5th_Livi_BB

Well done on PTFC winning the league. Good luck in the SPL next season.

GrantB 3rd Livi BB? We may have clashed at the battalion 5-a-sides! lady-isobel-barnett Our boys are way too sneaky to let me hear what they are calling people or even myself!

Jagfox I have emailed Ian Maxwell to thank him for his help in organising the day and meeting the MoTM. Haven't received a response yet but what I would say is that you have a good man working for the club there. I saw him in the corporate area after the game and he made sure we got a photo with the MoTM and that we had a table for the boys to enjoy a drink and relax before the journey home. He did his compere bit and had some decent banter with the attendee's. PTFC have a long road back to the SPL but behind the scenes have people with the club at heart. Delighted to promote your club for other groups and hope that even if we can get one group to attend Firhill on the back of our visit we will have done our bit. We will certainly be returning for a future visit.

Steven Pressley wouldn't last five minutes in our BB with that barnet!

lady-isobel-barnett Totally agree with your post. I was appluading Thistle for their initiative. I think Scotland as a whole has a poorer football product than a lot of European nations who pay a lot less to get in. What we need to do is bring the prices down right accross the board. I did point out that it was great the under 16's get free entry. We had 20 kids at the game on Saturday and 10 adults. The club got some cash and we managed to subsidise our trip to the Hampden museum and Firhill because it was free for the boys to get into the match. To improve the Scottish game I would suggest the following. Two top leagues. PL1 16 PL2 16 The lower leagues would then be regionalised to save teams who are part time making crazy mid week and weekend journeys in silly weather. More derbies and local matches. There could be Junior teams who want to step up to Senior football and this would allow our game to have more of a step from one level to the other. Teams like Thistle, Falkirk, FC Dundee, Airdrie, Livingston, Raith Rovers, etc have the stadia and fan base and should be in a bigger league to allow them to maximise their potential and bring the fans back to their grounds. The bigger clubs would be able to blood more youngsters as it wouldn't be a cut throat game every week. There would be more variety for teams and players and this would improve our game. With every team playing each other twice this would also allow for less matches and help teams in Europe. The League Cup could be sectioned again and allow sides to generate more revenue. We need wholesale changes to the Scottish game to bring the punters back. Once they are gone they are gone. When I was a kid in the BB we all wore Scottish football kits and slated each other weekly about the football. Nowadays all the boys are wearing Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, etc. Most boys don't even have a Scottish side. It's a frightening prospect. I am passionate about football in Scotland and watch the SPL on TV before I would watch English or foreign games. The majority of these kids on Saturday attended their first match in Glasgow. It's almost impossible to get tickets for a weekend Scotland match. It's important that they get a passion for our game or we face a period in years to come where for the first time in Scottish football history we have more people in this country supporting teams out with Scotland than in this country. It's a scary prospect and it's happening. I can see it happening. What are the SFA/SPL doing about it? Not very much. We need boys to play football and be coached properly but if nobody goes to watch them then what is the point? We need a strong domestic game. The fans are a big part of that. 'An average game of football with a big crowd makes it a great game' The EPL is not miles ahead of Scottish football. They may have big name players and the razamatazz of Sky TV but they have nowhere near the passion of Scottish football fans. We need this to continue as our game depends on it. Thanks for letting me post on your forum.

Really delighted to give you guys a positive story in relation to your club. Partick Thistle have always been a welcoming club and haven't appeared in recent years to attract the other football fans of Glasgow. There are a lot of people in Glasgow who don't support either of the Old Firm clubs and I guess it's a challenge to get these people to Firhill. I have attended Firhill in the past supporting my own club and never had any trouble and always enjoyed good banter with the Jags fans. Initiatives like allowing kids in free should be appluaded and I will ensure that your club good the good press for this. I am waiting on the photo's from Saturday and we will get this sent off to the BB headquarters where hopefully it will be uploaded to the official BB website or included in our quarterly magazine. I understand your frustrations regarding your side but from watching the match on Saturday I would say your team are not far away. There are some decent players in the team and the free kick goal was a belter! I think we all tend to focus on the negatives when looking at our football team but Partick Thistle have a bright future ahead. Livingston got really lucky with the two quick goals after half time. If you could merge the youth of Livingston and the experience of Thistle it would be a good side. I think the keeper had a day to forget and both goalies were poor at kicking from the ground. The Boys' Brigade is an institution that is trying to move with the times. It's a great organisation to be involved in and the variety of boys we have in our ranks is massive. They all enjoy different things and it can be tough to keep them all happy. What the majority do enjoy is football. It's not easy to take them to a Rangers, Hearts, Celtic, Hibernian, etc match and Livingston home matches are easilly accessable for the kids. What we wanted to do was take them out of Livingston and experience a different city and ground. Partick Thistle was an easy choice from my own experience previously mentioned. Some of the boys had never been to a football game outside Livingston before and they really enjoyed it. They applauded both teams and just enjoyed the experience. Personally the half time show was a bonus. Outstanding work! It's easy to knock Scottish football but I have been telling everyone about the positives at PTFC this week at work. Slight complaint for anyone attending would be the £17 entry for an adult. The prices in this country must come down to attract the fans back. That is not Thistle's fault though.

I will be recommending other Boys' Brigade companies to visit Firhill as Partick Thistle are the closest football club to the church where the BB was founded. On another note if anyone hasn't been to the Scottish football museum at Hampden they are missing out. The entry is £5 for adults and £2 for kids and it is a very interesting tour and the museum is superb. It may be an option for anyone who has bored kids today in the awful weather you could easilly spend a few hours in there. The Jags get a mention for the 1971 cup final win. There is also a proper fussball table and Playstations. An excellent day out for the money and it's not everyday you can run out of the tunnel and Hampden!

Just a note to commend Partick Thistle FC. I am an office of the 5th Livingston Boys' Brigade company and we were at the match this Saturday v Livingston FC. The club was really a credit to Scottish football. I contacted the club to attend and they couldn't have done anymore. With a few Livi FC fans in our ranks they were delighted to attend the match. The ticket office were very helpful and we will be attending PTFC again at Firhill for another match. Special thanks to Ian Maxwell & Moira from the ticket office who were very helpful sorting out the tickets and also let the boys into the corporate area after the match to meet the MoTM and get some photo's. The club really were excellent and the fans we met were also very friendly. PTFC are a great club and both teams played some good football on the day and served up a cracking 3-2 match. I'm not a fan of either club but enjoyed the day and the game. I wish you every success for this season and the future and hope to visit Firhill in the future with another group of young football fans. 5th Livingston Boys' Brigade