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  1. I outrank you by a few years having first attended estadio firhill in 1956. I am currently receiving treatment for cancer so I might never manage along again. But supporting thistle over the decades has been one of the great joys of my life. Like The Beatles, a nice Shiraz, playing in the snow with my weans and more recently grandweans. I have loved being a Jag and being surrounded by fellow jags at firhill. We might not have the best team in our history at the present time but, by god, they're MY team and I'm mighty proud of them...
    23 points
  2. MANY thanks everyone. Friends and family know to avoid the score all day then around 2pm on Sunday, I pour myself a generous gin and tonic and watch the Jags 'live' on jagzone. I WILL be back because I do miss the banter. Thanks again for all your good wishes ..
    7 points
  3. 7 points
  4. All the usual posters reappearing I see. "Thistle are rubbish, the manager's rubbish, the board are rubbish and the team is rubbish and all we need to do is go back to the old ways when life was so much better." The thing is we are where we are. We have no money to sack the manager and bring in someone else. Doolan got the job because he was already on the payroll and was all we could afford. Our signings were done late because we were in the playoffs and couldn't afford to gamble on getting promoted. The board is in a period of transition due to changes enforced by people playing petty power games with our club. We are a fan owned club due to the fact that no-one wanted to invest in the 3rd/4th financially attractive club in Glasgow and the shareholders at the time were desperate to divest themselves of their responsibilty for a football club. For me this season's goal should realistically be staying in this division. Being third, at this stage, is shooting above our level as we need this season to build for promotion next season or the one following. To do that the defence needs sorted out but we're not going to do that by dropping everyone and anyone as we have no-one to replace them. So by all means come on and moan about losing games and offer opinions about the solutions (that's what fans do) but we are in danger of just rehashing old conflicts over whose pals are best to run PTFC.
    6 points
  5. This is well past tedious. Being swept along on the tide of so-called fan ownership doesn't mean an end to financial worries. They will always exist. Clubs at our level will always need investment from whatever source they can find in order to survive. Our club must be the only beneficiary of funding from a multi-millionaire but, in short time, have to rely on a random cup draw to be able to play the wages. Business men have put £500k into the club. From all reports they would like to top that up to £1m yet here we are squabbling about if it should be allowed and why, who said (or didn't say) what, where, when etc. Please find an alternative platform for all this stuff. First and foremost we're a football club and this is a football forum.
    6 points
  6. At least it'll offer some light relief from the tranche warfare over on yon other thread.
    6 points
  7. It is important to stress that no dessert has yet been suggested and that any dilution of your welcome drink can only happen after a fan vote in favour.
    5 points
  8. If this goes on much longer I am going to start the match thread for the Dumfy game
    5 points
  9. Standings Very Happy Jag still leads by 9 points. A perfect round propels Auld Jag up to third. 8 players dreams now lie shattered and burned. Hope and ambition reduced to splinters and ash. How did it go so wrong? That, my friends, is a question for another day.
    4 points
  10. I think Fitzpatrick is a class apart. Has way more natural talent than Tiffoney. Unfair to expect a player like that to shine every game though. It's peaks and troughs at this level.
    4 points
  11. On a positive note, well done to the 600+ Jags fans who made the trip & hopefully the fan who took unwell makes a full & speedy recovery.
