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Thistle Weir Youth Academy


Derby Jag
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What they decide to do with their money is their business. The fact that they've decided to give £750k to us for this project is absolutely brilliant and they deserve our thanks. Oliver Twist "Can we have some more please?" guff would be ungrateful. Of course I'd be delighted if they decided to a] eat into the debt or b] give Archie cash in January, but it's not really for Thistle to ask, more for them to come forward and do it if they want to.

Once again i say not being ungratefull or greedy just thought it would be worth sounding out.Just as you say would be delighted if they gave us some more help. Edited by Auld Jag
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Whether they are going to give us money or not for players is irrelavant till the next window opens..... plus if they have said they will and the club is keeping it quiet then well done the club as anybody we go for will have their price increased if they know we have money to spend. To be honest can we not just be happy that somebody has decided to invest such a large sum of money into Youth Development at our club..... to the Weirs I say thanks very much :clapping:

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Whether they are going to give us money or not for players is irrelavant till the next window opens..... plus if they have said they will and the club is keeping it quiet then well done the club as anybody we go for will have their price increased if they know we have money to spend. To be honest can we not just be happy that somebody has decided to invest such a large sum of money into Youth Development at our club..... to the Weirs I say thanks very much :clapping:

 

Spot on.

Last thing we need is to be turned into a West of Scotland version of Dundee FC.

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How would people feel if they were to start bank rolling us Mileson style and we just went transfer crazy?

 

I dunno how I'd feel about it. It wasn't really what I signed up for when I chose Thistle.

 

Money spent wisely would be fine, it cannot just be giving out mega contracts for short-term success (should it ever happen).

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How would people feel if they were to start bank rolling us Mileson style and we just went transfer crazy?

 

I dunno how I'd feel about it. It wasn't really what I signed up for when I chose Thistle.

 

Those situations only ever end badly. We'd be lucky to have a club at the end of it.

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It to thistle fans credit, that when these "what would you do" threads appear, pping cash at the player budget is way down the list...

 

Most if not all look to youth, stadium, debt clearance, office and admin, management structure etc, use the money to build an infrastructure...

 

Once that's in place... Then you build the team.

 

It's boring, but it's the right way to do it.

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How would people feel if they were to start bank rolling us Mileson style and we just went transfer crazy?

 

I dunno how I'd feel about it. It wasn't really what I signed up for when I chose Thistle.

A significant difference is that Mileson didn't actually have the money that he spent on Gretna.

 

If I had been the Lottery Winner, I would like to think I would have made the same type of investment as the Weirs have - it's an absolute disgrace that a full-time side in a football mad city brought through barely a handful of players good enough to play for the first team over a period of 30 years.

 

It's impossible for any individual to spend or give away £161million in the course of a lifetime - from the little I know about the Weirs, they seem to be handling their huge fortune in an admirable way.

 

If it was me...well I hope you guys wouldn't mind me spending a bit of money on Thistle.

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Scott Allison seems a very impressive character from the bits I've read about him. Sounds like he knows what he's doing.

 

Read an interview from Middlesbrough player Andy Halliday, who used to be at Livi as a youth player, who said Allison has been the most important person in his career. Gives hope for the future.

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Thistle Weir Academy 11 Annan Athletic 1 (U14's)

 

Annan's best player was the goalkeeper which tells you how one sided this game was today at Milton.

Again the young Jags played a high tempo passing game that brought them 11 goals over the 90 minutes.

Not the strongest of oppostion but still a decent work out for the 14's today who pressed the opposition right from the kick off.

The game was over really as a contest in the first period as Thistle went into the break with a 4-0 lead

Another 4 goals in the second period meant that the last 30 min period was a bit of non event

Thistle came out for the last period at a slower pace which was understandable and were playing keep ball with the young Jags retaining possession throughout the opening minutes of this period.

Annan got a consolation goal near the end which was a mile offside but a shame to deny them something from the game.

Don't think the Thistle goalkeeepers who both got half a game each made any real saves in the match.

Distribution from the two goalkeepers in starting moves was excellent as usual though.

Defence was solid and the midfield were strong and creative.

The front players were a constant menace to the Annan defence in an attacking sense and closing them down when they had the ball.

The coach today Ryan McCann and Head of Youth Scott Allison must have been impressed with the young Jags today.

They went on to add another 3 goals in this period to put the seal on a convincing win which will give them alot confidence for the tougher games coming up.

 

 

Next up is an away trip to play Cowdenbeath.

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If someone can explain why Thistle are playing Annan and Cowdenbeath in U14 games I'd be interested. Based on the above it sounds like a significant waste of time / money.

The under 11 and 12's are playing in a development league that includes SPFL and non SPFL clubs at 7 a side's

 

From 13's upwards Thistle play in a development league that is the Club Academy Scotland Tier which is "Pro Youth" but not the top tier.

 

Teams in the top tier who are involved in what they call "Elite" will have met the high standards (criteria) set out by the SFA etc

 

This criteria will be down to standard of coaching, facilities, amongst lots of other things that needs to be put in place to break into this Elite level.

Elite is all about best v best but you can get some miss matches between these sides also.

 

Thistle are where they are just now but with the news of the new Academy starting up and the investment made by the Weirs means the club will be aiming to get the boys in with the Elite clubs in the future.

 

Dunfermline and Inverness were in the Pro Youth section last year and have stayed in this section while Thistle and alot of other Initiative Tier clubs have moved up to join this higher tier with them.

Downside is the other clubs have moved up to a new Elite level which at the moment has criteria set that Thistle don't have just now but will be working hard to achieve soon.

 

At this level it's all about development and Thistle are certainly doing things right these days and seeing the importance of a good youth set up

 

Other clubs have a big headstart with their youth set ups but I'm sure everyone at Thistle will be working hard to get the Thistle Weir Academy up with the best of them..

 

(Edit)

I should add that none of these two leagues are competitive but the top teams in the section Thistle are playing in would compete well against bottom to middle of the Elite section and more than hold their own against them if they were competitive. (imo)

Edited by billko
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Grand, thanks. I had a look at the fixtures and I can see games against Elgin and Ross Co (!)

 

The problem really is that too many teams are participating.

You then need two sections and although results don't matter regards to points teams will probably be monitored regards performance in games and training sessions etc and put into the sections that suits each team best.

Ayr Utd, Inverness and Dunfermline all had the correct criteria for the top tier but were edged out due to numbers and have stayed where they were with the other teams like Thistle moving up to join them.

Falkirk and Stenhousemuir joined together in another SFA initiative and formed a joint academy (Forth Valley) which kept them in the top tier.

It's being touted that more of these joint Acadamies will form with a Fife region being next apparently.

 

In the future it will be difficult for clubs financially to stand alone with their own youth set ups but the fact Thistle have the financial backing for the next few years is great news for the club.

It will take time but hopefully it will pay off with the club having good talent to push forward to the first team

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Heard tonight that Anton McGuigan , Neil McLaughlin and Mick McMullin are in the squad for the U/20s match at Hamilton. Wee Neil is just 14, Anton is 15 and Mick is 16 .Hope the boys enjoy the experience and do themselves justice if they get on.Should give everyone in U/17s a lift.

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I'm planning on going down tomorrow night.

 

Any idea why so many of the boys have been called up at once? Have we got an injury crisis in the U20s? Not being critical in any way just genuinely asking.

 

Will be delighted if the boys have been called up pure and simply because they are considered good enough.

Edited by ian_mac
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