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Summer comings and goings


Jaggernaut
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10 hours ago, Barney Rubble said:

As things stand, we have Bannigan as a defensive midfielder. No one else, unless Muirhead is employed in there in an emergency.

Let's not beat about the bush here:

1) For all his qualities, Bannigan is never, ever a primary defensive holding midfielder, period.

2) Bannigan can very successfully play off a a primary defensive holding midfielder and be a good defensive midfielder - see Ross Docherty for evidence.

3) Bannigan will almost certainly get injured and/or suspended between now and Christmas, And if not before, for certain in the new year.

As far as I can see, there is no primary Defensive Central Midfielder in this squad and that is a major concern. Williamson certainly has qualities, but being able to read a game and be a hard ******* when required are not part of those.

I think you know I'm playing the Devil's Dick Advocaat here, Barney. The question I'm asking is given the amount of central midfielders we've already got, do you think Doolan will address the lack of a suitable defensive mid?

Now if he does bring in a ball winning defensive minded midfielder, necessary or not, it would create an overload in central midfield personnel. It could be argued that having eight players chasing the two remaining midfield positions is out of sync with managing a reduced budget. Even if we send two of the eight out on loan it'll be the two who are least expected to get game time. 

My guess is Kris won't bring in another midfielder. Perhaps he'll add another central defender who has the capability to play as a defensive mid. That would at least offer a wee bit insurance.

Possibly the question we'll be asking is how to protect our defence with what we've already got? Damage limitation, if you like. One thing that would help will be whoever is upfront displays better ball retention than we did later on against Raith. 

 

 

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13 hours ago, fenski said:

It looks to me that our manager is not quite so wedded to the idea of an out and out defensive midfielder as this forum is.

Time will tell.

I’ve come to think this too. I think he wants more dynamism from central mid and intends to spread responsibility for breaking up play/starting moves across the team more generally. Not saying I agree necessarily but Dools isn’t daft so it looks to be an intentional move.

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In looking at the advertisement on the club website for the new Thistle Weir Academy Director, I was interested to note that the greatest achievement thus far of the Academy is as follows:

"above all else these players have become well balanced and polite members of society"

That does sound a bit "cuddly toy"!

I could probably live with a slight lack of good manners if Academy graduates turned out to be tough and effective players doing the business for Partick Thistle.

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2 minutes ago, partickthedog said:

In looking at the advertisement on the club website for the new Thistle Weir Academy Director, I was interested to note that the greatest achievement thus far of the Academy is as follows:

"above all else these players have become well balanced and polite members of society"

That does sound a bit "cuddly toy"!

I could probably live with a slight lack of good manners if Academy graduates turned out to be tough and effective players doing the business for Partick Thistle.

Claudio Gentile (juventus and 1982 world cup winner) remains the hardest player I ever saw. Off the pitch he was a soppy dad and the most gentle and courteous man you could wish to meet. So well done our academy.. 

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2 hours ago, robphil said:

Claudio Gentile (juventus and 1982 world cup winner) remains the hardest player I ever saw. Off the pitch he was a soppy dad and the most gentle and courteous man you could wish to meet. So well done our academy.. 

That's a good starting point for another topic, but I'll continue it here:

Who is the "hardest" Thistle player that you can remember? That is, somebody who never took prisoners, and sometimes even went beyond the "call of duty".

I'll propose Charlie Smith. I used to watch him a lot during games, and he got up to tons of "stuff" even when the ball was far away. I distinctly remember him cussing and then seriously clugging a h*n within a very short time in a match at Firhill; and he seemed happy to take the booking. Basically, in season 70-71 he was hard as nails.

Ronnie Glavin wasn't averse to mixing it either.

More recently........ well, who?

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8 minutes ago, Jaggernaut said:

That's a good starting point for another topic, but I'll continue it here:

Who is the "hardest" Thistle player that you can remember? That is, somebody who never took prisoners, and sometimes even went beyond the "call of duty".

I'll propose Charlie Smith. I used to watch him a lot during games, and he got up to tons of "stuff" even when the ball was far away. I distinctly remember him cussing and then seriously clugging a h*n within a very short time in a match at Firhill; and he seemed happy to take the booking. Basically, in season 70-71 he was hard as nails.

Ronnie Glavin wasn't averse to mixing it either.

More recently........ well, who?

Abdul Osman, Paul Paton , Martin Hardie

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Hard men of other teams against us: Roy Barry (Pars), Davy Holt (tarts). Although Holt was a Thistle player in 69-70, I have no recollection of seeing him in any matches (but that also applies to player who played for us just a few seasons ago!).

John Greig was also pretty hard, I reckon.

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23 minutes ago, Jaggernaut said:

Hard men of other teams against us: Roy Barry (Pars), Davy Holt (tarts). Although Holt was a Thistle player in 69-70, I have no recollection of seeing him in any matches (but that also applies to player who played for us just a few seasons ago!).

John Greig was also pretty hard, I reckon.

Apocryphal but sort of sums up the man's playing style:

Mrs John greig takes a phone call from Scot Symon around 5pm on Saturday.

SS: sorry to have to tell you but John's broken a leg

Mrs JG: oh, no, whose was it this time?

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John 'Psycho' Workman liked a tackle, Isaac Osbourne was a proper unit.

Grant Tierney and John McNaught were scary enough to look at never mind go into a 50/50 with.

We have had a few nutcases play for us like Billy Abercrombie, Gregor Stevens and Kenny Brannigan. Thankfully none of them stayed very long.

 

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5 minutes ago, JAG1970 said:

Gets my vote too…. Hard as nails and no prisoners taken. I just checked the (wonderful) Thistle archive…. He got 3 red cards in the tunnel after a game against Rangers……go have a read if you don’t know the story ! 

http://www.thethistlearchive.net/stevie-pittman

IIRC (I know), he wasn't in the  squad that day. Three red cards while wearing a suit.

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10 minutes ago, BowenBoys said:

IIRC (I know), he wasn't in the  squad that day. Three red cards while wearing a suit.

That was the ref who sent Rod McD off, but didn't send Gazza off when everyone in the ground knew he should've, then admitted it, then packed it in.  Jim McGilvray.

Edited by Albert's Ghost
forgot - he sent wee Billy off as well
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