    4 points
  12. Several points here. 1. Maggie Forsyth isn't Morag McHaffie. 2. You still don't seem to grasp the difference between things which are "absolutely essential requirements" and things which are "highly desirable, but not essential". The word "requirement" implies that these things are absolutely essential. They aren't absolutely essential, because a safety certificate can be secured without them. 3. There was literally a discussion at the AGM about several of the more capital intensive maintenance or facilities activity that the Club is not currently doing. No, it simply indicates that, absent capital investment, the Club does not plan to spend significant amounts of money on larger projects to improve or better maintain the stadium than they do currently. There are plenty of reasons why we'd want to scrutinise the budgeting, not least the highly ambitious commercial and and fan-based revenue growth targets. You could even make the argument that the Club should be setting aside more money for regular year-to-year stadium maintenance than it is currently. That remains to be seen. But this is why TJF has indicated that it will robustly scrutinise the detail of the 2024-25 budget when it is presented to the trustees. A commitment secured by the CTA. But - yet again Jim - you are allowing a credible and serious point to get lost in waffle. Your inability to distinguish between (a) things that are necessary to get a safety certificate to allow fans to enter the ground and watch a game of football and (b) things which it would be good to improve to make the matchday experience better and to attract new fans, but which we don't currently have the money for Is completely undermining your point. It doesn't assist. My point is not about whether or not the toilets should be upgraded. My point is that you - James Alexander - were calling for the Club to spend significant sums of money in facilities improvements, which would have required significant amounts of UP-FRONT (rather than ongoing) spending, and which were not absolutely essential to securing a safety certificate. The absence of investment, combined with the Club's (still quite) weak cash reserves, means that no sensible Club Board would - at this time - commit to any major capital projects. Investment could - potentially - change that calculation. Which is why instead of rejecting it out of hand we should - and I'm a broken record here - wait to see what the actual proposal is, instead of wetting our knickers over a general statement of intent from the Club Board, which cannot turn into anything concrete without fan approval. As far as I can see, there has never been an EGM held for the purposes of allotting new shares in the Football Club in the ordinary course of business. The decisions to allow, for example, David Beattie to subscribe for shares in 2007 and Colin and Christine Weir and the PTFC Trust in 2015, were done by resolution of the company and simply announced on the Club website, with relevant filings done by the Club Board and with the support of a sufficient proportion of the shareholders. The Articles of Association of the company do not require an EGM to approve investment. It requires only the approval of shareholders representing the requisite amount of the voting share capital in the company. Indeed, for a period the rules were even more relaxed. Following the Weir deal in 2015, the package included a resolution of the company to allow further allotment of shares by decision of the Club Board, bypassing the requirement for shareholder approval completely. This resolution (thankfully) lapsed a few years later. This isn't a "cosy wee arrangement" it's how the vast majority of companies work. And, to labour the point, under the Club-Trust Agreement it will be illegal for the Trustees to consent to any investment without a beneficiary vote in favour of it. So it is the will of the shareholders that this should be the mechanism by which decisions about future investment are taken. If you don't want that to be the case, exercise what influence you have on the majority shareholder. The only influence we are interested in is that of our beneficiaries. So become one if you aren't already. Or carp from the sidelines. Your choice. Your analysis is positively gyroscopic you u-turn so often Jim. In the hours following the AGM you literally told a mutual acquaintance of ours that I had asked a good question at the AGM about the financial forecasts. Once again, and with feeling. There are lots of things that are not "requirements" that the Club would like to do. Some of those involve spending money. If you don't have any spare capital, you don't budget for things that are "non-essential" even if they are "highly desirable". I'm reserving judgment on this. Until we've seen what their proposals are. Not correct. (1) TJF's contributions are normal revenues. You just don't like the fact that they are willing donations. The Club had failed to mobilise this source of income at all prior to this season. (2) If we assume that the projections for the rest of this season are correct, and then we strip out TJF contributions, the Club is still closer to break-even in 2023-24 than it was in 2022-23 (even after including the Rangers cup income). We aren't. There has been no proposal presented. We will only spend time discussing it if and when a proposal is put. You are the one wasting everyone's time by jumping the gun, raising it here when there's nothing to talk about! You're entirely within your rights to question whatever you want Jim. But it would be a lot more sensible if you questioned the content of an actual proposal rather than a vague statement of intent made at the Club's Annual General Meeting, about something that was prominently advertised and spoken about a full four months before that. Then make sure you're a beneficiary and vote against it!
    4 points
  13. Utter nonsense. His shooting may have been below par, however his work rate and closing down of their defenders was exemplary.
