Stuart Cosgrove.....

[Gaucho]

He's really doing my nut in today. Got it in for us big time. Keeps referring to Elliot kicking one of their players. No mention of fact their guy was sitting on the ball trying to waste more time and Christie was simply trying to free the ball so we could get on with the game.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Yeah I have to turn off today. I usually like off the ball because they generally dont talk about the old firm which makes a change for the normal rubbish we get.

 

Cosgrove today though was just annoying as hell. Firstly he seemed to claim the St johnstone where only wasting time for the last 10 minutes and then made a big deal about how thistle finished with 10 men which as you quite righty said was because their player was sitting on the ball, he never mentioned that. I didnt hear the thistle fans comment about attendances but he lied when he said st johnstone had 3,800 for their last home game, more like 3,200.

 

I think the standard of journalism in Scottish football is terrible and to be honest I dont think i would go back to listening to off the ball after that.

 

I did try to write in after his comments but twitter didnt allow enough characters and I couldnt be bother to try and find an e mail address.

 

Sorry just to add he seemed to say that St Johnstone's average attendance is far great than thistle but a quick google search shows that in the last two season the difference between thistle and St Johnstone is only a couple of hundred.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Zaphod Beeblebrox

[Hankey]

the guys a politically correct luvvie prick, never liked him

[Dark Passenger]

He had every right to take a pop after some of our fans' histrionics. I'm pretty sure one forum user even suggested we bombard Cosgrove with complaints about his team's approach to the game.

 

Some of you are awfy precious.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Dark Passenger

[ian_mac]

He had every right to take a pop after some of our fans' histrionics. I'm pretty sure one forum user even suggested we bombard Cosgrove with complaints about his team's approach to the game.

 

Some of you are awfy precious.

Agree.

 

Some of the sour grapes directed at St Johnstone for simply winning a football match during the week were embarrassing.

[MMCF]

Agree. Some of the sour grapes directed at St Johnstone for simply winning a football match during the week were embarrassing.

 

Having originally stirred this pot ("That's Entertainment") I still feel that you have not quite appreciated the point. This was not simply about St Johnstone winning a football game. Let's say for example that you paid good money to attend a music concert. And the artist concerned applied minimal effort to display their skills, refusing to acknowledge the expectations of the audience while taking vast amounts of time between songs with the aim of playing as few numbers as possible. Would you not quite rightly feel that you were not getting your moneys worth? That you were in fact being cheated. And would you furthermore think twice about shelling out to see the same performance again?

 

Perhaps something else needs to be thought about. The tactic of repeatedly taking the ball into the corner flag area can, and does, lead to flash points in the game. And, if I understand things correctly, the game is about scoring goals to defeat the opposition, then such a tactic is against the spirit of the game. It could be, and perhaps should be, viewed as unsportsmanlike conduct and appropriate sanctions (free kick against you awarded and maybe even a caution?).

[ian_mac]

MMCF - Having originally stirred the pot, I don't think you quite appreciate that football match and a rock concert are not the same thing. Comparing them is pretty ridiculous. St Johnstone's job is not to entertain Partick Thistle fans, in fact it is their job to make sure that we have as miserable an experience as possible. Their manager is free to set up his team which ever way he likes. He is answerable to St Johnstone fans, not us. As I have already said, they don't seem to be complaining much, seeing as they are comfortable in the top 6 once again this season.

 

Let's turn it on it's head. Say we go up there next week and are winning the game 1-0 with a minute to go. Instead of walking the ball in to the corner we go and try and score another goal. Except we get caught on the break and concede an equaliser. Archie comes out after the game and says "Well, we did want to protect our lead and see out the game, but we didn't think that would be very nice for the St Johnstone fans, so in the spirit of entertainment we tried to score again". Do you think that would be acceptable to the travelling support?

[Lindau]

 

 

Let's turn it on it's head. Say we go up there next week and are winning the game 1-0 with a minute to go. Instead of walking the ball in to the corner we go and try and score another goal. Except we get caught on the break and concede an equaliser. Archie comes out after the game and says "Well, we did want to protect our lead and see out the game, but we didn't think that would be very nice for the St Johnstone fans, so in the spirit of entertainment we tried to score again". Do you think that would be acceptable to the travelling support?

 

That is exactly what we did against Sevco at Firhill earlier in the season and personally I was fecking raging with Gordon for not keeping it in the corner.

[partickthedog]

 

 

Having originally stirred this pot ("That's Entertainment") I still feel that you have not quite appreciated the point. This was not simply about St Johnstone winning a football game. Let's say for example that you paid good money to attend a music concert. And the artist concerned applied minimal effort to display their skills, refusing to acknowledge the expectations of the audience while taking vast amounts of time between songs with the aim of playing as few numbers as possible. Would you not quite rightly feel that you were not getting your moneys worth? That you were in fact being cheated. And would you furthermore think twice about shelling out to see the same performance again?

