Just In

[Jaggyman]

It will turn us into a team bobbing between the 2nd and 3rd divisions barely able to compete with the likes of Clyde.

 

It will kill stone dead any desire I have to follow the team the way I have done for the past 25 years.

 

A few years ago we couldnt compete with Clyde, did u stay at home then?

[uberteeb]

Yesterday was so pish it was unbelievable, apart from Buchanans left foot shot that went wide did we have any other real chances?

 

My mate at the game absolutely hates Liam Buchanan, I spent the train journey there and a significant amount of time in the pub beforehand defending him, I tried to continue defending him after the game but the longer the conversation went on the more I realised he is actually quite shite.

 

Greenock is full of sluts and the beer was ridiculously cheap.

[B.C.G. JAG]

I slated Erskine on the forum after the Inverness game when we got put out the cup on penalties and got abuse back. I have said all along i dont rate him and now i think ppl are starting to come round to my way of thinking. Just one question... why does he run so stupid????

If you want silly runs, I give you Gary Harkins.

[GrantB]

A few years ago we couldnt compete with Clyde, did u stay at home then?

 

We've always been able to compete with Clyde. There have been very few occasions when we havent' finished above them in the league regardless of our record at Broadwood.

 

If we are to end up a p/t club in the 2nd/3rd divisions, it might be a different story.

[Stephen1876]

Ross McGeough should start at right back on Tuesday night. While I respect Paton for his work rate and commitment, I dislike just about everything else about him. He is the prime example of a young Scottish player who thinks he is a soon to be superstar and doesn't bother trying to improve himself. His one-footedness has been a feature for three years at Firhill now and yet he can't see it in himself to improve. Scottish players don't exactly spend long in training and he should be putting afternoon after afternoon into working on his left peg. I really wouldn't be sad if I never seen him in a Thistle jersey again.

 

Go easy on Doolan though - he started very well with Thistle and seems to have faded away. However, it is hard for a striker to maintain a good standard when he gets one match, missess a week, gets 20 minutes then gets another 15 minutes etc. He needs a run before he can be written off.

 

As we all agree a season of mid-table mediocrity awaits, we need to trying out guys like MacBeth and Burns - they would benefit from playing alongside the likes of Jaggy Mac, Sid, and Rowser.

[Jaggyman]

We've always been able to compete with Clyde. There have been very few occasions when we havent' finished above them in the league regardless of our record at Broadwood.

 

If we are to end up a p/t club in the 2nd/3rd divisions, it might be a different story.

 

There were times when Clyde were better than us they finished above us in the league and even played in a higher league than us we werent exactly competeing with them at that time. If we go part time and with fans not coming to games i think its inevitable, it may not be a bad thing at least we would still have a club to follow. WE did at one time compete at the top level with a mixture of part time and full time players

[northernsoul]

I just don't have the desire to post anything about yesterdays performance. Others have saved me the bother.

 

I'm not one for knee jerk reactions etc but Paul Paton is the most predictable player I have ever seen.

 

Paton out, McGeogh in.

[lennythistle]

Yesterday was so pish it was unbelievable, apart from Buchanans left foot shot that went wide did we have any other real chances?

 

My mate at the game absolutely hates Liam Buchanan, I spent the train journey there and a significant amount of time in the pub beforehand defending him, I tried to continue defending him after the game but the longer the conversation went on the more I realised he is actually quite shite.

 

Greenock is full of sluts and the beer was ridiculously cheap.

There can be no doubt Liam's confidence is gone at this moment in time. The injuries over the last 2 to 3 years will not have helped one bit in that (yes i know what an understatement). Perhaps dropping him to the bench may help......perhaps it may have an even more damaging effect to his confidence...i just don't know. I've always liked Liam but always thought, even when fit, he'll get 5 chances a game, miss 4 and score one. right now he badly needs a goal but i don't think he has become a bad player. The big problem is that out of all the front players, Liam is clearly the seen as the main goal threat. He doesn't find the net and we look like we'll struggle to score. one goal in 3 league games is alarming.