    3 points
  14. I remember I used to go to clubs and moan about the music until a friend asked why I went if I didn't enjoy it. It was a fair point - I stopped going to clubs. The point being if you get so little enjoyment from watching Thistle, that your primary reaction from our first win in two months or so is as above, you perhaps need to find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon. Unless of course you enjoy being angry, in which case fill your boots.
    3 points
  15. Bring a friend? More like alienate an acquaintance.
    3 points
  16. Hats off to the manager for making these changes …. If nothing else he will learn something today
    3 points
  17. i've been reading and following all the posts re fan ownership and now this ma heid is buzzin JJ to make a posting about kris doolan is to me well ?? to question his commitment to the the jags is reallly unaceptable Kris was given the managers job he accepted we got to the playoffs last season this season without a much reduced budget we are still in the playoffs let's get behind the team and the manager if this is not good enough for you well JJ move on I am tired of all this negativity re my team and yes I've been a a jags supporter since the late 50's
    3 points
  18. This is increasingly coming across as a very bitter vendetta against the current board/manager and a blind defence of the previous manager. Most of your last post there is not even worth engaging with it's so baseless. You are now dragging down every thread you appear in with your incessant arguments which detract from the sensible points you do have (which are in there somewhere).
    3 points
  19. On the merits of the transfer dealings, firstly I don't buy that McCall was some sort of genius. He got some absolute duds as well as some decent and some average players. On the whole, pretty average. I think that Doolan has been a bit unlucky. Alston, McInroy and Robinson all looked good on paper and have played at a higher level, so should have been better than they have been. For some reason it hasn't worked out at Thistle and we have a long history of players who were good elsewhere, before and after their time with us (and equally some who were great for us, but failed elsewhere). Ngwenya and Adeloyi both looked to be decent signings, and nobody was sad to see Dowds leave. That said, the gaffer needs to do better next summer as we always looked to be very light weight at the back, and this must be addressed. But the biggest difference between McCall and Doolan is hope. Under McCall, you always thought this was as good as it was going to get. With Doolan he has time to learn from and rectify his mistakes and I still think that he has the nous to get us to the Premier League, maybe not this season, but a good shot at it next. That said, he needs to do something to halt this horrific run, and I'm not sure he has too many options other than changing the keeper. McBeth is an interesting one. I don't think he has played that bad, but maybe his role disrupts the midfield.
    3 points
  20. Right, who had "Socratic logic" on their Thistle Patter bingo cards? 😁
    3 points
  21. Honest to God JJ, if you want my forum name just ask!
    3 points
  22. Just been moved down at least 1 notch on the worst decisions table
    3 points
  23. As far as the result on Friday is concerned, we need to be clear on whether the new Thistle funding model will have any bearing on the result. Has the debate on here and within the Club affected players' performance in any way, and if so what funding remedies are available?
    3 points
  24. That's my view on the game as well. On the others: Mitchell had a couple of good saves, and looked comfortable throughout. Thought Milne was careless at times. The McMillan and Lawless partnership worked mostly well, for the first time in a while. Fitzpatrick made some good runs, one terrific one in the 2nd half; his final ball too often lets the move down. Muirhead: had a good game. Neilsen: I'd rather see him where he played yesterday than as a central defender. BBG: worked hard throughout, unlucky his first burst through the defence and shot at goal wasn't placed slightly better. McInroy worked hard too, with some effective harrying of the opposition, not giving them time on the ball. A better performance than of late.
    2 points
  25. 2-0 up 3 mins left. We can still win this!
    2 points
  26. I hope so or it will be hard to have a game.
    2 points
  27. Definitely should be winning this. And I know it's not a popular view but I don't think we were too far off it on Tues evening. My main concern is the pitch which will make it difficult to move the ball quickly - where it's reasonable to expect us to have the advantage over Morton. I also don't think experimenting with players in unnatural positions is the way to go - it might have positive impact, but on the balance of probability it's more likely not to work out. Play the best players available in their natural positions, focus on getting the basics right, concentrate on the job in hand, keep the heid and results will come. Just not sure about tomorrow because of that pitch ...
