MarciaBlaine

Presume Mitchell is injured? Pleased to see Stanway start in place of Williamson and Neilson for Williams.

Cammy Palmer?

Looking specifically at OF loanees, it would be interesting to see how many they had loaned out to anyone in the past ten years who have returned and been successful at either of the ugly sisters. They're at least as guilty as anyone of buying in talent rather than developing it themselves. Surely not more than a handful of players qualify, and by the law of averages few or none would have come here for game time.

Oh well if nothing else, we saw history being made yesterday

Anyone else got terrible glitching on the Jagzone audio? Seems to be at source edit: seems ok now

Nah, going into a cup game against higher league opposition off the back of a dismal league run usually means a close, glorious defeat. At times I'd prefer a drubbing tbh. It's the hope that kills you.

Is there a particular reason why football tops can't be cotton nowadays (retro tops aside)? Is it just cost or is there some perceived advantage to synthetic material when you're running around in it? Having done that many times I'd dispute that very strongly.

Looks like some of the other merch including the belter of a match day top are back in stock https://www.greavessports.com/collections/partick-thistle-match-day-wear/products/partick-thistle-match-day-jersey

I’ve come to think this too. I think he wants more dynamism from central mid and intends to spread responsibility for breaking up play/starting moves across the team more generally. Not saying I agree necessarily but Dools isn’t daft so it looks to be an intentional move.

McInroy and Lyon for me. Happy with either keeper but think Mitchell will start. Did nothing much wrong so far this year, was Doolan’s pick last year and Sneddon had a few wobbles in the league cup imo

Nope, no specifics.

You could maybe wait until it exists before getting tore into it

Just to add, if we get a midfield enforcer then I'm pretty happy with our options for a starting 11. Obviously it's covering injuries and losses of form that's the key in the our other recruitment.

Broadly agree with all of this. In terms of remaining recruitment I think we need the ones in bold: Goalkeeper - we're fine RB - McMillan obviously first choice. McKenzie seems pretty good as cover (more on this below) LB - Milne again a stick-on but we don't have cover CB - Muirhead and Williams but imo we need a left-sided CB at minimum who can cover LB. A fourth CB would be lovely but I'm not convinced budgets will allow. CM - Bannigan will no doubt play and we now have Williamson, Alston, Stanway and Lyon. None of these are in the Docherty mode - aggressive, breaks up the play, starts off moves with a quick pass. So we need a defensive CM, though Muirhead can also act as cover for this role at a pinch, to central defence's deficit. McInroy seems the type but you're right that he may not be the leader we need. Perhaps with Graham and Muirhead in leadership roles that's slightly less of a concern? AM/8 - Robinson, Alston, Lyon and Williamson so I'd argue we're ok but I expect Robinson to play as a 10. I think/hope Lyon will cement this position or the 10 as the season progresses. LW - Fitzpatrick will start and we've used McKenzie as cover to reasonable effect. This actually means we're using McKenzie as cover for 2 positions which I'd argue is risky. RW - Lawless will be first choice and rightly so but we've no real cover here. So overall I'd say we need someone who can cover RW and RB. These are both backup roles so a young loanee would be ideal and presumably cheap/free. Plus it's the kind of position I'm more relaxed about for a youngster compared to the greater responsibility of, say, CM/CB. And this approach lightens the load on McKenzie. 10 - Robinson, Adeloye, Lyon seem the options here. That's ok imo. 9 - Graham will start and Dowds, Adeloye or Robinson could cover. I'll also say that we are on the face of it over-stocked in certain positions - too many central midfielders (definitely a theme at times under McCall too) and, given we play with one #10 and one #9, we're maybe a bit top-heavy there as well, but when you consider that the options for both are pretty interchangeable I'm not too concerned. It's 5 players for 2 positions. And a Hodson type 'jack of all trades' to cover duties towards the rear of the pitch would be a really prudent catch-all option to shore things up. Of course this all changes if a key player becomes available who doesn't have the flexibility we need to cover multiple roles. Who'd be a manager eh?

I'm certainly hoping for a win away, a win away, a win away, a win away

Overall I like the Jagzone coverage and I'm happy to support it. I know someone posted recently about interview questions being a bit safe and I think it's fair to say that many are of the type: "is it fair to say that x?", basically inviting players or coaches to agree with a statement and reply by repeating the statement back with a slight rewording: (No doubt there are good reasons for this if the interviewee is a bit short on charisma, and the media team can hardly be blamed for the sort of answers they get back!) As a constructive suggestion, couldn't there be a way for fans to submit questions? Like a meet the manager-lite. Not looking for any 'gotcha' moments, just a way to build on the current good connection the fans have with players and coaching staff. In Doolan's last update I'd have liked to have heard things like: How many players are you still looking to recruit / what sort of squad size? And in what positions? Are the young apprentices (currently listed on the site as McKenzie, Stanway and Stevenson) all planned to make the step up to the first team squad? Are any other youngsters involved with first team training just now? Not looking for any state secrets, and no doubt the club would feel at times that some questions are more appropriate than others, but I think it would be a symbolically nice gesture to hear "John from Kirkintilloch asks..." and also great to mix up the content a bit.

I suppose there are other ways to “invest” without taking a stake in the club. Sponsorship of existing things, new initiatives, brand partnership, that sort of thing?

Have to give credit where it's due, I was critical of some of TJF's comms in the past but the recent ones have been first rate - engaging, clear and passionate 👍

It's all here

I think the chances of the Main Stand surviving without major redevelopment or a rebuild in my lifetime are certainly nil. Don't want to be all 'in the know' but I'm aware that from the perspective of people whose opinions matter on these things, it's on the shoogliest of pegs as it is. That's almost certainly the context in which the bing gets any attention whatsoever - not as an addition, but as an alternative. Personally I'd love to see safe standing there, which would presumably be a relatively low-cost development, but there's no financial sense in doing it if we don't regularly fill the other three stands.

Well this thread went stale quickly...

*cough* I think you mean VPN, unless your knicker elastic has impressive properties

I think that’s a Jagzone issue. The club elected make the full interview free-to-air in the news section of the website, presumably because it was Doolan’s first. They usually put the full 3-4 minute offering behind the paywall and only show a minute’s worth for free as “news”.

I think @jafwas right to mention clarity earlier as the key takeaway. I know there are bigger things going on in the world but for our club, this is important stuff. I want to be left in no doubt what the various parties are saying here, even if it’s a qualified or careful statement. Over-simplification absolutely misleads, I agree @Woodstock Jag. Complicated language does exactly the same thing, just to different people. TBH I think we’re all fundamentally in agreement! There’s a delicate balance to be struck here and we want to find that happy medium.

It’s undoubtedly a balancing act for sure. My constructive suggestion would be for comms to say “we’ve also made this statement available in a plain English version which you can read here”. Paste the original into chatgpt (it’s free and dead easy) with a request to “please simplify the following without summarising or shortening it” and put that on your site, bob’s your uncle. Younger fans or those without a professional background get the gist and the fan ownership movement gets loads more backers!