 

Just a thought though. We are by no means alone in having a forward who is suffering a major loss in form and confidence. Dundee, 1 goal in 3 league games (and they have what is widely recognised as far mor attacking options than us). Other teams in the league are struggling for goals in opening 3 games.

 

did any of you see torres at the world cup? He is world class (ok i'm biased as i like liverpool) but he looked like he'd never played the game before. Like liam, injuries a big part to play in that. I'm sure it'll be only a matter of time before he is banging them in again on a regular basis. The other one who comes to mind just now is rooney. Could'nt stop scoring for most of last season. Had an awful world cup...then i heard a stat last night stating he hasn't scored in 13 games for man u !

 

I'm not in any way comparing Liam to torres or rooney.......but just trying to highlight that even the best of them can suffer loss of form and go on long run of not scoring .........hopefully, Liam gets his head down, works damn hard and finds his confidence soon....he's done it before and i'm sure he will do it again.

[Jagsman]

yesterday was the most spineless effort i have seen from a thistle side in years a lame header by buchanan was our only shot on target also i dont understand why he took buchanan off when he did as he looked like only person who could get near goal.

 

we need atleast 4 or 5 new players and with our budget we are totally screwed, if we carry on being so effortless and spineless not only will mccall get sacked but we will be relegated

[GrantB]

There were times when Clyde were better than us they finished above us in the league and even played in a higher league than us we werent exactly competeing with them at that time. If we go part time and with fans not coming to games i think its inevitable, it may not be a bad thing at least we would still have a club to follow. WE did at one time compete at the top level with a mixture of part time and full time players

 

Clyde were punching way above their weight and living far beyond their means in order to finish above us. It was never and never should be the norm.

[Jaggyman]

Clyde were punching way above their weight and living far beyond their means in order to finish above us. It was never and never should be the norm.

 

Are we not living beyond our means now? We were told after save the jags that it would never happen again. I think you will find that clubs who are living within their means all inhabit lower divisions. All the others are trying to cut their cloth accordingly to eradicate the ludicrous debt they have built up. St Mirren may be the exception to that due to selling their ground

[MWM]

Are we not living beyond our means now? We were told after save the jags that it would never happen again. I think you will find that clubs who are living within their means all inhabit lower divisions. All the others are trying to cut their cloth accordingly to eradicate the ludicrous debt they have built up. St Mirren may be the exception to that due to selling their ground

How then do we struggle with one of the better supports in the league and a six figure sum from the rugby, while teams with smaller supports and income streams stay full-time without much bother? Methinks bad management by the directors of the club may have something to do with that....

[Jaggyman]

How then do we struggle with one of the better supports in the league and a six figure sum from the rugby, while teams with smaller supports and income streams stay full-time without much bother? Methinks bad management by the directors of the club may have something to do with that....

 

This season i would be willing to bet that over the season the average home crowd at Falkirk,Dunfermline,Dundee and at a push Raith Rovers will be higher than ours. Hardly making us one of the best supported teams in the league

[GrantB]

Are we not living beyond our means now? We were told after save the jags that it would never happen again. I think you will find that clubs who are living within their means all inhabit lower divisions. All the others are trying to cut their cloth accordingly to eradicate the ludicrous debt they have built up. St Mirren may be the exception to that due to selling their ground

 

Wasn't PropCo meant to give more money to the playing budget?

[Woodstock Jag]

Wasn't PropCo meant to give more money to the playing budget?

 

For the umpteenth time, it was one of the public lines trotted out, but the actual paperwork surrounding the deal gives the bank first dibs on any money the Club makes out of it. The money saved on interest payments by the actual sale of the land only helps towards breaking-even, and doesn't add a penny to the player budget.

