Vladimir Putin

That patently is untrue. Look at the size of Labour's recent majorities and then look at the number of Scottish Labour MPs. Labour won those three elections because they appealed to the marginal seats in England, it had nothing to do with Scottish seats.

I think the complaints about Paton not beating his man are a tad unfair. He's a full-back, and one without any pace whatsoever - his primary job is to defend, and with no pace (which is not his fault) he's not going to run at his man and beat him the way Alan Hutton can, or even Aaron Sinclair for us sometimes can. That's not his game - he's a reasonably competent right-back at a Scottish First Division team who needs to work on his left foot a bit more. We could do better, we could do worse. I'm more alarmed by our lack of goals.

One travels more in hope than expectation.

It's a perfectly valid point being made by HamiltonJag, this sort of response is out of line. We're well into November and only a couple of big home wins against lower half teams (which Ayr and Morton usually are, I know Morton were top at the time but look at their form since) are making the situation look half-respectable. 1 goal (a penalty) from our last three games does not suggest we are improving, if anything the opposite. I'm not calling for his head but his overall affability and intelligence doesn't mean he should be immune from criticism.

And we have a contender for the strangest post on this thread. It's frankly absurd to compare the possibility of Scottish independence with anything that happened in the former Yugoslavia, and to suggest that the SNP would be 'happy' to do so, it's so absurd in fact that it's not worth typing any more on the subject.

I can only assume you have never been here and never talked to any Russians about this. Whatever we think of him, he was and is liked by a large number of Russians - a couple of years ago he came third in a Russia-wide poll to find the greatest Russian (quite an achievement, especially considering he's actually not even Russian). The reasons why he is liked are more complicated and not for this thread, but you are talking nonsense.

It's a nice idea in theory but an absolute non-starter. How much would it cost to re-terrace the bing, put a roof on it, install catering facilities, and then reduce the price for the fans who wanted to go there? In a perfect world we would have a four-sided stadium with terracing available, but the reality is that we currently have at least 5,000 empty seats (more if you include the Main Stand) at Firhill every game - to think about expanding the stadium in our current financial situation is crazy. I'm speculating here obviously, but I don't imagine it would make any money for the club - I expect the club would lose money, as the vast majority of fans who would use any new terrace would be fans who currently sit in the JH, but who would then pay less for the terracing. I don't believe there are large numbers of Thistle fans out there who would suddenly start going again if there was terracing.

I'm not trying to be rude, but what exactly is this prediction based on? We managed 3 unconvincing (in general) one-goal wins in this group, and they were against two teams who are considerably worse than any of the teams we have in the 2014 qualifiers. As Uberteeb mentions, Wales have the likes of Bale and Ramsey, and they are the team we got from the 6th pot. Belgium are one of the most improved teams in Europe and are some people's prediction to win the group, we will lose in Macedonia, and all this is before we even get to the top two seeds in the group. We have an atrocious record in Eastern Europe, and will more than likely get nothing from Croatia or Serbia away. Levein says we are improving, but then he has to, as if we weren't he would be staring at the exit door. I don't see it, he's clutching at straws. We don't have any decent centre backs and if Miller isn't playing, we don't have a decent lone striker - which is unfortunate, given the 4-5-1 formation.

Last night's result was hardly a surprise, but this qualifying campaign was a missed opportunity to make the play-offs (from which we might have had a chance against Ireland, Monetengro, Estonia etc). The Czech Republic are nowhere near the team they once were, Lithuania were poor and Lichenstein should be cannon fodder. We were too negative early on away at Lithuania and the Czechs, and Levein has to take the blame for that - instead he is still blaming the ref from three games ago, ignoring the stonewall penalty Adam should have conceded in that game. I accept that he won't be sacked and won't quit, but the idea that three one-goal wins, two of which were against Lichenstein (no disrespect intended), marks any kind of improvement is either nonsense or a rather sad indictment on the state of our game. Also, anyone who thinks we have any chance of qualifying from our next World Cup Group is spouting utter drivel. I honestly think we have more chance of finishing last in that group than we do of finishing in the top 2.

I'm certainly no fan of Levein, but I wouldn't go that far. With Spain in the group the play-offs were the only aim we ever had, and then it depends on the draw. I do feel we should have finished 2nd (I'm assuming that we won't), and three one-goal wins is not a great return given the poor opposition.

