ChiThistle

Certainly, you have to be wary of big promises from a former big time manager who, although somewhat removed from the EPL, last managed for a club that averages 2-3 times the home attendance of us or the average First Division club. I found this photo of him in his most recent gig, which was selling faulty monorails to unsuspecting communities.

Ah, maybe you can answer this then - is it true that if you DON'T win the league, McGill's gets to drive a bus over Colin McMenamin's legs?

I wonder if it would be doable/worth it to offer free or discounted (and non-transferable) tickets to any Hearts season ticket holders should the club go to the brink of extinction.

To the tune of "The Wall"... "We don't need no McNamara. We don't need no Donnelly. We are the one Partick Thistle, And they can f*ck off to Dundee." Or maybe you cut it after line 2 if you don't want to be rude/tossed out.

Regarding the reply about the kids' CD idea (sorry, I'm typing on my mobile and can't reply directly to your post...): I agree that the best songs, aside from the old standards, are made up on the spot. My point about doing a CD is that it would be specifically for kids - kids don't do spontaneity, and if you want to get them involved in singing, they have to know the words and they usually need someone to orchestrate them. I don't see why the Futures kids couldn't learn the age-appropriate songs or even have songs of their own. When they're old enough to become "ultras" or whatever, they'll of course gravitate to whatever the Shed folk are singing. Anyway, I think that if you could get the kids to unite in full voice, even with something like "we are thistle, we score when we want", it could be a real thrill for them. The more personally involved the kids are, the more likely they would be to support Thistle for life.

Maybe in seasons to come, as part of the kids' season ticket package, they can get a CD of some kid-appropriate Thistle songs that they can listen to at home and in the car. Yeah, it may annoy the parents, but I'm sure they'd prefer listening to Thistle songs rather than kiddie tunes or watered-down kiddie versions of popular music (it's popular over here, I dunno about where you are). Then on match days, there could be a designated "song leader" - an adult - who gets the kids singing at different times during the game. The kids then know the songs because they listen to them at home, and they feel encouraged to sing because they have someone leading them. Just tossing out ideas; if it works for organised religion, it can work for Thistle! (and who's to say the two aren't the same thing!?)

Enjoyed this bit from the Daily Mail: "They were still doing the bouncy, bouncy even as a talented enamel sprayer called Fraser McLaren equalised for Berwick just past the hour." Maybe Sevco need to start signing enamel sprayers?

Can anyone recommend a site for First Division Fantasy FB? Last year, I played at www.fantasylowerleagues.co.uk, but it doesn't look like the site is active anymore.

I feel sorry for any staff who've been let go due to cost cutting - but that's about it.

Welcome Brian! (Now about that £600 you owe us for all of your turnstile jumping.....)

I don't know if the arrangement has changed since, but Ami told me a while back (probably almost 2 years ago now) that the club sees more profit when purchasing through the shop as opposed to Greaves.

I always thought Countess was one of the more opinionated Jagettes who happened to be extravagantly rich. Maybe that's just what I want to believe.

After some extra thought on the subject, I'm actually satisfied with the statement because of the different viewpoint it offers. The statement admits that the proposal to chuck Newco into SFL1 is "contrary to the current league rules," which is a more tame way of saying what other clubs have said more defiantly. Yes, it lacks passion, but I think it offers a little more practicality and common sense from a business perspective. It reflects the notion that this should never have come down to a club vote to begin with - why should clubs be forced to get defiant and potentially strain ties with each other over something that isn't their problem? It correctly singles out the SFA for not doing its job and expecting other clubs to get itself out a jam that it alone was responsible for. After all, this issue comes down primarily to TV money. Someone at the SFA should have long ago recognized a potential conflict of interest in setting up a TV deal based on a guarantee that two teams will play each other four times a year. That's absolutely crooked! In signing a multi-year deal, the governing body is basically guaranteeing a fraction of the outcome in every single season. Did no one at the SFA ever think this was a bad idea? While the "on its own" portion seems to indicate that the Thistle board would support Newco in SFL1 "for the right price," a statement in the next-to-last paragraph indicates that "the driving force for change has to be our National Association." To me, this is a way of saying that bribing smaller clubs in such a way is the wrong way to go about driving change. So while other clubs are saying "This is how we feel!", Thistle is, maybe more correctly, saying, "It shouldn't have ever come to this - do your feckin' jobs!"

Who gets the 12th vote - Dunfermline or Ross County? Technically, the voting is being done prior to the start of the next season, which is officially when RC joins the league. Or did they join the league the moment they won promotion?

