ChiThistle

Merry Krismas and a Happy Stu Year!

Great win and cheers to the guys who do the audio commentary. Does this mean video is in the future? Anyway, as many have said, great idea by the club. Great Thanksgiving weekend all around. Thankful for Killie this year who graciously provided the turkey and, as always, Thistle for bringing the stuffing.

So I heard either on here or the FB forum that there used to be a shared gate policy for league games, not just cup ties. I wrote the SPFL general inbox and asked why that policy went away and if it would be reconsidered for reinstatement; the Old Firm would be most likely to take an upfront hit, but it's a hit they could manage. The extra revenue for smaller clubs would allow them to draw back bigger crowds by improving the matchday experience, improving facilities, signing better quality players to keep games more competitive across the board, making the competition for the league title a little less farcical, and maybe keeping John Collins' trap shut as a side bonus. No team should be playing Celtic with the game plan of "best case scenario, we come away with a point." That's bull****, and even the lowest budget teams in the EPL can beat the highest budget teams. I'm sure many of the lapsed fans throughout Scotland have come to this realization long ago. Anyway, the response from a fellow named David was something like, "It's not something we're considering at this time..." So I have a lot of sympathy for our Board, or any non-OF board really, because the league seems to be offering no help and doesn't seem to have any ideas. And I feel like the solution is that we're going to have to try things no other club is trying. We really built off our "alternative" status this summer with the Kingsford/Shrigley relationship, and it brought us some great attention. I feel like maybe there's something in continuing down the road in the style of a club like Dulwich Hamlet, who seem to be trying hard - and succeeding - at differentiating themselves. We just need our marketing team to think weird and maximize the potential of the Kingsley character too. He's immediately recognizable, and we should be producing more Kingsley videos. From a more traditional standpoint, maybe we can partner with other "alternative" clubs like Glasgow Rocks and Braehead Clan and offer their season ticket holders free admission to select games or something? One thing is for certain - bringing back a fan-based initiative like OneThistle seems like a no-brainer here.

I received my player sponsorship info in a very timely fashion, so maybe there was an incorrect address or it fell into a spam folder. Either way, it probably would make sense for the club to post a reminder on this board when it comes time for that.

I was in the local footy pub watching the game at 6:30 Sunday morning, pub full of Arsenal fans waiting to lose to West Ham, and for about 45 minutes Thistle/Celtic was the only game on TV. Heard several Arsenal fans mentioning Kingsley - usually just as "that sun mascot" - and had one person actually ask me about it. So it's made an impression over here amongst people who otherwise would never know we existed. So it doesn't make us a household name here but even slight recognition is better then none.

Still very optimistic for the long haul. Had a nice summer of publicity, made a few good signings, have some promising young players, now we just need the results.

Never considered that. And maybe Pogba wasn't fully match fit to start the game. Still highlights a need for another striker though. I wonder if we have any more targets or if we'd bring up someone like Nisbet.

Reserving some judgment until next Celtic game. I could see how new faces plus two youngsters in the middle of the defence (Hendry making his first ever start, yes?) would cause Archie to change his tactics. But if he's concerned about size up front against Celtic (was Lawless also not subbed pretty early?), then why not start Pogba and see what you get? No one is expecting points from the match and we're only two games into the season. I hope we've upped our asking price for Everton re Hendry though.

I think Dools is pretty unflappable. I feel like he'd never be the kind to openly pout about lack of minutes and, heaven forbid he ever left the club, his explanation would come across as being sensible without sounding petty. Class guy.

And I think we've found a taker. Thanks to all who expressed interest - I'll probably have this same dilemma next year so I'll keep you in mind!

Oops. Edited earlier post. Thanks for catching that!

Hi all, So I guess the end of year "meet your player and get their stuff" event for player sponsors is May 16th (after the home game with Killie) and once again I will need someone to take my place to meet Mr. Doolan and take home his signed boots (although you'll need to have the club post them to you, as he may need them on the 23rd!). So I guess the May 16th event becomes kind of a massive Player Zone then. I'm sure you could take a ball along and pick up autographs/photos and such. Over the years I've typically tried to offer this to someone who would appreciate it more (maybe a die-hard fan who's been priced out of games or as something for a father/son or father/daughter to attend together), so if you or someone you know might be a good candidate, please send me a PM. And yes, it's a legit offer. Yes, you can keep the boots. Yes, I've received permission from the Club's Events Coordinator, Anna Kerr (who seems really cool, btw) to do this. Thanks much, and mon the Jags! -Len

I think this signing shows a bit of growth since last season as Eccleston seems, on paper at least, a more active Liverpool prospect than Mukendi. At this rate, maybe we'll get Coutinho in two years. Anyway, it seems to me that Eccleston is the kind of "shop window" player we should get used to signing. I know Owen Coyle gets mentioned a lot, but at Bolton he tried to adopt a strategy of signing young talent and developing it with the plan to sell back to parent club with a markup if the player panned out. Seems like a strategy we'd be smart to pursue. Anyway, good luck Nathan and welcome!

