GinolasBald

If Steven Lawless' Instagram is anything to go by, Muirhead is away.

Our office staff are a bit of a joke. After booking the 3 game package, specifically asking for a Main Stand ticket for the game tomorrow and North Stand for the other two games in order to be beside my mate at the games, they took my money last week and finally sent me an email confirmation this morning (which was delayed in being sent because one of the staff is off and the other one "found the form on her desk"), which stated Jackie Husband stand on it. Called the office and she advised that she would change them over and asked if I was still happy with my Jackie Husband stand ticket for tomorrow's game. Lucky she asked that or else I would've been showing up to the game tomorrow to collect my ticket to find that they had given me something completely wrong. Not the first time that the office has made a ****-up with tickets/season tickets I have ordered, and is why I never book tickets online and pay at the gate instead. Looking forward to the game though, have a feeling we might get a doing but if we play like we did at the league game at Parkhead this season then we have a chance of nicking something. Would like to see Lawless played at centre attacking midfield instead of Craigen. Think that his pace could cause problems to the likes of Ambrose, with Stevenson holding the ball up for him I think it could work quite well. Otherwise I hope that Frans is fit so that Fall-On-Arseatoni doesn't risk us conceding any stupid goals as Guidetti will be right up for this considering the talk of his lack of goals recently. Heart says 1-1, head says 3-1 Celtic.

Don't think it would do Lindsay any good being brought in for this game and being put beside Balatoni or Muirhead, if Seabourne is fit then I would start Lindsay beside him, but the defence is enough of a shambles as it is, Lindsay won't learn anything being drafted in beside Conrad or Aaron and if the defence has another horrorshow, then it won't do much for the boy's confidence. I wasn't there on Friday night (saw the highlights) but I think I'll be there tonight. Don't know if I must be a glutton for punishment but despite Friday's performance I am still fairly confident. No way will St. Mirren manage to win two games on the trot and I think/hope our players will be a lot more fired up for this after what happened on Friday. I imagine the team will be: Fox O'Donnell Balatoni Seabourne (if fit, otherwise Muirhead) Carroll Bannigan Osman Higginbotham Stevenson Lawless Doolan Think Archie will keep largely the same team, although I think it would be beneficial to start with Ecclestone up front with Doolan in behind and drop Stevenson, who has looked poor and doesn't look fit enough to start two games a week anyway. Doubt it'll happen though. Have a funny feeling Archie will go with O'Donnell just to change things slightly. Then the standard subs of Craigen and Elliot to radically change things as usual for the last 15-20 minutes.

Welsh about 6 weeks. Don't know about McMillan...

We were outstanding tonight. County were woeful but we would've beaten anyone in this league with the way we played tonight, and I include Celtic. All four goals were incredibly well worked, and I don't think I've seen a ball as good as Fraser's to O'Donnell for the fourth in a long, long time. McMillan filled in the left-back slot comfortably, and although we do still need to sign a left-back, I don't think we have any issues if we have to use him there at all this season. O'Donnell was more like the player we saw in the first half of the promotion season and our midfield three were immense. Lawless and Higginbotham playing either side of Stevenson or Doolan is the way we should be starting every week when we're at our strongest as I thought they all linked together really well. One or two more signings and our squad will be ready with decent strength in depth for a long season. If anyone thinks we're getting relegated based on the performance tonight, then they need to have a look at themselves. We should be comfortably safe if we play even half as good as that every week.

I don't think its unrealistic in the slightest to say that one, if not both, of them could make it into the Scotland midfield in the not too distant future. Our midfield three was outstanding last night.

Thought he was solid, if uninspiring, although he had next to nothing to deal with. Seems to be comfortable with the ball at his feet and aside from one or two attempted "Hollywood passes", he seems to fit in well with the way we play. I thought him and Balatoni were arguing with each other on one or two occasions but their understanding of each other's games should come in time. Looks to be quite a handy acquisition.

The Sevco supporter I work with told me yesterday that he's on trial with them.

Think they will only attempt to play football when they're trying to feed the ball to Kiss. No doubt this will be done by giving the ball to Carey who will punt the ball to Jervis and hope that it'll bounce about to find Kiss. As long as we're wise to that, we should be fine.

Haven't seen any of preseason so I was initially thinking Bannigan and Fraser in the middle but after reading the reports on Osman, it looks as if it will be essential that we play him in order to neutralise Kiss. If he does that effectively, we can expect County to just play hoofball. Where Archie decides to play Seabourne is interesting. According to what I've read, he's not the quickest so if we start with SOD at RB then I would play Seabourne at CB and Bannigan at LB for balance to SOD's forward runs on either side, but if we go with McMillan at RB then Seabourne could play LB with Muirhead and Balatoni in the middle and we stick with a flat back four with Osman sitting in front and giving Fraser or Bannigan reign to boss the midfield. Lawless has a good record against County but think Archie will favour Elliot. Play our normal game and ensuring we mark Kiss out the game and we should be fine.

Gallacher all the way. Balatoni in particular improved immensely once he had someone barking orders with regards to his positioning and I think Muirhead will benefit from that as well (assuming we go with a Conrad/Aero centre half pairing). As much as Fox is a quality keeper, he doesn't command the back four the same way Gallacher does. Plus, Gallacher's individual performances alone merit him keeping his place.

That's what I was thinking/hoping. Cheers!

Anyone have any idea what the prices will be like for this? Day before pay day so need to keep some money to watch us pump that manky mob!

