Jaggernaut

Inspector Rebus himself would be proud of that piece of sleuthery

No-manager bounce. A stunning display of fluid, fast attacking football and deadly finishing guaranteed, shots firing in from all angles and distances. 4-0 Jags Airdrie goalie MotM. Can't wait for the start of the amazing new chapter! (Whisper: A scrappy 1-0 win will do......)

Anybody else hate the (explicitly) faked photos that "newspapers" (are allowed to) mock up to illustrate their articles these days?

🙂 I see the title of post-match reaction videos: "Jesus wept."

Actually, I think our manager's position will be the next stage of the life of Brian, currently suspended because he's a very naughty boy.

I can see the headline now: Jesus Saves The Jags!

I recently saw a video interview with Willie Howie, who I think was managing a non-league club (I've forgotten which one) and my browsing led me to this list of ex-Jags and Glenafton. Of course Roughie had a successful spell as manager there (didn't they win the Scottish Junior Cup?), but much more recently they've had Ryan Stevenson (manager), Mark Roberts (manager), Gary Harkins (assistant mananger), and currently Paul Paton (manager). I wonder how many other former Thistle players are involved in managing/coaching non-league (is that the right term for Juniors these days?) teams. Maybe our new manager is somewhere there!

"Agent" to me immediately conjures us "estate agent." Biggest con-artists allowed to legally steal money from people for doing nothing (along with "factors")!

Rancel !

I was wondering this afternoon: do managers generally have agents, or do they usually just scout around for potential jobs and fire off applications by themselves?

That's right. Something else I'd like to know is how the table would look if it took into account (although maybe it already does) the change from 2 points to 3 points for a win. Nonetheless, it's interesting to see that several of the managers in the top ten got sacked, and they are all relatively recent. That suggests much greater demands getting placed on managers these days. "We want success, and we want it now!"

With this "sports director" thing, if results are poor, who gets sacked? The SD because of poor recruitment decisions and inadequate management of the manager and coaches? Or the manager, for failing to benefit from the SD's (presumed) wisdom and thereby failing to get good performances and results from players the SD strongly recommended? If it looks messy before it starts, it's likely to be messy when it actually does start. If anything, rather than a sports director, I think an assistant manager is appropriate, with scouting and recruitment specified as part of his (or her) overall remit.

Question No 4: Tell me about what you perceive as your potential weaknesses.

Sacked while still in second-ever best manager position in terms of points per game, despite a terrible recent run of results. Whoever takes on the job next needs to be prepared to get the boot sooner rather than later.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if a number of fans feel strongly that as long as we were in a play-off position Doolan should not have been sacked, and they might express their displeasure by deciding not to attend matches.

I'm saddened by Doolan's dismissal, but understand it. However, if Graham gets this bunch of players to win "a few games in the short term" then why not give him the chance to continue and let go those he doesn't see as a good fit for how he sees us playing, and bringing in some who he thinks would do better.

Or Alex Rae?

Could be that. And heroically he decided that the team might perform better if he gets suspended/dropped, so the best thing to do is.....

Aiden Fitzpatrick in the background.

And then there's the often-seen follow-up when he runs right over to receive the ball back from the player he just passed it to, from 2 yards.

Good question. Not easy to put oneself into another person's mind, but maybe anger at the prior confrontation with the opponent? General frustration at his own and/or the team's performance, perhaps growing worse over the past few weeks? Either of these or both, and possibly also other things going on on or off the pitch, combining to lead to him just deciding that he'd had enough of this? Who knows?; in times of crisis and anger many of us "lash out" irrationally, while at the same knowing deep down (maybe even only subconsciously at the time) what the consequences might be.

Without dwelling on his remarkable lack of movement in any of the action I watched on the RR highlights (take a look at how half-hearted his "efforts" appear), I hope Bannigan will be severely reprimanded by the manager for what actually looked almost like a deliberate decision to get himself sent off. Totally unacceptable behaviour from an experienced player, and further evidence that he no longer has the ability or staying power at this level. Having said that, lack of heart seemed to be rife among the defenders at the first two goals on Saturday.

Not under Doolan, he wouldn't.

For any professional football team not to register a single shot at goal against a team in a lower position in the same league is simply unacceptable.

RIP. Condolences to Mr Dinnie's family and friends. PTFC was fortunate to have him as a scout.