Chaz

It's been brought to our attention that all is not as it seems with this survey and so after much consideration, we've decided to not allow it on the site at this time.

Hello, We're starting a collection for the forum to sponsor the Firhill Cup this year, so if anyone wants to donate we are now taking payments through Paypal. All you have to do is log in to your account, and using this email address - [email protected] - send a donation (this is available under the "personal" tab) for as much or as little as you can afford. If you send it as a donation paypal won't take a fee from it, so more money goes to the club. If you have any questions about this, or are having problems with Paypal please PM me. There are still places available for the Firhill Cup so if you want to take part you can find all the details here - http://www.kirkwoods...-cup---2013.php And here is the link to paypal - https://www.paypal.c...ebapps/mpp/home Thanks very much in advance to anyone who donates!

3-2 Thistle Steven Craig 87 mins Mon the jags!!

Martin has been asking fans to get involved, he can't do anymore than that. If we had more than 56 members I'm sure we would have raised more money. It's still £400 that the club wouldn't have had so we should be thankful of those that take part in it...it's just as easy to donate through this as it would be to hand in coppers, so you can't assume we'd be any better off. I've asked the club to start recognising the efforts of those involved, hopefully they will....

Since June 2011.

Just for clarification - this wasn't a onethistle effort, it was the club.

Produced by the onethistle team http://youtu.be/olv4zgLiLRA'

