Thistle-admittedly one is only a week old and in the USA, and has not had an opportunity to object yet), I would want to give a big shout out to HerGameToo, who will be match ball sponsors, matchday mascot providers and very much in evidence in other ways at the game tomorrow https://ptfc.co.uk/ptfc-news/her-game-too-dedicated-fixture-partick-thistle-v-ayr-united/. Football is indeed a game for all!

Hi admin, as someone who has a terminal illness, I fully appreciate your decision. Football is fun but it truly ain't the most important thing in life. I would like to add my voice to the chorus of thanks for all the time and effort spent on our behalf. Speaking selfishly, you have given me many hours of fun and 'introduced' me to some lovely friends I am never likely to meet in person. So MANY thanks again - it has been greatly appreciated.m.

Just popping in to check whether anything new has been posted in the last 5 pages? No? OK, I'll see you all again in another 5 pages time for an update. 🙋‍♂️

Given it's obvious he has to be upbeat and just as obvious he can't be too informative. So I wonder just what Doolan is supposed to say in a pre match interview? There may be a case for having no interview at all but I'd bet there'd be as many grumbling if that happened. Anyone that's listened to Doolan on the radio, TV or in person should be aware how articulate the man is. Certainly more articulate than myself and most Jags fans I know. There's no doubt the way the team has been playing, coupled with the relatively poor return of results, that Doolan is open to valid criticism. I don't think that the way he conducts himself in pre match interviews, where he can't (shouldn't) really include much substance, is worthy of criticism.

Norge has been the power behind so much of our merch-based fundraising. A great example of what you can do as a “Nomad” far from Firhill to support the wider Thistle community. But the success of this initiative is also a shared success of TJF working with the Club and its core commercial partners. There was, after all, a time when certain former custodians of the Club told us they didn’t need or want fan fundraising through our members organisation. To make this work, we needed the Club to make the representations to the football governing bodies to get special dispensation to be able to register the kit. They got on with it and got that done. Simply wouldn’t have happened 2 years ago. We needed the Club and Women’s Committee to make sure the kit sponsors were happy to forego their prominence for one game. They got it done. They got on board. The sponsors all “understood the assignment”. Our informal target was to sell 400 tops. I suspected that was a little ambitious. I have a track record for pessimism (as one of your Fan Reps on the Club Board, Allan McGraw will testify on TJF membership numbers). But the whole TJF board and the Club’s media teams really pushed promotion on this and it paid off. I don’t know how many Thistle kits Greaves sells a season, but I reckon 530 for a one-off design is pretty good going for a fanbase our size, mid-season. Most heartening of all? All the new members for whom this was the final wee nudge to get signed up. TJF is now an 1800 member organisation with over 100 new members in the last month. Lots of new TJF wristbands out in the post to our junior members this week too, which is great to see. TJF members now make up about 7 in 10 beneficiaries of the PTFC Trust, which shows you how broad a reach we now have into the wider fanbase. Let’s keep going up to 2000 and beyond! Monthly “pledged” income now up several hundred pounds on the summer, making our increased pledges from the summer a realistic and repeatable reality. This will also help us to put on more events for members and the wider fanbase, making being a Jags fan fun even when the product on the pitch isn’t (yet) where it needs to be. I want to thank all our members for your support. And I know tops and pins aren’t for everyone. But we’ve got ideas for future fundraising merch well into the new year. So keep tabs on the socials!

Please, please, please could we try and keep threads on topic? This forum is largely self-moderated - hijacking threads is totally unfair on the OP. I've bought the away jersey for my son. Think this'll be one I get for myself.

16 hours left. I will greatly miss each and every one of (most of) you. Admin, thank you for all the work you have put in to keep this forum going. I wish your family all the very best. Take care everyone Phil