    2 points
  28. A cheap way to finally get rid of that "friend" you've been wanting to lose for a long time!
    2 points
  29. Let's hope so, as signing that lad from the Hertz has backfired.
    2 points
  30. SigeSige01 hasn't posted for a while.
    2 points
  31. Glad we finally cleared that up.
    2 points
  32. After losing Turner, Holt, Docherty and Tiffany, our core vest players by a country mile i thought mid table was the best we could wish for. We had no money got told how we were literally going out of business if it wasn't for the Rangers game. I was amazed we could sign anyone pre season so anything was a bonus. Let's just take some humble pie here we are scoring goals for fun and keeping ourselves in a play off position. We are shipping goals and we can't get Oreily onto the pitch as he is injured. Reading the posts about sacking the board and the manager is delusional. Neither of them are responsible for the fact that Neilson in all the goals I watched back is just not a defender but more a footballer. The Livingston game was horrific defending. I'd happily give Williams a shot but I'm worried we would still ship 3. It is what it is at the moment we are still in 3rd and we are still ahead. We were never going to challenge fir the league and the fact we created a big buffer in 3rd was a credit to the attacking play and goals as all teams are going to go through poor spells. Wait till the end of the season before any changes ridiculous to suggest them now when in.my opinion we are in a miracle 3rd considering our goals against.
    2 points
  33. If the target is third and you are third, I'm not sure it's time to talk about changing the manager. Also (and I know this is controversial) I'm not sure that failing to achieve a target is necessarily a sacking offence. I think, particularly where an employee is new to a role, continuity and opportunity for learning and correcting mistakes has value. We need to see improvement from the last 2 games, that kind of form can't continue indefinitely. But there's not a great deal of jeopardy in our position right now. Almost certainly we'll be in the Championship again next season. Doolan should be given a chance to get things right.
    2 points
  34. This narrative about the target not being relegated is in my opinion complete defeatist nonsense. We have one of the highest budgets in the league which is factually the single biggest indicator on league position. Despite losing players still have a number who were stars in a side who could have won the league last season. Our new signings weren't last minute panic buys nor where they cheap players noone else would touch; a Rangers loanee who was a starter for team who won the league last year, three(?) midfielders who played in the side who won the league two years ago, a defender who signed for decent money to Hearts and played a number of games in the top league last year and a striker who was one of the leagues top scorers two years back.
    2 points
  35. Personally, assuming that our form does not completely fall off a cliff to the point where we are looking at the other end of the table. I'd want to keep Doolan on for another close season. I like the fact we score so many goals. There is a lot going right to achieve this. We are still third and his overall ppg record is still decent. It was always likely we would hit a run of bad form (in all three of McCall's Championship seasons we had dreadful runs of 5 or more games without a win). However, mistakes were obviously made in defensive recruitment. There were mitigating factors in this (in my opinion, I know others disagree), and of course this was Doolan's first ever recruitment window. He did show last season that he can set up a team to defend competently with the right personnel. He's been (partially) unlucky this window in that I don't think we had much to spend, and the one centre back added (which looked the right kind of player) is now injured. The goalkeeper situation is perplexing. However, I would like to see if he is capable of fixing the defence in another close season, in which case we could be very successful with the goals we score. If he proves not up to the task then I accept we would have to look elsewhere.
    2 points
  36. Doolan doesn’t know how to set up a team in any other formation from what we currently play. His philosophy has always been “you score 3, we’ll score 4”. Sadly our defence is so bad we can’t score enough goals any more. He needs to show he can change this and quickly, the rest of the league have caught us up very quickly. That back 5 can’t start again on Saturday. Even bring in another defender and play 3 at the back with McMillan and Milne pushed on. Anything but chucking the same 11 out again and hoping for a change.
    2 points
  37. 23-3. Let’s not be too harsh on the attack.
