Stephen1876

Hugely encouraged by the work of Scott MacKenzie and the team. Great win against Hearts tonight and played some lovely stuff despite no Wilson, Nisbet or overage players. Don't get to many U20s games because of the kick off time but very entertaining and free!

Thanks for the good wishes guys - dad's very much on the mend and should be back on his feet once this op is out of the road! Upwards and onwards to Tynie and 3 points hopefully!

At a time when we have been critical of what is happening behind the scenes at the club (TAG, the DVD etc), I thought it may be worth sharing a good news story from Firhill. My dad, who is a diehard Jag and gets to most games when he can, has not been well of late (cancer) and has an op in January. We were obviously both keen to get to the Celtic game and couldn't get the tickets (my fault as I didn't think they would sell out that quick). Anyways, a mate of my cousin had told Gabby and about this. The big man organised two tickets for us and met us after the game on Sunday to get them to us. Unfortunately, he didn't have them at that point but spent a while chatting to us (in excellent English it has to be said), despite having just had a horrible 90 minutes. As he didn't have tickets, he was happy to let my cousin go round to his house on Hogmanay to pick up the tickets and had also arranged a signed ball for my dad. I think this was all a fantastic gesture from a guy who is just settling into this country and we are so grateful to Gabby for this, we both enjoyed the game and excellent Jags performance today. Nice story aside, he is turning into an excellent signing for us. The Motherwell game aside, he has been superb of late after a shaky start and is really settling into the game in Scotland now. He also seems to be a leader and could really grow into that centre half role over the next year or so. Cheers again Gabby if you read this!

To be fair to Jordan as well, that is only the second full game Jordan has played since he was in the Pars side that lost 4-0 to us at EEP in February or March

I can't really comment on the Under-20s as I have not had the chance to get along and see them yet. However, with their excellent start to the season, you do wonder how long it will be before some of them at least begin pushing for a place on the bench - guys like Lindsay, McDaid, Duggan, Colina etc could maybe be risked on a 7 man bench. I noticed at Aberdeen the other week that Archie put Mukendi on the bench. Given that he has played against Ayr and we have never seen him otherwise, I would like to see the opportunity going to some of our own young guys. Massive credit should also go to Scott McKenzie - building a team from scratch and competing in any league is a major challenge. We are doing fantastically, particularly when we are often not making any use of over-age players. Encouraging signs for the future.

Is Liam Buchanan not at Whitehill Welfare as well? Felt sorry for Liam, one bad and recurring injury finished him.

Apparently the striker we missed out on in January was Alan Gow, could have been a good signing.

Suggestion from Morton fans on here that Thistle have listed him for loan and they are interested! If ever a player and a club never fitted each other http://www.greenockmorton.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=41132 That said, it will be interesting to see where Shuggy does end up. He appears well out of Archie's plans when he can't even make the bench when we are playing a five man midfield.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-22365368

One thing I am surprised no one has mentioned about McCall was his eye for a coach. He kicked off with John Henry, who got a lucrative move down south. He gave Hinchy coaching duties and he seems to be very well thought of by anyone who has trained with him. He got Archie and Sid involved in the coaching and he specifically earmarked McNamara for a player coach role. Pretty impressive stuff really.

My new second team http://www.cap.org.ar/

According to dafc.net, Dowie has had an offer from Jags and Raith. I know he didn't part on good terms last time and I don't rate him much but some cover for a month would do no harm

I would take any two of Dowie, Jordan and McMillan as cover to the end of the season. We are so thin at the back, it's unreal - Archie was injured on Tuesday and Paton went off at HT. Banzo can cover at LB and Welsh can just about cover at RB, but we were screwed if Muirhead or Conrad got injured. For the run of games ahead, any extra cover would do

Another pitch inspection to be carried out, time TBC

Totally agree with this point - Lucas Aikens has scored 10 goals in League 1 this season and even Mark McChrystal cut it at Tranmere for a while. Ricardo Vaz Te (the Hibs reject) is now an established Premiership player! Big Chris could cut it down south - he has already made the step up from junior to 1st Div. All in, don't really see the relevance of comparing clubs in different leagues - English football is only better because that's where the cash is. Clubs like Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd are traditionally bigger sides than the likes of Wigan, Fulham, Swansea, Reading etc. One player I would like to see us sign is Lawrence Shankland from Queens Park and loan him back for a season the way we did with Cairney. Looks a real talent.

When I seen Bannigan in our 3-1 defeat at Almondvale last February, I said to my dad "we can't get rid of him quick enough, he is awful" - haha oops, what do I know!!! Although I was one of the very few that said Jackie would still come good for us after Culter! Congratulations to Stuart and Stephen on their well well deserved call-ups - you forget these guys are only 19/20 when you see them on a Saturday. Stuart could be worth a really good fee as could Stephen if we can get him signed on a new deal!

Muirhead out tomorrow, so we will see who Jackie fancies as his third choice RB - expect it will be Paton

All the best Graeme, I hope everything works out for you going forward! He certainly has plenty of character - having not played for months and then having a horror debut could have utterly destroyed anybody's confidence. Instead, he came back and was a relatively solid keeper for us - I wonder how important that save at Airdrie last week just after they had scored could mean to us at the end of the season!

Woof....lucky Lance doesn't work at Easter Road! Hibs need to get a grip, even the Jambos fans in my office seen the funny side!

Well, we have signed a new keeper, just wonder whether he will play on Friday. http://ptfc.co.uk/news/2012-2013/november_2012/thistle_sign_goalkeeper Good experience and supposedly an excellent shot stopper, but apparently ropey with kicking and cross balls.

If Welshy doesn't make this Saturday, I would like to see Lawless moved into the middle (where I think he is more effective) and Slane played wide right. I reckon the pace and directness of O'Donnell and Slane on one side and Sinky (providing Stuart doesn't make it) and Chris on the other side could really help us to stretch Dunfermline.

Certainly what you would expect of a bee!

An important point that no-one has noted with our away form is that we have been away to the better sides - the Pars, Morton, Falkirk, Livi and Raith. Our away ties for the rest of the second quarter are the three promoted sides and Hamilton. Pars next three away games are Thistle, Raith and Livi, and they still need to go to Cappielow - a hard run! The Dunfermline game is really crucial - if we can get a win, we go to Hamilton on the Friday night and could put six points between us and the Pars the day before they go to San Stako! It could work the other way of course.

Does anyone know what has happened to Jamie Campbell. I really liked him when he first broke through under McCall - he seemed both skilful and versatile. He didn't feature under Jackie initially and had a fairly poor loan spell with Stenny. However, I have never heard anything about him since. He is still listed as being at the club but he is nowhere near the first team, doesn't seem to be featuring in the reserves and I don't think he is out on loan. So is he injured or just persona non grata?

To be honest, I really don't care who we sign our players from as long as they are good players. Jackie has made very few (if any) poor signings so far - I can only really think of Tommy Stewart and he did look the business when we signed him. Naismith and Cole looked good loan signings but seemed to disappear as we moved towards the end of last season. If we can get good quality from Celtic, Rangers or anywhere else, I am not really bothered. It would be good to see Jackie try and take advantage of his other links with the likes of Martin O'Neill and Paul Lambert. In addition, if we can help players from better sides improve and make them 'first-team ready', bigger clubs may be keen to loan some of their best young players to us. It's win win!