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[stevie inglis]

Exactly, but said fans can't then blow a fuse (as they have in the past) if we're continually in debt & facing part-time football &/or administration.

 

 

Maybe we could try living within our means....

 

Look at groundsharing even.

 

Not the place for it, but sell firhill and share with clyde would secure our long term future?

[Woodstock Jag]

Maybe we could try living within our means....

 

Look at groundsharing even.

 

Not the place for it, but sell firhill and share with clyde would secure our long term future?

 

Do you really think that would bring in more medium-long-term revenue than the Warriors?

[Milo]

Maybe we could try living within our means....

 

Look at groundsharing even.

 

Not the place for it, but sell firhill and share with clyde would secure our long term future?

 

Excuse me as I scrape myself from off the ceiling. You should give some kind of warning before saying,"share with Clyde".

 

I say we should copy Glasgow Warriors and be able to buy beer & wine during the game. That would up the crowd figures on a miserable evening like last night.

 

.............call me a dreamer, but some day it WILL happen.

[Jaggernaut]

Of course there's no obligation for anybody to pay good money to see football, and I reckon most regular supporters miss some matches for one reason or another (I know that I do). But it certainly seems that there's an increase in the number of people (Thistle "supporters") who now just don't care whether Thistle decide to switch to part-time football and either stay in the lower leagues for ever more, or even go bust. If the latter happened, I've no doubt that some of them would join in all the wailing and mourning and accusations that the board never got the investment required, or invested enough in the team, or that the leagues and cups were boring, etc etc. Some of them even do that right now. But the bottom line is that they (those "supporters") just couldn't be bothered.

 

And some of them make a point of letting it be known on online forums that they can't be bothered.

 

This doesn't only apply to PTFC; I'm sure it's more widespread.

[stevie inglis]

Of course there's no obligation for anybody to pay good money to see football, and I reckon most regular supporters miss some matches for one reason or another (I know that I do). But it certainly seems that there's an increase in the number of people (Thistle "supporters") who now just don't care whether Thistle decide to switch to part-time football and either stay in the lower leagues for ever more, or even go bust. If the latter happened, I've no doubt that some of them would join in all the wailing and mourning and accusations that the board never got the investment required, or invested enough in the team, or that the leagues and cups were boring, etc etc. Some of them even do that right now. But the bottom line is that they (those "supporters") just couldn't be bothered.

 

And some of them make a point of letting it be known on online forums that they can't be bothered.

 

This doesn't only apply to PTFC; I'm sure it's more widespread.

 

 

Anyone that knows me (and there are few on here) know I helped during save the jags and went before and went since

 

The post above is good and succint...But would I really miss Partick Thistle...I doubt it as I have the chance to go now but choose not to..

 

Does that make me a bad person

 

I suspect it may.

 

I just cant muster the enthusiasm to pay the best part of 40 quid (plus a meal out as we cant go home after our day activities) to sit and watch football..

 

Maybe thats me getting old finding other priorities!

 

I am rambling so apologies

[twinny]

Excuse me as I scrape myself from off the ceiling. You should give some kind of warning before saying,"share with Clyde".

 

I say we should copy Glasgow Warriors and be able to buy beer & wine during the game. That would up the crowd figures on a miserable evening like last night.

 

.............call me a dreamer, but some day it WILL happen.

 

 

Obviously there are laws put in place that prevent us doing that, and we know who to blame for that. However, could we open up the Aitken suite during the game; chuck pre-match punters out at 2.40, open up again 10 minutes later with the game being screened through PTTV internally and the bar open? As far as I know the laws preventing the club from serving alcohol will only include anywhere that the pitch is in view, or the concourses. I stand to be corrected on that one though.

[Jaggernaut]

Anyone that knows me (and there are few on here) know I helped during save the jags and went before and went since

 

The post above is good and succint...But would I really miss Partick Thistle...I doubt it as I have the chance to go now but choose not to..

 

Does that make me a bad person

 

I suspect it may.

 

I just cant muster the enthusiasm to pay the best part of 40 quid (plus a meal out as we cant go home after our day activities) to sit and watch football..

 

Maybe thats me getting old finding other priorities!

 

I am rambling so apologies

I tried to phrase my post to make it generic rather than aimed at any specific individual. But you're one of the "problems" that the footballing powers need to try to get back into the habit of going to see their team whenever they can.