    2 points
  38. I think Doolan lacks the awareness or balls to actually change things. I'm sure Dougie at Morton would not be so forgiving of this absolutely crap. Neilson, Muirhead, and Stewart all need dropped! It's becoming clear that our cheap managerial option is going to bite us on the arse if this keeps up
    2 points
  39. Whilst your about Admin, please can you change my forum name to my new favorite word 'Tranche' Jag. I just can't justify my current name anymore... Many thanks. 👍 (Hopefully this won't result in a points deduction in the Scottish Cups Pop Up due to changing name during the competition! If it does I may have to take legal action and I'll become bitter again, oh god!)
    2 points
  40. You might need the wee coat emoji mentioning that 😉😁
    2 points
  41. Ian McCall was a good manager for us, on both occasions, in my opionion. In 40 years of watching Jags we have often crashed from one bad manager to another, from one crisis to another, always heading in the wrong direction. Derek Johnstone, Billy Lamont, Sandy Clark, Murdo MacLeod, Tommy Bryce, John McVeigh, Gerry Collins, Gerry Britton and Derek Whyte, Dick Campell, Gary Caldwell. John Lambie reversed the trend twice and is obviously a club legend. I would argue that Ian McCall is the one other person in that time who reversed the trend. Again, twice. He never completed the job like Lambie did, and is unsurprisingly (correctly) not held in the same esteem. But he stabilised the results and definitely set the foundations for the subsequent success of McMamara and Archie. And now we're moaning about sitting third in the table and arguing about whether Doolan has improved the team, just a few years after McCall took us on while desperately trying to stay in this league. It's all nuance though. If you're going to argue about whether someone is great or crap you're never going to come to a decent conclusion.
    2 points
  42. In other news, Luke McBeth was very good.
    2 points
  43. My Dunfermline supporting pal texted to say ‘this is what it must be like to support the OF’ in regards of the refereeing. Kinda says it all.
    2 points
  44. Since when without VAR can a ref change his mind after making a decision?? Disgusting and disgraceful
    2 points
  45. I just realized we completely missed a trick by not calling the first tranche the “safety tranche”. Because now……we can tranche if we want to, we can leave your friends behind. Cos your friends don’t tranche and if they don’t tranche well they’re no friends of mine. S s s s A a a a F f f f E e e e T t t t Y y y y Safe safe safety tranche! (admin, lock this thread! It’s devolved into madness.)
    2 points
  46. As explained at the AGM, any proposed tranche 2 would be spend on potential improvements, that’s not essential and budgeted maintenance. An ROI doesn’t mean an ROI to the investor if same deal as Tranche 1, it means club starts generating more in areas, or pays less out in others, both affecting balance sheet positively. Current deal on Tranche 1 means investor gets none of their cash back till the club has significantly more cash in the bank than it ever has had in its history, and as cash goes back to investors, shares are returned to the club. If a proposal comes through, then Trustees would want to ensure terms are right, and it’s being put to a use that should either generate revenue or lower spend. Several “ideas” for that potential spend were put to the shareholders on the night and WJ has also shared that slide on here. If a proposal came through that had favorable terms and was being spent in correct way then Trustees would communicate that to beneficiaries prior to a vote, again if terms were poor and it was proposed to be squandered on a beer and sandwich marquee or having us temporarily living out with our means using this ASA supplementary budget, again Trustees would communicate this to the beneficiaries prior to a vote. There is no secret, no hidden deals, Jim and you know enough of us on TJF board to know we would never be any boards puppet and our ultimate responsibility is to the members, they are the ones we stand next to at Firhill, before our tenures, during, and after and no way would we sacrifice that or the long term future of the club, we are fans who have been trusted with a vote for a short spell of time to represent the members and beneficiaries. That’s something I and the rest of this board don’t take lightly, and it’s not “Playing with other folks money” it’s trying to protect the club we love, the club that’s now supported by the 4th generation of my family and the same with others. It’s our history, my dads, my Granda’s and my daughter, nephews and every other Thistle fan in same position were doing this for, not for ties, comps or kudos.
    2 points
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