lady-isobel-barnett

I think if you do away with the titles it's not really much difference from past situations. The Sporting Director is in effect the manager with one major difference. The Head Coach replaces what would have been the assistant manager. Obviously the major difference is the Head Coach will now pick the team, be in control of training, and be in overall charge during match time. Tho' I'm not advocating McCall for the job he's not too bad an example. His strengths are behind the scenes, player recruitment, sourcing players and general man-management. He's not as strong on in-game management and reportedly delegated training anyway. In theory it should mean an easier transition for a younger person taking on the role of Head Coach. Just now you can have all the basic tactical nous and all the badges going. But if you can't source the right players and your man-management skills are under developed you'll not last as a manager. Another benefit would be if your Head Coach moves on there would be less turmoil. Similarly if the Sporting Director leaves there'll be no change to day to day training and playing matters. I realise I'm not answering why/if PTFC can afford both a Sporting Director and a Head Coach. A matter of quality naturally comes into that costing. I am pointing out that theoretically it's more a case of reallocation of duties than extra man power.

Mens AA Womens HH 👍

Looking at his history he appears to have been fast tracked into reffing in the top tier never mind at our level. Only two seasons ago he was mainly reffing League Two matches. last season mostly League One. This season more than a fair share of Premier games. Why and how your guess is as good as mine? Two seasons ago he must have been going for a record of sorts. Somehow he managed to dish out 11 reds and 97 yellows in only 23 games! And they actually promoted the clown.

I also think it's Cardle. Think the opposition player is Tango Man when he still played for Irn Bru.

Thanks for putting the highlights up, Jaggernaut. They represent an accurate reflection on the game. I was in line with the offside goal and thought it was a very close call. Seeing it again it looks like the linesman got it right. About the only thing he did get right. In previous games against us Ferrie would've got away with his blunder. No central midfielder would've been pressurising him. That would've been left to Chalmers who in turn probably wouldn't have been in a position to receive the ball. Credit to Graham for his assist and Chalmers for his great goal but also some credit is due to Crawford for rushing Ferrie into his error.

Fine win. Thought we moved the ball about a good bit quicker in the second half. And tho' we did concede more possession as the game progressed we didn't defend as deep as usual. The second goal was well overdue but I never really thought Queens were going to equalise. I doubt the fitness issue surfaced tonight. With yon idiot ref blowing his whistle every few minutes there was no shortage of rest breaks.

No 7 Flannigan? Cairney 16, Rowson & Buchanan 9?

Difficult game to predict. Since we beat QP just before the turn of the year they've had both surprising good and poor results. They've beaten Livingston, thrashed Raith away and of course dumped sevco out the Cup. Then again they've lost at home to Airdrie & Accies. We need to manage the game a good deal better. Running out of steam shouldn't be an issue when you can make 5 subs. All getting behind the ball to see out a game is fine but the deep defending not so welcoming. Also feel the starting eleven may need tweaked. Did the trick against Livingston but perhaps a tad too negative against teams we are more capable of beating.

I can't imagine a Business Development Manager on a straight salary. Surely there would be sizeable performance related element to such a position.

Not that sure myself but it was thought by some the team ran out of steam not long after the hour mark last Saturday. No doubt we had upped our game before that but I find it hard to believe we've all of a sudden got super fit.

Under the current system we're in for a play off spot with zero goal difference. We've only won one game more than we've lost. I'll gladly take promotion but it seems crazy that a team that's about as middle league as you can get can be in the mix.

Said in the "Bobby Dinnie" thread that I was awaiting "The Scout: The Bobby Dinnie Story". Since read the book. It's part autobiography part biography and I found it very interesting and a good read. Certainly relevant to Lambies Lost Doo's last post in so much as it dwells on a pre academy era. The likes of times when Arsenal and Aston Villa had first dibs on young talent from Possilpark etc. I'm sure without much difficult I could come up with an all time international XI exclusive to those players whose senior debuts were down south. Law and Bremner to name a couple. From a Jags point of view I don't know if under the old system we'd have been in the position to sign the likes of Loney & Braid. That could be down to a matter of where the lads youth teams were based and if we had a working relationship with that particular club. At the moment we don't appear to have a scouting system. Even when we appoint a Sporting Director we may still just rely on connections and recommendations. I sense to be ahead of the game we need the academy. It's a matter of quality that's crucial.

AHHH 👍

Every cloud and all that, least means we're getting something right at academy level. Anyway clubs from down south cherry picking young potentials has always existed. It would tho' be great to see the likes of Loney & Braid play for us before moving on but this is the next best thing.

Not that Ryan Stevenson was consistently playing to a high standard before that injury but I don't believe he ever fully recovered. Perhaps better said that it accelerated his demise.

Disagree entirely. A basic necessity of all referees is to at least know when to blow for a fowl.

Slightly off on a tangent but refs themselves could help speed play up. For example an attacking free kick can take well over 60 seconds between infringement and kick taken. I'm not meaning due to players wrestling in the penalty area etc. Simply the amount of time it takes for the ref himself to get all his ducks in a row.

Spot on. One of the pleasing aspects from Friday night was for once (for an hour Plus) the midfield was engaged in the game. Winning balls (both first and second) and generally not chasing the game. However that was achieved by playing a midfield trio of Bannigan, Martin & Crawford, none of whom you'd expected to get on the scoresheet. In addition for security we played three centrebacks, meaning there was no place for more of an attack/forward thinking player. In effect that left Chalmers in a sort of free role, the only one apart from Graham that was likely to score. I'm not complaining about the formation or selection as it was a case of needs be against a strong Livingston side. I feel tho' it would be overkill defensively against most other teams and expect ir'll be tweaked a little next time out. Having said that players that could supply that bit extra to the attack are either off form or injured. We'll really need to get someone like Turner, Lawless, MacKay, Fitzpatrick etc back and playing near their potential.

Worth minding that there'll be players bonuses involved in final position. That means there'll be less final place money going to the Club coffers but also suggests the team will be up for it. Agree with DD that if we can play for 90 mins like we did for first hour plus on Tuesday we'd be in the mix re play offs. Just got to make and take goal chances when we're on the up and stop the deep defending towards the end of games.

Feel that just not losing next up at Hampden would be a major step towards our quest for 4th place.

I reckon Chalmers will be well marked in coming games. We really need to get one of our other wide players into the starting XI to take the pressure off.

Agree there. I posted early in the thread that I'd take a draw as long as the performance levels were increased. So I've no major complaints re last night. Played far more as a team. Minor point but I thought on Saturday Graham was wrong to sub himself so early. Last night I thought he should've gone off before the end. We could've done with a bit more possession up the field later on. The line up and selection worked well and nullified Livingston for much of match. I'm guessing we'll tweak that slightly in coming games. Just a wee bit more positive?

Thanks for everything and I'm extremely sorry to hear of your personal situation. I also understand why you could be "uncomfortable with the direction" the forum has been taking. At its best I view the forum rather like pre and post match patter in the pub. A place where you can argue the toss about players, the odd rumour or two and general football/Thistle matters. And just like the pub if you go on and on about one particular issue you'll soon find yourself propping up the bar at the quiet end talking to yourself. One major difference between pub banter and the forum is respect. Folk say things on here that they either wouldn't say face to face or if they did would start a rammy. There's some posters who seem to take themselves too seriously on here. Perhaps we're all guilty on occasion, and it's not much of a sin, but there's definitely a few serial offenders on this forum.

Alas Livingston is in the Middle East.

Someone like to tell me what 's going on? I still get confused between Al Qaeda and Ikea. Wasn't much better with MI5 and MFI.