 

It's certainly not about being a good or a bad person; it's about a commercial organization losing its appeal to previously loyal and bonded customers/clients. When even guys like yourself are losing interest (even without excuses relating to the bunnet's preferred styles of players and play, etc.), then the situation is getting very serious. And again, clearly not just for Thistle, but for most clubs.

[yoda-jag]

In Erskine we have a player with a great, all be it, raw talent which should be embraced. He is capable of turning games by himself and there's no many others in the current squad you can say that about. It really bugs me when some people get on certain players back instead of encouraging them. How he saw that pass to Fraser for the last goal with that horizontal rain blasting straight at him I don't know.

For me Erskine is Thistle personified. Frustraiting and genius in equal measures.

I back The Bridge!

 

Hear, hear.

[Juan Kerr]

I say we should copy Glasgow Warriors and be able to buy beer & wine during the game. That would up the crowd figures on a miserable evening like last night.

 

.............call me a dreamer, but some day it WILL happen.

 

The chances of that happening have become infintesimal since last weeks OF idiocy.

[yoda-jag]

The club cannot survive on crowds of not much over 2,000, never mind 1,000. Something will give, yes Scottish Football is fecked up, but it'll still be here if we go out of business. The SFA/SPL don't give a monkeys if some of the 'smaller clubs' die, they'd be quite happy to go with the same 10/12 teams in the SPL every season.

In this climate (financial and also meteoroligcal) I would rather have watched a dvd at home than pay 34 quid to watch first division football.

 

After 15-20 odd years I cant find the energy or excitement to go any more.

 

Sad times

 

and by last nights attendence it was not just me

Exactly, but said fans can't then blow a fuse (as they have in the past) if we're continually in debt & facing part-time football &/or administration.

 

Understand and essentially agree where Steve is coming from.

Too much of the same 8 or 9 teams, season in season out, and not just 4 games a year, often 5, 6 or 7 against the same opponents.

On 1JL's last point, i'd say to you it's a vicious self-defeating circle.

Clubs are forced (or happy) to play pretty much the same teams year after year, Fans are pissed off, bored and apathetic to it all, and hence more and more are lost every season and don't come back, or only for a game here or there.

Standard dropping in every league, means another reason for people to drift away.

As long as we put up with or have to endure the groundhog season, year after year, crowds will fall, more clubs will get into financial difficulties (or fold), budgets go down, standards go down even further, more people drift away or chuck it, worse it gets and will continue to get.

 

IMO, only and ONLY when we get MINIMUM 2up 2 down (or even a 3rd bottom v 3rd top for possible 3rd team change), leagues of 16 or 18 (one home one away a season), regionalised league cup groups (another home&away x4games), then then and only then, will crowds rise, interest in the game rise, standards rise, and overall product and VFM will return.

 

I do fear however, way things are going and nonsense proposals from likes of Doncaster, McLeish and Co continue, that in 10 to 20 years time, the SPL will be a closed shop (no promotion or relegation), and we'll have at most two leagues of 10 of an SFL (or whichever incarnation/abomination we get) playing part-time semi-pro games, as rest will have gone bust or gone to juniors.

[stevie inglis]

I tried to phrase my post to make it generic rather than aimed at any specific individual. But you're one of the "problems" that the footballing powers need to try to get back into the habit of going to see their team whenever they can.

 

It's certainly not about being a good or a bad person; it's about a commercial organization losing its appeal to previously loyal and bonded customers/clients. When even guys like yourself are losing interest (even without excuses relating to the bunnet's preferred styles of players and play, etc.), then the situation is getting very serious. And again, clearly not just for Thistle, but for most clubs.

 

Make it specific, healthy debate and we are amongst friends here, but thanks for not having a go outright

 

I just find it hard to justify the cost as an every week type thing, if that makes sense.

 

I may take in the glasgow rocks (5 quid) one week, the braehead clan the next, a comedy club the next, or forego it all for a month and get a wee weekend away.

 

Football has to compete with so many other lesiure choices and at the current prices it just cant!

 

Hamilton V dundee united 3 weeks ago had 2000 punters so its not just me.

 

Bring the costs down others will return! (as would I)

 

But it wont happen

[kevin energy]

Being a season ticket holder and only going to home games i enjoyed the game and would not hesitate to pay £17 for me to watch thistle and keep them going, i have been watching thistle since the middle 89-90 season, last night during the whole game my Crohns disease kicked in and the sorest back and tummy all through the game but didnt have any intention of leaving early, as long as i have money or even if i have to do work for thistle to get in, ill be watching thistle for a very long time, just thought it was better to get a positive spin now

[lady-isobel-barnett]

1000 fans.

