mgow

I loved watching Mark Roberts playing for Thistle and as others have noted, some of his goals were a) sublime and crucial (the play offs). While he wasn't a "Kenny Watson" figure glueing the team together, he was some light in very dark times. The excellent Tell Him He's Pele website as ever put most mainstream outlets to shame with the depth of their articles. They have posted this rather stark assessment of Mark's time at Ayr United: http://www.tellhimhespele.com/the-boy-with-the-thorn-in-his-side/ I was a little surprised to hear him say he thought he had wasted his playing career. I suspect he meant in terms of never sustaining a place in the SPL.

Personally, I enjoyed both our goals in that game. I wasn't happy at the time, but looking back I think we owe a debt of gratitude to that dodgy linesman. I mean, how often will you get to see Thistle score a late equaliser there TWICE?

I am a little surprised that WGS got himself caught up in such nonsense. He always struck me a quite clued on. As others have said, quite pleased with his approach as Scotland manager so really hope it was done to some temporary insanity or a joke that the reporter missed. Regarding League Reconstruction, I don't think anyone has pointed out the more likely route. Without getting too technical, as the SPFL rules are the idiot offspring of the SFA, SFL and SPL, there is a hidden clause that means should Motherwell be in a relegation spot at Christmas, League Reconstruction is automatic.

I too recall the disappointment of having missed so many chances to cause an upset. Also, the ignominy of having one set of OF fans tell you "yir team wus unlucky". However, the funniest thing was the next day talking to an Aberdeen fan. They had shipped 7 goals at Parkhead not long before in 90 minutes of a league game. He pointed out that Thistle had played 120 minutes, given them 9 penalties and had still conceded fewer goals.

League table shows us 8th. I would take that at the end of the season!

Footnote: I am afraid that "elsewhere" is the clear winner if you want actual SPL printing TTL will do printing from £7, but that is just plain Joma numbers / letters, not SPL ones. Greaves prices were eye watering - £22 to £24 for name & number depending on whether your number was 1 or 2 digits. "elsewhere" was £6 for a name and £6 for 1 or 2 digit number. I needed a 9 on one shirt and a 10 on a second - £46 from Greaves or £24 from "elsewhere". In the end, "elsewhere" did it for £18 - I think it was because the name was short, but perhaps my encyclopedic knowledge of the UEFA appeals process got me a discount ;-). As they did before, they asked me tons of questions: what colour the printing need to be, if names were straight and the actual positioning was our joint best guess in the end. They also dutifully wrote "not bought in this shop" on the form you fill out. It does annoy me that we have to get this service "elsewhere". Given the hi-tech equipment that was used, a small heat press and an electric fan, I can't help thinking it is real money opportunity being missed.

Disaster!! While I confidently expect my two to get over the lack of Lyle Taylor (in a year or three), a lack of hot dogs could instigate a boycott. I feel a protest page coming on ;-)

Thanks for the info you two. Given that TTL can do printing (just the wrong style of numbers), TTL supply the club's kit and PTFC can get the right style of printing on the match shirts, you wouldn't think it was a huge stretch for TTL to do the right style printing for supporters too. I would have thought that there was easy profit to be made there!

Sorry for such a geeky thread! Both mgow Juniors have had new home strips purchased for them (they must have wealthy grandparents!). However, TTL only print their own basic numbers etc on back, not the standards SPFL / SPL ones. This will not escape the notice of our eagle eyes duo, so will need to get it printed "elsewhere" (don't ask). "Elsewhere" won't know the precise detail of our strip and I haven't managed a game yet (or tonight) plus on line pictures haven't helped. Is anyone in the know / can recall: - are our numbers & letters still black with white edge? - do they still just say SPL at the foot of numbers? - do they names generally go straight across back or curve round? - thankfully there is no big yellow panel at back this year, but any clues as to how far down number starts? Thanks in advance. Told you it was a geeky thread.

