Garscube Road End 2 Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 1 hour ago, a f kincaid said: Just out of curiosity GRE2, where do you think Thistle should/could have moved to years ago? Do you think there is a potential support somewhere, deprived of senior football, just waiting for somewhere to go on a Saturday if only a senior club would move? They had an opportunity to move out to East Kilbride. A pool of Thistle support was there. Local council wanted them. Would provide funding towards a stadium. But they said no. We could have built a decent base there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggy Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 6 minutes ago, Garscube Road End 2 said: They had an opportunity to move out to East Kilbride. A pool of Thistle support was there. Local council wanted them. Would provide funding towards a stadium. But they said no. We could have built a decent base there. I’m glad we never. We’re a Glasgow team. Weather here is worse than Maryhill too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garscube Road End 2 Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 (edited) 8 minutes ago, jaggy said: I’m glad we never. We’re a Glasgow team. Weather here is worse than Maryhill too Are we a real Maryhill team? Partick?? And has been a Glasgow team actually progressed us? With those two scumbags carving up the bigoted city. Edited February 7, 2022 by Garscube Road End 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a f kincaid Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 My guess is that had Thistle moved to East Kilbride they could have lost as many paying customers than they gained - perhaps more. Football is largely tribal and the emotional attachment to a particular location is strong . [I have an 86-mile round trip for every home game]. The Thistle directors took a bold decision in 1909 to move to Maryhill and away from Partick and by and large they were vindicated but not so sure a move to a new location nowadays would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garscube Road End 2 Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 Just now, a f kincaid said: My guess is that had Thistle moved to East Kilbride they could have lost as many paying customers than they gained - perhaps more. Football is largely tribal and the emotional attachment to a particular location is strong . [I have an 86-mile round trip for every home game]. The Thistle directors took a bold decision in 1909 to move to Maryhill and away from Partick and by and large they were vindicated but not so sure a move to a new location nowadays would be. We are in a non Jags area, our support is drawn from other parts., we sit in a dump of a stadium which we don't have the resources to sort. We are dying in Maryhill. We need to move to revitalise the club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 20 minutes ago, a f kincaid said: My guess is that had Thistle moved to East Kilbride they could have lost as many paying customers than they gained - perhaps more. Football is largely tribal and the emotional attachment to a particular location is strong . [I have an 86-mile round trip for every home game]. The Thistle directors took a bold decision in 1909 to move to Maryhill and away from Partick and by and large they were vindicated but not so sure a move to a new location nowadays would be. Add to that Firhill is a popular venue for away supporters. Even if the home attendance stacked up revenue from away support would be considerably less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggernaut Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Garscube Road End 2 said: Are we a real Maryhill team? Partick?? And has been a Glasgow team actually progressed us? With those two scumbags carving up the bigoted city. I think you could safely bet your boots that the two scumbags have carved up EK as well, and would have done even if Thistle had moved there. And it's very likely to be the case wherever you want Thistle to move to. Edited February 7, 2022 by Jaggernaut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dl1971 Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 We would have to stay in the North area of Glasgow. As others have said we will always be blighted by the pull of the OF. I hoped by giving free entry to under 16s would help grow our base but so far it hasn't happened. A real shame Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Gekantawa Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 1 hour ago, lady-isobel-barnett said: Add to that Firhill is a popular venue for away supporters. Even if the home attendance stacked up revenue from away support would be considerably less. That our ground is a little scruffy and three sided matters to me far less than our location and the overall matchday experience. Particularly as the JHS and JLS do at least offer very good views of the game. For me, by far the worse away days are Clyde and Livingston, each of which made the decision to relocate to a nearby new town. East Kilbride would be equally poor for the overall experience (in particular with respect to nearby pubs etc.). By contrast, I love an away day to Ayr, regardless (or partially because) of the fact that the stadium is anachronistic and somewhat decrepit. I expect I would go to fewer games if we were in EK. Had we moved to EK before I moved to Glasgow (from London) in 2000, I strongly suspect I would now be supporting someone else (Queen's Park possibly). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggymct Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 16 hours ago, Norgethistle said: I think going back to your earlier post, we get a list of what’s needing doing and who can help. There’s basic things like painting that most can do, there may be specific specialist stuff that our fan base may have skills (or own a company) or donate material to aid, electrical work, plumbing work in toilets, cleaning and fixing roof/gutters on the stands, even supplying the teas and coffees for the volunteers. Done correctly this could pull support together, tidy up the old lady that’s Firhill, and saving the club cash, whilst giving some free publicity to club and (importantly) firms that help This is what we need to do, free advertising around the ground for companies that help. I think that moving away from Firhill would be a mistake also, we are lucky to have a long established base like the one we have, with the correct maintenance it is a real asset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partickthedog Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 13 hours ago, Jaggernaut said: Almondvale would be a cracking stadium if they just hadn't skimped on the roof, which leaves the front half of all the seats exposed to the rain. Does that mean that if you stand straight up balanced on the back half of your seat you could remain dry? