Vladimir Putin

We are desperately short of pace at the back - any team who counters us with pace will have us in trouble. 4-3-3 is not going to work at this level with the players we have, we should think about going to 3-5-2 - we have the key players (Sinclair, Paton) who can function as wing backs in this formation. If we continue with the 4-3-3 we will be in serious trouble, McNamara has to reconsider.

Exactly. Something like 1 win in his last 15 games, a collapse towards the end of last season, and plenty of Hearts fans agreeing with the decision. Taking Hearts to 3rd in the SPL with by far the 3rd biggest budget and squad was not exactly a towering achievement. Not that something like the facts should get in the way of the usual 'Mad Vlad, he's lost the plot again' stories.

It's a terrible draw. Wales, Macedonia and Belgium are disasterous from the lower pots, and both Serbia and Croatia will be much too good for us. Luca Modric could probably beat us by himself, we'll lose in Skopje, and the team we got from pot 6 have Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. Anyone who thinks Scotland, especially under a manager as negative as Levein, have a chance of qualifying from this group is deluded. Who was the last decent team we beat in a competitive match? Without Andorra or San Marino, we could finish 5th or worse in this group.

Although I understand the arguments about co-efficients etc, there is no way I could ever bring myself to wish anything other than a humiliating defeat on Rangers. If Thistle ever do well enough to be concerned about getting into Europe, I assume I'll be pretty happy anyway.

I support the team and Jackie McNamara, and will try to attend as many other matches as possible when back in Glasgow this summer, but I would say that it does matter who we are playing, and have no intention of paying to see Celtic and their fans in a game that means nothing.

I still love Glorious Gary Harkins, the assist at Ibrox and his goal away at St Johnstone were two of the best moments in recent years, when there haven't been too many. I think he's in a league above Erskine (not just literally), I would trade Erskine for Harkins back in a heartbeat. I like Erskine also, and hope we can keep hold of him, but he's nowhere near as good as GGH. I don't really care about the gesture he made either, some people make far too much of these things, it's not like he jumped into the crowd and karate kicked the Thistle supporters. At subsequent games at Firhill he got a decent reception from the Thistle fans, rightly so given his contribution, and acknowledged it. Finally, anyone who holds his move to Dundee against him is, frankly, living on a different planet.

I have to admit, I do find it annoying at times. Although I wouldn't go to the extent of censoring them, it would be good if serious discussions were not hijacked by pages of puns. It's fine when it's right at the start - for example, when someone starts a thread about us signing Gary Twigg or Alan Trouten, and frankly anyone who does so should expect nothing else. But when it starts in the middle of a 3 page discussion about league reconstruction it is a little irritating.

I would have thought that my point was perfectly obvious to anyone who read what I wrote.

Kenny Arthur typified everything I want from a Thistle player. Of course he wasn't the best goalkeeper in the world, that's why he was at Thistle for 10 years, but overall I think he was a great keeper for us. He also really cared about the club, as anyone who watched him knows. I remember a game away at Livvy, I think under Collins, when we got battered and deservedly lost 2-0, and it would have been worse except for a string of fantastic saves Kenny made. He was cheered off by the away support, and he responded in kind. He always had time for the fans - yes he was a bit dodgy with crossed balls and made a few howlers, but what did we expect? I only wish we had more players with his attitude.

It's difficult to make predictions this early, but with both an untried manager and untried players, I feel confident in predicting that we have no chance of winning the league over teams like Dundee and Hamilton. I would be very happy with a top-half finish (and at no point thinking we might get relegated) and some decent indicators that the manager and our younger players are improving.

Looking at it from a financial position, that's an excellent first game - Dundee fans will travel in good numbers I would have thought, and should be a decent home turnout. It's also a good chance to test ourselves against one of the favourites, and show our intentions, or lack of. Dundee home games will never match up to that season when Rae got sent off twice though, I honestly think they are two of my favourite Thistle moments.

Ayr away has everything you could want in the first game of the season - not too far from Glasgow, terracing, Mark Roberts, pubs and ground near the centre/train station, we would take a great support down and it would be a good atmosphere. The only downside is that the first day of the season can be a dangerous time to play newly promoted teams, but it's easily the best day out in the league for me.

I, of course, wouldn't expect Thistle to treat the Old Firm any differently when it comes to any official dealings that may take place between the two clubs. But the club have no obligation to arrange pre-season friendlies with them - this is a game Thistle are choosing to play, and I think there is a valid argument, more than one in fact, for choosing not to invite the Old Firm. Thistle is (or should be and are striving to be) a family-friendly, and now police-free, club. The same certainly cannot be said about Celtic. Although I understand why this game has been arranged, I personally would prefer that we had not.