Judging by the link, the company behind our ticketing system is Interstadia. It lists its 4 clients as us, St Mirren, Falkirk and Dunfermline, although the last 2 are given as being in the "Irn Bru 1 Division": http://www.interstadia.co.uk/our-clients/

Having trawled through the Season Ticket Renewal micro-site, I am even less clear what the club policy is!! It has no mention of Unreserved Kids tickets (which could tackle the all ticket game scenario) and instead says "As has been the case in previous years there will be an area of the Jackie Husband Stand which is specifically allocated as the Partick Thistle Futures Zone. This is an area of the stadium where young fans can sit with their families and enjoy the game in a relaxed and friendly environment." The only part that is clear is that the £25 fee kicks in if you wish to reserve a seat outwith of the "Partick Thistle Futures Zone". Genuine question - does anyone have any details of where in the JHS this Futures Zone is? When we renewed a couple of seasons back, we gave up our usual seats to move to what we were told was the "Kids Zone". I tried following through with a ST purchase, but like many others have found, it would not let me. As has been noted above, better Communication and relevant Representation could have taken a lot of the heat out of this. PS Is it possible that the "Partick Thistle Futures Zone" is in hiding from the Apostrophe Police?

I see where you are coming from. However, I suspect (but don't know) that the requirement for a specific seat for all ticket may be a police one. In practical terms, there will still be a fair chunk of ST reserved seats but now you wouldn't actually need to sit in them. So no real difference to a usual PATG game?

Given it will still be possible to get a free Kids ticket with an unreserved seat, the issue cannot (logically) be about adults using the tickets to get in. The only possible issue the new approach will tackle is to limit the impact of "seat blocking". (empty seat reserved for your mate on their infrequent visits). The £25 will reduce the number of adults who will do that "just in case", but if you were an adult who managed 10 games a season (so Season Ticket is too costly), you are still likely to decide an extra £25 (equiv to £2.50 per game for you) might be worth it anyway. Can I just ask some numbers: does anyone know how many Kids Season Tickets were collected? I thought we had around 2,000 Season Tickets at most: 150 Kids never collected 350 in NS (many who still have a seat allocated in JHS) I can't imagine that leaves any more that 500 collected Kids tickets (and only 1,000 paying tickets). Therefore, this hullabaloo is about 650 seats at most, about 11% of the JHS or 6.5% of Firhill. A ground that was NEVER more than 80% full last season. I still suspect that there is at least a third take up rate at on the Kids tickets at every game, but it could be higher. Meanwhile, unless it is changing, all JHS season ticket holders can "seat block" up to 18 times a season in that stand by attending NS. All the club have done is establish the principle that you need to pay to reserve a seat at Firhill. The most they will raise is £16K from this exercise, probably a lot less. How much does goodwill cost? This begs the question: what happens to hundreds of Kids with unreserved seats for all ticket games? If the club were being honest, this is the only time the "seat blocking" becomes a major issue. But it is now going to cause them an even bigger admin headache. Or they just tell those Kids they can't come for those games.

Again, great news on the NS and also with the (belated) customer consultation from the club. Clearly it will be necessary to establish at least 2 types of matches in terms of match access. To make it future proof, it would be good if we did not refer to at as "games against Glasgow's 2nd oldest professional club in continuous existence" but allocated some form of category. Although "Category A" might seem the most likely I prefer that JH season tickets are valid for all league matches while NS are valid for all except Category Z games. Works on several levels. Quick Qs: Will NS season tickets be priced based on a guess of number of Cat Z games we will have, so tough luck if we get more? Will it put an end to NS season tickets being allocated a seat in the JH? What happens if circumstances mean the police effectively designate say an Aberdeen game into a Cat Z - just temporary let NS into Old Stand?

Re the kids go free / £50 stuff - when did all that start? First I have heard has been the few comments on this thread. Is the club sneaking bad news out under the cover of good news about the NS? Me and my two boys have season tickets for last 2 years in what we were told was the family section. Frankly I doubt that the concept of a family section really still exists - the old one up near NS was actively monitored to minimise swearing and stop adults without kids sitting in it (wether or not those were the right things to do is up for debate). However, that never happens where we sit now.