[Woodstock Jag]

How then do we struggle with one of the better supports in the league and a six figure sum from the rugby, while teams with smaller supports and income streams stay full-time without much bother? Methinks bad management by the directors of the club may have something to do with that....

 

A lot of it is down to our structural debt. If we didn't have any bank debt, our operations in season 2008-09 would have only been about £30k in deficit. Because of the bank debt, we lost more than £200k.

[GrantB]

The money saved on interest payments by the actual sale of the land only helps towards breaking-even, and doesn't add a penny to the player budget.

 

That wasn't the line used by the board when they were trying to push the deal through. In fact it is in direct contradiction and I will highlight it at every opportunity.

 

We were told that the cash saved on interest payments would have a direct impact on the playing budget. I'll never trust a word coming out of the boardroom again because of this.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

This season i would be willing to bet that over the season the average home crowd at Falkirk,Dunfermline,Dundee and at a push Raith Rovers will be higher than ours. Hardly making us one of the best supported teams in the league

I wouldn't confuse overall attendance with size of home support. We'll suffer from lack of away support more than most clubs (see my post somewhere else re all those derby games). Put simply most away supporters will cherrypick their games. More likely to initially at least go to the matches with local rivalry than bother coming to Firhill.

Our home support maybe averages out at 2000-2300(?) for league games. At a guess that'll be the 4th best home support in the division. So MWM is kinda correct in what he's saying.

Just on a slightly different matter I'm not sure I'd want our Club to be the same model of any of the three better supported. Dundee (totally dependent on one guy who doesn't even support the club), Falkirk (well enough run but a cost to their fans re that soulless out of the way ground) and Dunfermline (how many million in debt is it?). I feel it's one thing to say we've been run shabbily under our present stewardship, another thing entirely to look elsewhere in our league for a suitable role model we should've adopted.

Edited August 22, 2010 by lady-isobel-barnett

[Jaggyman]

I wouldn't confuse overall attendance with size of home support. We'll suffer from lack of away support more than most clubs (see my post somewhere else re all those derby games). Put simply most away supporters will cherrypick their games. More likely to initially at least go to the matches with local rivalry than bother coming to Firhill.

Our home support maybe averages out at 2000-2300(?) for league games. At a guess that'll be the 4th best home support in the division. So MWM is kinda correct in what he's saying.

Just on a slightly different matter I'm not sure I'd want our Club to be the same model of any of the three better supported. Dundee (totally dependent on one guy who doesn't even support the club), Falkirk (well enough run but a cost to their fans re that soulless out of the way ground) and Dunfermline (how many million in debt is it?). I feel it's one thing to say we've been run shabbily under our present stewardship, another thing entirely to look elsewhere in our league for a suitable role model we should've adopted.

 

Going by our last game we had approx 2300 home supporters and that was against one of the so called bigger teams. The point i was trying to make was that these teams will have more heads through the turnstile this season than us therefore more money coming in. Yeah i agree we would be 4th or 5th best supported but are the kids we let in free counted in crowd numbers as there is no entrance money coming from them. Making 2300 at Dunfermline all paying, better than 2300 at firhill many of whom get in free. As for your other point i agree that i wouldnt want Thistle to have been ran like Dundee or Dunfermline, all thats wrong with the way Falkirk are ran is that they have a nice new shiny souless stadium,, compared to the shit hole / death trap that was brockville. Which if i'm honest always had a crackin atmosphere

Edited August 22, 2010 by Jaggyman

[Phoenix]

For the umpteenth time, it was one of the public lines trotted out, but the actual paperwork surrounding the deal gives the bank first dibs on any money the Club makes out of it. The money saved on interest payments by the actual sale of the land only helps towards breaking-even, and doesn't add a penny to the player budget.

 

If only we had a supporters organisation that could have pointed that out before the paperwork was signed. They could even have voted against it. But we don't have anything like that

[Third Lanark]

Yesterday was so pish it was unbelievable, apart from Buchanans left foot shot that went wide did we have any other real chances?

