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12 minutes ago, javeajag said:

I think Robinson said that doolan said to him he would be offered a new contract but no offer was made. Hamilton then made an offer which was the only one he had.

and a 2.5 year deal with Accies at his age sounds a very good deal, especially when there's no competition for his signature. 

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38 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Milne was our only saleable asset. Given our financial challenges it was a bit of a no brainer & I would hope Doolan understands the logic behind the decision. Re Robinson, I've never considered him to be an effective No 10. Bags of energy but lacks guile. It remains to be seen how Martin performs but IMO it seems a good deal for us.

Out of likes - agree completely. Robinson is a good player, but not a 10. Curious to see if there's any significant change in the way we play now we apparently have the defensive mid we've been looking for since Docherty left. And what happens further up the field - assume Turner will go to 10. Although change of formation with Ablade up alongside Graham would be interesting - unlikely though given how few forwards we've got in the squad.

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We have 6 players leaving and 2 players joining. There is also a statement by the Board saying they will be working hard in the remainder of the window to add to the squad. This sounds that there is some financial flexibility available.

I have advocated for some time test we need to play 2 up front.  Ablade with Graham will do me. If he can put defences under pressure and generally make a nuisance of himself we don't need him to score goals as Graham, Chalmers and Fitzpatrick can do that. So let's get to a 4-4-2  or a 3-5-2 formation. With a real ball winner in midfield we might even get away with a 4-3-3 formation.

 

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1 hour ago, exiledjag said:

We have 6 players leaving and 2 players joining.

9 left as part of the winter window.

Roberts (recall)

McCready (mutual consent)

Nilsson (loan cancelled)

Sayers (mutual consent)

Milne (sold)

Lyon (mutual consent)

Robinson (swap)

Smith (loan cancelled)

Diack (loaned-out)

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I think the appointment of the sporting director shows that too much was being asked of Doolan. After this window he can concentrate on coaching the 1st team-no other distractions and once/if he gets the 3 players needed, there will be no room for excuses. The only problem is that if it takes until the end of February to get the players all the damage might be done.

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I'm surprised about the apppointment of a sporting director by a club of our size.  I'm sure they don't come cheap and i wonder by how much the playing staff will effectively be reduced (or the quality of recruits). 

It seems to signal a confidence in Doolan that will see him at the Club beyond the end of the season.

This also surprises me since a common complaint has been that he doesn't get full value from the players he manages, and that his tactical awareness is a bit lacking.  I don't see how a sporting director will solve these issues.

 

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23 minutes ago, eljaggo said:

I'm surprised about the apppointment of a sporting director by a club of our size.  I'm sure they don't come cheap and i wonder by how much the playing staff will effectively be reduced (or the quality of recruits). 

It seems to signal a confidence in Doolan that will see him at the Club beyond the end of the season.

This also surprises me since a common complaint has been that he doesn't get full value from the players he manages, and that his tactical awareness is a bit lacking.  I don't see how a sporting director will solve these issues.

 

Unless Doolan is the Sporting Director and Brian Graham takes over as head coach?

Probably creates most of the 20% reduction in playing budget by Graham no longer just being a player?

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49 minutes ago, Lenziejag said:

I think the appointment of the sporting director shows that too much was being asked of Doolan. After this window he can concentrate on coaching the 1st team-no other distractions and once/if he gets the 3 players needed, there will be no room for excuses. The only problem is that if it takes until the end of February to get the players all the damage might be done.

Surely you could say that about any manager at a club that has a sporting director.  Neither McCall or Caldwell had one either 

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12 minutes ago, laukat said:

Unless Doolan is the Sporting Director and Brian Graham takes over as head coach?

Probably creates most of the 20% reduction in playing budget by Graham no longer just being a player?

An interesting thought Laukat. In terms of finance it would fit the stated plan.  Also appointing Graham as manager would (unfortunately) continue our obsession with appointing "Club Legends".  We would then have two inexperienced people in the two key posts.

I hope you are wrong.

