Jaggernaut

Point taken, and you're right. I guess more folk probably need to get actively involved, rather than merely sniping from the sidelines. I live too far away from Glasgow and am really too busy to get involved in any organizing of anything, but my point is mainly that quite a lot of people are ready to spend money that will go to help the Jags IF there is something attractive and different on offer. There are only so many 50/50 tickets, programmes, scarves etc you want to buy every other week. Change it around even slightly, freshen it up and the money is the same (well, it it would be extra), but more people are likely to be willing to part with their readies.

Actually thought the crowd did pretty well in terms of vocal support in the second half yesterday.

Why didn't they organize a couple of stupid Jags-related Christmas hampers as prizes, for God's sake? Couple of bottles of wine, some tinned ham, mince pies etc. etc; throw in a ball or a kid's jersey or two, and raffle them at a quid. Cost to the club? Peanuts. Income generated? Probably a grand or two.

Throughout my entire life I've seen football clubs in Scotland complaining about cash flow and pleading for investment. And with the exception of Third Lanark, they're all still there in one guise or another, the full-time clubs still full-time, the part-timers still part-time.

I think that you're being naive. Unilaterally declaring that we've abandoned full-time football would probably lead to other clubs welcoming the fact that Thistle had thrown in the towel, leaving them with one fewer nuisance club that might occasionally interfere with them getting their games against the OF. It's perfectly plain that SPL clubs (for example) will never act for the overall benefit of the game; as you said, it's about self-preservation. And us packing it in as a realistic competitor (albeit one currently at a low point) would simply be treated as an opportunity for them to consolidate their own positions.

I'm judging strength as playing in the SPL and getting the lion's share of coverage, advertising, tv money etc etc. The climate has indeed changed, not just for football teams but for every kind of organization, be it art clubs or universities. I'm not saying that clubs in the top flight are "comfortable" owing millions, but the fact is that they are there, playing were we can only aspire to go, but where we'll never go if we become a part-time club. I honestly believe that oblivion would come to us faster by going down that route. Or at best we'd be the equivalent of Linlithgow Rose. I like my football, but I wouldn't buy a season ticket or make a round trip of 70+ miles every other week to watch that.

There are other ways to go before switching to become a team of players who play simply as a hobby. Part-time and junior; pretty similar imo. How many realistically can stay full time? No idea. All of the SPL clubs can; even though they're all millions in debt, they have sufficient turnover to keep it going. And it's the teams who keep that model who will have a chance of joining them. Do you reckon that Cowdenbeath might one day make it to the SPL? If not, why not? I'd suggest that they have no ambition ever to make it there. They're a part-time outfit, already happy to be where they now are. I think that the part-time mentality would soon permeate every aspect of PTFC if it happened, from playing staff right down to supporters, who would become even more part-time than most of them currently are. And yes, I make no apology for saying that most self-proclaimed Thistle supporters are indeed part-timers, or even less. Or crowds show that to be the case.

Then my answer is an emphatic "no". The notion that Thistle will somehow be the model of the best way to run a football club (remember that from anywhere) and will somehow cause others to follow our model is naive. We've already been there and done that, and regardless of how many millions they might owe, just about every other team that was with us in the SPL back then is going strong. Remember how it became common knowledge that even our star players were on a basic of £500? Did that cause other teams to follow suit? No, it caused other teams to buy up our best players! And were have we been since then? Bottom of first division, and even lower.

We had some pretty slick mixed squads in the past, e.g. the League Cup winning side, and for a couple of seasons afterwards. I wouldn't be against a sprinkling of part-timers if they were good enough (the last one we had was Des McKeown, who was a fit as they come). Completely part-time is another kettle of fish. Such a team would never win the 1st division against full-time outfits, and would be more likely than not to be yo-yo-ing between the 1st division and lower. That would not attract nearly as many punters as now, and would rapidly lead to the Clyde-isation of Thistle, with crowds of around 500, in even more of a footballing wilderness than we're in now.

No it's not. What does "support" mean? Do we actively desire it? If the club announced that it was moving to become part-time playing staff only would we continue to support the team? A mix of full-time and part-time?

So what should they get? What the Dundee fans and club think is "reasonable", i.e., a 10-point reduction? They've won more than 10 points since their punishment was announced! So it's actually no punishment at all! If that's all the punishment that repeated and chronic attempts to cheat your way through the system incurs then every team might as well just spend millions that they don't have and then go crying for administration. That cannot be allowed, or we might as well just chuck it.