Sorry for the delay in getting this uploaded but as promised here is a full overview of the night: Squad We have now secured Glasgow Green as a training ground which is proving very to be very popular and beneficial to the team. Looking to attract more long term signings like Christie Elliot rather than short term signings like Tam McManus. We now have 5 different youth teams up to Under 19 level. Last year we signed 5 out of 7 youth players who had reached the end of their youth contracts. This compares with 2 out of 10 youth players signed into the Celtic first team and gives the club a good selling point to young players. Jackie McNamara was responsible for setting up the Celtic game and this proved a very worthwhile game giving our young players much needed experience against side like Celtic and the atmosphere created on the day by the fans helped the players. Fans really need to get behind the team, especially the younger players. Manager had to substitute a player recently due to bad reaction from the crowd harming the confidence of the player. There is no great transfer budget to play with and so must focus on signing youth players and good quality loans like Kyle Hutton. Jackie McNamara was instrumental in bringing Kyle Hutton to Firhill and is hopeful to capture more excellent signings like this in the future. Manager is happy with the current squad and any new signing or loan would need to be the right fit for the current squad. Firhill A lot of time and resource led by new CEO Ian Dodd has been spent bringing the Stadium up to standard regards compliance with things like Health & Safety and SFA rules , spent a large sum of money getting the floodlights to the required levels -it was emphasised a lot of work and resource goes on behind the scenes to ensure the Club is run properly on the non Football elements. This has resulted in Firhill being Police Free at all our home games reducing costs significantly. There are no plans to leave Firhill. PTFC still have full ownership of the pitch, and the Jackie Husband stand, and for this to be sold the decision would need to be taken by the major shareholders of the club that aren’t also on the board of Firhill Developments Ltd.. Directors also remind fans that PTFC are entitled to 50% of profits made from Firhill Developments Ltd. Shed The board were asked about the atmosphere on match days at Firhill, and why the shed area couldn’t be moved closer to the away fans. The board advised that keeping the shed where it is saves the club money, on policing costs, adding that the poor atmosphere was more to do with the drop in attendance, and less to do with the location of the shed. Friday Night Football Thistle have agreed to trial this, as the money to be made from TV rights was too tempting for the club to refuse (the TV deal with Alba is worth a seven figure sum to the SFL). It was pointed out that it could result in less fans going to the game, due to other commitments, so the club would lose out on ticket money. It was asked if the SFL planned on making up the shortfall when games are played on a Friday, but this was not known. Warriors The contract we have with the Warriors should run until 2014. However, the club still aren’t sure if they will remain at Firhill this season. Last time they spoke to the Warriors were happy at Firhill. Also weren’t able to say if there was a release clause in the contract, as they didn’t have that information. Community The club have set up a charitable trust to carry out community based activities. All extra money raised from these initiatives will go to the player’s budget. An interesting point was raised that if every fan who attends a game brought 1 friend along, it would raise enough funds to buy another player. Last EGM The board have admitted that a lack of communication was probably the main cause for the changes to be voted against at the last EGM. They felt that as the changes being proposed to the articles were only housekeeping changes to bring the company up to date with modern law – they didn’t need to inform every single shareholder about it before the vote. Because of this there was some misunderstanding from shareholders and fans about what the implications of the proposed changes would mean for the club. They accept that if this was better communicated there might not have been such an issue. Although, they do feel the result of the last vote has helped the club and fans to communicate again, as shown by this meeting, so have taken that as a positive and have offered to set up a yearly meet the board night. Next EGM David Beattie admitted that he was confident that the changes will now be passed at the next EGM on 6th October 2011. There are no conspiracies surrounding what is being proposed and the board have asked the fans to trust them and try to forget what has happened in the past. Long Term Debt Owed £1.4m in 2009 but this has now reduced to £600k in 2011. This is a decrease of £800k and the club are now meeting all obligations on long term loans and also has no VAT implications. Hoping to pay off another couple of hundred thousand of bank debt by 2015. The club would be liable for an exit fee if debts are paid off early. The club have a £417k overdraft with the bank which is to help with the day to day running of the club. At the moment we can break even with an attendance of 2,500. Losses 2009 - 100K in the Red 2010 - 200K in the Red 2011 - 46K in the black For the first time in a long number of years we are not losing money. Focus is on tight cash control and procedures to ensure every penny is accounted for on a weekly basis -Two Accountants Moira and David are focussed 100% on ensuring we run a tight financial ship. Administration Following a question submitted on the night from a forum member, the club were asked if they had considered administration as an option to help Thistle get a fresh start. The Directors advised that this had already been discussed, but the outcome was that it wasn’t an option they could consider. The reason for this is that the penalty for going in to administration is decided by the SFL. So the club can’t predict what would happen in this case. As well as that, the administrators would be able to then come in and sell the stadium, so due to the risks; it’s not an option that the current directors want to consider. Directors Following the last EGM it was reported that some of the current directors felt close to going in another direction from the club, so the question was asked about what guarantee’s we have that if the changes are rejected again at the next EGM, that the current directors won’t walk away? Beattie explained that as a director who is putting his hand in his own pocket for the club to survive on a yearly basis, as well as a huge amount of time and effort, while not taking anything in return. It is easy for the wares and tares to get you down when efforts to help the club are needlessly blocked, or the fans have the wrong idea about what is going on at the club. However, regardless of the way the vote goes at the next EGM, the current board of directors will not be walking away from the club, as they are there to shape the future of the club, and are all looking forward to doing that. He explained that he wants to able to look back on his time at Partick Thistle and say he was proud to be involved with this period in the club’s history. He doesn’t want the club going under on his name and really does have the best interest of the club at heart, as do all other current directors. When asked to name and shame past directors who had a hand in creating the financial mess the club is in, the board stuck to the professional approach they spoke of, by saying it wasn’t about naming and shaming previous directors, it was about looking to the future for the benefit of the club. A question was asked about introducing an “independent director” to the board to act as a reprehensive for the fans. David Beattie said that he would take this on board; however, he and a number of the other directors on the current board are actually already independent directors. This means that they do not own shares in the club. The directors wage entitlement has also been removed. Directors – Funding club Following another question from a forum member, the board were asked if they would be willing to inject more cash into the club. The directors have already put in a lot of their hard earned cash to help Thistle. Last season was an example of this. However, they don’t see this as a viable option going forward as they don’t agree it’s the proper way to run a football club. So they are trying to build the club up, so that it’s self sufficient. Jags Trust David Beattie was asked by the forum if he thought the Jags Trust were representative of the fans, considering that was the basis on which they were originally handed their free shares. David Beattie commented that the Trust membership has been decreasing over the last decade but isn’t able to comment if they aren’t representative of the wider fan base and said that is something the fans have to decide. But he would like to see an active membership of at least 1,000. Future Now that the debts have been sorted out and the directors have stabilised the club, they are now working on a plan for the future, which they see as a 5 year plan, and this includes more of a focus on youth development and they want to get the club involved in more community initiatives. David Beattie admitted that when he took the job he hadn’t intended on ever becoming the Chairman on Partick Thistle FC, although it is a huge honour. He took the job as there was a gap to fill and someone had to step in. He is more than happy to hand over the reigns when he is happy with the state of the club, and the person who would be taking over. Summary Overall it was a very good night with a great turnout from the fans. All the questions that were asked got answered in a professional manner and the board seemed to take a lot of the stuff suggested on board. There does seem to be a real willingness to work with the fans and shape the club for the future and so all in all seems very positive. The vote on the 6th October will be very important but we see no reason why these changes should be voted down by anyone who has Partick Thistle FC at heart. The directors also advised that even if these changes weren’t passed it wouldn’t be the end for Partick Thistle FC. We would just like to say a personal thanks to those involved in arranging the meeting - but also for allowing questions from the forum to be asked on the night and thanks also to Lance for reading our questions out.

Sorry, I've been meaning to post an update on this. We are sponsoring Archibald's away top and Paton's home top, the club have now confirmed this. Apologies to anyone who had voted for Rowson, we just thought it would be best to have one home and one away, so we flipped a coin between the two away shirts and Archibald won it. Thanks very much to everyone who has donated to the fund this year, we managed to raise a total of £660 for the club

When the poll closed on Monday we had a tie between Alan Archibald (away), David Rowson (away) and Paul Paton (home). So we had decided that we should go for 1 home and 1 away, meaning we would need to flip a coin between Archibald and Rowson. (Archibald won) There have been another couple of votes come in and now Archibald and Rowson are the favourites. However, as the poll closed on Monday the additional votes shouldn't really count. So unless there are any major objections we were going to go for Paul Paton home, and Alan Archibald away. If there are any objections to this though - please let us know asap as we are going to try and let the club know before the end of today.