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenziejag Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 3 hours ago, Garscube Road End 2 said: They had an opportunity to move out to East Kilbride. A pool of Thistle support was there. Local council wanted them. Would provide funding towards a stadium. But they said no. We could have built a decent base there. Thistle are a Glasgow team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dl1971 Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 East Kilbride a non starter. Simples. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljaggo Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 (edited) The smaller clubs were shafted by the Old Firm by their demands for a minimum 10,000 seated stadium. This forced clubs to reduce player budgets and not only pay for extended stadia, but also to increase long term maintenance costs on these bigger stadia. Neat. That said, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the Weir involvement could have been better managed, and for that we have to thank Ms Low. The old saying that you fix the roof when it is sunny is apposite. The Board should have taken a long term view about the stadium, and perhaps reduced the size of the main stand with a small stand at the bing with view to reducing mainteance costs. Perhaps too, they could have held fruitful discussions with Queens Park about a joint stadium - two small central Glasgow clubs with their own stadiums is bizarre. Edited February 7, 2022 by eljaggo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggymct Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 Could lack of maintenance on the main stand could be down to the fact its not actually been owned by the club for years but owned by Propco ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljaggo Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 Good point, Jaggy, I'd forgotten about that. Bad arrangement if thereis no decent maintenance clause in the lease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggymct Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 yes indeed, whatever the underlying reasons are the stadium is a real issue, pitch, Main stand, Bing and general maintenance of JHS/NS Would be against a move away especially if outwith north west of City so whenever the fan ownership kicks in it needs addressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laukat Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 I would be very cautious about looking to leave firhill. I struggle to think of many clubs were a move to a new location has been for the better. St Johnstone, St Mirren and Perhaps Falkirk did ok from their move however they had a supermarket wanting to buy their land. The experience of Clyde, Clydebank and Airdrie would be a cause for concern. The likes of Hamilton went through many years of pain before getting to their current location. Even in the case of St Johnstone, St Mirren and Falkirk its difficult to see how the move made them better off. Short term they all avoided maintenance required on their old ground but eventually their new ground will need maintained. Don't think any of the 3 moves resulted in increased attendence. All 3 were primarly aimed at meeting what was then the premier league entry requirements. Personally I think Scottish Football needs to look at its match day experience with different eye. Current match day experience is largely very traditional i.e. pub/hospitality, game, pub/hospitality home. Its aimed firmly at adults and largely doesn't recognise that kids have shorter attention spans and wider interests than 30 years ago. With the current pressures on cost of living money spent on leisure activities will come under pressure so unless we do something different income will fall. The Firhill location provides more opportunity than most as we have reasonablely large unused areas of land and the canal opens up other leisure opportunities. I had hoped that the Firhill Basin Development that was in the offing might be a chance to start this. Has anyone heard if that is happening or what the development is looking like? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonehJags Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 The demise of Airdrie was mainly attributed to their re-location. Clyde moved to Cumbernauld, the EK equivalent and get a measly 500 fans if lucky I would disagree that Firhill is a dump. The main stand is outdated for sure but as has been said, with correct maintenance carried out throughout we would have a stadium that would be envied by many clubs. Look at Morton, Arbroath, Inverness, Ayr etc. Being central to Glasgow also is an attraction to potentially signing players. The atmosphere at the recent Airdrie game was very good for it being a quarter full. I would also disagree that the capacity is too much. The morton midweek game although is very rare shows the potential when we are playing well. It also generates extra money when we prostitute ourselves to the old firm. The bing to me is the greatest disappointment, but in general Firhill is our home and were here to stay 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p12tfc Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 Inevitable that away fans will be moved back into the north end of the JHS at some point I imagine. Probably next season if we don’t go up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garscube Road End 2 Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, jaggymct said: Could lack of maintenance on the main stand could be down to the fact its not actually been owned by the club for