Is that such an unreasonable position for a Thistle fan, or for that matter a fan of any Scottish club outside the Old Firm, to take? I know that we could use the money that would come with a decent turn-out of Celtic fans. But you can find dozens of threads on this forum denouncing the Old Firm for making money on the back of their bigoted, violent and embarrasing fanbase, and quite rightly so. Are many of the arguments on this thread not suggesting that it's a good idea for Thistle to do exactly that in this case? If it's a decent day then there could be a couple of thousand. What if they start going through their IRA routine? I don't think Thistle kids, or even Thistle adults, should have to listen to that unless it's necessary. I'm not indifferent to the argument that we need the cash and that it's a more interesting fixture than Stirling Albion away again, but especially after the way Celtic behaved last season, from the board right through the manager to the fans, I certainly sympathise with the argument that they are not welcome at Firhill.

Could be a bit of a language barrier for McLaren at Forest, given that he only speaks Dutch.

You can buy a packet of cigarettes in Russia for 30p - not good ones, I wouldn't have thought, but there they are. I'm thinking about setting up an illegal import/export business to the UK.

I think it's streching it a bit to blame the Board for this one. Whatever 'this one' is, I'm not even sure having read this thread.

I agree with the sentiments above - it's got everything you could want from an away game (unless acceptable toilet facilities are high on your list, obviously). Terracing, near the town centre, pubs, striking distance from Glasgow. I really hope it's in August so I can go. The first day of the season would be ideal, when optimism is still high and a good support head down. Ayr is also a decent football club, with a decent support that belongs in the 1st division, good to see them back.

I can't agree with the part about the alternative central defenders being too young. We are far too reluctant to play players of their age - Wilson has played in the Champions League already, and friendlies (especially against relatievly weak teams) are the ideal time for him to get international experience. Other countries have no hesitation about playing 18 year-olds, we shouldn't either. Being realistic, we're not going to qualify for the Euros - if Caldwell and Berra aren't good enough to get us to a major tournament, and I would agree that they aren't, we should be bringing through players who might be in the future.

I take my hat off to Charlie Adam. We used to see him in the queue for Greggs (sometimes on a Saturday morning when we were going to get the Thistle bus) and would, of course, laugh at him. I would never have believed that he would turn his career around to the extent that he would play like he did at Old Trafford on Sunday and attract the attention of clubs like Liverpool. He deserves all the credit he is getting, if I ever see him in the street again (unlikely in St Petersburg, admittedly) I will apologise to him.

Again, I would love to see us hold on to him and then sell him to a Championship club for 400k - but it's not going to happen. £100k from Hearts, if they offered it, is the wages of 5 of our full-time players for a year, probably more. Look at our crowds from last season - there is absolutely no way we could turn it down. It's unfortunate, but we're just not in a position to take risks on the financial side, and the amount of fans Erskine alone would add on to our gates is nowhere near £100k worth. This is like whenever someone on here lambasts the Board for not 'pushing the boat out' - there is no boat.

It's a good idea in theory, but if we get an offer close to the 75k/100k mentioned above he will be away. We're in no position to turn down that sort of money for a player we got from the juniors for nothing, given our financial situation. We're in no position to turn down that sort of money for any of our players. He could get a career threatening injury tomorrow, or go off form completely (something not out of the question with Erskine). Let's be realistic.

Who are you kidding - Shaggy would leave him for dead. What a player he was for us, he was worth the admission fee alone when he was at Thistle. I started watching us in the mid-90s, and he's my favourite player.

I understand the unionist argument - I think it tends towards scaremongering in general, and certainly did in the election camapaign when Labour plumbed new depths and were rewarded. But this bit above is where the argument comes off the rails - what does the fact that we share an island with England and Wales have to do with anything? You're using geography arbitrarily in the same way as you accuse the SNP of doing. By this logic, should we hand over Northern Ireland? It is also part of a small island, just not the same one as us. What about the Falklands, would they be better off working together with Argentina? I'm not quoting Braveheart or painting my face, but Scotland is not just part of a small island - it's a separate country. I can accept and possibly even agree with those arguing in favour of a much more federalised UK, with full powers over taxation, natural resources etc devolved respectively. But many of your posts here make out Scotland to be something that it's not.

Shaggy for Scotland!