I think what we saw from Brian last night was real heart on the sleeve stuff. I thought his Jagszone interview in particular was very emotional. I hated him when he played against us in as much as you can 'hate' someone you don't know. I always wanted to see him play for us though. He has been exceptional for us since he signed back in 2020. Look at his scoring record. The division's leading scorer the last two seasons. At the age of 36 and 37. That alone would be near impossible to replace. I've got to know him a bit over the years, primarily through my association with PTW. I'm not claiming to be his best pal or anything, popping round for cups of tea and a chat but I have seen what kind of person he is. How he is with other people. How important his family is to him as it with us all. He's a top, top person. One of the best I've known kicking about the sidelines at Partick Thistle. He's passionate and emotional. Sometimes that gets him into trouble on the pitch or in the technical area. He's also as honest as they come. One of his best traits with PTW is inspiring players to the very best they can be. Sometimes when they didn't believe it themselves. When we stepped up to SWPL1 there were some that didn't believe they could play at that level. One has just retired after doing just that for 4 seasons. Hey I don't really know where this word salad is going. It certainly not about last night's game - a shade unlucky to lose on the night but Livi clear and deserved winners of the tie - and might have been better posted in another thread (Admin help - oops). There's nothing he said last night that isn't true. There's that heart on the sleeve again. There's that honesty. I want him to be our next permanent manager. Iif he isn't I'll be 100% behind who ever is as I've always been but I think we're losing a lot if he isn't.

No more broken links/modules! Time is valuable; thanks to volunteers Donnie MacIsaac, Martin Gow, Michael Gleeson, Kenny Pieper, Simon Reynolds, Graham McMillan & Alan McMillan for making The Thistle Archive fit for purpose again. Back at your service today... 'mon the Jags! The Thistle Archive →

Didn't realise his mother was ill. All the best to her. As fans we see players playing week in week out and if some performances fall short from what we expect, some fans are not slow in showing how they feel. We should realise that like everybody else, anybody connected to a football club could have things happening in their private life that could affect what they do in their job.

The time we now live in it is easier than ever to communicate with each other. Imo the problem is the people who don't accept that others have the right to have a different opinion from them. On this forum we are all Partick Thistle fans and at the end of the day we all want the same thing, Thistle playing at the highest level possible and also doing well off the park. We may have different views on how to achieve these goals, but that doesn't make one person's post more valid or relevant than another person's post. Although this forum is the only online presence i have, imo most internet sites have the same problem. The sooner people decide it's best to just agree to disagree the internet could be a better place for all. This forum has been spoiled for the many by a few. Feel free to disagree. Thanks again @admin you done a great job.

Over 77% of Kris Doolan's tenure (57/74 league matches) has been spent in a play-off position. Thanks to an excellent start, his ppg remains 2nd highest of all-time. Tough gig, still today none of us are over Dingwall, least of all KD. Thanks, fare well and head high Kris!

Jim this is ridiculous. Andrew Holloway, a former Club and TJF Board member and long time Thistle fan, expressed concern, publicly, on Twitter, that there hadn’t been any public comment by the Club on transfer policy and football matters. He told other fans, publicly on Twitter, that he had emailed the Club to ask for more transparency ahead of the AGM. He received a reply from the Club advising that a statement addressing these issues was planned and would go out before the AGM. He told Twitter what he had been told. There isn’t a conspiracy or unprofessionalism here. This just serves to show that answers to a lot of fans’ questions are literally one email away. Please, for the love of god, give it a rest.

Not expressing a view but simply reporting facts. On the way out of the Livingston away game I unwittingly found myself caught in the crossfire between the two rival "fan groups". On a dark night in an unfamiliar place, with people suddenly rushing around in all directions shouting and waving flag poles and other implements, and letting off exploding items, it can be somewhat disorientating. Thankfully I recalled my similar experience of 40 years ago on night exercise with the army cadets while regular soldiers threw thunder-flashes in our general direction, so was able to stay calm and use battlecraft knowledge to manoeuvre to a safe location. However, I can see that many would have been frightened or could have reacted in unpredictable ways with possible consequences I would not like to contemplate. Some might have been put off attending or bringing young or old family members to away games, especially in the evening. However blame is apportioned, this should have nothing to do with attending a football match.

My wife does.

