Stewarty

I don't think Archie will depart from 4-2-3-1 too often, which means that Osman, Bannigan and Fraser will scrap it out for the two CM positions. I would think that Higgy, Stevenson and Lawless will get the nod as the first choice attacking midfielders, although Elliot may pip Stevie to the RW berth due to his energy and defensive capabilities. What's really interesting is how flexible and interchangeable our attacking midfielders are. Most of the them are capable of playing both on either flank and centrally, and Stevenson and Higgy can also play as a lone striker (the former more so). In the second half Doolan and Higgy switched positions on several occasions, often after Higgy had gone on a run, thus enabling him to recover while Doolan provided cover on the flank. Having said that, I wholeheartedly agree with your point about cover for SoD/McMillan. I think we've discussed this before, but this is a role Paton fulfilled brilliantly. Hopefully Osman will plug this gap and/or a rapidly maturing Fraser can add this to his game.

Meh, I thought he looked tired and off the pace. No biggie. As for Higgy - not much worked for him tonight but to say that he 'treated the game like a kick about in the park' is a tad harsh in my humble opinion. He pressed well and provided cover on the flank, as you would expect. His final ball wasn't there, but I didn't get the impression he wasn't taking the game seriously. In fact, he was quite vocal in the second half, shouting encouragement to Doolan etc.

I respectfully disagree.

Plenty of positives to take from tonight's game. I thought Bannigan, McMillan and Balatoni all looked sharp, and Keenan had a solid first half even if he faded quite badly in the second. It was also nice to see McDaid making an impact when he came on. But the main plus for me was Gary Fraser's performance. He absolutely bossed the midfield in the second half. His short- and long-range passing was exceptional. Also, he looked like a man who knew he was the best player on the pitch. There was a real swagger and confidence to his play. I think he could be really important for us this season. On to the negatives. A few folk are clearly a bit short in terms of fitness, with Stevenson and Craigen in particular looking a bit rusty. The latter was pretty much anonymous. Also, I wasn't convinced by either trialist, but 45 minutes isn't much to go on. Overall, pretty pleased with how things are shaping up. Just need to fill that damn LB position and get some cover in central defence.

Hmmm. Turns out I may have been talking utter bollards re the first point. Thanks for the nudge; I'm not sure where I got my erroneous 'info' from.

There's some chat about how we've got more cash slushing around, which should make it easier to attract players. This is partly correct, but every SPL club received more money at the end of last season, and of the clubs that stayed up we received the least amount.

Not sure about the pink and black stripes. If we're going to push the envelope further I'd have been interested to see what a reversal of the colours on the current top would have looked like - i.e pink with black trim. If nothing else it would blind the opposition.

The LB conundrum is no doubt complicated by the importance of marauding wing-backs to our attacking play. Although Archie has become more conservative as time has gone on, there are few teams in Scotland that play with both wing-backs as high up the pitch as we do. Under McNamara it was becoming suicidal. I suppose what I'm saying is that we're not just looking for a LB but an ATS-shaped attacking LB, and there aren't many of those in our price range.

That right there is the worst football top I've ever witnessed.

At first I wasn't convinced, but now that the initial shock has subsided I'm a convert, socks and all. If you're going to commit, commit fully!

Talk about damning someone with the faintest of praise...

This is the chap who saw nothing wrong with the way the club communicated the NS move -- a position even the club itself didn't agree with.

It's worth keeping the St Mirren strip in mind. Everything is relative...

Not sure about this one. Need to see a non-virtual version. I'd have preferred thicker stripes and for the stripes to continue down the sleeves.

Picture courtesy of @Jagstwit

I can see how you'd arrive at McNab. The flourish at the end does look like an ingenious hybrid of a capital A and a lower-case b. The problem is, it's so illegible that it's close to being the autograph equivalent of a Rorschach inkblot test.

Looks like it.

Just been looking at stuthejag's brilliant site, which has an autograph section. The third photo from the bottom contains John Hansen's signature, which I don't think matches what we're looking at here. It resembles John Flood's a bit, but not enough for me to be sure. http://partickthistleahistory.wikifoundry.com/page/Autographs

Sounds like this copy was bought on the same day. Johnny Gibson is a decent shout. The one on the bottom right is absolutely indecipherable!

Brilliant. Two left: bottom right and the one under Marr.

Of course, Doug Somner! Also, I had John Marr down as John Hansen, so it's good to rectify that. Cheers.

So, I finally got around to buying myself a copy of the Club's official history on eBay. Upon opening the book I was delighted to find that it has been signed by a number of ex-players, and 1971 cup winners at that. I can identify the autographs of Jackie Campbell, Alex Rae and, I think, John Hansen. Author Robert Reid has also signed the book, which is presented 'to Allan', on a separate page. I'm struggling to attach names to the other autographs, however. Can anyone help?

Great signing - a proven Premiership-quality player. We've been needing a central attacking midfielder. Although Higgy and Lawless can play that role, I reckon they're better coming in from the wing. That leaves just Craigen, who is still developing as a player.

Spot on!

Nope. We did play Vale of Clyde in 1878, but they play in the junior leagues.