AndyMac

The package is the land (Firhill) rolled together it's worth much more than in separate parts. The consortium will then be able to make money from the sale of the land. Because no one is saying that this is going to happen doesn't mean that it's not going to happen. It may take a little time to rear its head, but lets not forget, their stated aim is to make money and I can't see how else they're going to do it. Perhaps I am wrong. Time will tell.

All good points JJ, I don't know why, I haven't got a clue. Nevertheless, I don't like the look of it one little bit.

Bear with me Javeajag. This is my understanding of the set up, however I may be wrong. Partick Thistle is pretty much debt free. Propco own the Main Stand and the Bing, the club pay a rental/interest payment to Propco on a £1 Million asset debt. The shareholding of the club is pretty scattered and wide ranging. All in all it's a bit of a dogs dinner. However, if the consortium buy out Propco and other shareholders, the assets of the club could easily be worth more than you paid for them, when they are all neatly packaged together. This is where they will make the money.

We own half of Firhill, they will get the rest of the stadium from Propco at a knock down price. They will purchase the club through a leveraged buy out. They won't use any of their own money. As long as they buy it for less than the assets are worth they will be quids in. Let's say that it costs the consortium £2 Million to buy out the shareholders and Propco. The consortium now owns Partick Thistle Ltd a company that has no debts and assets (Firhill) that are worth say, £4 Million. The new company then splits Partick Thistle Ltd into 3 different companies to realise the assets. (1) Firhill is sold by Company One for £4 million, this money is used to pay the initial leveraged loan that consortium took out to buy the club in the first instance, which would be £2 Million plus fees and interest. So the consortium would make a quick 1.5 million which would then be siphoned off to the consortium through Company 3. (2) Company One would either be saddled with a large mortgage on Firhill, or would lease the ground from it's new owners, either way it doen't matter, the club is basically toast. If and when we default on the debt/lease it doesn't really matter as the asset and the money raised from it is long gone. We will probably end up ground sharing at Hamilton or Clyde (if we're lucky). (3) Company 2 will be fairly clean as this will be the footballing side of the business, this will provide hopefully another income stream for the consortium through transfer sell on fees, which will again be siphoned off through Company 3. Open your eyes, look at what they have done at Nice.

What do you mean?

With thirty pieces of silver.

Think some posters are way off the mark. These people are not investors, nor are they sugar daddies ala Colin Weir. They're asset strippers. They will not invest a penny of their own money and they will saddle the club with crippling debt, before heading for the exit with a wheel barrow full of cash. Open your eyes look at what has happened at Nice. I hope whoever got the ball rolling on this at our end are enjoying the fruits of their labour and that the brown envelope was stuffed nice and full

The phrase "lambs to the slaughter" springs to mind. This consortium are the very worst type of "businessmen". They're the unacceptable face of capitalism. We are a small under performing club, some may say badly run. However, we are free from debt. As far as assets go we own half of the stadium, the other half is owned by Propco (Thistle minded investors). The share ownership of the club is fractured far and wide. In conclusion, the affairs of PTFC are currently a bit of a dogs dinner, nevertheless, nothing that couldn't and shouldn't be put right, by the right kind of people. This consortium is NOT the right kind of people. They will "buy" control of our club through a leveraged buy out. This means whatever it costs to buy the club they will saddle the club with in debt. These people are experts in this. They will pick up the club for a song, about half of what's it's net worth (the land). This is how they operate. this is how they will make their initial profit. There will be at least three companies operating at thistle. (1) The Partick Thistle that is saddled with all the debt when Firhill is sold and leased back to us. (2) The Partick Thistle footballing side that will be kept debt free. (3) The Partick Thistle holding company that will be used to siphon off the money to the consortium. These vultures have spotted their prey and are now moving in for the kill.

I think we will be in a much better frame of mind for next season. The club was in a bad place going into this season. Hand on hearts, how many of us were looking forward to this season? All the talk of going straight back up always sounded like fanciful bluster, and actually made the disaster of back to back relegations more likely. The main thing is we didn't get relegated this season, there's no compelling reason for not looking forward to next season. Is Gary Caldwell the right manager to lead us back to the big time? I have my doubts. Has he earned the right to manage us next season? Yes, without a doubt.