He's "mistaken", or at the wind-up. There's never been a Joe McFarlane, according to the Official History, and certainly no McFarlane anywhere near around that time. Edited to add: unless he was a youth player or got the odd reserve game; but one of the League Cup winning squad, no way.

But then anything goes.

Not according to the Warriors, it wouldn't. (I'm pretty sure that's what I read.)

No, the full punishment should stand. Haven't they won every match they've played since they were punished? In other words, the players that they bought and are still paying on money that they didn't have are continuing to give them an unfair advantage over all their competitors. If anything, their 100% record since the judgement reinforces the view that they need to be punished severely.

Don't ask why, but last night I walked past East End Park, along the car park where we go into yon wee stand. Every turnstile was hidden below a 12-15ft mountain of hard-packed snow and ice that ran right along the length of the stadium. I'm not sure if it was due to snowdrifts or had been scooped up there by some machine. In any case it'll take some thaw or clearing-away operation to get those turnstiles clear for Tuesday. Not that I care too much, as I'll be sunning it in Tenerife!

I'd love to think that he can, but I just don't see it. Not quickly, in any case. He couldn't stop the decline when it set in early last season, and although there has been a slight improvement in the last couple of months, quickly doesn't describe it.

Probably the first of the Thistle books, and a good read.

The board might consider more "one-off" raffles at a quid or two a pop, for a range of prizes. How much would it cost them to offer half a dozen hospitality places? Pennies, yet I would buy a raffle ticket for that if I knew the money was going to the club. Christ, even a "free and thorough financial health check" by one of the Board's accountants or the like could be offered as a prize (couldn't it?). Why is there no special range of leisure wear in the run-up to Christmas? As mentioned in another thread, there would be a lot of interest in a new run of Thistle tartan scarves. The club could buy the material at cost price and get some kind of sewing club to do the rest, and come away with a healthy profit. I've never seen the thistle play that was performed, but I'd pay good money to go and see it, and I know for a fact that people with few or no Jags connections would go. Could a company (even amateur) be persuaded to take this on? How about a 50/50 "car boot" type sale inside either the Aitken lounge or the AR lounge (without the cars!?). Each seller pays a fiver, and donates 50% of their sales to the club? Books, clothes, household items, anything goes. Etc. etc.

Excellent photies.

With a slight bit of luck in the 2nd half we could even have won the match. I thought the 10 players came onto a really good game, working for each other and getting stuck in. But before the red card they were as bad as they can get, starting from the 4-sec-after-kick-off "pass" that went out for a shy in the general vicinity of nobody at all. The the ball was up in the air, bouncing around, or getting passed behind players so that they had to track back or stop and wait for it. During that time Fox had been pretty busy, whereas their keeper was a spectator. McCall did the right thing to hook Buchanan, as he looked totally out of sorts. And yet in the 2nd half I think he might have done much better than Doolan when there was the chance of barging past the defender. Liam is good at harassing guys that way, whereas Doolan just looked too lightweight, and he won not a single tussle as far as I recall. Almost a McQuadish performance from Erskine; one of his best games for us. No real failures in the team, but my MoTM would be Fox. I always liked the Tuffmeister for his flair, but there was always a little doubt about what he was going to do with a cross, or where a kick might end up. But Fox looks pretty much like the complete keeper to me. Catches crosses confidently, knows when to punch and does it cleanly, a good shot stopper, good kicker. I really hope we can hold on to him. That would be something for a fund to finance, imo.

Excellent photies. We did better with 10 men than we had been doing with 11.

Unbelievable price! A new run of Thistle tartan scarves would sell by the score, maybe even hundreds, if they were reasonably priced. The club and Greaves are both slow off the mark here. Great that we've got a calendar, but the total lack of any Christmas-related effort for PTFC goods by the club?Greaves is disappointing.

Nobby Clark was one of my "reserve heros"; a decent enough central defender who eventually came good enough to make 154 appearances for the first team. Other heros from the time I used to watch the reserves were Sandy Caddell and Charlie West.

It only got used for a handful of games in the mid/late 60s. White, with a broad yellow band sandwiched between two thinner red ones. Black trimmings. Red shorts, white socks with top red and yellow bands. It was really a cracking outfit.