laukat

I might be wrong but now Wier has fallen out with the current board there is no 'as is' option. Either new money has to come in or we downsize. I would take it that the training ground will never happen and its the first part of downsizing. Not sure we needed it to begin with so not losing any sleep over it. The youth setup going would be more of a concern for me and I think thats next unless new money comes in.

At the meet the manager night it certainly came across to me that he was over complicating matters and giving the players too many messages to deal with. At this level you have to expect that one of the limitations of the players is how much instruction they can take on. Also he was very much a manager with a philosophy on football which he tried to stick to. At this level you need to find a system that suits the players and wins games. Adhering to a philosophy is only possible when you have a budget that allows you to buy players who can play to that philosophy. For example - anyone know what John Lambie's philosophy was on football other than gies a shift and win games? I don't think Ian McCall has a philosophy beyond getting players to play better and win. One of the other things that came across was he seemed not to know what style of team was successful in the championship. There was chat about a hard tackling defensive midfielder which he wasn't keen on but a little bit of research would have shown the successful championship teams all relied on them. Unfortunately for Caldwell he seems the sort to stick to his principles and beliefs even though they been found not to work in 3 different clubs. If he doesn't adapt he will be largely unemploayble as a manager or coach. Probably quite a good post game TV analyst though.

Agree with this If the TFE proposal is that Colin Weir will fund the fan purchase of the club, he's not expecting his person to sit on the board or run the club and will buy out propco its sounds like too good an offer to not get behind. I would still like to see the 5 year plan TFE have mentioned and also who they would install as chairman and board of directors. The New City consortium seems to be a mystery box. In theory a billionaire backer looks good but there is no evidence that he has massively invested in Lyon or Barnsley and some counter evidence with Lyon of getting the club to pay off his loans with a percentage on top. Colin Weir at least has some history of providing funding without expecting repayment and if it wasn't for his mistake with Jackie Low we would probably all still think he was a great guy. My preffered option would be TFE with Beattie as Chairman if possible

The bit in bold is my ideal scenario. The rest is unlikely as I can't see New City getting involved unless they are in charge. For those in the know - if the fan ownership bid goes through does that mean propco still exists and owns the stadium?

Agree, I would like to see the same from all parties. My instinct says fan ownership is a good thing but it'll rely on the capability of its leaders. I don't know any of them and I have no doubt they are well meaning but do they have any experience of running a football club or business of this size? Conversely the New City Capital consortium have said nothing so all you can go on is what they are doing at Barnsley and to and extent what they did with Lyon. That doesn't give a lot to go on. Beattie hinted that they have plans to expand the ground which sounded hopeful but he didnt elaborate to any degree that would make you understand where New City make their money. Right now I tend to more trust Dave Beattie but thats mainly because he was chairman for a succesfull period and has in the last few weeks made quite a few decisions that make sense. The Thistle Forever bid could do with having a more recognisable figure fronting it, someone we could trust or to do open Q&A sessions so we could build trust with its leadership. It could also do with coming out and saying they will not reinstate J Low or any of the previous board.

I would like to see what the 5 year plan they presented tp the board looks like. If its a fans consortium surely they can share it with us?

It would be good is someone from Thistleforever could explain on this site how a fans consortium will run the club going forward? I get how they are looking to fund the purchase of the club but who makes the decisions on a day to day basis? Who fills the funding gaps if we hit a problem?

I think the above is a really good point and when McCall says we have 6/7 players who are confidence players and that the squad is unbalanced its I think what he is referring to. Caldwell got Miller to replace McDonald which wasn't a huge downgrade but didn't get anyone in to replace Anderson. Anderson wasn't great towards the end and looked like his legs were going but he was a leader and someone who put his body on the line. We don't have anyone in the squad like that.