Honestly? I have nothing against Gary Caldwell and while I am happy that we have managed to stay up. I still think the people running our club want shooting for not hiring Jim Goodwin when we had the chance.

Gary Caldwell has done much better than I thought he would. I thought we were certainties for bottom place relegation. He had a terrible start and done very well to turn things around. On balance, Gary Caldwell has done enough to justify another season in charge. If we were relegated it would have been a total disaster for the club, there was always a danger of back to back relegations and too many in the club were too complacent about this, thinking we were going to stroll back up again. When Caldwell was appointed I was horrified as he is the master of disaster when it comes to getting clubs relegated. It's a good day for us, more in relief than celebration, but a good day nonetheless. Onwards and upwards

To be honest JLS, I have to say that Gary Caldwell has done much better than I thought he would. I thought we were certs for bottom place. So he has shown some character to pull us out of a nosedive, whether it was his fault that we were in the nosedive in the first place is open to debate. I think everyone is worried and that's perhaps why the forum has so much aggro about it at the moment. I would like to think that we will get a result one way or the other, to go down we would have to combine bad results with bad fortune, which although not impossible, is hopefully unlikely!

They should have done the right thing TL, they should have accepted Archie and Shaggy's resignations and paid off the remainder of their contracts in full. They deserved no less. The club had the money, they are spendthrifts and cheapskates rolled into one. What an endearing combination. Not.

Gary Caldwell has no shortage of ambition. However, having ambition doesn't count for much if you can't back it up with results. I have to say, either Ian McCall or Jim Goodwin, would be (IMO) excellent appointments as manager, as they both have the ambition and ability to take our club onto a much higher level. You are right though, Gary Caldwell has no shortage of ambition or self belief. Sometimes I get the impression that he thinks he's too good for our club, he has a very high an opinion of himself. Some may say that he's a big head. Nevertheless, Gary Caldwell does deserve great credit for turning things around after an abysmal start. Not many managers could do that. I hope for all our sake that we get a result on Saturday

It's indeed a most terrible state of affairs Semi, a Tory Unionist as our Chair. Nevertheless, we should look on the bright side, things could be worse; at least she's not the stooge of a Nationalist Patron who has bankrolled the SNP and YES campaign..............It's a funny old game

I said "A good manager is a good leader" You disagreed and said "a good manager is not necessarily a good leader" Which I took as you "believe that someone can be a bad leader and a good manager at the same time". Apologies if I have misquoted you, or taken what you said out of context Javeajag. Let's hope we get a good result on Saturday

So to sum up: You believe that someone can be a bad leader and a good manager at the same time. Fair play to you Javeajag, each to their own. We will have to agree to differ on this one

He's a bad leader?

Excellent, hope you write some more

Name a good manager that wasn't a good leader?

A good manager is a good leader. A good leader knows their own mind and makes their own decisions. A good leader doesn't try to pass the buck to others.

Right now we are in a better position than either Queen's or Alloa. We have the points on the board. Worst case scenario we end up in the playoffs. Let's keep the head and the hatchet buried for the time being. We are not very good, but we are good enough to avoid the drop. We can do it ....................

One of the first games I ever watched (properly) was the 1977 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Borrusia Munchen Glabbach. Liverpool won 3-1 and Tommy Smith scored a fantastic header to make it 2-1, which knocked the stuffing out the Germans. Tommy was a veteran by then, a relic from the Bill Shankly era. He was on his way out of the Liverpool team and was only just brought back again before that final. 1977 was Tommy's testimonial season, with the game held at Anfield after the European final. Needless to say that it was packed to the rafters. It also featured on a TV documetary called the "Big Time" and a local Liverpool supporter was given the chance to play in the game! You wouldn't get something like that today. That series also gave Sheena Easton her big break. Tommy went on to play for Liverpool's first team for another full season, before joining John Toshack's, Swansea City along with the other Liverpool great Ian Callaghen. Sad to hear this and thanks for posting it Jaggernaut, or it would have passed my by. RIP - Tommy "the tank" Smith.

£8.49 with free postage sounds a better deal.

Excellent result. This may not have been the most successful of seasons, but it has certainly been interesting, a real white knuckle, vomit inducing roller coaster ride, that combines excitement, fear, anger and despair in equal measures. Today was a massive win for the club. Alloa are a good team. All credit to Gary Caldwell and the team for getting the 3 points