What's interesting to me is the notion of gobbling up new signings right as the transfer window closes. Is this more advantageous for the club, who can maybe sign a player more cheaply, or the player, who knows the club might be desperate for additions and can negotiate a better deal? As for why the transfer window has been lacklustre so far, I doubt it's one glaring oversight instead of a combination of factors - lower wages, lack of scouting network, etc as has been mentioned before. And one thing I haven't seen mentioned a lot is that maybe the top league just doesn't have the luster anymore to attract foreign players. I mean, we don't even have a sponsor yet, do we? If you can't get a business to fork over cash to attach its name to your product, that's pretty telling.

7th is my target because it was so attainable last year even though we were new and our home form was terrible. Given that Accies and Dundee just came up and Killie has to replace half its scoring, this is the kind of season where reasonable improvements can lead to 7th.

Sky Sports has us linked with Mat Sadler, LB with Crawley Town who's available on a free. Read on P&B first.

Digit Playing Budget for 2014-15

Thinking along the lines of extra value for the membership, would an autographed team/player photo make sense? Photos are relatively cheap, and they make nice mementos because you can frame and keep in your house. You wouldn't ask a player to sign 500 photos at one sitting, mind. You could span it out over a few days or weeks.

This might be a far cry from realistic, but I wonder if we could take a look at someone like Freddy Adu? Although no longer the prodigy he once was, he's supposed to be fantastic but has never put it together, as he's about to join his TENTH club at only 24 years old. After being released again, he's finding options more limited and was linked with moves to South Korea and possibly the NASL, America's Division II. From what I've read, those leagues pay wages much closer in line with what we can afford. So he's already going to have to take a lower wage than what he was on. At this point, wages shouldn't be his primary motivator as he was making millions earlier in his career. The selling points would be attractive, passing football on a team that needs creativity/goals from a midfield position, along with TV exposure to England and America. Plus, there's precedent for the move with US national team players like Beasley and Bocanegra coming over to play for Rangers. A guy like Adu needs to succeed but to also be in a position where he can be seen doing it. Maybe just wishful thinking?

As hard as it is to be patient, I think the team needs a larger body of work in order to be properly judged. The rise and fall in the opinions of some players is dizzying. In a fairly short amount of time, Lawless has gone from drawing international interest to some feeling he deserves to be replaced by Elliott, a guy who many once thought barely belongs in the first team, let alone the starting XI. But apparently he's much improved now. Gabriel apparently went from bombscare to serviceable in about two weeks. I think it shows that our players are still adapting to this level, which is what every promoted team goes through and is the reason we are expected to drop. Hearts and the middling teams below us have given us extra adjustment time, so in my opinion it's a great time to not be worried.

Hey Phil, also from Chicago. Thistle's a good club. It's not without its problems, but there's none of the entitlement and/or sectarian nincompoopery you get with the other two Glasgow clubs. This forum and the Jags forum on Facebook usually are good at keeping fans up to date on what's happening. And you generally get a good variety of opinion here, be it from those who have a point to make or those who just want to argue an opposing point for the sake of arguing. :-) But either way, the points made here are WAY more coherent than most of what I've seen on some.....other teams' forums.

Is there no way to put them in the main stand and add extra security detail whose sole purpose is extinguishing flares? Just arm a crew with fire extinguishers and place them all in front of the stand like ball boys at a tennis match.

A few business questions for those of you who experienced our last promotion: Do we typically see a lot of signings early or later in the summer? When will Archie know what his playing budget is going to be? Did we get any fresh investment from interested parties last time? Would we expect any this time? Does the club end up putting a lot of money into stadium upkeep to meet SPL standards? Is there a lot we'll have to do? I don't recall the name of the one opposite the JHS, but I imagine it hasn't been used in forever and would need refurbishment. Just curious.

Would the team bus trip prize be transferable for someone who won and couldn't make it?

I heard the distribution was 6,000 Thistle fans, 2,000 Morton fans, and 875 scouts...