exiledjag

If accurate hope he goes to the Arabs! Can't stand either club but see Nelms (Dundee) has been again trying to claim the moral high ground by attempting to justify his decision to breach the agreement he had with the Jags & ICT to vote against ending the 2019/20 season prematurely! He clearly hasn't learned that when you enter into an agreement you should honour it. If you give your word and then break it words like untrustworthy, (lacking) dignity and integrity, dishonourable and many others such as 'deceitful', come into play!

Ha, ha Nice one!

It seems Gardyne was away for a few days and due to return home (to Dingwall?) the following day. Someone at RC suggested they delay the announcement 24 hours so that the player could be told he was being released at a face to face meeting. Roy McGregor apparently over ruled this and ordered that Gardyne be contacted, a Zoom meeting arranged and the player informed! The man is all heart!

He paints a positive picture of Jacqui Low and Gerry Briton!

Well done.

My last post for tonight. I see Ross County have released a number of players, notably Vigurs, Mckay and Gardyne. Would we be interested in any of these guys or do we already have enough over 30s? I read an article by Vigurs in which he slaughters the club, McGregor and Ferguson for the manner in which they handled the release of the players. Gardyne was apparently told he was being released via a Zoom meeting!

Yes your right! Thank you! The most recent info I have on his support (a couple of years out of date) is that Killie owe him in the region of £1 million (if not a lot more by now) ! Thanks again

Are you referring to the support from the Weir Family? If you are I think there is a big distinction to be made between the Weir Family support and support given to other clubs and their benefactors. In the latter case benefactors were prepared to devote/target funding directly to first team signings, for example, Killie/Boyd and DundeeUtd/Shankland! With the Jags Weir Funding went into the Academy and was also targeted on a Training Centre which subsequently went to buying the club/stadium to be transferred to fan ownership! Weir Funding as far as I am aware did not go directly to funding player signings or the first team squad! The above is based on what I have drawn from a variety of media sources so there may be. Inaccuracies.

Do Killie still not have a 'benefactor'? A local wealthy individual has been bankrolling them since the Johnston era! Not certain but I think he is still there controlling the purse strings. That's why they were able to afford Clarke, Boyd, O'Donnell and others. If he is still bankrolling them I wouldn't be surprised if they do a Dundee Utd and make a few 'mark' signings in the next month or so!

Agree whole first team squad (not just team)!

Yes most definitely emails count. I think our manager just happened to be in the office when I called. Nevertheless it was as you say, a nice touch. I think it was also a genuine and sincere action by him as well as good PR. For someone who has supported The Jags for over 60 years it was a small consideration that will give me a big memory and to think I saved I also saved him an email!

JUST MY LUCKY DAY Just phoned the Club to renew my season ticket! On completing the transaction with the admin staff member, who was very nice, she said the manager was present and would like a word with me! Ian McCall came on the line to thank me for renewing my ST and for my continued support. I thought this was an excellent piece of PR and I really appreciated this. In response to a question he said ST sales were going very well. Has this happened to anyone else!

When we first signed Spittal I had mixed feelings. Firstly I recall that he burst on the scene with Dundee Utd causing havoc to opposition defences and scoring goals. He failed to sustain this level of contribution and gradually dropped down the pecking order. He did the same with us. He has had good spells with Ross Co but even with them there have been periods were he has been anonymous! Its only my opinion but I just don't think he is a player you can count on when games are tight, the team is under pressure and you need to grind out results. In other words he doesn't strike me as being a player who has a strong and determined character and would be an asset to a team that is going to have to fight for every point. I think saying that he hides when the going gets tough is a bit harsh. I think it's more a case that he fades/falls out of a game too easily and especially when things are not going his way he doesn't have the character to fight his way back into the game! If we sign midfielders and attackers they need to have the type of attitude that players like Docherty and Foster show week in and week out! Apologies for the lengthy response but that's why I don't want to sign Spittal!

No to Spittal, Dobbie and McDaid but would be sorry to see Penrice leave! However if the rumour of Penrice heading to Livingston is true then perhaps Tiffoney coming to Firhill could be on as well! This would be interesting - a League 1/Championship player not good enough for a Team at that level but good enough for a Team at SPL level!

Would this mean Tiffoney might be Heading to Firhill?

I bought my first ever season tick last season totally aware that I might not be allowed to travel to Firhill or to see any games. I also made contributions to the Go Fund! Why don't you consider buying a ST and consider the purchase as a donation as well - a sort of doubling up! The ST to attend games and a donation by not claiming a rebate for games you can't attend. In this way you can ignore other forms of raising funds for the club, eg the Go Fund. The above assumes you can afford to do this. If not don't worry about it. We are all fans and contribute what we can and in our own way!

