laukat

Fox, Williamson, Gordon and Zanatta are the only ones who have a contract beyond May 2020 so there shouldn't be any costs to get players out. I would suspect McCall will have less budget so he'll have to recruit cheaper players or have a smaller squad. He'll have his work cut out but identifying players and building a squad is probably his greatest strength. I think 5 (Hall, Cole, Kakay, Palmer and De Vita). There are not the worst in the squad but some of them will be sacrificied to get others in January.

I think we're looking at patching up the squad in January to try and secure safety then trying to rebuild over the next 2 seasons to get a run at promotion. I think we have the right manager for that job. In January I think we need a left sided central defender, another winger and at least one other striker. Next summer we could be looking at a total clearout.

We played well last night and had so much possession that it was almost like a home game. Saunders does look like the best of our 3 central defenders as he does the basics well. The midfield 3 of Bannigan, Palmer and Gordon dominated the Dundee United Midfield. Cardle was consitently getting crosses in but we didn't really have anyone in the box and struggled to create clear chances. Apart from the disallowed goal we only really forced the United keeper into one save from Zanatta. Cardle did come close but that was about it. Miller was quiet last night. Zanatta had flashes but also picked the wrong options more often than not. Mansell had pretty much zero impact when he came on but I thought McCall should have left Miller on and went with 2 strikers. We have a clearer style of play with a 4-5-1 in defence and a 4-3-3 in attack. McCall is probably getting the most out of the squad but we are short of confidence and striking options. We are largely dependent on Cardle or Zannatta to open defences and neither is proving to be massively effective just now. We'll need at least another winger, striker and central defender in the January transfer window

Agree with this. Defensively we look a bit tighter than under GC and there was a passing move first half that rather than just been a side to side was a move up and down both wings that eventually ended in Zannata getting a decent ball into the box that Gordon just failed to convert. I think McCall is correct in saying the team is still nervous and that also applies to the fans which in turn means guys like Bannigan get more criticsim than he's due. Apart from one bad tackle I struggle to think of much he did wrong. He perhaps could have been quicker to move the ball forward in the second half but there weren't a lot of options in front of him as QOS were pretty tight defensively. Overall there was very little between us and QOS and on another day we win that. I thought we should have had a penalty when Gordon goes around the keeper and at that point if we score I think we go onto win. We have a decent attacking plan A and if we score first we'll probably win but with the options on the bench we have no attacking plan B so if we go behind we'll struggle.

Sorry but I think this is the first time I have criticised McGinty and whist its going back a while when Caldwell scape goated him in the 5-1 loss at Morton I came on here and defended him. McGinty suited the 3 centre back system as it allowed him to take the ball out of defence but with 2 centre backs both have to dominate aerially. McGinty doesn't look particularly commanding for his hieght

Biggest problem today was when we went behind we had no way of changing it. Normally when you're a goal behind you put on an extra striker and we have nothing. It meant we continued to sdo the same side to side try to get down the wings rather than going a little more direct. From where I was the goal looks like McGinty got under the ball and effectively gave a free header. For a 6ft 5 defender he's not particularly commanding in the air however we have no other left sided central defenders. I think Caldwell has left us a squad with some real gaps. O'Ware looked better today, Robson got pass marks after that it was a whole lot of average. Cardle tried but had a knightmare. Zanatta went completely off the boil after early promise. Williamson was ok to day but he's still not good enough defensively

If its only Conway and Zuk financing the takeover we are no longer being taken over by a Billionaire. I'm not even sure that Conway or Zuk are in the millionaire category so for them spending a £1million to make £3million is a different propostion. Also much more difficult to see how they could clear the dual ownership rules or commit any time to Thistle as they are very much part of Barnsley's board

The comment below is from a barnsley supporters forum on a thread about the barnsley owners buying Thistle "Alan Nixon at the weekend said Conway is looking to buy the club with Zuk. In past reports he said with Lee. If plans have changed it will add fuel to the fire of the rumours that Lee and Conway have fallen out." No idea if its true but if it is there is no billionaire backing in the consortium so how are they funding the bid and how do they intend to recoup their outlay?

Genuine question - what have you managed to find out about the consortium that made you like it? All I've been able to find is a few interviews with Paul Conway who outlines their player recruitment startegy and some articles on how they have made Lyon pay back the purchase cost with interest. Have you got other information you could share?

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.