Duke Gekantawa

I'm not sure if it's because we were "poorish" as such, but rather because we have been so consistent in always finishing 3rd/4th that a general malaise sets in. I think that had we done much worse (only just avoided relegation or even been relegated) there might have been more of a rallying effect. Had we gone down and come straight back up again, there would be more of a feel good factor, even if this obviously represents a worse couple of seasons in real terms than making and failing in the promotion play-offs a couple of times. There are obviously other issues, also. The standard of football last year in terms of entertainment was particularly dire. And there is a weird failure to communicate properly at the moment, in particular in term of budget. My understanding is that budget will be less than last year but still perfectly competitive and in line with that of about 2 or 3 seasons ago. However, it does seem that there is a strong narrative on the forums and amongst the fans that we are broke, the budget has been slashed and we'll really struggle as a consequence. I don't believe this is the case (I mean, we may really struggle-new inexperienced manager etc..- but if we do, I don't think the set budget will be the main factor). However, the club has done very little to address this narrative and reassure the fans.

His scoring record is similar to that of Graham's at the point he joined. Not quite good enough when in the Premier, but decent enough without being prolific in the second tier.

On the latter point, it's a good idea to always have a screenshot in your photo library, in case of app failure or bad internet service. I'm much more likely to leave my wallet at home (with phone payment, I rarely use my wallet anyway) than my phone.

In answer to the ticket price question, I see from the PTFC archive that the price of a ticket in 2018 was £20. According to the Bank of England inflation calculator, £20 in 2018 is worth £26 today. So even with the price rise, the cost of a ticket has gone down in real terms. I don't see the point of the physical ST for the majority of people who regularly carry smartphones. I did get one last time, and never used it once. Don't think I'll bother this time (I'll print out a screenshot of the QR code as back up in case of phone faliure) ETA: I should clarify that the price mentioned above was for the Championship season (2018-19), to keep things like-for-like.

Do they? We’ve never been able to find them.

But why would this be? Where does the additional money come from to take chances which isn’t available under fan ownership? What I don’t understand (and this may be something I’m overlooking) but what is it about private ownership which provides more opportunity to take chances compared to fan ownership?

But aren't all of these things equally applicable to private ownership? I've never really understood the difference in the need to budget and live within your means (i.e., money raised through revenue, donation and prizes) if your private owned or public owned. We've come very close to going under (or at least admin) at least 3 times in the past 30 years due to not living within our means, all under private ownership. I tend to feel that people equate private ownership with having a wealthy benefactor.

What an amazing overreaction. I’m not sure what the board was meant to have done differently, other than perhaps start the process again. We offered a position to someone who seemed very keen, and he turned it down (I suspect he’s had his head turned, but won’t admit as it would put any new employer in an awkward position re tapping up). I don’t know how the board could have foreseen this really. I don’t think many predicted us offering it to Graham and him turning us down.

I expect, like with so many other things, it’s an example of Scottish football being lightyears behind European football, where it is absolutely the norm for clubs our size.

I've not followed the process intently, but as far as I understand it we held a recruitment process, interviewed a handful of candidates, offered a job to a preferred candidate who was interviewed and -somewhat our of the blue- (particularly as he was on record as deperately wanting the position), this candidate has suddenly decided it's not for him. I'm not sure what the board can do about that really.

There was no way we were making the playoffs with Doolan in charge even with Graham, never mind without. That sounds like it would have been very expensive to me (i.e., at least 100k in prize money).

But we've never had any interest in Murray or McCabe as fqr as I know. Surely we shouldn't just be appointing managers simply because they might be quickly available even if for whatever reason they've not even made the shortlist?

Or we are because, after winning both cups and promotion, he's been poached for a hefty compensation! I do like a bit of pre-season optimism, me.

Why on earth does appointing an outider suggest "ambition"? The only times that we've gone up to premier level this century was under Lambie (virtually an internal appointment considering he'd managed twice before) and the combined respective efforts of McNamara and Archie (both of whom were promoted from the playing staff). Anyway, we have appointed an outsider in Baraclough.

I do tend to agree with this, so I accept I'm just being obtuse here, but this is exactly how I saw BG when he signed! It's hard to tell when a journeyman might become a key player or even a legend. For example, you could possibly also tag Ashcroft as a journeyman with no Thistle affiliation, yet he's probably our best player (or at least close) this season.