Every team in the Championship can outbid us! Championship teams got £500000 and didn't Kilmarnock and Hamilton get £2 millions (or was it more). After our demotion this was the second stab in the back from McLennan and Doncaster!

I noticed this on the OS this morning and although I haven't seen this young man I was slightly surprised that he was released. I recall reading a post during/after the Montrose game that "he (Reilly) looked a player"! To merit this comment he must have made a good impression!

A good coherent appraisal and I am in agreement with nearly all of the points you make. I question your final point about the academy not generating players for the first team squad! I would have thought that was the principal reason for having an Academy in the first place. I do though recognise that the transfer market is changing in so much that at the top end of the game the elite clubs in England and Europe regularly buy young players from other clubs' Academy's! As this is a developing market perhaps this becomes another main reason for having an Academy and as such reinforces your final point. Personally I would like to think that the Jags can improve to the point where we can hold onto our good Academy players for at least a couple of seasons after graduating to the First Team.

I can't think why we would want to sign McDaid. He wasn't a success in his earlier spell with us and he doesn't appear to have improved significantly since leaving Firhill. On the wider front and with tonight's result next season's Championship participants are now decided! Not in any order: Kilmarnock, Hamilton, Raith, Dunfermline, Inverness CT, Queen of the South, Morton, Ayr, Arbroath, Partick. It looks very competitive Can we win this league or at least finish in the top 4? The SPL also looks very competitive below the expected top 2. Assuming Ross County strengthen their squad there is no obvious candidate for relegation!

A great season for everyone associated with St Johnstone. A double cup win is memorable and will rightly be a land mark in the history of the Club.

I agree with your comments and you might add McDaid to the list. Perhaps the initial scope of my point was too narrow. However my main point was about players graduating through our Academy to become first team players at Partick Thistle. The fact that players who fall short of this standard can still be considered good enough to play for other teams is good both for the developing reputation of our Academy and for individual players. I was very pleased to read on the OS about steps being taken to make stronger links between the Academy and the first team in terms of training and mixing with senior players. Also being assisted and encouraged by senior players. I think this is excellent, a win-win for all concerned. The above suggests we are going in the right direction and hopefully, in time, we will see 1/2 Academy players fighting for a first team place every year or so!

Yes most definitely. You are correct and thank you for pointing these players out to me. Can't believe I missed them, especially Penrice who until recently was a first team regular. So we have Lindsay, Fitzpatrick, Nesbit & Penrice! These 4 I suggest are the 'trickle that hopefully we will be able to develop into a stream! So back to my point about "a regular stream of players progressing to the first team" In pointing this out I am not being negative about our Academy but I suggest it has not yet been developed or running long enough to have the same reputation of those at, for example, Motherwell, Dundee Utd or Hamilton! This is why I keep saying it's perhaps a matter of time!

Thanks for making my point re regular stream of Academy youngsters progressing to the first team! If you are referring to the Scotland Squad for the European Championship then you are highlighting O'Donnell, Henry & Nisbet! Firstly, SOD wasn't a product of our Academy. He was signed from Annan Athletic. Secondly, Henry I suppose could be described as a product of the Academy though I am uncertain how long the Academy had been running and at which point he actually joined the Academy. It makes no difference because as far as I recall he never played for the first team or if he did it must only have been a rare appearance. Finally, I will give you Nisbet! He did come through the Academy but was never convincing as a first team player. The question with this player given what was going on inside his head at the time is " did he fail us or did we fail him" as he certainly had the potential to be a first team regular. Surprised you haven't mentioned Liam Lindsay notwithstanding he is not in the Scotland Squad. Similar to Henry I am not sure of his Academy pedigree but as a young player coming through to being a first team player he was IMO a success! However the above examples could hardly be described as a "stream of young players progressing to the first team" so far! As I said perhaps just a matter of time!

I can't recall the 'saying' applicable to young players making their first team debut but it goes something like "if you are good enough then you are old enough"! Perhaps it also works in the other direction "if your good enough then your young enough"! With the impact and increasing knowledge of sports science, fitness and nutrition if players look after themselves there is no reason to retire them at 33! Just look at the impact Graham, Bannigan, Cardle and particularly Bell and Foster had in the second half of a season that had a congested fixture list! Would anyone doubt their fitness? I think McCall is trying to achieve a balance of youth and experience which is the way to go. However I would also like to see a regular stream of young players progressing from the Academy to the bench into the first team! We haven't quite got there yet but perhaps it's still a bit too soon given our Academy is relative young!