Don't usually post on here but am a frequent visitor. Felt compelled to post after this absolute farce. Have emailed the club and will I **** be renewing my season ticket until the decision is reversed. Just means I'll have more money for the away days I'll be doing next season. Here is what I sent to the club: Dear Ian Maxwell, David Beattie et al I, like presumably many others have done before me, am writing to inform you of how appalled and disgusted I am at the decision which has been taken to remove Partick Thistle supporters from the North Stand. As a North Stand season ticket holder for the last two years, and Firhill regular before this, I am dismayed and baffled at how this decision has been made. The manner of how the decision has been relayed to the fans makes it all even worse. The last day of an otherwise successful season was supposed to be a celebration of the achievements of our playing and coaching staff for keeping us in Scottish football's top tier, however instead it has ended on a sour note. I had been trying to work out why the board see it as a good idea to remove Thistle fans from the North Stand but I just couldn't think of any, which is why I held off emailing until after the club had released an official statement. After the embarassment which is the statement released this afternoon, I remain unconvinced and now even more infuriated. The way the whole thing has been handled is a joke. Relaying the information to two unofficial representatives before the final game of the season and expecting them to spread the news is an utterly disgraceful way to treat not only the fans generally, but the two fans personally. The statement reads as unbelievably patronising and is not the way that loyal fans should be treated. A couple of sinks in a delapadated stand and letting us drape flags over empty seats? Please. Did anyone honestly really think that would appease angry supporters? I can't even get my head around the Rangers reasoning. Who's to say that they will win Division 1 next year? As we are all very aware, it is an extremely competitive league, made even moreso by the relegation of Hearts, and potentially Hibernian. Even if they do win it next year or the year after, who's to say we won't be relegated? We weren't exactly comfortable at any point this season and while I will always remain confident and back my team, to simply assume that Rangers will be promoted and play us is ridiculous and totally short-sighted. I have been of the opinion that some of the decisions behind the scenes this season have been questionable, but unlike many others, I have put it down to this season being a learning curve, just like it has been for the majority of our playing and coaching staff. However, if this is what the board have learned from this then I refuse to have to put up with it. A total lack of respect to loyal, paying fans (or "customers" since I believe that Ian Maxwell was keen to point out to the two representatives who met him on Saturday afternoon that football was a business). It has been said that the club are looking to increase their support, alienating a large part of it certainly will make it much harder to do so. A business is as big as its customers, so if football is a business then fans are the customers. I don't want to see the club I've supported my whole life take backwards steps after a promising two or so years in which I have enjoyed my best times at Firhill. I urge vehemently to reconsider the stance which you have taken on this, or risk losing a large, hardcore group of supporters as well as any atmosphere at Firhill. If this decision is not reversed then you can take this as my confirmation that my season ticket will not be renewed. Sincerely, GMcC Seat Q 70 - NORTH STAND Customer number - 100800001194 Chris Jack needs to take a look at himself as well. He's an irrelevance and trying to wind-up Thistle fans is not a good move on his part at all.

Was posting on my phone, didn't see the date of post or the fact that another page or so of further posts were made!

Fox, SOD, Balatoni, Muirhead, Taylor-Sinclair, Bannigan, Welsh, Fraser, Lawless, Forbes, Doolan. I'd be happy with that, although I have a feeling Archie will go with Kerr over Fraser.

Craig signed for Wycombe Wanderers during the week. Would've loved him to have re-signed here!

I hope the odds stay at 33/1 for Hibs to finish bottom after tonight, had been planning on shoving some money on it after pay day tomorrow!

Thought that we played some outstanding stuff going forward in the first half. Don't know how anyone hasn't suggested Welsh as the obvious replacement for Paton. I thought he looked Pirlo-esque with his passing at times yesterday (ignoring him being at fault for the 3rd goal). Even though it was a friendly, he looks better suited to the holding midfield role than Bannigan who looks a better player when he's allowed the freedom of the pitch to run around. Thought Ross Forbes had an outstanding game as well playing the Erskine role on the wide left. Defensively we looked atrocious, Muirhead in particular but i'll trust Archie's comments that it was a lack of sharpness due to it being pre-season as to why this was the case. Mark Kerr should be signed as cover for what should be a midfield trio of Bannigan, Welsh and Forbes and we should have another look at the no. 6 trialist before making any decisions on him. We really need a centre forward and a pacey left winger to give balance to Lawless on the other side. I'm just not confident in Baird hitting the 10-goals mark this season (I hope I'm wrong) and Dools is unproven at this level. Aside from that, I'm quite happy with the squad we have, aside from perhaps getting in a couple of players for cover (and getting Hugh Murray to ****).

People boycotting because of Novo is just nonsense. I wouldn't be too happy if he showed up at Firhill wearing our badge but boycotting is just ridiculous. We're not Celtic. As for scouting in Spain etc, a good idea but we need to be careful that we don't get sucked into signing players just because they're "continental" like so many clubs are doing at the moment. Not all Spanish players are Iniesta-esque.

Desperate for Lawless to stay. Him and Muirhead are my favourite Thistle players at the moment and Lawless is one of the most exciting players I've seen at Thistle in a long, long time. More consistent than Erskine and is always burrowing away for a break. I think he'll shine next season so to lose him would be a real shame. However, if a club comes in with £100k and the wee man isn't showing any signs of signing a new contract, I think we'd need to seriously consider it.

Looking for a rough idea of what time I should head to Firhill to start queuing in order for me to actually have a chance of getting tickets? Don't want to be too early and spend forever on my tod but also don't want to be too late and miss out!

Dunfermline 5-1 game was the best Thistle game I have ever been to. Everything about it was perfect - cracking goals, Thistle giving a (then) promotion rival an absolute pumping, massive crowd, amazing atmosphere. Won't be forgetting that one in a hurry.

Any idea when the offices close on Wednesday night? I don't finish work until 6.30pm so wouldn't be able to get to the ground until 7pm earliest probably.

Agreed. Thought Carmichael was quality.