partickthedog

https://www.derrynow.com/sport/celebrations-commiserations-2018-foyle-cup-comes-end-winners/238393 I hope this link works. As you will see Partick ThistleWeir under 15s won the Foyle Cup, a major youth football tournament in Northern Ireland extending over several days. I have also seen a tweet including a video of the lads celebrating by singing "Maryhill is Wonderful"! I have no other details as to how many teams TW played and which side they beat in the final or what any of the scores were. But given the prestige of this tournament and the number of teams competing and the level of some of the other age group winning teams (including such as Sheffield United and Heart of Midlothian ), this is an excellent success and congratulations are due to players and coaches alike. Additional more complete information from others welcomed.

Speaking of insider knowledge, from my carefully cultivated contacts with people at all levels of football throughout Scotland, I can exclusively reveal that a Dundee United fan known as Orange and BlackNeck, whose auntie makes the tea at Tannadice, is spitting tangerine pips because his team missed out on Shea Gordon and Jack Storer, and have instead blown a large part of their salary budget on duds from Partick Thistle and Falkirk.

STOREY STORER SCORER

Plus Archie himself for the first half of the season. Christie Elliott also played a fair part, though mostly from the bench. Andy Dowie and Jordan McMillan joined in for the latter part of the season.

"Eventuate" sounds like the kind of word Donald Trump would tweet and then feign astonishment that nobody else had a clue what he was talking about. It does have an air of patience and gravitas about it.

eventuate?

Well done t4c1. And thank you again to BB & 11-1.

Any Bowen Boys tie splitting process has to involve Brechin City.

Agree with everybody else. Very appropriate.

Erskine had a good second half as did Jamie Sneddon the sub goalie. Jack Storer is the new Bryan Hodge!

Great moves and finishes for both goals. Almost scored a third through Doolan a few minutes later (good save by Smith), but have since lacked a bit of inspiration. Spittal and Penrice showing up well. McGinty certainly a no nonsense hoof it in the air defender! Storer looks a player and has a locker of tricks and skills. Likes to lie deep. Will he be able to deliver effectively against the stronger teams? Not quite happening yet for Doolan and Erskine but that will come.

Would probably agree, if Mbappe shines and Pogba produces his best. However, the longer the game goes, if Croatia are still in there, then I can see the pendulum swinging. Croatia have a very strong mentality which may carry them through extra time and penalties, if necessary. With Iniesta's retirement (at least from the international scene), Luka Modric is now the world's best "keep the ball moving and link up play" type midfielder.

Ditto from me, although I did miss Brechin City

Colin Stewart was the absolute master of that particular art!

Sweden have never really replaced Peter Lindau. Even Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were but poor reflections.

Archie did not say anything like the above in his JagZone interview! The only vague grain of accuracy was that there had been no movement on the Transferlisted Three and that resolving their situations would help to clarify matters for Archie. However, this was not stopping him from still doing the business of endeavouring to make new signings. He did seem to concede that Jack Storer would need to screw the nut!

Maybe none of our midfielders want to play out wide, so by playing this at Central Park we can tell them that they are all Central midfielders.

Liked the way Slater managed to use the words "new slate" in his JagZone interview.

Thought these words showed a creditable attitude on Blair Spittal's part: “I think that the idea of leaving didn’t really sit right with me. Ultimately I was part of the team that got relegated and I feel I owe it to the club and the fans to stick by Thistle and give my all to get us back up"

You could email the club about this, but I suspect that you would just get a stock answer.

Unfortunately BowenBoys is indisposed this morning, so he has asked me to announce two special 20 point bonuses: (1) for anyone who achieved a perfect pre-selection of one surviving team for each quarter final game and therefore did not require to bother BB by sending in any choices. (2) for anyone who correctly predicts a Sweden victory in the quarter finals as BB's indisposition is due to a seasonal condition known as ECH or English Commentators Headache. PTD pp BB

There should be a repechage like in canoeing to give Japan an opportunity of getting back in. Someone mentioned earlier on in this thread a best of the rest team made up from nations that did not qualify for the World Cup. For all sorts of reasons that would not be practicable, but could fans from the non-competing nations (and therefore not (or at least less) prejudiced) form a jury to elect "fastest losers" from each round to move forward to the next round?

Enigmatic with a capital E. Totally different personality type from anyone I can remember at least in recent years, and that is going to be intriguing. Also good to have an advocate for southism. Why should north always be at the top of the map? With his preference for being a number 10, will be interesting to see whether Erskine & Storer can be accommodated in the same team or whether they will necessarily be alternatives. A re-kindling of the Erskine/Lawless type partnership from 6 seasons ago would be welcome.

Has your thinking on France now changed?

Mexico to beat Brazil. Brazil may think that Neymar is the king, but Mexico will score with a free header when there is NeymarKing at a corner. Would have fetched my coat if it were not so hot.