Aldo81

Yes there is an end of season ball this year.

With today's game being the last home match of the season all Academy Squads will do there walk around the park before kick off.Let's give these young lads a great reception that they thoroughly deserve!!!

Worked at 2 previous clubs with great reputation for producing first team players and no disrespect to coaches at these clubs,as there are some really top coaches,but Scott Allison streets ahead. Always going to get disgruntled parents of boy that get let go but to come on a forum and talk nonsense about the guy months after your boy was let go is out of order.Maybe you should concentrate more of your time with your boys development at his new club.

My post was in no way disregarding Chris and Colin's fantastic donation which is of course a massive help and the point you make regarding it to allow Gerry and Scott to have fulltime positions is spot on the point to my post was more about the hours these 2 guys put in 7 days a week, with a family dont forget,and both deserve credit for it.Again not taking anything away from the Weir's but You can have a very good youth budget but no use if you don't have the right guys to oversee your setup and get good coaches,scouts etc involved at club(last night's game proves my point) then you won't see your Youth Academy improve.Maybe my previous post could have been worded better but if you heard people connected to other clubs constantly say our progress is all down to money and knowing the work everyone within Academy puts in it annoys you and that's coming from someone that doesn't usually care what other clubs do or say about us.haha

Bilko I'm sure you told me you have jumped ship and are now Thistle Weirs No.1 fan haha

Great result last night and the past 3-4 weeks has been excellent for our Academy. When I joined our Academy just over a year ago i was astonished that club of our size never had youth structure in place so it's remarkable to now look at our setup only a year down the line.The snipers will say it's down to the Weir Family's investment into the youth setup,which has of course helped and very much appreciated,but it's the work and hours the 2 guys at the top of our setup put in 7 days a week that people don't see or hear about that is the main reason. The teams performances at the Foyle Cup and Milk Cup,which were outstanding,is what everyone is talking about but to think we now have a structure that is developing kids as young as 8 years old, Pro Youth teams from under 11's to under 17's,our own training base etc is what most fans don't see or hear about. Great potential within the club at all age groups with boys at 16 involved in the under 20's squad and couple of 14 year old boys involved with under 18's at weekend. Youth is massive now within Scottish football as clubs now rely on producing players and the club now has one of the best Youth Academies in Scotland.

Replacement for ATS could maybe,in my opinion, lie in Scott McKenzies under20's squad.

Lochinch is an excellent facility and imo on a par with Riccarton,Ralston etc only down side being it's so far away from Firhill. From personal point of view the facilities at Lochinch helps massively when inviting trialists into club and amazing the strides our Academy has made in less than a year.

Don't make silly unfounded accusations that are totally untrue. Just guessing but if u are a parent of a lad that has maybe been released then its not because someone within the club has family member or friend of family that will take his place mate. The thing that makes football best sport in the world is that everyone has different opinions on games,teams,results and players. Just because coaches at Thistle don't think your lad is what they are looking for dosent mean he's not good enough mate.

Agree its nonsense and have to ask does any of the teams learn anything from these games??? Having worked with ' Elite ' club before joining Thistle and seeing the high standard of these teams i genuinely believe the under 14's would hold there own with these teams. This squad (coaches and boys),are developing into not only a very decent squad but most importantly in such a short space of time have went from a team that would happily give it the old ' hoof ' up the park to a team that now get the ball down and play. Whether it be winning 20-0 against Cowdenbeath or being 4-2 down to a very good Clyde side with 10 minutes to play they still try to play football. Whether any of our youth teams win 20-0 or 1-0 or go unbeaten for 10 or 20 games the most important part of youth development is coaching the kids a football mentality not a winning mentality.

Glad to report my lad fine and trained all week. Turns out that the ankle pads on his shinguards saved him from probable broken ankle. Tackle was a mile late and over the top but credit to the lad for coming over to make sure he was ok as soon as the final whistle went.

U17s Partick Thistle 4 Stranraer 0 U15's Stranraer 2-6 Partick Thistle U14s Partick Thistle 4 Dumbarton 5 U13's Stranraer 1-6 Partick Thistle

How long do you think it will be before Archie is being touted for every job that comes up? Guarantee next job that becomes available his name is in the running.

My boy thinks now he's at Thistle he needs to get everything connected with the club so every day its 2 bottles for school lol

Disappointing day at Milton for our under 14s who where beaten by the odd goal against Dumbarton. Despite coming back from 4-1 down the young jags were caught out on the break as they pushed for a winner. Thistle went into the game with only 12 fit players and with a heavy wind making playing football near impossible this suited Dumbarton who were strong physical side who to be fair didn't want to play football but done the ugly side of the game well. Without making excuses for our boys the injuries,conditions and some unbelievable refereeing decisions(you had to see to believe) all played into there opponents hands but this squad can and try to play football the way it should be played and must take this minor blip on the chin and move on. Next week boys face difficult trip to Livingston who were only beaten once last season,funnily enough by Thistle,and hopefully couple of injured boys will be back and boys get back to playing the way we know they can,after all you cant get any worse conditions than they face at Milton!