Hi, The club have contacted us today to say they are taking on board the comments on this thread and would like to get some feedback on improvements required. Some of you will have received a PM today regarding this but if you haven't already posted to this thread - and would like to be involved in a short survey - please contact Ami at [email protected] to get involved. Please use this opportunity to register your concerns with the club, and help them to make the improvements that need to/can be made. Cheers

This poll will only stay open until Monday afternoon. We spoke to Tom last night about the programme but the Player Sponsorship page won't be going in this week, it will be in the next one instead. We probably wouldn't have made it on time anyway, so if you've still to vote on this please do it before Monday afternoon. Cheers

Hi, Let us know which two players you want to sponsor for this season. We're hoping to give the club an update on this tomorrow. Cheers

Hi, I've just spoke to Charlie and it will still go ahead. Good luck to everyone that's playing! Cheers

The draw has been done but the photo didn't get taken. The club have offered to arrange this for the start of next season if we still want it. The winner of the boots is lady Isobel barnett, and the winner of the shirt is hopeless unbeliever (Kinniburgh thought that described flannigan quite well!) congratulations! If you're going to Firhill tomorrow you could collect the boots/shirt then, but if you wont be there let us know and we'll make other arrangements. Thanks again to everyone who donated to the sponsorship fund this year!

Sorry, I've just checked and you have made 5 payments. I can't update the page just now but you have 5 entries in the draws. Good luck!

The raffle for the sponsorship fund will take place on Saturday, after the match, once we have received the boots/shirt. We've arranged with the club to have the winner of each prize drawn by the players (Chris Erskine & Iain Flannigan) and all participants in the sponsorship fund are invited to take part in a group photo with the players. If you can't attend then please let us know. The raffle and photo will take place in the Firhill Boardroom between 17.00 - 17:30 and hopefully eveyone can make it along. The winners will receive their prize on Saturday after the raffle but if you can't make it along on Saturday, and you win either of these, we will contact you to make other arrangements. Here's a list of everyone that donated and how many entries you will have in the draw for the boots/shirt. Woodstock Jag 2 German Jag 2 Jaggernaut 1 The Firhill Dungeon Keeper 2 Lady Isobel Barnett 1 DunmoreJag 1 Fawlty Towers 1 Shuggie 2 Hopeless Unbeliever 4 lennythistle 1 BalernoJag 1 B.C.G Jag 1 Junior 1 erty13 2 Watson Towers 1 1 John Lambie 1 almacd 1 MMCF 1 AlexForsythFan 1 Ronaldinho 1 Vom Itorium 1 bawheid 1 Nomads 7 Scotty 2 Steven H 1 Thanks again to everyone who took part this year and hopefully we can raise more money next year. Good luck for the raffle! Cheers

Hi, Just wanted to let you all know that it shouldn't be much longer now before we get the answers back from the Jags Trust. We had asked if they could respond by yesterday but unfortunately they didn't receive the email until now, so that has caused a slight delay. David hopes to have the answers sent back within the next couple of days though and I will post them on this thread as soon as we receive them. Cheers

Proud of the BBC - Mitch Benn http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3q2iZuU5WM http://www.mitchbenn.com/

Hello, David Stewart, the Jags Trust Chair, has kindly agreed to a Q&A session with fans on this forum. We will keep this thread open until 17th of October (1 week) to allow everyone time to submit any questions they have. If you would rather submit your question anonymously, please email them to [email protected] When the answers are available we will put them up here and in our content section. Just to confirm - this Q&A is open to all fans, so you don't need to be a member of the Trust to submit your questions. Cheers

It was more the comments attached to this thread which caused offense to some people. We received several reports today because of this and we decided to remove it to save any hassle. The link wasn't the issue and can be found here We're saying no more on the matter.

The reason why you will not find any of your abusive comments on this thread is because we have removed them. You may not have a problem with this type of behaviour but we do and it is clearly stated in the code of conduct that abuse will not be tolerated. I would just like to point out that the last forum did in fact close because of the abuse dished out by members of the forum and not because of the reasons you state. For the record though nobody was trying to tell you what to say or how to say it, the member was clearly just pointing out that abuse isn't wanted on this forum. Could everyone please keep abuse off the forum. It is possible to criticise without resorting to abuse, as demonstrated by the majority of posters on this forum.

We are planning to post more details for this over the next few days. This will hopefully be a joint venture between the forum and the trust but we are waiting until after Friday’s meeting to discuss this in more detail with them. Hope this helps in the meantime but we hope to be able to give more info by the end of this week. Cheers

If anyone has any more suggestions for Tom about the spelling/grammar on the OS please either PM Tom or email the club. email - [email protected] Cheers

Thanks very much That's us collected all the money needed to sponsor Chris Erskine's boots and Iain Flannigan's shirt for this season. We will confirm the shirt sponsorship with the club shortly and post an update. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to these sponsorships and good luck in the draw at the end of the season. We have agreed with the club that everyone who has contributed can be part of a group photo with the two players we have sponsored. We will give more details when we have arranged a date and place but this will be at the end of the season. Thanks again for all your donations