What a fun load of articles to read this morning! One thing I'm interested in is The-Team-Formerly-Known-As-Rangers' value and line of credit going forward. Aren't lines of credit for corporations usually established based on income and the value of your assets? Essentially, this transfer into the newco is a purchase, correct? And in purchasing for 5.5 mil, aren't you basically establishing that figure as current "market value" for Ibrox, Murray Park, and the car park? If so, doesn't that categorize TTFKAR as something of a diddy team now?

Cash or no cash, this was a strategic move to fix the pie/catering situation. Soon, every seat will have a bovril dispenser.

:: cough :: Campbell Ogilvie :: cough ::

Open letter to Rangers Supporters Clubs: When your owner invests big money in the stadium and in the playing squad, your team should benefit big. When your owner violates laws by failing to pay big money owed to other parties, your team should suffer big. When there is no precedent for the extent to which your owner violated the law, congratulations - you get a punishment that has never happened before. Please take some solace in the fact that, when you are going through this process again in 2024, this all won't seem so foreign and strange. Lastly, Craig Whyte bought a controlling interest in your team for 100p. I recently read that he was selling it to Charles Green for 200p. That's a 100% profit - so it looks like he's a better businessman than you 're giving him credit for. Sincerely, A Concerned Fan Who Is Definitely Not Bill Miller

I thought it'd be fun to look at one of the RFC forums to see their reaction to this, and.....wow. Just wow. I've never bothered to take a good look before, but what a jaded lot those posters are! They can't seem to grasp the idea that a club should be penalized for the actions of its executives, which is only true in EVERY OTHER SPORT OR BUSINESS IN THE WORLD. I'm guessing they would argue that a bomber whose explosive device failed to detonate should not be punished - that the embarrassment of failure would be punishment enough. I also got a good chuckle from some fans proposing they be relegated to Division 3 just to hurt the revenue streams of Celtic and the other SPL teams. That's just some AMAZING business acumen.

Caught this article in the ET: http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/cheers-and-tears-turn-into-fears-for-players-jaded-farewell-to-arms.17527392 McCoist said something interesting about three paragraphs toward the end, and I'm surprised no reporter called him out on it: "Phone lines on radio stations are jammed with non-Rangers supporters saying we should go down to Division Three. "I can understand that. But it is not just as simple as that because I do believe there would be a threat to the livelihood of some other clubs in the SPL if that were to happen. That is not something I would say lightly. "In terms of the finance of Scottish football – sponsorship and television money and things like that – it is a massive, massive issue. The right thing to do might be the wrong thing in the long run. It is a big problem." It seems pretty clear from that statement that he is admitting that Rangers deserve to be kicked down to Division Three in the spirit of playing by the rules - with the caveat that doing the "right thing" will have disastrous financial implications to other teams. I'm surprised this didn't get a bigger spotlight because I think it's the first time we've seen anyone associated with Rangers admit that such a penalty is deserved and justified.

We are Rangers, Glasgow Rangers! We don't do walking away! Let the tax man know we've formed a newco. And now we won't have to payyyyyyyyyy!

Yeah, I was talking about student volunteers or unpaid student interns. I find it hard to believe that could be illegal. In the US, practically every school that has a broadcasting program has its own student-run TV and radio stations that also turn a tiny profit by selling local advertising. Instead of getting paid, students get real on-camera experience that helps prepare them for professional jobs after they graduate. Based on length of study, you could bring in new broadcasting students every 1-3 years, I would imagine. There's no reason to hire a freelance broadcaster to start out. Maybe down the road, but for now I just want the live video stream.

What twinny said. For commentary, I bet any uni students studying broadcasting would be interested in doing it to bulk up their CVs. That's just a guess - almost every school over here has some kind of broadcasting course of study, but I don't know how it is in Scotland. I would think there would have to be some way to manage access to the video so that a PTFC fan in, say, Aberdeen, could subscribe but not someone in, I dunno, East Kilbride or something. I think you'd just have to register your home address. The concern, of course, would be that if someone wasn't going to be home to watch the game, they could just give a mate their login credentials. But then again, that's no different from a season ticket holder giving away their ticket to a match they can't attend.

Not sure if this is being discussed by the OneThistle team, but I'd be interested if Thistle started broadcasting live matches and selling subscriptions like Falkirk and other clubs do. I'd certainly buy a subscription for that if the quality was reasonably good. They could maybe do one game free so fans could see if it was worth it.

First time starting a topic, so bear with me. Read a story on STV today that the SFA sent letters to all member clubs asking them whether they've gone the way of Rangers and made non-contractual payments to players. Who in their right mind is going to reply with a "Yes, I'm so sorry. But we HAVE paid players outside their contracts"? And what does the SFA hope to achieve with this? Are they hoping to get back 93 (well, 92 maybe) letters saying "No, we played by the rules", then hold those letters up and say, "See? The rest of Scottish football is playing fairly!" If you really want to make an impression, start doing random team audits.