 

Not tenable.

 

Ill be honest on a horrible wet night rather than paying 35 quid for me and the bird to go to firhill we watched arsenal barca!

Hang on a sec. If I didn't go last night I wouldn't have been watching Barcelona v Arsenal. As far as I'm aware the game was on subscription tv, something I can't afford.

I could of course afford Sky TV if I didn't spend money on following the Jags. Now I'm not trying the holier than thou stuff but I do tho' think I've got my priorities in the correct order. Anyone can complain about gate prices but can still fork out however much it is a month for a satellite tv subscription. That's fair enough. Just don't come on here pleading poverty and complaining about pricing.

Btw that's not particularly aimed at above poster just more of a general observation. I'm sick and tired of hearing about gate pricing being too dear and if it was lower so and so would turn up. If gate prices were significantly cheaper this so and so could then perhaps afford a Sky TV package.

Edited March 9, 2011 by lady-isobel-barnett

[Big Dave]

WT, Erskine may well have been "a bit wasteful throughout" however, the game would have finished 1-1 without his contribution. In Erskine we have a player with a great, all be it, raw talent which should be embraced. He is capable of turning games by himself and there's no many others in the current squad you can say that about. It really bugs me when some people get on certain players back instead of encouraging them. How he saw that pass to Fraser for the last goal with that horizontal rain blasting straight at him I don't know.

For me Erskine is Thistle personified. Frustraiting and genius in equal measures.

I back The Bridge!

Totally agree pal! The bridge is the most entertaining and potentially best player we've had here in years.

[Big Dave]

This crowd thing is poor. 1000 is a bad attendance, but the reason I've been a bit apathetic this year in going to away games is that we have no real chance of winning the league. But if the complete and utter morons who are in charge of the league had something to play for for 2nd place then we'd still be in with a shout ( albeit a long one).As would several of the teams around us. That in my opinion is why no one can be much bothered anymore. That and the amateurs of St Johnstone who couldn't get their cuptie on have really made me a bit fed up with it all.

[Dark Passenger]

I'd be in favour of any decision to form a hybrid squad or go part-time if it secured the long-term future of the club. There's nothing to suggest (apart from the planning carried out by previous financial directors) that we couldn't revert to full-time status should finances improve. Does that, in some way, suggest I'm not a Thistle supporter? I envisage a domino affect. One club does it, others follow suit. It just remains to be seen who'll be the first to make that leap of faith (whoops, unpopular phrase).

[hebridean jag]

This crowd thing is poor. 1000 is a bad attendance, but the reason I've been a bit apathetic this year in going to away games is that we have no real chance of winning the league. But if the complete and utter morons who are in charge of the league had something to play for for 2nd place then we'd still be in with a shout ( albeit a long one).As would several of the teams around us. That in my opinion is why no one can be much bothered anymore. That and the amateurs of St Johnstone who couldn't get their cuptie on have really made me a bit fed up with it all.

Exactly what he said. Add to the mix the fact that the pitch looks like a WW1 battlefield and that we gave our only real striker away to one of our competitors and don`t even look like scoring in most games does`nt help. I`t all very well balancing the books but you can`t tell punters that it does`nt realy matter if we have no forwards and then expect them to pay money to watch what`s left of the team.

[Dark Passenger]

Obviously there are laws put in place that prevent us doing that, and we know who to blame for that. However, could we open up the Aitken suite during the game; chuck pre-match punters out at 2.40, open up again 10 minutes later with the game being screened through PTTV internally and the bar open? As far as I know the laws preventing the club from serving alcohol will only include anywhere that the pitch is in view, or the concourses. I stand to be corrected on that one though.

Why then does the police insist on the Aitken Suite being emptied 30 minutes prior to kick off?

[Chicofan]

left after 70 minutes..goal apart and 3 top drawer saves from fox...it was utter baws to watch..really really basic errors through out..amateurish at best

 

need some new players next season..around 7 or 8 would do

[twinny]

Why then does the police insist on the Aitken Suite being emptied 30 minutes prior to kick off?

 

I honestly don't know. Is it actually 2.30 they kick people out at? Isn't it 20 minutes drinking up time any bar legally has to offer?

