Firhillista Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Think it's time we kept the heid. Okay, no-one likes to see us losing games, but we're far away from being a bad team. We all know what the problems are - an inexperienced defence (none of whom have ever played at this level) keep conceeding cheap goals and we're not taking anything like the number of goal scoring chances we should be. BUT we are still creating chances and we can play some really attractive football. We're not far away: a couple of good signings and we could easily move up this league. (Where would we be if Kris Boyd HAD signed for us in the summer? And how many folk on this forum would have complained we'd got ourselves a clapped-out Rangers has been?) Archie has signed Osborne, Higginbotham and Piccolo, which I think shows he's capable of bringing in quality. And the less successful signings like Baird, Kerr and Mukendi, well, how much first team football does he give these guys? (Wouldn't be surprised to see all of them moving on in January.) While a successful scouting system would obviously be a good thing, it's not what we need at tne moment: we need some experienced players who can add real quality to the squad. It doesn't need a scout to identify these guys, we could probably all name a few - we need some way of persuading them to sign! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billko Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 (edited) Rangers who don't have a scouting system many other clubs do what they do and pay someone casually to watch games and invest in their youth systems The worst example to give. Rangers not having a scouting system is laughable for the size of club they are and as they don't promote much youth it's one of the main reasons they are in the crap they find themselves in. Scouting at senior level is important to all clubs in the hope you find a gem that will do well for the club before being sold on for a big profit. I have no doubt the youth set up will pay off in the future and that the scouts will be working hard to attract talent but it's early days and alot of work to be done with regards making the club an attractive option for these players to join up in the first place and to see off the other competition for these players services. Active scouts at both youth and senior level looking for talent has got to be an important area for the club to put some resources into (imo) Edited December 22, 2013 by billko 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinKelvin Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Jim Alexander (Director of Marketing - Fanbase), Who has presumably been on some kind of extended leave since the Morton game / TAG launch...? ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Rangers who don't have a scouting system many other clubs do what they do and pay someone casually to watch games and invest in their youth systems A great example that. A club who are losing £1m a month. That's made me feel a lot better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Who has presumably been on some kind of extended leave since the Morton game / TAG launch...? ;-) I think you'll find that TAG was the responsibility of Brian Donald. Jim helped launch it at the end of last season and handed it over after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinKelvin Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 I think you'll find that TAG was the responsibility of Brian Donald. Jim helped launch it at the end of last season and handed it over after that. Fair dos. My point was just been that marketing to the fanbase has been pretty threadbare / almost nonexistent for most of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Fair dos. My point was just been that marketing to the fanbase has been pretty threadbare / almost nonexistent for most of the year. Totally agree with you on that point. Maybe Jim and Lance can expand on why that has been the case. It appears that we now have paid members of staff to carry out marketing functions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H Wragg Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 TAG must be one of the greatest mysteries in the history of Partick Thistle FC. Launched on the pitch in front of a full house, complete with honorary memberships being handed out and then the whole thing completely disappears from view. Utterly bizarre. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 TAG must be one of the greatest mysteries in the history of Partick Thistle FC. Launched on the pitch in front of a full house, complete with honorary memberships being handed out and then the whole thing completely disappears from view. Utterly bizarre. Think you may find the club thought it no longer needed such small income streams as TAG or DVD sales etc, that tells you something about our increase in revenue from TV, gates and sponsorship Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 TAG must be one of the greatest mysteries in the history of Partick Thistle FC. Launched on the pitch in front of a full house, complete with honorary memberships being handed out and then the whole thing completely disappears from view. Utterly bizarre. Wouldn't surprise me if they still tried to go ahead with it in the new year. Possibly the only thing that could make the situation worse. It's a toxic brand now, opportunity missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistlenowthistleforever Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Archie has to go in my opinion we are in danger off giving him the January window to make a erse off it. Dundee kept Barry Smith too long and look what happened Lets not forget Archie inherited a winning team but when things are against him he can't change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metz Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 As the thread is "facts" and there has already been plenty of dubious ones put out there I thought I would air some of my own. The fact is that for the club to have sustained tenure in the top league we need to attract appropriate talent to compliment and improve the existing squad. It's not rocket science, to do this takes a better budget than what we currently have. To improve the budget takes more fans to buy season tickets, merchandise etc etc. The fact is not enough fans have therefor small budget, smaller budget equals small squad and less quality. Given we are only 16 games into the first season back in the top flight for a decade and holding our own and some are questioning almost everything except themselves it doesn't surprise me that we have such a small season ticket base. It's easy to call for the board to spend more, even easier if it is their own money, however it's a fact that spending more than we have only leads to one thing trouble or at the very least reduced budgets in the future as you pay iof the debt and interest, I certainly don't want that. Before anyone raises TAG or DVD's I agree these are missed opportunities and the board need to improve in this respect to maximise the income and minimise unneccessary expenditure. In general though to date this current board have in the main been good for the club and we should get behind them and the team both physically and financially to help achieve what we all crave, an attractive competitive team on the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenziejag Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Care to debunk any of them? Unless you are privy to the running of the club and get to see the monthly accounts for this season, none of what has been said here about the finances is fact. At best it is educated guessing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trotter Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 (edited) Just as a matter of interest... Anyone on here reckon Beattie will do a 'meet the board' evening. Plenty of them when McCall & JM in charge but none since we got to SPL. Would at least give the fans the chance to quiz over TAG, DVDs, hiring of staff & even budgets & give him the right of reply. Just a thought... Edited December 22, 2013 by Trotter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 As the thread is "facts" and there has already been plenty of dubious ones put out there I