G SUS

It is equally as likely that the decision was made on the fact that Doolan scored four goals in 23 games with Caldwell as manager - and missed a number of opportunites you'd be expecting a striker to put away. The way the Club announced Doolan leaving wasn't anything to do with the manager I'd imagine - the only thing that he could, perhaps, have done differently is bring Doolan on for Shea Gordon late on against Queen of the South. He brought on Cardle, a player who he gave an extended deal to, so maybe he was trying to use it to convince Joe to sign on for another year.

Not true. Alloa play Queen of the South so if either side wins we'll be two points behind the other with a game in hand. If they draw, they'll be three points behind with a game in hand which, if we win it, will take us above Alloa.

I think what JagFox was meaning(if I'm wrong JagFox just let me know!) was that guys like Slater, Banzo, Harkins, Spittal and anyone else that has played in centre mid have had the chance to impress over a number of games and let GC see what they are capable of doing on the pitch. At this crucial time of the season with just a handful of games to go, Gordon would have probably been left out of previous squads/starting elevens purely because GC, prior to the reserve matches, hadn't had the chance to see what he is capable of and how he was coping after his latest injury set back. With the tight nature of our position a manager wouldn't want to add an unnecessary risk. - sure you can watch games from the start of the season or a year or so ago but there are no guarantees that you are getting that player.

Being slightly pedantic but if all the results went against us we'd be a point adrift of Alloa in 9th and 5 points behind(albeit with a miles worse gd) Queen of the South - still an enviable position to be in but not as cut adrift as you are making out.

Which midweek would you like it to be played on? Tuesday 5th March - ruled out due to the Scottish Cup tie against Hearts being a Monday night. Tuesday 12th March - ruled out because of the Scottish Cup replay(match originally scheduled for this date) Tuesday 19th March - ruled out because Ayr United have three players away on International duty which is why their fixture against Greenock Morton on the 23rd is off. Tuesday 26th March - ruled out because Ayr United have three players away on International duty. Tuesday 2nd April - fixture against Greenock Morton rescheduled for this date fitting in with the SPFL's policy of re-arranging fixtures for the next possible date on their first attempt - ours doesn't get priority because it is onto a second attempt of re-scheduling. Tuesday 9th April - Ayr United unwilling to play due to game on Friday night - perfectly understandable. Tuesday 16th April - Ayr United unwilling to play due to game on Friday night - again perfectly understandable. Tuesday 23rd April - Game scheduled. Four midweeks are ruled out because of International duty and two consecutive Ayr United games chosen for live television coverage(which is a pretty unfortunate occurance). If Ayr had a backlog of fixtures then I could understand it being played on the 9th or 16th. They don't so are prepared to take their chances that no more than one of their outstanding fixtures is postponed. For Thistle it could be beneficial. An Ayr United side sitting confirmed in the playoffs but adrift of 2nd place might be a distracted opponent to play.

No. Storey was the only player booked for booting the ball awayl

Against Stranraer in the last round of the cup

Can you link me to any interview where Gary Caldwell talks about the contacts he has? I seem to have missed this one by and can't remember any time he has said that he has contacts to draw upon to improve the squad - but I may have been mistaken, and if I am I'll hold my hands up.

No it wasn't. Dumbuya was signed because Elliott had picked up a significant injury in pre-season and there was no cover at right back. When Jack Hendry left, we were another central defender down(a position that Gary Miller could cover if required) so bringing in Dumbuya/a right back was a no-brainer. That he fitted into our system better than Miller(as a right back) was just one of those things. He was probably one of a number of targets earlier that pre-season but was out our budget(having played semi-regular League One football for the previous four seasons) but signing him in September made him lower his demands slightly(as no-one else was interested) but made us increase our offer(because we needed him).

Scobbie is on loan until mid-January.