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2 minutes ago, eljaggo said:

An interesting thought Laukat. In terms of finance it would fit the stated plan.  Also appointing Graham as manager would (unfortunately) continue our obsession with appointing "Club Legends".  We would then have two inexperienced people in the two key posts.

I hope you are wrong.

I'm not massively keen on the idea either.

However I think there is some evidence to support something along these lines

Its clear from Martin's interview that he's friendly with Graham. Its also established that Doolan wanted to keep Robinson. So who had the final say on who should come in? clearly wasn't Doolan

I would add that to my mind something hasn't been right behind the scenes since early December which was around the time the Scotland Woman's manager post became available.

Were Graham and Doolan told in mid/late December that there was a change coming?

 

 

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1 hour ago, Third Lanark said:

Surely you could say that about any manager at a club that has a sporting director.  Neither McCall or Caldwell had one either 

One of them escaped relegation on the last day and the other had us in bottom spot when the leagues were stopped. Maybe not the best examples to use to argue against the Director of Football roles ?

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5 minutes ago, Lenziejag said:

One of them escaped relegation on the last day and the other had us in bottom spot when the leagues were stopped. Maybe not the best examples to use to argue against the Director of Football roles ?

Yeah so maybe they would have benefited from the roles as you claim Doolan will do as well 

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Recruitment is now a specialist role in football and a vital one at that.

im not sure how we have been doing it but its hard to deny it could be improved.

i wonder if anyone actually watched sayers, Williams or Nilsson before they were signed L

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If my numbers are correct we have 17 players on a permanent deal and only 3 (Bannigan, Muirhead and Mitchell) who's contract expires in the summer.

Of the 14 we have signed up we have 3 defenders, 9 midfielders and 2 strikers 

If we are going to cut costs by 20% does that mean the end of Bannigan because we have a lot of midfielders? 

Can't see how we afford 4 first choice wingers so has Lawless not been getting game time because he's been told he's leaving?

I can't see Mitchell or Muirhead being her next season (maybe Mitchell if he's willing to accept being cheap backup) so in the summer we're looking at 2 goalkeepers, 4 defenders and a striker to be recruited. Thats a fairly big recruitment for what will be a brand new sporting director.

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7 minutes ago, laukat said:

If my numbers are correct we have 17 players on a permanent deal and only 3 (Bannigan, Muirhead and Mitchell) who's contract expires in the summer.

Of the 14 we have signed up we have 3 defenders, 9 midfielders and 2 strikers 

If we are going to cut costs by 20% does that mean the end of Bannigan because we have a lot of midfielders? 

Can't see how we afford 4 first choice wingers so has Lawless not been getting game time because he's been told he's leaving?

I can't see Mitchell or Muirhead being her next season (maybe Mitchell if he's willing to accept being cheap backup) so in the summer we're looking at 2 goalkeepers, 4 defenders and a striker to be recruited. Thats a fairly big recruitment for what will be a brand new sporting director.

I guess we shall see but it’s not entirely clear what the starting point for the 20% reduction is ….on the other hand it may be we are finally not trying to spend money we don’t have 

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  • 2 weeks later...
3 hours ago, laukat said:

He needs to do the honourable thing and call it a day.

Staying any longer will only risk tarnishing his well earned status as a thistle great 

He at least must recognize that people pay to get into football matches to get entertained. Entertainment means good, skillful defending (we don't do that, clearly), footballers showing some grit and flair (increasingly absent in our displays) and forwards actually attacking the opposition's goal and scoring goals (we don't do that anymore, clearly).

If the team you support fails to do those things every week, and therefore has almost no chance of actually winning matches, more and more people will give up paying for non-entertainment. In fact it's not just that they are not getting entertained, it's that they are being charged money to sit through an unpleasant and depressing spectacle.

Watching Thistle just now is like volunteering to get a filling without any anesthetic. 

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On 2/5/2025 at 8:56 AM, ChiThistle said:

Wait until he gets to Summer 2026 and has to replace the entire squad!

