exiledjag

Joking, right!

Given IMC recent remarks about Murdoch MacLennan (SPFL Chairman) a life long Celtic fan as being "bloody useless" I doubt we will be getting any loans from Celtic in the near future. MacLennan has close ties to retired Celtic Chairman Peter Lawell and is also known to be very anti-Rangers. In addition to his sbove remarks I recall IMC was reported in the Celtic Club Newpaper for being critical of something related to Celtic or someone at Celtic! Afraid i can't recall what he is reputed to have said. If you are going to be critical why not be critical one of Scotland's most Senior Officials and Scotland's biggest Club. No point in aiming low! I suspect any approach by IMC to Celtic for anything never mind a loan would be given short shrift!

I have an open mind about Fitzpatrick. I didn't think he was physically ready for playing in England though I did think, notwithstanding the hype associated with him, that he had the potential to become a really good player. One of those situations where I felt he should have stayed with us for another year or two to mature and bulk up a bit. Perhaps though he didn't have the choice to stay longer with us. I wouldn't draw too much from his QoS stint as I understand he had a run of injuries there. Can happen to any player. I think this has the potential to be a good signing.

I see I have received quite a few pelters for my views about the signing of Stevie Lawless. I have not responded to these not because I am avoiding the criticism but because I have not been able to access the website. So my response and last word about Lawless is set out below. Firstly I accept I should not have used the phrase "as a person" and therefore acknowledge this was clumsy and inappropriate. I meant to focus on his character. Secondly I have acknowledged SL as a very good football player and often wondered why the form he showed in the SPFL at Livingston wasn't produced when at Firhill and in particular during our top 6 season. It would have been impossible to keep any player playing the way SL did at Livingston out of any team. As far as his character is concerned we don't need to know people personally to assess and therefore have opinions about character. We form opinions based on observation and their actions. With regard to SL there was the gambling issue, the situation at Motherwell and other more general, perhaps even trivial, behaviours which suggested he wasn't, latterly committed to PTFC. I am not saying he was solely responsible for the above as I have always believed there are two sides to every story. Putting all this together I have reservations about resigning him and clearly I am not the only one to think this. However I will say that if he focuses on his football and plays to his potential then this could be a good signing and I will be happy to admit this. However in the meantime I will reserve the right to be sceptical and will observe, assess and wait to see how things develop. I don't intend to say anymore about SL other than that I respect the views and acknowledge the rights of his supporters to disagree with my opinions. I hope resigning him works out well for all parties because as a life long fan I don't want any player or the team/club to fail.

Afraid I don't go along with the enthusiasm for the Lawless signing. For a variety of reasons I have never really taken to him and think this could be a very bad signing. A good footballer but I don't rate him as a person. I will not be surprised if the United dressing room feeling we have enjoyed under McCall starts to disappear!

Our goal in the 1-1 draw with Killie at Firhill came from a forward run by Mayo from deep in our half. His run ending with a pass to Docherty who of course scored with a wonderful strike low into the right hand corner of the goal. More of this if we can land Mayo would be good.

My Airdrie friend was initially not a fan of Murray but started to warm to him as and I quote " Murray had turned Airdrie into a winning team playing attractive football"! He was quite neutral about Murray leaving for Raith but is now furious that he it seems, is planning to take Airdrie's best player(s) with him. The Airdrie rumours are that Easton is not the only player going to Raith. I was surprised to read that IMC considered our midfield one of the best in the keague and wondered if anyone can recall when we last dominated the middle of the park! Our midfield could be one of the best if we can get away from putting Bannigan and Docherty as the first two names on the team sheet.

Stick him in midfield! If he doesn't win the ball he will at least get the player!

Spectacular suggestion. I was chatting to a friend a few weeks ago and talking about next year's kit I raised the hope that PTFC and O'Neils would come up with a modern version of our early 1960s kit. I told him if this happened it would be a sell out. Why dont you email the club with your idea. I am not sure those currently running the club have any idea how 'iconic' we consider this kit to be or its sales potential.

As a rule I prefer not to sign former players. When he was with us I liked Christie Elliot and didn't see the liability that was apparent to others on this thread. I saw a hard working, genuine player who was made club captain and who always played for the Team and the Jersey. However I agree that our aspirations should be higher and although he might do well for us it sends out the wrong signals to sign a player discarded by one of the teams who next season will be one of our main challengers. One point with which I am in total agreement is that we shouldn't sign McDaid. I never rated him.

Play-off system in Scotland, Championship to SPL is corrupt. It is designed to , as far as possible, keep the SPL team in the SPL. I much prefer the 2 semi-final followed by a final system. This is much fairer all round. The fact that one of the teams finishing 3rd and 4th in the Championship face the prospect of playing 6 games in a short period is a nonsense and does nothing to underpin football integrity. All it does is protect an SPL team which probably doesn't deserve to be/remain in the SPL.