years but owned by Propco ? I am positive that Propco were bought out when Colin Weir took it over. ( 3BC) Edited February 7, 2022 by Garscube Road End 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a f kincaid Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 2 hours ago, eljaggo said: The smaller clubs were shafted by the Old Firm by their demands for a minimum 10,000 seated stadium. This forced clubs to reduce player budgets and not only pay for extended stadia, but also to increase long term maintenance costs on these bigger stadia. Neat. That said, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the Weir involvement could have been better managed, and for that we have to thank Ms Low. The old saying that you fix the roof when it is sunny is apposite. The Board should have taken a long term view about the stadium, and perhaps reduced the size of the main stand with a small stand at the bing with view to reducing maintenance costs. Perhaps too, they could have held fruitful discussions with Queens Park about a joint stadium - two small central Glasgow clubs with their own stadiums is bizarre. If history tells us anything Thistle of all people should be sufficient evidence enough that ground sharing on grass in Scotland is totally impractical in Scotland's climate (witness Hamilton, Clyde and Queen's Park). The solution would have to be ground-sharing on artificial turf but support for that is hardly widespread. Remember when Clyde were lodgers Thistle fans more or less refused to stand in the away terracing when it was Clyde's home game. Did they not eventually just give up on that? I don't think a shared stadium would ever be considered "theirs" by either set of fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CotterJag Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 2 hours ago, MonehJags said: The demise of Airdrie was mainly attributed to their re-location. Clyde moved to Cumbernauld, the EK equivalent and get a measly 500 fans if lucky I would disagree that Firhill is a dump. The main stand is outdated for sure but as has been said, with correct maintenance carried out throughout we would have a stadium that would be envied by many clubs. Look at Morton, Arbroath, Inverness, Ayr etc. Being central to Glasgow also is an attraction to potentially signing players. The atmosphere at the recent Airdrie game was very good for it being a quarter full. I would also disagree that the capacity is too much. The morton midweek game although is very rare shows the potential when we are playing well. It also generates extra money when we prostitute ourselves to the old firm. The bing to me is the greatest disappointment, but in general Firhill is our home and were here to stay Have to agree MJ. I'd also add to the positives, although not large at the moment, the 'just out to see a game' football supporter. I've taken many friends to Firhill when up in Glasgow, none of them Thistle supporters and just because we're in Glasgow for a band or something. I'm not sure I'd tempt them to a ground just outside Glasgow and I'm sure many football fans pay Firhill a visit when they're staying in Glasgow. I'm sure any potential play-off crowd would have a couple of thousand additional non Thistle supporting fans at it. Would be terrible if we moved away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sick in the basin Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 1 hour ago, p12tfc said: Inevitable that away fans will be moved back into the north end of the JHS at some point I imagine. Probably next season if we don’t go up Personally I’d see that as a positive - better atmosphere having both fans in one stand , much better view / facilities and hence potentially a bigger away support . Even if Killie brought say 2k fans we’d still have scope for c6 k between the JHS and JLS which is plenty . Taking away the location and day oot in Glasgae reasons ……if solely based on the matchday experience I’m not sure I’d be rushing to Firhill as an away fan …..even though you get a day at the beach thrown in for free these days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted February 7, 2022 Report Share Posted February 7, 2022 3 hours ago, laukat said: I would be very cautious about looking to leave firhill. I struggle to think of many clubs were a move to a new location has been for the better. St Johnstone, St Mirren and Perhaps Falkirk did ok from their move however they had a supermarket wanting to buy their land. The experience of Clyde, Clydebank and Airdrie would be a cause for concern. The likes of Hamilton went through many years of pain before getting to their current location. Even in the case of St Johnstone, St Mirren and Falkirk its difficult to see how the move made them better off. Short term they all avoided maintenance required on their old ground but eventually their new ground will need maintained. Don't think any of the 3 moves resulted in increased attendence. All 3 were primarly aimed at meeting what was then the premier league entry requirements. Personally I think Scottish Football needs to look at its match day experience with different eye. Current match day experience is largely very traditional i.e. pub/hospitality, game, pub/hospitality home. Its aimed firmly at adults and largely doesn't recognise that kids have shorter attention spans and wider interests than 30 years ago. With the current pressures on cost of living money spent on leisure activities will come under pressure so unless we do something different income will fall. The Firhill location provides more opportunity than most as we have reasonablely large unused areas of land and the canal opens up other leisure opportunities. I had hoped that the Firhill Basin Development that was in the offing might be a chance to start this. Has anyone heard if that is happening or what the development is looking like? I think the development of the basin is probably tied up in the claypitts development as a nature reserve and leisure area for water sports. The basin has already been fitted out with jetties/pontoons (I can never remember what the difference is between the various wooden structures sticking out into water). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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