exiledjag

I agree withvtje majority view on this thread that Thomas would be a great signing. However I can't seecit happening for three reasons. Firstly, if a transfer fee is required I doubt we could outbid either Dundee Utd (if they were in the race) or Raith Rovers (assuming they still have money to burn). Secondly, at 27 years of age Thomas will, I think, be looking to sign for an SPL club and 3. If he is thinking about voting to the Jags hexeill have doubts about replacing Fitzpatrick or Lawless. We could of course change our formation to 4-4-2 to accommodate him. Graham and Adeloye as our Strikers. Our Midfield could be Fitzpatrick Thomas McInroy Lawless The defence: Milne, Neilson, New CH, McMillan Our left wing would be Milne, Fitzpatrick & Thomas! - impressive I think!

Home tie v Queens Park or Bonnyrigg Rose. I guess we eill be favourites to win and get into the quarter final draw. The 'choice' tie looks to be Glasgow City v Hibs. So one of the top 6 will be out of the cup.

Great result today and found Brian Graham's post-match comments very interesting and appropriate given the first half performance. A well deserved win. Carla Boyce looks like a great signing and I wish her the very best of luck with the Jags. I dont doubt her pedigree but my only reservation is that at 25 yrs of age she seems to be a bit of a rolling stone having played for Glasgow City, Rangers , Hibs and Motherwell. I hope she can continue scoring goals and settle down with the Jags. Welcome to the Jags Carla.

I can sympathise with both players for leaving us for the above reasons. It's just a pity they aren't exactly cutting it at Dundee and Ross County respectively! Both have spent a fair amount of time on the bench however, recently, Tiffoney has made it into the starting 11. I wish them both better luck in the SPL in the second half of the season!

Doolan did say recently that "planning for the January window was well advanced". To me this suggests a bit more thought has gone into January signings than those made in the summer. Hope so anyway.

Not really clear about above - has Williamson left as well as McGinlay and McDonald?

How about McCall. He did sign Docherty, Tiffoney, Holt, Turner , Milne, McMillan and Graham and brought back Lawless, Fitzpatrick and Muirhead. Some really good players in there!

Agree that Sneddon wasn't to blame for the first 2 goals but I thought he should have come for the cross for the 3rd goal. At least that would have put some pressure on Watt. As for the first goal it was a scramble but Stanway and Neilson were standing like statues instead of moving towards the ball or blocking Watt. The second goal was a good strike aided by a limping Muirhead not being mobile enough to block. Though DU were clearly better than us I think we paid them too much respect by standing off them all night instead of getting close to them and actually making tackles. Back to the drawing board.

I thought we tried hard and managed to stay in the game but in the end we ran out of steam and were simply outclassed. If anything this game highlighted all the weaknesses we have raised, discussed and debated since the start of the season so no point in repeating here . Tonight though I thought we also looked slow and not as fit as we should be. At least we are, perhaps, the 3rd best team in the championship but miles off RR & DU who have too much football in their squads, at the moment, for us.

Finishing 3rd or 4th in the play-off places is no great reward under the present system which is heavily loaded in favour of whichever SPL team takes part in the play-off final. We need to finish at worst in second place to have any chance of winning promotion. To do that we need to get closer to RR & DU and stay in touch with them in the hope that they both have poor runs like the one DU are in at the moment! So to make the Championship a 3 horse race all our games fall into the 'must win' category until we are well and truly in the mix!

Prior to reading your post above I suggested on the tonight's game thread that the Arabs fall from form might coincide with Dochertys absence from the team so without knowing the stats I do recognise his importance to Dundee United as a ball winning midfielder and captain. However I don't think its as simple as saying that because of Dochertys contribution to DU we should have him back or I shouldn't has some doubts about him. The point has already been made about Bannigan's role in helping Docherty recycle the ball etc. Also DU have different strengths and weakness from us. In our case I think we need someone in midfield who has Docherty's leadership attributes but who has a greater physical presence. So your points are noted but doubt I will be changing my mind about wanting him back as a Jag. I wish him every success for the future, but just not tonight.

I may well be wrong with this comment but has Dundee United's stuttering run not coincided with Docherty's absence from the team? Is he out due to injury or suspension or both? As far as tonight's game is concerned its really a must win for us. I live in hope that we will win, we certainly have the players who can hurt United, but we must play for 90 mins! When was the last time.within did this? I can't say I an confident about our chances and notwithstanding our much debated need for a defensive midfielder I also think we need a strong central defender. I am not particularly convinced of the Sneddon, Muirhead, Neilson triangle in the centre and see Muirhead in particular as the most vulnerable. If ever anybody is missing Holt it's Muirhead! Let's hope that Dundee Utd's lack of form and our strengths, of which there are many, can outweigh our weaknesses and we can look forward to 90+ mins of a full-on Jags performance. C'mon the Jags.