To confuse opposing Central Defenders

Spittal left Ross County after a successful season including holding down a regular place in the team and making a significant contribution to their top 6 achievement. It was clear fron Malky McKays's remarks that he rated Spittal and I think would have liked him to stay. Why then would Spittal even consider stepping down a division with this background on his recent record? Surely his agent must be working on some deal equal to or better than his Ross County contract? Stepping down a division will only happen if clubs like Dundee or Queens Park match or better the money he was getting at Ross County. We know we can't do that so he will not be coming to Firhill.

I doubt Spittal would return to us even if asked. I recall an article about him when he left in which he said "he needed to re-establish his reputation"! I wouldn't think he would regard a move back to Firhill as a positive step. I suspect his agent is working on a better option for him. For example, Aberdeen will be having a summer clear out and would be surprised if he isn't in Goodwin's thoughts after his relatively successful spell at Ross County.

Assume he has another club lined up?

OK you win. On this basis I would sign him and hope he would be good enough to be a first team regular. Actually he is 30 according to his online bio! Still young enough!

OK point taken about last season when Dundee won promotion via the play-off matches. However has he made any impression at Dundee this season in what has been (glad to say) a disasterous campaign for them. Re Carlisle I kept an eye on him their because as I said I liked him and felt some of the criticism he received when a Jag was very harsh. He had a run of games, then on the bench and gradually faded from the first team squad to eventually leaving the club. He played 200 games while a Jag, 16 for Carlise (1 Season) and 44 games for Dundee (2 seasons). The majority of games for Dundee were as you rightly point out played in the 20/21 season.

I liked Elliot though I acknowkedge points made about his ability to cross the ball. He has though failed to make any impression at Carlisle or Dundee so on balance I don't think we should resign him. Same goes for McDaid and Fitzpatrick. The latter IMO I was over rated. I think IMC should focus on brining in new players and developing those young players fron the Academy who are close to joining the first team squad like Stanway and Lyon. I am not too familiar with the Kilmarnock players who have been released so don't see any names there I think would interest us.

My memory might be failing me but wasn't the problem with Welsh that he had some medical/health condition that made him a slow healer. This condition meant that even with normal injuries the recovery time he needed was much longer than that needed by other players. When he joined ICT he was in and out of the side but in the last few season he has been one of their best players been made captain and is a regular in the team. I assume the health issue has been resolved or being managed more effectively.

We, Jags Fans didn't rate Devine and there were numerous negative comments about him every week. Similarly with Craigen though perhaps not as severe. For my part I thought Devine was a solid defender and although he made the odd mistake I thought he didn't deserve the criticism he attracted. Archibald said he wanted to keep Ridgers but we didn't have enough money in the budget to do so. Welsh and Craigen left for similar reasons - both wanted assurances of more game time: theassurances weren't forthcoming so they left!

I don't think we actually let Welsh go. I seem to recall Archibald clarifying the position with Welsh. He said Welsh, who was in and out of the team at that time, approached him seeking assurances that he would get more game time and Archibald's response was that he couldn't give such assurances. Welsh then said he wanted to leave! My recollection might be inaccurate but regardless I fall into the camp of those who regret his leaving. With Welsh in midfield we actually had a midfield that could dominate the opposition.

Oh forgot Ayr and their former Chairman's dismissive statement that " Partick Thistle were just Collateral damage" Hope I get the chance soon to say something similar about Ayr. Another entry in my black Book!

Dundee, Dunfermline, Queen of the South, St Mirren, Clyde, Raith Rovers Cowdenbeath Ross County and perhaps Brechin were, from memory, clubs who made comments about our unethical relegation or legal action that could be construed as being negative towards Heart and the Jags. There maybe other clubs whom I can't recall With the exception of Ross County all of the above have had a poor season one way or another. I especially liked the self-inflicted mess Raith and Clyde got themselves into over the Goodwillie signing. Can't say I feel any sympathy for any of them and in fact for most of them I hoped they would be visited by bad karma. In fact I recall Hearts fans being very annoyed when the club made an emergency loan (a goalkeeper) to St Mirren! All of these clubs are in my black book!

I wasn't questioning the formation. I could see you were grouping defenders, midfielders and strikers. I just thought it strange where you listed Milne. I would have included him where you showed Holt give your groupingszrent alphabetical either.

I have no proìblems with Bell and Murray leaving. I assume Foster and Hendrie are being released because we want 'wing' backs rather than 'full'backs. I Otherwise I would have retain these two as well as McKenna as cover. Clearly these players being released have a squad composition and/or financial consideration. Involved.