 

My mate at the game absolutely hates Liam Buchanan, I spent the train journey there and a significant amount of time in the pub beforehand defending him, I tried to continue defending him after the game but the longer the conversation went on the more I realised he is actually quite shite.

 

Greenock is full of sluts and the beer was ridiculously cheap.

So apparently is Lithuania and Estonia

[Third Lanark]

You have to judge a manager over a reasonable period. McCall did well initially but, as I have commented on another thread, he has struggled since Britton quit as his assistant. The Board, despite our debts, then supported him by funding the signings of McNamara, Lovell, Grehan and Shields. Yet our form in 2010 has been totally pathetic. McCall is the problem but too many here blame the board.

With good reason. For 7 years the club has gone downhill due mainly to them - financial decisions, hiring and firing managers.

 

Actually for the first 2 years of McCalls reign he kind of stabilised things to an exten though obviously is not doing that now. After the sale of Harkins I thought the baord may have reinvested some of that money in the playing budget but unstead cut it even further. Yet while at the same time one of them Eddie Prentice was happy to take 25k out of the clubs coffers. Could that 25k maybe have helped persuade Harkins to stay? Or perhaps helped us sing someone like Clarke, Weatherson, Willie gibson etc.

Even this year they took the decision no new signings till July, while we dither round till July teams like raith have made sure they have snapped up guys like John Baird who could really have done something for us. Yes Im afraid they are a lot to blame

[Third Lanark]

Part time won't kill the club, it would probably save it.

It would however, probably kill any ambition we might have to perform at the highest level ever again.

Some good points. Would not wish to go part time. But I guess if you asked a Third Lanark supporter in 1968 one year after they went out of existence if they would prefer no club at all or to have a part time one then we would all know what the answer would have been.

[yoda-jag]

morton are as poor a team as any outside the two part time diddy teams in cowden and stirling,

 

and speaking of which, the next two games will define our season, no less than 6 points is acceptable for me against them

 

^^^this^^^

 

 

We should have let McCall go to Dundee.

 

A lot of us wanted him to go - but in typical board style, the incompetent imbeciles fucted it up.

 

 

Tbh I thought there was little need for the substitutions at half time. The first half was a team failure. The change of formation and the two changes were nothing more than cosmetic. The only alteration required was a change of attitude and that to their shame never happened.

 

^^^this^^^

 

Which has for majority of 2010 been the norm

 

 

We will always by the nature of being a Jags fan .... never know what our team will do next. Many of us love that simple fact. What bursts me tho is the lack of attitude from the players / professionalism from the management and inability of the b.o.d. to realise they are taking the club nowhere but downwards.

 

^^^and this^^^

[kni]

With good reason. For 7 years the club has gone downhill due mainly to them - financial decisions, hiring and firing managers.

 

Actually for the first 2 years of McCalls reign he kind of stabilised things to an exten though obviously is not doing that now. After the sale of Harkins I thought the baord may have reinvested some of that money in the playing budget but unstead cut it even further. Yet while at the same time one of them Eddie Prentice was happy to take 25k out of the clubs coffers. Could that 25k maybe have helped persuade Harkins to stay? Or perhaps helped us sing someone like Clarke, Weatherson, Willie gibson etc.

Even this year they took the decision no new signings till July, while we dither round till July teams like raith have made sure they have snapped up guys like John Baird who could really have done something for us. Yes Im afraid they are a lot to blame

 

Even if McCall had the money to make these signings, I doubt that we would be any better. His tactics are one-dimensional. It was McCall who re-signed a bunch of players well into their 30s, extended Kinniburgh's contract and gave Hodge, Grehan, Erskine and Doolan a 2 year deals.

 

We have a bunch of strikers who have scored only a handful of goals in 2010 and none in the league this season. Frankly, they can only score against opponents from the lower divisions, i.e. they are not good enough and McCall must take personal responsibility.

Edited August 22, 2010 by kni