 

Perhaps something else needs to be thought about. The tactic of repeatedly taking the ball into the corner flag area can, and does, lead to flash points in the game. And, if I understand things correctly, the game is about scoring goals to defeat the opposition, then such a tactic is against the spirit of the game. It could be, and perhaps should be, viewed as unsportsmanlike conduct and appropriate sanctions (free kick against you awarded and maybe even a caution?).

 

MMCF

 

Did you see my post (no 53 on your that's entertainment thread) putting forward a solution to the curse of "corner-flagging"?

[ian_mac]

That is exactly what we did against Sevco at Firhill earlier in the season and personally I was fecking raging with Gordon for not keeping it in the corner.

To be fair it was 1-1 at that point. But yes, it ultimately cost us the game.

[Winter of '63]

Stuart Cosgrove made a valid point about how poor our crowds are. After watching a truly awful 45 minutes of non-entertainment on Wednesday, my main thought was I am less likely to go to games at Firhill. It was utter dross - St Johnstone won very ugly & Thistle did absolutely nothing to change the course of the game

 

This has nothing to do with sour grapes at Thistle losing...I have plenty experience of watching that. I am not interested in watching endless head tennis and with one side deliberately forcing the ball out of play for an endless series of throw-ins. After a decent first half, nothing happened but very slowly.in the second. I barely saw the ball in the last 10 minutes as the game was strangled on the far side of the park.

[allyo]

 

 

Having originally stirred this pot ("That's Entertainment") I still feel that you have not quite appreciated the point. This was not simply about St Johnstone winning a football game. Let's say for example that you paid good money to attend a music concert. And the artist concerned applied minimal effort to display their skills, refusing to acknowledge the expectations of the audience while taking vast amounts of time between songs with the aim of playing as few numbers as possible. Would you not quite rightly feel that you were not getting your moneys worth? That you were in fact being cheated. And would you furthermore think twice about shelling out to see the same performance again?

 

Perhaps something else needs to be thought about. The tactic of repeatedly taking the ball into the corner flag area can, and does, lead to flash points in the game. And, if I understand things correctly, the game is about scoring goals to defeat the opposition, then such a tactic is against the spirit of the game. It could be, and perhaps should be, viewed as unsportsmanlike conduct and appropriate sanctions (free kick against you awarded and maybe even a caution?).

 

I'm with you on this. Okay so a football match isn't a concert and the team has a priority to win the game, maybe beyond entertainment. But Wednesday went way beyond that. And while rules aren't being broken and maybe football authorities are a bit restricted in what they can do, the football media should be all over this because killing the game intentionally is so utterly destructive to the product that they all make their living out of. As it is they all seem to think that Tommy Wright is wonderful. He never gets anything but praise.

Makes it worse that St Johnstone were playing a mid season fixture, sitting very comfortably in the league, against a team below them. Surely they can afford to try to play a game of football. I think it was pathetic what they did, and I've never been one for sour grapes or excuses.

[Dark Passenger]

Excellent first half performance from the 'spoilers'. I'd hate to watch this every week. Hate it, I say.

[jagfox]

Excellent first half performance from the 'spoilers'. I'd hate to watch this every week. Hate it, I say.

 

 

 

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Excellent first half performance from the 'spoilers'. I'd hate to watch this every week. Hate it, I say.

 

I can't afford, or more correctly justify, the expense of purchasing satellite TV packages and a Jags season ticket. Maybe I should just get Sky/BT and forgo the season ticket. Then at least I could pick my games i attend and wouldn't have to watch that dismal fare served up during the week. I say that tongue in cheek but words said in jest and all that.

[Third Lanark]

 

 

I'm with you on this. Okay so a football match isn't a concert and the team has a priority to win the game, maybe beyond entertainment. But Wednesday went way beyond that. And while rules aren't being broken and maybe football authorities are a bit restricted in what they can do, the football media should be all over this because killing the game intentionally is so utterly destructive to the product that they all make their living out of. As it is they all seem to think that Tommy Wright is wonderful. He never gets anything but praise.

Makes it worse that St Johnstone were playing a mid season fixture, sitting very comfortably in the league, against a team below them. Surely they can afford to try to play a game of football. I think it was pathetic what they did, and I've never been one for sour grapes or excuses.

st Johnstone are sitting comfortably in the league but not comfortable to get a guaranteed place in Europe as well as enough prize money as they can in the league- lets them wipe out their debt, strengthen their squad and extend contracts for their best players. The only obligation st johnstone were under is to do their best to win the game regardless of what Partick Thistle fans thought- and they succeeded in their task.

The same will be the case next Saturday - they will be determined to win the game regardless of what way they do it. I hope our manager and players go out with the same determination

[Lindau]

st Johnstone are sitting comfortably in the league but not comfortable to get a guaranteed place in Europe as well as enough prize money as they can in the league- lets them wipe out their debt, strengthen their squad and extend contracts for their best players. The only obligation st johnstone were under is to do their best to win the game regardless of what Partick Thistle fans thought- and they succeeded in their task.