Why do you keep asking for proof of what will happen in the future? That's simply impossible in this case! Did the Tories prove categorically that their economic plan would be a success before you voted for them? If you're going to set the bar so high that it's impossible to clear then there is no point in debating with you. All anyone can do is look at the arguments for and against and make a judgement. For what it's worth, I consider myself pro-independence but accept that there are some questions that remain unanswered about our currency, place in the EU, division of UK infrastructure, armed forces, etc. But I don't expect anyone to prove to me that we would be better in the UK, because they can't. I'm too young to remember Thatcher and Major properly, but it's not inconceivable that the next Westminster government could have a Tory majority without a single Scottish Tory MP, and that itself is enough for me. There's a massive democratic disenfranchisement in the UK, Scottish people have the right to choose their own government (one that has real powers to make decisions for Scottish people, not just what Westminster decides to hand down).

That's just absurd - there is no way to prove what will happen in the future. Did the Tories prove to you that they would be better for the UK than Labour at the last election? Of course not - you looked at the options available and came to the judgement that they would be better than the alternatives, which is all anyone can do. In the case of Scotland, more and more people are looking at the SNP and independence and deciding that they are the best option.

It is a discussion board, and you can start discussions on whatever you like - but I don't think it's unreasonable to say that I think it's absurd to start speculating that the manager of a team currently 5th in the First Division is a possible candidate for the Celtic job, seemingly based on not much other than his team putting 5 past a 10-man Morton.

Let's not get carried away. There were calls on here for McNamara to go after the Berwick/Hamilton games, and certainly a lot of scepticism about Jackie's future as a manager. A couple of decent home wins later and he's a future target for Celtic? If he wins the league and gets us into mid-table in the SPL then he might be a candidiate for any vacancy at Parkhead, but it's ridiculous to be talking about it now.

You may not agree with their overall goal of independence, but to suggest that the SNP are incompetent is just nonsense, frankly. The very reason they won by such a margain in May was that even voters who don't support independence recognised that the SNP were by far the most qualified to be in charge at Holyrood.

Well, you did refer to Scottish independence as 'patients running the asylum'. Who are the 'patients' and where is the 'asylum' in this analogy?

I don't see any reason why we couldn't have our own currency (I don't consider Jaggybunnet's argument that Scotland is too wee and too stupid to be able to do these things as valid). For example, the Baltic states were able to mint their own currencies after leaving the rouble/Soviet Union and they are relatively stable, we could do the same. Keeping the pound is not an option except in the very short term, we couldn't have genuine independence without having control over monetary policy. As others have mentioned, I would like SNP clarification on this, they traditionally supported joining the Euro but I would assume that recent events have caused them to reconsider.

'Ireland stands as a shining example of the art of the possible in long-term economic policymaking'. Not Alex Salmond, but the current occupant of Number 11. Alex Salmond wasn't the only one to get it wrong over Ireland, yet unionists constantly hold it over him as evidence that he is unfit to be trusted with Scotland's economy, and that Scotland is not ready for independence. Why not hold the Conservatives to the same standard? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article733821.ece

A 1-0 win over Motherwell in October of the fateful 1995/96 season. Although at the age of 11 it wasn't really my decision, I picked a bad time to start supporting Thistle.

Plenty of Mums in Maryhill who already qualify for the existing offer.

If that was true at one point, and the older generation in Scotland are much more pro-Royal than the younger ones in my view, the relative reactions of the two countries to the Royal Wedding would suggest it's certainly not true any longer. Where were the Scottish street parties? The only reaction I'm aware of was a drunken riot in Kelvingrove. I do wonder about the SNP's stance when it comes to the Royal Family - I would imagine a large number of people who actually want an independent Scotland would also want to get rid of the Royal Family (espcially when you look at who the next King will be...).

That's one of the most cringeworthy pieces of journalism I have ever read. Even by the Record's standards, it's embarrassing. It doesn't address the main issue at hand (or the real 'elephant in the room', as the article says), which is not who is or isn't calling who just now, but why Fletcher chose not to turn up for Scotland. I'm not a supporter of Levein in general, but he is right on this one. Why is there one standard for Kris Boyd but another for Fletcher?

Usually we sign players who were good at one time, become rubbish at Thistle, and stay that way for the rest of their careers.

Shaggy for Scotland has to be the most gifted player we have had in recent years. Unfortunately, by the time we got him, he was too probably old/injury prone to go on to better things. Well, to Dundee United, but that wasn't a massive step up at that time. Not that it stopped him being described as the 'New Alan Hansen' - at the age of 27. He's still my Thistle hero.