Lambies Lost Doo

That's the battle football all over has these days. More disposable income and more choice means it's not just football to entertain the masses. Most of the games I have went to I enjoyed even drawing 0-0 v Dundee and losing 0-1 v Ross County. Team tried to play football and were unlucky not to lose both games.

Sometimes when I read this board it's like an edition of "Question Time" on BBC 1 with drama and pontification. There are a few points I'd like to point out. Economic Climate - people now use this as a blanket reason or blame for many things going on in the country. The bubble of cheap debt has popped but people are still working and still bringing in money. They can spend their money on items such as i-pads, large phone contracts, cable tv, fags, booze and £100 jeans. Look at the spending habits of people around you. Look at the shops, pubs and restaurants - still busy. There is still money and people can still afford to go to games. The status of the club - we have never been a big club. Never will. My realistic ambition is to hit the level of St Mirren and Motherwell. We will never have a billionaire or even a millionaire to bankroll us. We need to be run intelligently, which I think the current board does, and we need to be funded by the fans and player sales. I support the board and I also say "thanks" for being involved. It's a thankless task and every hour these successful but not hugely wealthy businessmen spend on Thistle is taking them away from their real business and potential profit. Product on the park - We play good football the right way getting it on the deck. Players like Doolan, Cairney, Sinclair and Erskine are entertaining. Someone mentioned QOS Cup game. That was a shocker but every club has games like that. I watch Premiership, Champions League, SPL and there are so many rank games but people get sucked into the hype and the constant brainwashing of media coverage. Firhill - it's a decent stadium. It's a safe environment. It's home. "One Thistle" are looking at changing things. They are making things happen. The guys who run "The Firhill Cup" are getting off their backsides and injecting a great deal of money into the club - I'd give them hospitality at the very least as a thankyou. The club are trying to recruit more fans. Each fan can do their bit. If everyone of us brought one more along then the crowds double. The most simple cost effective way of increasing attendance and bringing in more funds for the club. I will be at the last home game of the season. I am looking forward to next season, I support Jackie, Maxi, Beattie et al and I wish the club to progress. I'm a football fan. I'm a Jag. I support the club.

It may be a hit on our finances but I think no rugby on the pitch will lead to better football and improved results. McNamara has the team playing football which I enjoy but the bobbles and ruts slow down movement and passing on the pitch.

Hi Guys - I got a call from PTFC about picking up the shirt after the last home game. I will be in Glasgow for this so I wanted to check if everyone was happy if I got Paul to do the draw when the shirt gets picked up? Then we know it's all above board and I don't accused of stealing the draw through my bitterness of winning 2 prizes during 8 years membership of 800/Centenary Fund draw. I've had a few messages from people who kindly donated money and I would like others to contact me with their email addresses so I can double check my paypal account as my spreadsheet was wiped when my laptop died and I had to reinstall windows without being able to or probably doing it incorrectly with no backup.

Most important thing for our club is to get money up front. Then they can work out the budget that way. That includes season tickets and corporate sponsorship. Every penny counts and it allows the board to balance the books and plan for new players, extended contracts etc.

Good to hear you enjoyed yourself and hats off volunteering as a BB leader. "We have an anchor that keeps the soul..."

Also I had to put Windows back onto my laptop as it was wrecked so lost my list of names from spreadsheet. Have tallied up a list from paypal account but if people could contact me their username and email address/name that would be a big help to double check.

Hi All Just to let you know I am sorting the names and the draw out soon. http://www.ptfc.co.uk/team/paul_cairney

Interesting details on Motherwell moving to fans ownership with different leves of member. Obviously they have been lucky to have John Boyle to give them millions over the years and to hand over his shares but it's an interesting policy they are taking. I heard that McFadden bought the top membership for £25 000. You would think that others could stretch to that like Tom Boyd, Stephen Pearson, Alex McCleish maybe even Tam Cowan. They are up to £250 000 gathered already. http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/the-club/the-well-society/membership-levels

All the best. You are now a lifetime Jag.

If you really cared about the club you would put more money into the club. A bit different when it's said right back at you. The Directors may have decent jobs and a good standard of living but they are not independently wealthy by any means. They are working men and that was an immature comment from yourself.

