east end jag

A video of Kevin Holt from his time with Pafos FC. A few years old now, but gives a wee idea of how he plays.

Brilliant that we managed to win the league. Also means that, of the four Scottish senior leagues, three were won by Glasgow clubs this year.

Amazing how two late-ish goals can change a frustrating night into an enjoyable one. Amongst a number of strong individual performances last night, l though Stuart Bannigan had another excellent game. He has a lot of really good qualities which seem much easier to appreciate when the team aren’t struggling and are actually winning games. He’s also managed to cut out that stupid tacking which earned him a few needless bookings/red cards for a while when things were not going so well. I always see shades of how Danny Lennon played for us in Stuart. I just hope he manages to keep it going and we all get to experience that success of quickly rising through the divisions again!

Highlights from yesterday. https://www.airdriefc.com/dtv2021/270321

Fans buzzin’, performing honkin’.

Another memory was the kids (usually under 16) selling the first edition Saturday papers on a Friday night and seeing we had signed somebody in the football update part of the sport section (usually twenty words long). Then getting to the game the next day and hoping you could see who the player was during the warm up.

Given that we’re getting close to the New Year and the weather has (albeit very slightly) started to get a bit colder and frostier, it got me thinking about what has gone from following football that we used to accept as part of ‘the experience’ in the past. Obviously, at the moment, watching it in a stadium is the big difference but hopefully (or maybe not!) we’ll get that back soon. So l mean the smaller, less headline grabbing parts of going to football that passed without mention. For me the one that disappeared without fanfare, and took place post the introduction of mobile phones and undersoil heating, was the game being called off as you walked up to Firhill on a Saturday. Having a stranger tell you the game was off (usually well after 2pm and with no way to independently check they weren’t at the sly) and having to believe them because they were going the other way and wearing a Thistle scarf, was a real leap of faith. And then the afternoon left wandering about because you had no football to go to and heading home just didn’t feel right. Anyone else got memories of less obvious things that used to happen at football (especially if it’s uniquely Thistle related) which they now only have as memories? Be good to hear them!

Highlights from the Falkirk website

Just got mine from Jamie Sneddon. Brilliant. Well worth the price of the calendar.

Highlights from the Forfar website. Like them playing Local Hero at the start of the highlights.

I don’t know if Jagszone showed this view of the penalty save, but it doesn’t look the greatest strike or follow up from this angle (although it didn’t look like a great strike at the time either). And that is the only fit striker we have missing both chances which is even more disappointing. Penalty save If we miss chances like this then l generally think we get what we deserve and yesterday that was only one point when it should have been three.

I remember she used to have an advert with her surgery details in the programme. Also used to see her with a few old Labour (in age rather than political affiliation) councillors at the games. Very sad.

Thought it was strange that when Lyons came on, Graham dropped back from playing as the target man. Most of our out balls from that point on where high and through the middle giving Lyons little chance of holding the ball up and coming straight back at us. I thought the sub should have been Niang to hold the midfield with probably Spittal going off.

Anyone else get their programme for today’s game? I don’t mind that the actual product is smaller in size (A3 to A4 l think) but, man alive, how tiny is the print?!!! If you find small text a little bit difficult to read then this is going to be a challenge.

Stream worked well for me. Our defence looked ok but Airdrie ran away from our players a few times which was worrying - especially when they picked it up in midfield and were coming onto us. Thought out keeper could have came and claimed a few of their long throws which would have helped my blood pressure at times. Glad we got a win.

The highlights have the trialist listed as Charlie Reilly, young boy who played with Hamilton Accies https://www.hamiltonacciesfc.co.uk/contract-news-charlie-reilly/ They also listed Scott Fox as the keeper so not sure whether we had an interloper in goals or someone’s trying to jinx Sneddon!

Ruben looks good in this compilation of clips...sorry, meant to say l think you can see him in this compilation of clips! A lot of this footage looks like how l imagine our livelink will be if it’s still no fans by the time we get to kickoff!