Really happy to see Archie back. He had a really poor last 12 months as manager and made some bad mistakes particularly in player recruitment. He would have had offers from other clubs as a manager but it speaks volumes about the guy that he wants to re-establish himself at Thistle and is willing to learn from McCall. Welcome home Archie

In 23 minutes McCall has identified more about what is up with us than Caldwell could in 12 months. 6 or7 confidence based players now so low on confidence that they're struggling, an unbalanced squad and a club thats not been moving in the same direction for nudging 2 years. I would assume of the 6/7 confidence based players are Bannigan, O'Ware, Zannataand Cardle are in there and each of them are key players for us. If McCall can get them going again we would have a very different outcome. I would presume the unbalanced squad is partly some positions lack options (Striker, CDM, right-back, left centre back) and the age of the squad is not right. We need an older head in central midfield and central defence to get some of the younger guys through games.

Yesss! That annoucement feels like a turning point. Reminiscent of Lambie's return in 1990. Getting McCall back would have been good enough but to get Archie on board as well is exceptional. Well done David Beattie. We've been crying out for leadership and his actions over the last couple of weeks shown more of that than we've had in the last 2 years.

Caldwell's 'meet the manager' evenings were excellent. His 'being the manager' saturdays not so much

I think there are large differences from what Caldwell inherited and McCall is inheriting. When Caldwell came in we wee sitting outside the relegation zone but struggling to get near the top 4. Had we maintained the form Caldwell inherited we would probably have finished above relegation but outside the top 4. McCall is inheriting a team that is bottom of the league so he needs to improve results just to avoid relegation. The team Caldwell inherited was struggling as we had key players out injured (Gordon, O'Ware) or just returning from injury (Bannigan) coupled with a few players out of form (Erskine, Elliot, Doolan). The team was however playing a settled 4-2-3-1 However McCall inherits a team that has no settled formation. That was trained in pre-season to play 3-5-2 but have now gone back to a back 4. (No idea what we were playing in midfield on Saturday as it was a mess). To add to that we only have 1 fit striker and he's nearly 40. Caldwell has left us in a mess that will take time to fix. If McCall gets us anywhere near the top 4 he'll be in the running for manager of the year.

Best appointment we could make so well done to Mr Beattie for taking the neccesary action. I've noticed a couple of people already talking about the potential return of the 'red n yellow army' song. I think that is indicative of 2 things. First thing is that to the best of my knowledge the song was never sang whilst Caldwell which was a pretty clear demonstration that he never convinced the fans. Second thing it says is that we have made an appointment the fans are already behind. That in itself makes a big difference and will produce a different atmosphere at Firhill. If Archie is part of his management team it would be an extra bonus and be a real sign that the club is starting to heal. I suspect McCall will need most of this season to sort out the mess he's been left so realistically avoiding relegation is still the main task with a run at the playoffs next season.

Just watched the highlights which confirmed whay I thought I saw on saturday. Looks to me like the first goal is lost as no one is picking up a man. If you didn't know better you would think they were playing some sort of zonal system that forbids marking a man. Second goal, McGinty is way out of position and as soon as he looses the ball we're at panic stations. I think we have real problems in defence. McGinty is probably more suited to a 3-5-2, that way he can go on the upfield runs knowing that there is cover. However Penrice and O'Ware are both playing as if they are in a back 4. Kakay looks more like a wingback so we have half a defence that needs a 3-5-2 and half that need a back 4. Thats not a good state of affairs and I think the new manager is going to have to do something radical to sort it. Might be worth replacing McGinty with Penrice as left centre back, going with Robson at left back and Saunders at right back.

Says a lot thats he hasn't mentioned David Beattie which probably means it was Beattie who dumped Caldwell. If so David Beattie has just justified why we needed to bin JLow and re-instate himeslef as chairman. If Beattie now gets McCall in and somehow produces the funds to back him then he might just be showing the leadership thats been missing for the last 2 years. Also the statement is very much an attempt to say its not his fault if we get relegated when he really know he's made big mistakes in recruitment.