David Beattie in the last program mentioned league reconstruction and I think they are going for an SPL1 and SPL2. When you look at the 4 leagues any team in Div 2 and 3 rarely get up to 4 figure crowds now which is not sustainable. I am not saying these clubs should die but they should definitely be part time to keep costs down and to consolidate their position and setup. On the topic of crowds Rangers and Celtic regularly got 18 000 or less in the 1980's. Dundee Utd and Aberdeen were more around the 15 000 mark when they were winning things so I think this point is incorrectly made many times. When you look at attendances for say Thistle they were rarely in the 5 figures category even in the 50's and 60's. Motherwell tried dropping their prices but what small increase they may have got was cancelled out by the drop in revenue e.g. 4500 @ £20 v 6000 @ £10. I used to favour a larger top league but the problem is each club gets less of a slice of the money pie and there is not much to go around. At the moment I am favouring (although could waver) on the below. Top league of 12. Keep the Top 6 Split. Bottom team relegated. 2nd bottom team in promotion play off. Bottom league of 14 with a 7/7 split. Top Team in 2nd tier promoted. 2nd team in league in play off. Bottom team relegated. Brace for impact: Excluding the current situation. OF to have feeder teams in 2nd Tier. This would help youth football and bring in bigger crowds and money. Look at Thistle v Celtic U19 in pre-season. Also another feeder team - SFA Colts. With young Scottish players loaned out by other teams with a number of older player-coaches to guide them. Intelligent fixtures so one Friday night game a week in both leagues. Crowds have been up when it's been tried. Easy travelling to any midweek or games over holiday periods. Scottish Cup to have draws where teams in the same league cannot face each other in the first few rounds to stop playing each other so much. Maximum outfield squad of 20 for all teams. Winter break. To give players and pitches a rest. Weather is unpredictable but it will help recovery if anything. Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. From tv documentaries following youth teams to "X-Factor" style auditions for freedom of contract players to get singed including ring fencing 1 or 2 places in each squad from these "drafts" where bottom team gets first pick etc. Can use this to break into emerging markets etc.

I've got to say the Thistle support are turning into a bunch of whiney negative mopes and I am being tactful here. People talk about product on the park and atmosphere as if Firhill was turning away fans of yesteryear as the team were the early Barcelona. We are a Division One team who attempt to play football on the ground with a young manager. However if someone like Erskine tries to beat a man and fails the crowd are on his back howling at him. If O'Donnel makes a bad pass similar. Players then start to play the easy boring and safe ball and hide on the pitch to stop a load of abuse being shouted their way from most people who couldn't trap a bag of cement. The past few games has been like watching school football with a bunch of agressive negative neds barracking from the sidelines. Everything that is wrong with Scottish football and the attitude and culture within. Dundee 0-0 and Morton 0-0 games were to me enjoyable and showed the team were trying to play football and not lumping it up the park. QOTS cup result was "one of those games" where we were robbed which happens in every league in the world. Talk of "the seasons over" as if we are regularly filling our cabinet with silverware is over the top drama. We go to watch the team to support them, get caught up in the performance and result and hope that sometimes we get entertained. A bit more positivity from the fans instead of bitching in the stadium or on message boards would bring dividends.

I think it is too early to say if he is good or bad. He should definitely be given the whole of next season to prove his worth.

I like Craig Ferguson, ehm that's it.

Is anyone reading "The Blizzard"? It's a brilliant football quarterly. I would strongly recommend you buy. Thistle get a mention on an article in developing footballers' mental capacity. http://www.theblizzard.co.uk/ Kevin McGreskin. "We've got to develop the players brains as well as their bodies but it's much easier to see and measure the differences we make to a player's physiology then we can with their cognitive attributes..... the Scot has devised one exercise in which players have to throw a tennis ball and call out colours while they are passing a football in sequence..... "We are not providing kids with the challenges that they need to meet the demands of the modern game." said McGreskin, who has recently started a project working with the Partick Thistle first team. "Overload exercises help the player speed up the feet and the thought process."

Agreed. It produces some great games but the majority are garbage and the hype machine continues with all the money from Asia and elsewhere. Liverpool v Tottenham on Monday was quite simply gash. I would say the same for Champions League as well. You get the odd highlight like Basle knocking Man Utd out the league but the group stages are usually mediocre and then it's often the same teams in knock out stages.