[Jaggernaut]

This crowd thing is poor. 1000 is a bad attendance, but the reason I've been a bit apathetic this year in going to away games is that we have no real chance of winning the league. But if the complete and utter morons who are in charge of the league had something to play for for 2nd place then we'd still be in with a shout ( albeit a long one).As would several of the teams around us. That in my opinion is why no one can be much bothered anymore. That and the amateurs of St Johnstone who couldn't get their cuptie on have really made me a bit fed up with it all.

Yep. Good points.

[Jaggernaut]

Exactly what he said. Add to the mix the fact that the pitch looks like a WW1 battlefield and that we gave our only real striker away to one of our competitors and don`t even look like scoring in most games does`nt help. I`t all very well balancing the books but you can`t tell punters that it does`nt realy matter if we have no forwards and then expect them to pay money to watch what`s left of the team.

Funny thing is that I was thinking almost exactly along those lines last night for at least half the game.

Then we end up scoring 3 goals, with what looks like a really promising young striker, and I start to think again that "maybe we've been unlucky with the breaks this season....."

[MerryHell]

Hang on a sec. If I didn't go last night I wouldn't have been watching Barcelona v Arsenal. As far as I'm aware the game was on subscription tv, something I can't afford.I could of course afford Sky TV if I didn't spend money on following the Jags. Now I'm not trying the holier than thou stuff but I do tho' think I've got my priorities in the correct order. Anyone can complain about gate prices but can still fork out however much it is a month for a satellite tv subscription. That's fair enough. Just don't come on here pleading poverty and complaining about pricing.Btw that's not particularly aimed at above poster just more of a general observation. I'm sick and tired of hearing about gate pricing being too dear and if it was lower so and so would turn up. If gate prices were significantly cheaper this so and so could then perhaps afford a Sky TV package.

 

I agree wholeheartedly with this. I looked for the Arsenal score after the game out of interest, but there's no way i'd be watching another team on TV if my team was playing, and I could make it along. I understand that I am perhaps lucky in the sense that I have a 9-5.30 monday-friday job and live 15mins drive from Firhill. But if people actually think they have the choice and they decide not to go along to watch Thistle, well ... I honestly cant understand that.

[Vom Itorium]

I sat along in Section 7 in isolation with a mate and my phone off so I wouldn’t find out the Champions League score which I was taping. From where I was I can confirm 3 things…

 

Doolan never meant that goal, he was trying to loft it into the box as a cross.

 

The ball did not cross the line for Queens, it might have done had the goalmouth been grass and not mud but I didn’t even look like the ball touched the line.

 

Paul Paton put in an absolutely perfect cross with his left foot in the first half!

 

Fox made some brilliant saves, their goal was not his fault, it was a mix up between Boyle and somebody else and the ball trickled through to whoever scored for them. Erskine showed flashes of brilliance, I love watching him. Queens were a really poor side and their number 6 whoever he was was a muppet. They should have had a few more bookings.

 

Safety at last.

He'd be the first to admit it, and did today.

[MWM]

Hang on a sec. If I didn't go last night I wouldn't have been watching Barcelona v Arsenal. As far as I'm aware the game was on subscription tv, something I can't afford.

I could of course afford Sky TV if I didn't spend money on following the Jags. Now I'm not trying the holier than thou stuff but I do tho' think I've got my priorities in the correct order. Anyone can complain about gate prices but can still fork out however much it is a month for a satellite tv subscription. That's fair enough. Just don't come on here pleading poverty and complaining about pricing.

Btw that's not particularly aimed at above poster just more of a general observation. I'm sick and tired of hearing about gate pricing being too dear and if it was lower so and so would turn up. If gate prices were significantly cheaper this so and so could then perhaps afford a Sky TV package.

Well it just so happens I can afford Sky TV, and I can afford to go to games, but I feel there is absolutely no value for money paying 17 quid to watch us on a mudheap attempting to stop the opposition from scoring rather than attempting to win the game most weeks, as well as a shocking standard of football on show. Whether people can afford it or not, can anyone justify that price at this level football?

 

I had no interest in watching Barcelona v Arsenal last night for what its worth, infact I sat refreshing the official website every 5 minutes to keep in touch with updates from the game, just from what I've seen in the previous few games I was at, there was no value to be had in paying 17 quid for a freezing cold nights entertainment in front of a dire crowd. Not surprisingly when the crowd was at a near all time low, the punters on show got a rare return.

 

Also I've no time for the guilt card. I love Partick Thistle, but when I feel I am not likely to get my monies worth, I'm quite happy to spend it on something else.

Edited March 10, 2011 by MWM