The same will be the case next Saturday - they will be determined to win the game regardless of what way they do it. I hope our manager and players go out with the same determination

 

You are right. It's horrible to watch but if we score early on up there on Saturday and do exactly what they did on Wednesday I can guarantee that 99% of the posters on here and the fans in the away end will be thoroughly delighted.

[gianlucatoni]

Perhaps something else needs to be thought about. The tactic of repeatedly taking the ball into the corner flag area can, and does, lead to flash points in the game. And, if I understand things correctly, the game is about scoring goals to defeat the opposition, then such a tactic is against the spirit of the game. It could be, and perhaps should be, viewed as unsportsmanlike conduct and appropriate sanctions (free kick against you awarded and maybe even a caution?).

 

disagree mmcf - ball is in play, it's not ungentlemanly conduct and pitch has stated dimensons - it's up to team without the baw to win it back - seemples!

Edited February 5, 2017 by gianlucatoni

[Lambies Lost Doo]

I like Off The Ball but Cosgrove gets on my wick at times. Not the same when Cowan is on holiday. Cosgrove loves to push how poor he was as a kid (who does in reality excluding celebrities, politicians and drunks) and throw in any intellectual (real or not) comment when he can.

[allyo]

"The only obligation St Johnstone were under was to do their best to win the game..."

 

Maybe I'm naïve but this is where I'll always disagree. I'm not saying that there is an obligation to play free flowing attacking football all the time, but to me, blatantly killing a game when it's still got half to go with pure spoiling tactics will never be acceptable while people are paying money to watch. And maybe I'm in the minority, but if Thistle played like that I'd be very unhappy.

 

Maybe worth noting that Dick Campbell pretty much left Thistle in the same position he found us, but is widely seen as having done more lasting damage than many other managers with worse records. (and Ross County sacked him while top of the league). There needs to be an element of entertainment or people will not turn up.

[ian_mac]

Dick Campbell is completely irrelevant here, can't understand why you've brought him up? Look at some of the scorelines we had under him - many many highscoring games. He was sacked because his team were awful and we were looking likely to once again be relegated to the 3rd tier. He often played with a front 3 of Roberts, Young and Donnelly and for a while we were top of the league that season.

 

He was not sacked because of his style of football, he was sacked because of his very poor record of results.

 

I think a few people need to watch Wednesday's match again to be honest. St Johnstone looked far more likely to score in the 2nd half than we did, and had 2 great chances where they should have done better. I really don't see where all this is coming from. Say all you like about them keeping the ball in the corner, but the ball is in play, it's up to our players to get the ball off them. They couldn't do so because they weren't good enough to do so.

 

We lost the game because we weren't very good, we were not cheated by the opposition.

 

This thread and the reaction of Thistle fans in general does not show the club in a very good light. We are not the free flowing team that won the 1st division anymore either. We don't have the quality to play like that in this league and have had to adapt accordingly.

[stillresigned]

I agree entirely, this petty carping is a feature I always associate with supporters of two other football clubs based in Glasgow. Furthermore, moaning about the opposition avoids responsibility for our defeat last week from falling on the shoulders of our own team, where it most assuredly lies.

[Roque]

"The only obligation St Johnstone were under was to do their best to win the game..."

 

Maybe I'm naïve but this is where I'll always disagree. I'm not saying that there is an obligation to play free flowing attacking football all the time, but to me, blatantly killing a game when it's still got half to go with pure spoiling tactics will never be acceptable while people are paying money to watch. And maybe I'm in the minority, but if Thistle played like that I'd be very unhappy.

 

Think Greece fans were unhappy when they won Euro 2004?

 

I seriously doubt you'd be unhappy if Scotland did the same to win a Euros, or more specifically to this forum, Thistle did the same to win a Scottish or League Cup.

[allyo]

Petty carping? I'm just giving my opinion. On a Thistle forum, it's not like I'm outside McDiarmid with a banner. For the first time in 30 years I came away from Firhill angry with the opposition. I'm not an angry person.

They won the game fair and square but for me there should still be such a thing as the spirit of the game. It is only a game, and at a pretty low level. Win at all costs, to that extent, I think is pathetic.

And I brought up Dick Campbell because for me, far more than the results, it was the lack of entertainment that scunnered me.

As I say, my opinion, I don't need anyone to agree. I don't believe I'm showing the club up in a bad light. Cool the jets.

 

[allyo]

 

 

Think Greece fans were unhappy when they won Euro 2004?

 

I seriously doubt you'd be unhappy if Scotland did the same to win a Euros, or more specifically to this forum, Thistle did the same to win a Scottish or League Cup.

 

I wouldn't be delighted. Winning without honour is pretty pointless. Difference though is that Greece were an underdog finding a way to win against better opposition. I'd love to say the same about St Johnstone.