There are at least five 1st-team squad players approaching or older than their mid-thirties whom I would be quite happy not to see with us next season.

Our team lacks pace; it ain't "middle-aged" players who are going to speed us up.

Edited by Jaggernaut
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On 2/4/2025 at 10:06 PM, laukat said:

If my numbers are correct we have 17 players on a permanent deal and only 3 (Bannigan, Muirhead and Mitchell) who's contract expires in the summer.

Of the 14 we have signed up we have 3 defenders, 9 midfielders and 2 strikers 

If we are going to cut costs by 20% does that mean the end of Bannigan because we have a lot of midfielders? 

Can't see how we afford 4 first choice wingers so has Lawless not been getting game time because he's been told he's leaving?

I can't see Mitchell or Muirhead being her next season (maybe Mitchell if he's willing to accept being cheap backup) so in the summer we're looking at 2 goalkeepers, 4 defenders and a striker to be recruited. Thats a fairly big recruitment for what will be a brand new sporting director.

Lawless is signed up to 2026

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11 hours ago, Jaggernaut said:

There are at least five 1st-team squad players approaching or older than their mid-thirties whom I would be quite happy not to see with us next season.

Our team lacks pace; it ain't "middle-aged" players who are going to speed us up.

This is something that shouldn't happen but does, and will continue to do so here and at other similar sized clubs.

A manager needs a striker. Has a straight choice between a seasoned player with a reasonable goal scoring record and a younger as yet unproven lad with all the potential to score at a considerably higher rate. We all know the manager will sign the former. He needs an instant return to keep himself in a job. Similar with other positions. Building a better squad for subsequent seasons would be a noble cause, but he'd likely be doing all that for his successor.

It's ironic then that as often as not a club will appoint a manager purely on the grounds of perceived potential. A complete novice to management. With Britton/Whyte, McNamara, Archibald & Doolan we're no stranger to that policy. You can argue (probably correctly) that Doolan has had enough time to get things right. He's no longer a novice. But you can also argue along the lines that if take a worker off the shop floor and stick him with no training straight into management then his chances of success are remote.

I'm not sure what the answer is. There's certainly not many experienced managers (available) doing the rounds with a successful track record. I'm sure Brian Graham would get the squad fired up and maybe in the short term get results. That'll be good enough to get him the gig full time. After that, who knows. Just the way it seems to go.

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1 hour ago, lady-isobel-barnett said:

This is something that shouldn't happen but does, and will continue to do so here and at other similar sized clubs.

A manager needs a striker. Has a straight choice between a seasoned player with a reasonable goal scoring record and a younger as yet unproven lad with all the potential to score at a considerably higher rate. We all know the manager will sign the former. He needs an instant return to keep himself in a job. Similar with other positions. Building a better squad for subsequent seasons would be a noble cause, but he'd likely be doing all that for his successor.

It's ironic then that as often as not a club will appoint a manager purely on the grounds of perceived potential. A complete novice to management. With Britton/Whyte, McNamara, Archibald & Doolan we're no stranger to that policy. You can argue (probably correctly) that Doolan has had enough time to get things right. He's no longer a novice. But you can also argue along the lines that if take a worker off the shop floor and stick him with no training straight into management then his chances of success are remote.

I'm not sure what the answer is. There's certainly not many experienced managers (available) doing the rounds with a successful track record. I'm sure Brian Graham would get the squad fired up and maybe in the short term get results. That'll be good enough to get him the gig full time. After that, who knows. Just the way it seems to go.

Both Kettlewell and Murray are reasonably decent managers and they are both available 

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1 hour ago, Third Lanark said:

Both Kettlewell and Murray are reasonably decent managers and they are both available 

I heard Kettlewell was offered a job down south but knocked it back, due to wanting a complete break from football. I don't know the full ins and outs of what went on at Motherwell but it seems to have really taken it's toll on him. If he was available though, he's probably with one I would like to see at Firhill.

Billy Dodds also available. That would upset a few!😂

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