The only places I recall it being mentioned last week were by a journalist on twitter who said it was going to happen. St Mirren confirmed the move yesterday afternoon - https://www.stmirren.com/news/club/all-news/2337-junior-mendes-returns - with Thistle following suit around 10-15 minutes later. It might well have been a move that was agreed in the last few weeks but a notice period would have to be served before the move was "official", similar to any other job. ETA: Junior was on the pitch with the team on Saturday doing the pre-match and half time warm ups as normal. I'd imagine the same happened with Scott MacKenzie - a notice period would need to be done both ways and it would be tied up in legalities?

Not sure that's strictly true. As Shankland was under 23 when his contract expired a fee would have been due as Ayr had offered him terms,

That's not true. He handed Kenny McLean his debut mere months after being appointed(assuming a June 2010 appointment as per wikipedia is accurate). He also introduced John McGinn to first team football. A casual glance also indicates Jon McShane, Thomas Reilly, Sean Kelly and Jason Naismith were handed their debuts and opportunities to play. Granted, not every one was a success but no academy has a 100% success rate in developing players.

According to AA's JagZone preview interview - Chris Erskine was 50/50 to play on Friday night after picking up a knock in the Queen of the South game.

I thought he came on as a late substitute v Cove Rangers where he made his 250th Thistle appearance? IIRC, he suffered from a back injury in pre-season, was ruled out for a bit then the team were flying when he was fit so couldn't get in the side.

David Rowson joined Stenhousemuir in early January on a 28 day loan. He came back to Firhill following the loan and left the Club on the same day that Jackie McNamara moved on to Dundee United - I remember he wrote a letter to the fans on ptfc.co.uk which everyone in bits.

Where would you play it? I think both sides have made it pretty clear they wanted it on a grass park by their venue choice. I'm not sure, but I'm probably wrong, there is a more convenient grass pitch at an SPFL stadium available to play it on that isn't undergoing pitch renovation? The one that jumps out to me is Stirling but given all their friendlies are away from home it seems like they are doing pitch renovation this summer. They could have closed doored it but then it would have meant that we'd have had no open door friendlies this year - not sure that would have gone down well?

The lead commentator, Alec O'Henley I think? is the lead commentator for both the "as live" Premiership games and the live Championship ones, therefore a 5pm ALBA game would be unlikely as he can't be in two places at once. Edit: Plus the Premiership game is shown "as live" at 6pm so a 5pm game would really be a nonstarter.

BBC Alba only have the rights for 4 Championship games IIRC. They will use two for the final of the Champ/League1 playoff so it's really only a maximum of two times that they can shift us to a later game and I don't think they did it last season. They showed Morton v St Mirren at New Year but I can't remember what the other game was. Also remember they have a "live" Premiership match every weekend so it would be far more likely to be shifted to a Sunday. The guy who does the gaelic comms does it for all the games.

Surely when Thistle played Hampton & Richmond and Southend United in, admittedly, closed door friendlies during pre-season that would have extended the streak? Danny's scored three goals for Thistle. He scored against Dunfermline Athletic at Garscube in June 2016(closed door) and against Cirencester in June 2016 to add to his header against Shanghai Shenua.

This season. They cut down the television money payments and re-distributed them into the general round payments. So, in essence, clubs get paid more for reaching that round rather than a massive jackpot for the "luck" of a television game.

TV money is £30,000.

We can't bring forward the Motherwell game because they are in the Betfred Cup final... Aberdeen already have a game on the 26th against Killie.

Close! The last ten clashes in Maryhill have seen a team win to nil(or a 0-0 draw). The last time both teams scored was in 2007 in "injury time gate" where we, somehow, blew a 2-0 lead at 90 minutes to draw 2-2. Paul Sheerin netted a penalty. We faffed the kick off and Deuchar stole a point for the Perthside side. The last time both teams scored in Maryhill is, understandably, forgettable - Thistle 1 Saints 5. The same day Ross McCabe got stood on by Dougie Imrie at New Douglas Park, causing the best to come out of the Jags support with a banner/bedsheet of support seven days later. The time before that was the epic 4-4 thriller

Four clubs have had three points after eight Premiership games since the playoffs were introduced in 2013 - all four went on to secure their safety at the end of 38 games. None were involved in the playoffs.