I raised the question about Tiffoney and Turner bring possible loan acquisitions solely because they were very good players for us under Doolan and are not certain starters at their clubs. I also asked would we want them back not because of anything to do with the manner of their leaving or doubts about their commitment but solely because of the squad we have and whether their return would create and overload of midfield and wide players. I agree a defensive midfielder is a priority but I would have Tiffoney and Turner (and Holt, not sure about Docherty) back in a jiffy!!

Merry Christmas to all Jags Fans and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2024. I have the following FEARS: 1. That we lose Doolan to Dundee Utd 2. We replace Doolan with Kettlewell or Archibald 3. We play a great 90 minutes - and I miss it! 4. That Ross County avoid automatic relegation from the SPL. I think that's enough for the moment.

Great news about Graham's contract extension. I particularly like the references to developing his role in coaching and continuing his work with the Ladies team. These references suggest that the decision makers in the Club see a long term role for him at PTFC beyond his playing days. On the wider front Doolan's comment abouts planning being well advanced for the January transfer window is encouraging. I wonder if Turner and/or Tiffoney would be loan targets as neither are setting the heather on fire at Ross County and Dundee. However would we want them back?

Another late goal, yes its amazing! However this goal was for a draw and 1 point.

Stating the obvious but if we can win tomorrow we will be 4 points adrift of Dundee Utd (who will have a game in hand) and 9 points adrift of Raith Rovers. Great results tonight for Queens and especially Ayr who played the second half with 10 men but still managed to score 3 goals. If we can keep McKay (striker) quiet we can win this game. I'd like to see Adeloye getting a run.

The Legand Blows states (extract): "Happy he's staying but gonna be a tighter budget and tougher season in 24/25" Why would our budget be tighter next season? I thought the financial position of the club had improved with new investment, 3000+ season ticket holders and ongoing efforts to bring in further new/increased investment. The above might not put us into the DUFC or RRFC 'league' but should it mean a reduced budget? As far as McMillan and Milne are concerned if any club attempts to buy either It will be on last seasons form. This season, due mainly to injuries, they have made a minimal contribution to the team. I can see Both Raith and the Arabs going up so we will be joined in the Championship by two from Livingston, Motherwell, Ross County or St Johnstone. On what I have seen so far I don't think any of these sides are significantly better than Raith or the Arabs. In conclusion I see next seasons Championship being just as difficult as this season but not more difficult. To be promoted we need to win 4/5 games more than the current two leaders and lose or draw fewer games than them as well. A tall order I would suggest.

Trouble with being 3rd is the same as last season - under the unfair play-off system we still have to beat 3 teams (Championship 4th & 2nd and SPL 11th) and play 6 games within a short time frame). Some astute January signing and a ref other than Nick Walsh and we might have a chance!

What did we change in the second half?

A must win game today. C'MON the Jags

Returning to the player fund. Does anyone know how much has actually been raised for the January transfer window. Also how can fans keep up to date with this - the accruing number and value of donations. For example, are there progress reports anywhere. Apologies if this information is available on the club website but I don't see/can't find any such info.

I admit to being a conspiracy theorist but it seems to me that since our relegation/legal issue with the SPFL we are experiencing more than our fair share of dodgy refereeing decisions. Examples Sunday"s referee was awful and Partick Ladies suffered - a disallowed goal and a red card that was at worst a yellow. Shocking decisions! For the men there is always the play-off game at Dingwall where in my opinion the referee there did everything he possibly could to help the home team. I know we have had bad decisions before - the penalty for Killie (the ref was a certain Nick Walsh) when the ref gave a penalty for an incident he couldn't possibly have seen. I can't believe all the referees are incompetent so there must be more to it such as an anti-Partick Thistle conspiracy!!

Williams as our defensive midfielder - totally agree as I suggested this very role for him a few weeks ago. He is big and strong and quite a few posters on this site have suggested, due to his recent form, he is a footballer! Worth a try at least in training andbpractice games.

Agree with this. We need Solid/safe goalkeeper (Mitchell?) Defensive midfield player, (Docherty) Big trong central defender (Holt) Do we need cover elsewhere. If we had Holt in the centre of our defence with either Neilson or Muirhead we would have won that game. Muirhead is not commanding enough to be the main player in our central defence. As for Sneddon he had a poor game. Not helped by Muirhead he should have saved the header and could have done much better with the 2nd and 3rd goals. He seemed slow getting down to the ball but perhaps that was the TV effect. Think though its time to bring back Mitchell.