His contract extension is indeed excellent news and it does mean that money would need to be paid to prise him away before summer 2016. However, I would suspect that most contracts are likely to have some sort of clause defining the "reasonable fee" that would trigger a release. Personally, I hope that would never be needed and he is here for much, much longer than 2016.

Well I hope Archie, Shaggy and the players are happy now. Due to that complete inability to draw or lose to Hearts tonight, we now have a completely meaningless game on Saturday. Completely missing out on the chance of a big crowd for a relegation nail biting final game. What will Beattie so about it? :-) PS Sorry to all of Lenzie for the loud cheers from our houae around 9 and 9.35 tonight!

Same for me and my eldest (he is 9). However, it wasn't as scam as he only charged us £22 (adult price) which was pretty good of him.

It could well be the same. However, the circumstances back then were unique. Due to Motherwell bye law 18, there was no relegation from the top league at the end of 2002/3. The league went with the same mix of fixtures and even the bottom 6 must have been the same. Certain we played Aberdeen away 3 times in each of those seasons.

While i know what you mean, I feel that it could make a significant difference. Imagine being in a two way dog fight to avoid 11th and on the last day, a point ahead, you play them away, but for the 3rd time. It wouldn't be that hard to (roughly) predict the bottom half of the league and schedule the fixtures accordingly to have the final set of games between those teams. Remember it is the same prediction that is used to schedule up the first 33 round of matches, in an effort to keep the final 5 fair. It is the second. If it was luck, then the law of averages would have meant that a previous Glasgow derby would have ended with 3 away at some point in the past. It never has. See also the link I posted above for an insight into the type of thinking that probably has to go into it.

Via Twitter (hope the link works) - a prediction on likely fixtures and some of the complexities / inherent unfairness of our ridiculous split. SPLstats (@SPLstats): http://splstats.wordpress.com/2014/03/23/post-split-fixtures-201314/

My understanding is that 19 home games for each side is guaranteed. What is not guaranteed is that you will have 2 home and 2 away against each team. To me, that is the inherent problem with this stupid split. From memory, Thistle's first encounter with the split was 2002/3 where we were away to Aberdeen 3 times (I recall we won at least 2 of these). Due to SPL law #18 (Motherwell finished bottom) there was no relegation that year and the cretins used the same fixture list for 2003/4. So 6 trip to Aberdeen in 20 months. Of course, I may be mistaken. What isn't in doubt is that it has happened with almost every fixture including the Edinburgh derby. Can you guess one fixture it has never happened to? Clue: one of the clubs is dead now. I also have a vague recollection that one ar*e cheek complained at having to go to a near rival 3 teams in a season and claimed bias in favour of the other cheek. Cheek 2 then provided stats to highlight that they had suffered from this more than cheek 1. However, I tend to have these type of recollections chemically removed from time to time as I find them unsettling.

Well that is the "perfect" home record gone. How can this club ever progress if the team start winning. Look at the number of chances that Taylor missed. How on earth can he be worth his place in the team?

Is it? I thought that for a goal to be scored the whole ball needs to be over the whole of the goal line - effectively to leave the penalty area at back. By same logic, it wouldn't be in the penalty area until the player / ball was over the line. Or is logic and football too much! That said, felt that both the initial and then majority of contact was outside. It would have been a mistake to have given a penalty but given some of the decisions we have seen this season it wouldn't have been a shock.

With the transfer window now closed, it is clear that, with a massive 6 players coming in, AA has panicked and has made far too many changes all at once. A more experienced manager would have been more loyal to his players. Some of our former managers would not have gone chopping & changing mid season. The good old days when Auld list the boy Smith as a sub for 3 weeks after he has emigrated to Canada, bringing him on for the last 10 minutes at home to Hearts even though he had to send in his moves by post. AA doesn't have the support of the dressing room. Therefore, we are doomed.