thought I would air some of my own. The fact is that for the club to have sustained tenure in the top league we need to attract appropriate talent to compliment and improve the existing squad. It's not rocket science, to do this takes a better budget than what we currently have. To improve the budget takes more fans to buy season tickets, merchandise etc etc. The fact is not enough fans have therefor small budget, smaller budget equals small squad and less quality. Given we are only 16 games into the first season back in the top flight for a decade and holding our own and some are questioning almost everything except themselves it doesn't surprise me that we have such a small season ticket base. It's easy to call for the board to spend more, even easier if it is their own money, however it's a fact that spending more than we have only leads to one thing trouble or at the very least reduced budgets in the future as you pay iof the debt and interest, I certainly don't want that. Before anyone raises TAG or DVD's I agree these are missed opportunities and the board need to improve in this respect to maximise the income and minimise unneccessary expenditure. In general though to date this current board have in the main been good for the club and we should get behind them and the team both physically and financially to help achieve what we all crave, an attractive competitive team on the park. Our % split between income and wages will be lower than last year! our gates are up! the TV money, sponsorship etc. I'm not saying the board needs to bankrupt us to stay up, but spend a bit more to allow Archie a fair crack at what he's been tasked to do - keep us up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metz Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Archie has to go in my opinion we are in danger off giving him the January window to make a erse off it. Dundee kept Barry Smith too long and look what happened Lets not forget Archie inherited a winning team but when things are against him he can't change it. Respect your right to an opinion, it's just not one I value. Archie did inherit a competitive team, however he improved them not least away from home where at the time we couldn't buy a win. Without this I doubt we would have been promoted. Do you seriously think he is going to have a bag of cash to bring in significant talent to ultimately influence out season? If lucky he'll find someone that makes enough of a difference in some games. As for Barry Smith he was unfortunate that they where promoted and he had assembled a 1st Div squad and no time or cash to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metz Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Our % split between income and wages will be lower than last year! our gates are up! the TV money, sponsorship etc. I'm not saying the board needs to bankrupt us to stay up, but spend a bit more to allow Archie a fair crack at what he's been tasked to do - keep us up You seem to be indicating that the board are holding back funds in reserve rather than spend them on the squad. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not if it is I agree they should assist Archie and release some. If you are making an assumption that this is the case then it's reckless to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Third Lanark Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 The facts are Archie wot be sacked eve if we are relegated. Remember he was instrumental i getting us promoted, even if we go back down we will have earned enough cash to wipe out a huge part of the debt It is a fact we have the lowest budget in the league. Should Archie be sacked - A definite no. Should he be criticised - undoubtedly yes-we pay our entry money so supporters can criticise tactics, players not being deservedly dropped etc Should be board be criticised - yes while we will wipe out some of the debt we could have generated more funds to do so through the dvd, TAG etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auld Jag Posted December 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 No way do I want Archie sacked nor after our good start did I think that we would be in the top 6.Dunfermline also had 8pts from there first 5 games 2 seasons ago and finished with 25pts.If we finish 10th that would be a good season for our first season back.If we manage to stay in this league I would like to think that we would build on that for the seasons to come.If we went down I don't see us getting back to the top league for a while.before anybody asks yes I have seen the bad and very bad teams over the years.I have been a Thistle fan all my life and since 69 I have only missed 5 home games because of holidays in Florida.I just think we have a good enough team to stay in this league and would hate it if we mucked it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Murray Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 (edited) I have said this before and I still believe Archie will go on to manage at a higher level. He has made mistakes though and the biggest one for me is the lack of experience in the side. I just hope the rumours of 4 players coming in are true. I would be very surprised if we don’t see at least 3 new players in the window. We need a centre back, attacking midfield player and striker who preferably would give us a more physical presence up front. Edited December 22, 2013 by Alan Murray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 You seem to be indicating that the board are holding back funds in reserve rather than spend them on the squad. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not if it is I agree they should assist Archie and release some. If you are making an assumption that this is the case then it's reckless to do so. Let's see how much from the Aberdeen game (Sky one off payment £70k), the increase in gate money, club sponsorship money, Jackie Macs compen, the increase in league sponsorship money (remember being relegated is massively more than what you get for winning the 1st) goes his way in January Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norgethistle Posted December 22, 2013 Report Share Posted December 22, 2013 Should be board be criticised - yes while we will wipe out some of the debt we could have generated more funds to do so through the dvd, TAG etc We could spend nothing and go down and say wipe of 30% of the debt, but then start making losses the following seasons as we struggle to get back up, Or we could spend a bit helping him to get 10th pay of 15% of the debt, and have a more settled experienced team in the league next year which we can then push for 9th each year paying more off whilst allowing a reasonable budget Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Peebles Tackle Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 All a bit doom & gloom. Looking at 'The Facts' - if we can win our game in hand at home against an ordinary, but stubborn, St Johnstone side, we'll be 7th in the table & only 5pts below top 6. Tis the season & all that! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 I think we can safely say that a DVD of last season will never see the light of day now. The last chance saloon for a DVD was the Christmas period, they could have shifted a good number if they'd got it out by the end of November. The opportunity has well and truly gone now. Those of you who attended the Edinburgh EOS event with Ian Maxwell and Archie - did no one think to enquire about this with Mr Maxwell? I know it would have gone against the general atmosphere of back slapping and congratulating, but might have been worth while. Like TAG, this another opportunity which has been totally missed by the club. A spectacular miss of open goal proportions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Cup Posted December 23, 2013 Report Share Posted December 23, 2013 All a bit doom & gloom. Looking at 'The Facts' - if we can win our game in hand at home against an ordinary, but stubborn, St Johnstone side, we'll be 7th in the table & only 5pts below top 6. Tis the season & all that! Good stuff. I'm sure our luck will change soon. Our last slice of luck came against ICT. We're due more soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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