Ok, l followed the Partick link and answered my own question. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partick_F.C. Who said the internet can be a place where you only learn what you are prepared to look for! Anyway, the story about Partick FC and us looks interesting.

It's testament to how bored l am that l've started trawling Netflix for things to watch. Anyway The English Game, which is loosely based on history, features two Scottish players Fergus Sutar and James Love who leave Partick to join Darwen. The date of their move is 1878. Anybody know what (or who) the football team Partick are - is it us? And if it is, why do we not know more about the best players in the world at that time beginning their careers with us? Anyway, here's what they have on Wikipedia about Sutar https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergus_Suter

Just been watching the Gary Fraser goal against Dundee on the club's Twitter account and it got me thinking, why does it not happen for some players who really should go on to bigger things or at least do more than they ended up achieving? I know everyone has an opinion on why so and so didn't become the next big thing, and a lot of it has to do with variables like attitude + opportunity x big slice of luck. But has anyone had the chance to ask ex-players like Gary Fraser or Adam Strachan or Martin Laughlin or Mo Johnston (ok, he might be an exception) or any other number of names over the years why playing for us was the pinnacle of their achievements? And if you did, what did they say? Oh, and in case you didn't see it, here's the Fraser goal https://twitter.com/PartickThistle/status/1243135721000574984?s=19

Given the rather abrupt end (or pause) to this season, l thought it would be interesting to hear from any of you who have had previous seasons cut short for unexpected or unforseen reasons. I appreciate that some may have gone to games with family and/or friends who became unwell or died and that stopped your trips to watch football. But are there any other stories people have about having to stop going early/mid or late season? Did you get home from school as a kid to be told you were moving to Hong Kong a week on Tuesday? Did dad tell you the French tutor could only do Saturday at 3pm so that stupid football would have to stop? Or did securing that dream retail job in Exeter mean the last pages of your Thistle season ticket remained forever attached to the spine of the book? Abrupt ends to football seasons can be traumatic. They can be fortunate. They can be frustrating. But they've happened to individual supporters before for all sorts of reasons. So in the absence of being able to at least check the scores, why not sit down and tell us your experience of football ending abruptly for you.

Watch both Rovers goals and tell me that our defending is anything other than comical. Watch us going forward and tell me, do you think we are going to have a shot on goals or are we gonna start passing side to side before the opposition close us down and take the ball off us. Watch us trying to pick up their players and failing miserably to stop them because nobody knows who/what they should be picking up. I know next to nothing about tactics and formations. On the evidence of last night's performance that puts me on a par with our management team.

Not making a judgement on whether we should sign him or not, however l have seen people talk about Michael Tidser possibly being a target. Anyway, Falkirk have freed him. https://www.falkirkfc.co.uk/2020/01/24/michael-tidser-departs/

Highlight from the Arbroath site

I like Stuart Bannigan and am delighted he's signed. To be honest l'd rather he went to Aberdeen and didn't suffer that terrible injury because he was one who, at that point in his career, could really have kicked on and done well. I think it's a big pity he never got that chance. But given how things played out, l personally think we done the right thing sticking by him during the injury - it was the decent thing to do and was to Archie's credit that we treated Stuart as a person and not a commodity. If he had never kicked another ball for Thistle, l would have been content that we stuck with him. Recently when he hasn't at his best, l don't remember thinking that Stuart Bannigan has hidden during games. Or not tried. Nor given the impression he couldn't care less. That can't be easy, especially when you know you're not playing well in a poor team. If l was in the current Thistle team (a middle aged man can dream!) and was asked to pick the players l wanted to start an end of season do-or-die match with me, the first name l would put is Stuart Bannigan. For me he defines an attitude that you want beside you on the pitch. We have seen, signed and persevered with players a lot worse than Stuart Bannigan. If he performs like he has recently, l can't think of many l would have before and rather than Stuart Bannigan.