laukat

During the game yesterday I didn't see the handball in realtime but clearly the ref did. From every clip I've seen it does strike his hand So the part I can't get is why did VAR intervene? Were is the clear and obvious error form the Ref? My understanding was VAR would only get involved where it hadn't hit his hand or if it had deflected off the player onto his hand (I'll ignore the Crawford one v St Mirren!)

I am pleasantly surprised that the SFA have went for none of the usual suspects or names thrown about by media colleagues. However given the usual level of competence at the SFA I do wonder if they wanted Postecoglou and just made a few spelling mistakes

Will Bud Light be in goals on Sunday or are Hearts ok with McFarlane playing? I think Bud light will have appreciated the security of a 2 year deal. If he left in the summer in search of being first choice then he would probably be looking at League 1 and part-time football. If we get promoted and he gets even a few games in the premier league he's much more likely to get the opportunity of being a number 1 at a fulltime club. Also given he's only 24 there's every chance he improves and becomes our main goalkeeper

Not going to repeat comments made from other posters on how good we were on Friday but a couple of other aspects were worth mentioning. Out set plays were very imaginative and clearly well drilled. The corner routine with Fitzpatrick and Drozd posed all sorts of problems and leads to the second goal but it wasn't the only deadball were we tried something not seen before Drozd was very good and while I hope he can its unlikely that he can maintain that level all season. However were he may be an upgrade on Chalmers is that he can actually head the ball. Whilst Chalmers was a joy to watch at times I'm not sure that in the entire time of his spell with us that he won a header

Exactly this. I firmly expect the SFA to either appoint an ex-player (Naismith, Fletcher etc) or looks lazily at international managers and think someone like Martinez must be good because he's managed Belgium and Portugal rather than go and do the hard work of trying to find someone that would improve us even if they are not a recognised name. Asking Motherwell how their doing it would be a start

It would be interesting to see what the rise of season tickets is in each stand? My general perception is the JHS is the older season ticket holder wanting a better view of the game (that's were I am) and JLS the younger fans wanting to be in amongst the singing. Not impossible that we could end up with the JLS being all season tickets in years to come

I think the season ticket numbers are really encouraging. It used to be an achievement to get to 2000 but we may be looking at over 3000. Perhaps the kids go free and junior jags initiatives are starting to have an effect?

So you're saying it'll be a cheap round?

I have much the same feeling. @Jordanhill Jag has been shown to be proven partially correct with past issues and he has experience in these issues that should be listened to. However its pretty difficult to keep up on public forum and I'm not sure its the right vehicle for it as it rightly elicits a response from @Woodstock Jag and others that is about correcting the publicly viewable information rather than necessarily addressing the underlying point. Perhaps the forum should fund a drinking session for JJ and others to discuss and once they've got the terms of a way forward/ peace treaty they could just post that outcome?

Bud was there as well as Storey. Both were helping MacFarlane warm up particularly with his long kicking

We were poor in the first half. Only really Let'sosa out of the midfield 3 got pass marks with Crawford miles off it and Smyth fairly anonymous. Second half we over powered Morton with the big difference being the subs. We were putting on men and Morton had to throw on boys. Moving Fitzpatrick inside with Henderson outside really opened things up. Fitzpatrick's run for the goal was match winning, full length of the park and ran past about 4 Morton defenders before picking out Drozd and after his shot was blocked Let'sosa knocked in the rebound Fitzpatrick was miles above anything else on show, we just didn't get the ball to him in the first 45

I think one the impressive features of Wilson & Rae's management last season was their ability to change tactics. I think the squad they have built should support that flexibility. So don't think we will necessarily see a settled best 11 so in that sense we don't have a best 11 For arguments sake when all are fit and on form I think the following could be our best MacFarlane Ingram-Aschroft-O'Reilly-Reading Smyth-Dempsey Drozd- Stanway- Fitzpatrick Watt Its a tough call on Ingram v McPherson, bit of a guess on Dempsey and MacFarlane, arguably GMS is more in form right now than Drozd and whilst Watt is a better player than Samuel, Samuel is more a out and out number striker.

This feels a bit of a false argument. The World cup has already been sold. The recent one had "hydration breaks" which was just a useful break to sell adverts. The invented peace prize and rescinding of the USA players red card was just more evidence that the world cup was sold to the USA. The only thing that wasn't revealed was who got paid. If Qatar wasn't a case of the world cup being sold to the highest bidder then I don't know what was. Russia in 2018 was very similar. So all FIFA and UEFA are really arguing about is the level of selling and probably more pragmatically who gets to profit from the next round of selling I suspect FIFA are posturing to get Infantino out. I suspect they hoped Infantino would do their bidding when he became FIFA president however he appears to have gone rogue and be only interested in lining his own pocket. The risk for FIFA is that in forcing Infantino out who replaces him? Unlikely to be another European given the last 2 have been from their and not covered themselves in glory.

Good news with Stanway. Very few gaps left in the squad. Probably need another midfielder but that would presumably be a cheap loan for cover and a covering left-back would be good. Apart from that get Ingram, McPherson and Ashcroft fit and we're good to go. P.S. If its not asking too much can we just re-sign Scott Tiffoney? I am willing to buy more pints in the aitken suite to make that happen

I don't think its a bad thing to have a vetting process. Its used in other businesses however where it goes wring is when its not clearly defined. Vetting people using methods like disclosure when working with vulnerable people and children is a clear defined method. Taking up references likewise. Where I get a bit concerned is if the process is poorly defined. The fit and proper person test to own a football club seemed to largely consist of a cursory glance at a prospective owner to see if they would fit in with the SFA. Where I get really concerned is if we are using vetting to police people's opinions and thoughts. By all means disqualify someone from being a rep where they have a criminal record for inciting violence etc, however it can't be a function of vetting to ensure that people's opinions align with the rest of the fans/ TJF's beliefs unless that's surely something the electorate take a view on and then make a decision who to vote on otherwise we will only have people in post who repeat the actions of the previous postholder which in turn stifles innovation I would agree there is a need to have a vetting process to sift out non-Thistle fans, people with criminal records and to make sure that any candidate can cope with the commitment. If that's what the vetting process is and can be laid out clearly for all to see then I don't see the problem?