That was a shambles. We looked really good right up until Dunfermline squad and then every single player chucked it. Everyone one of them should be ashamed of themselves and be hanging their head in shame. Dunfermline are not a good team and were playing with their second choice goalkeeper. We had 62% possession and 1 shot on target. We had zero cutting edge. Mansell is not a footballer, Cardle looks done, Gordon was anonymous, Kakay has the same defensive frailties as Williamson. Bannigan, Cole, Penrice and O'Ware hid today. Special mention to Kenny Miller. He did't have a clue what position he was playing in the second hald which takes some doing when he helps pick the team. Paul Paton was the only leader on the park today. We really could do with a player who revels in doing the nasty parts of the game.

After today our only way of avoiding relegation is McCall. I'd be more than happy with McCall and Archie. If its Lennon we're going to have to accept relegation this year in the hope he can bring us straight back stronger next season.

I don't have a particularly issue with a female manager. If he/she is good enough then get them in. However watching Scotland Women at the world cup should dispell any notion that Shelley Kerr is the answer for us. We were 3-0 up against Argentina and only needed a win to get through. She should have made subsitions as soon as the 3rd went in to protect her back 4 as her midfield were exhausted. However she looked like a rabbit in the headlights and did nothing. If the game had gone on for another few minutes Argentina would have won. RE: experience with Stirling Uni -whilst its shows she has experience of managing a mens team, she has no experience of a managing a proffesional club. Added to that she's had to apologise to her own team for how she treated them at the world cup and you don't exactly have an impressive CV. Not even close to being the required standard.

Part of the reason I put him quite far down the list is becasuse there are parts of the remit that he is unable to fulfil. As you say he has no track record however if the canidates further up my list are unavailable he at least would, I think, understand the ethos of the club and that it needs to be recruiting young local talent not shipping in jobbing lower English league players or a load of veterans looking for a last pay day.

When Archie for the sack we should have been looking for a manager that was able to make us defensively better and more direct in attack to aim for a quick return to the top flight. GC clearly wasn't that guy hence it was always a struggle. This time I think we should be looking a manager that can initially make the current squad play to their potential and recreate Partick Thistle as a club that finds good young local talent with the overarching aim of a return to the premier league within the next 2 seasons. That needs someone with a track record at this level of identifying undiscovered talent, that can develop players and mould them into a team. With that in mind my selection for manager in order of preference: Ian McCall -some distance- Stephen Craigan, Danny Lennon, Jackie McNamara, Kris Doolan --some distance --- Billy Dodds, Derek Adams Managers that I would avoid like the plague: Hughes, McIntyre, Pressley, Miller, Duffy, Stubbs

Yes!! Please go and get Ian McCall with Doolan as his assistant. It would bring a feel good factor back to the club thats been missing since we finished top 6 On a personal basis I feel sorry for anyone losing their job but Caldwell was just never a football manager. Whoever did the hiring should have listened to what the Chesterfield and Wigan board and fans thought before taking him on.

The worst part about that corner routine is that it will probably have taken a considerable amount of time during training sessions to feel it was worth trying in a real game. The time spent on that would have been better spent on practising defending corners. We have two decent aerial threats at corners in McGinty and O'Ware. We don't need gimmicky corner routines to be able to have a threat at corners. Last seasons routines where one would run towards the front post and the other would arrive at the back post was fine for this level. We've already had Saunders score a couple and one from O'ware from that approach. Assuming reasonable delivery its an area that doesn't need this amount of tinkering with. Last point would be that this type of routine is the sort you try when you're feeling really confident and won you're last 4 games on the bounce. When you're struggling you need to focus on the basics and thats about getting a decent delivery in and around the penalty spot.

If we don't have the cash to go and get McCall back and have to go with an ageing striker as player-coach, I'd be keener to give Doolan a go. His comments after the Ayr game showed he stil cared what happened at Thistle. We have a lack of those sort of people in senior positions at the club.

In my opinion he should have been canned after the 5-1 defeat as the changes he made at halftime were incompetent. However I was reffering to the 3-2 capitulation a few weeks ago. We look at best like we are in for another season of trying to avoid the drop. We were told that last year was like that as he had to sign his own players and we see a difference this year. Well he has his own players brought in to play his tactics and the difference isn't positive.