No apologies necessary. Have ye seen the Tranche 2 thread?!? 😄

The situation currently unfolding at Dumbarton is another compelling argument in support of the fan ownership model. There are unquestionably financial challenges at Dumbarton, just as they are at just about every football club ours very much included. The move to Administration at Dumbarton though is less to do with profligate spending, no matter how often anyone suggests it is simply to support their own argument, and more about unravelling an extremely murky ownership model involving absentee owners, shelf companies and a stadium located in a prime housing area. A fan owned club while not immune to predatory advances from nefarious suitors, is altogether better placed to deal with them. Of course fan ownership isn’t a panacea to the challenges that football clubs face. Personally I see it as protection. A fan base isn’t a homogenous group. It’s diverse in terms of age, gender and, probably most importantly, opinions. But there is no group of people who care more about their football club than its collective fan base. The above doesn’t, of course, make a fan owned club immune from poor decision making. I’d argue that how the first tranche of the McClymont investment was handled and communicated was one such example of poor decision making. Not that it was accepted, but the fact that it wasn’t subject to beneficiary scrutiny and vote. It was a poor visual for the first major undertaking for the Trustees. How the proposed second tranche of the McClymont, and others, investment has been communicated, however, has been the polar opposite and is precisely how these things should be handled. It’s not a ‘done deal’. Repeating that line time and time again doesn’t make it any less of a nonsense. It’s true that the Trustees are recommending that tranche 2 should go ahead but ultimately that is not their decision, nor that of the PTFC Board, to make. It’s a decision for the beneficiaries to make. That’s you if you are any of the following: Season Ticket Holder 71 Club Member Member of The Jags Foundation Member of The Jags Trust That’s how it is supposed to happen. That’s how democracy works in a fan owned football club. As of now I’m inclined to vote for accepting tranche 2 but my final decision will be informed by the meeting on November 29th. The reasons for accepting tranche 2 are compelling, but there are some areas that give me cause for concern. A new owner of a football club, or any organisation, rarely has a clean slate to start from. There are invariably historical issues to be faced. The argument that inherited issues can’t be continually used as a reason for decision making has been well made, actually maybe not ‘well’ made but made all the same. That’s more than true with Partick Thistle. There comes a time when it can’t be the responsibility of those that went before but of those setting and implementing the current agenda. I’d suggest that point would come should the proposed tranche 2 be accepted. If after that, and we are talking massive hypotheticals here, the Club Board don’t meet the targets set by the Trustees or if the Trustees themselves aren’t fulfilling the role you believe that they should be, it’s at that point that you look to redress that through the democratic processes that are available. Again, precisely how it should work in a fan owned football club.

This thread has turned into the Jags' equivelant of switching on to watch Sportscene and finding the Harris/Trump debate.

Thistle midfield is in possession and moving forward (usually at quite a leisurely pace). Depending on the side of the field, the Thistle winger runs back (not forward) to around the half-way line, and waits for a pass from the midfielder. Of course a defender or midfielder of the other team has tracked him. Our midfielder passes to our winger, who can do f*** all with the ball because he's now standing still and somebody is right on him; almost no chance of getting past him. (So why did he come back to get himself in that position in the first place????). So, he passes it back to the midfielder (who now also has somebody on him) or else to one of our full-backs who has arrived on the scene. There then ensues a series of short triangular passes between these three Jags players which, if we somehow manage to retain the ball, does not move us one inch nearer to the opposition goal. At best, what we hope for is to keep possession by passing back (to a central defender, or even the goalie), or across the field to another player in space. By then, of course, the entire opposition is back in their own half, and so the player with the ball now has no real option because any Jags player in front of him (and a few will still be hanging around the half-way line) is just standing around, waiting for something to happen; there is little movement into spaces, inviting a fast through ball (rather than a punt).. Result: a speculative punt upfield or, even more frustratingly, more sideways passing. And as soon as an opposition player approaches, our player"s default reaction is to check back, and think about passing back to the keeper. It's frankly depressing to watch, as it's so predictable. Honestly, I don't remember McQuade, or Lawrie, or Houston thinking that they had to run back to the halfway line and stand still to receive a 3-yard pass, which is then usually followed by the passer running two yards toward him to receive a pass back again.... To do what? That's the question I find myself asking with every game these days..... and it goes back over maybe a 15- or even 20-year period. I watched the highlights of the auld f*lth game at the weekend, and grudgingly I've got to say that the pace and directness of the Porkheid bunch were really impressive to watch. Literally a league ahead of what we see every week. And in fact it got me thinking of the 3-2 game against the h* ns in 1971, where there was no such pedestrian nonsense going on. (Take a look too at the LC Final, none of this tight triangular passing on the half-way line stuff.) What happened, to make this an accepted change to the game? I could understand it if you're running down the clock, but we see this gunk right from the start of games. Acknowledgement: Thank you to some cheap imported wine from Chile.