I've noticed a few posts on here from certain individuals in the culture of "why don't I get money off my ticket?", "why don't the club give more offers to fans?" etc etc. Excuse my capitals here but THE CLUB IS SKINT. IT NEEDS ALL THE MONEY IT CAN GET. If you were to ask me are season tickets holders better fans then I would say "Yes". I don't have a season ticket as I work in London but that's still a poorish excuse. Season tickets give the club money up front and helps them to plan for the season. People buy season tickets because they love and support the club. This is way above any kind of entertainment or hobby. Supporting a club makes no logical or financial sense but people do it because they care and are a little bit mental. For the club to offer other incentives in terms of 2 for 1 or the 3,5,7 ticket deals then good for them. It's a fact of life where you special offers are given for holiday's, restaurants, sales in shops etc. The club is doing a lot especially the U16's free and investing in youth. Lets support the board in whatever positive actions they try. They don't do this for any financial gain. They may be better off than the average Joe but are definitely not individually wealthy enough to pour money into the club. Every day they spend at the club is a day they are not earning in their real job. Last game I was at was Dundee 0-0. Baltic but enjoyable game. Last time I saw fans (and excuse me for missing people including Jags Trust, people who run message board, organising quizes, trying to generate cash and have fun) doing anything positive was the 50/50 sellers especially the man with good banter at the top of the hill to the JH Stand and the 2 men who organised the Firhill Cup Day. Positive actions. Positive outcomes. Look at the state of Rangers. 18000 for Dundee Utd because they have no cash and poor run of results. We are better than them. We are in it together. <Take deep breath>

"Another kick in the teeth!" LOL. What an over the top comment.

Move over Reuters, BBC, CNN and Sky News. Milngavie Herald is first with the news. http://www.milngavieherald.co.uk/sport/new_shirt_sponsor_for_partick_thistle_1_2099686 Our new sponsors http://www.justemploymentlaw.co.uk/

Who is the new sponsor? Nothing on official page with the exception of Partick Thistle FC is set to unveil the new front of shirt sponsor at Firhill Stadium on 6/2/2012. Manager Jackie McNamara, Club Captain Alan Archibald and the MD of the new sponsor will be available for interview and photos (with a very quirky twist).

Should we even be having this discussion? RBS failed so it goes out of business like every other business. There are double standards when people bash the bankers (ignoring other sections of the country who are overpaid) and yet want billions of pounds pumped into the banks they hate to save them.

Was disappointed about MacB going down the tube. It was a Scottish company who made a good product and kept kids away from sugary drinks but unfortunately the administrators were called in. I think we should buy Jaggy MacB off the administrators and keep him for the kids. I liked him as well!

I did it over 10, oh ok, 11 years ago (dear God) and yes it is daunting going away but it really is a piece of piss when you are out there. Austalia is totally setup for all the backpackers and jobs going. I was based mostly in Sydney although my mates had been there 3 months before me and they liked Melbourne better. I did some travelling on my own and you meet good people in the hostels and trips. You will have a great time and constantly think about it when you come home and end up working like all the other daft buggers with normal lives. Incidentally "bugger" in Australia is not really thought of as a swear word. They said it on radio etc which shocked my soft ears. You make of it what you want. Mate ended up going out with an Aussie girl for a while so we hung around with Aussies but also were in the backpacker haunts too. Met some good people especially some English lads. A lot of the people we avoided were Glasgow as we wanted a break from "what team do you support" and all that nonsense. Yes we were backpacker snobs. Loads of material out there and places like STA Travel can sort you out before you go. My main bit of advice is save as much money as possible so you don't need to scrimp and save and get down the gym so you don't look pasty and skinny like I did on Bondi and Coogee Bay. It's a great experience.

Robertson/Cole I had my contacts in so could have been either or even Alan Hansen. That's the reason I wear glasses when driving and miss so many open goals at fives when wearing my contacts. Against QOS Cup we tried to play football and it did not work. Against Dundee we again tried to play football in atrocious weather conditions but with a bit more grit and determination and it almost worked. It's moments like that pass that make it worthwhile for me. Better than a big punt up the park. Erskine taking on players, Cairney running the show. It makes the game enjoyable. Best 0 - 0 I have watched for some time. Can I hasten to add I had a number of people with a strong hatred of Dundee near me. I mean real venom about the club and fans. Any reason why some people dislike them so much? I would have asked but may have ended up getting banjoed. Enjoyed the venom mind you. Got the atmosphere going.