Jump to content

McCall


Garscube Road End
 Share

Recommended Posts

9 hours ago, dl1971 said:

Of course there are issues in the boardroom, given the TFE issue. Hardly the revelation of the century.  What boardrooms do run like a well oiled machine? Not many if any. 

Most boards actually run the club. We seem to have a situation where the individual who everyone knows is running the club isn’t being named, for some reason. That’s unconventional at best and extremely worrying at worst. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Kingleo said:

Just clicked back in after a day at work and emsca sums it up well. The guy wasn’t bigging up his own club and rubbishing ours. He just made some general points having interacted with members of our board. I don’t think it’s rocket science to suggest that things aren’t going well at Firhill. 6 months worth of poor performances you could say is a blip. 3 years worth of this rubbish and you have to think it’s more than just the playing side. The players look complacent. There’s no one there to give them a rocket. The fact fox hasn’t kept a clean sheet for god knows how long and is an automatic every week tells you there’s way too much carrot and not enough stick. Nisbet to net on Saturday and a comfortable away win. How many would be surprised at that outcome?

Fox last had a clean sheet 11 appearances ago v Penicuik.  His other 2 are v Montrose and Connah's Quay. All in the Challenge Cup.

At the risk of tempting fate, If Thistle don't achieve at least one League clean-sheet before the end of this season, you have to go back to 1908-09 to find when that was last "achieved".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are clearly in a mess when it comes to playing football. As regards off the park organisation and planning I don't really feel qualified to comment. Other than to say we are clearly in a transitional stage and facing a lot of uncertainty. 

However looking at "where we should be' only Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hibs & Hearts are bigger clubs and at a level which I suspect is beyond us! 

Of the others Dundee Utd could be considered a bigger club but that's  a relatively recent (in the history of the game) development since about 1980s.

Dundee, Motherwell & Kilmarnock have had their moments but would I seriously doubt, pass a FFT investigation, especially the latter.  I don"t see why we can't be the equal of these clubs. 

Of the others we are certainly equal to  and can be bigger than Livingston, St Johnstone, St Mirren, Hamilton, Ross County, ICT, Dunfermline, Falkirk, & Morton. 

I rember Jackie Charlton saying  that when a club starts to decline it can be a monumental task  for a manager to firstly arrest the decline and then turn the club around. 

I think IMC job is to arrest our decline,  even if it means going into League 1, stabilise the club and move upstairs to become Director of Football. At which point a new Head Coach will be appointed to take us back to the SPL (and keep us there) 

Afraid I don't see one manager doing it all as we are falling too far too quickly! If we can return i

To the SPL within another 4/5 years we will be doing well. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, exiledjag said:

We are clearly in a mess when it comes to playing football. As regards off the park organisation and planning I don't really feel qualified to comment. Other than to say we are clearly in a transitional stage and facing a lot of uncertainty. 

However looking at "where we should be' only Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hibs & Hearts are bigger clubs and at a level which I suspect is beyond us! 

Of the others Dundee Utd could be considered a bigger club but that's  a relatively recent (in the history of the game) development since about 1980s.

Dundee, Motherwell & Kilmarnock have had their moments but would I seriously doubt, pass a FFT investigation, especially the latter.  I don"t see why we can't be the equal of these clubs. 

Of the others we are certainly equal to  and can be bigger than Livingston, St Johnstone, St Mirren, Hamilton, Ross County, ICT, Dunfermline, Falkirk, & Morton. 

I rember Jackie Charlton saying  that when a club starts to decline it can be a monumental task  for a manager to firstly arrest the decline and then turn the club around. 

I think IMC job is to arrest our decline,  even if it means going into League 1, stabilise the club and move upstairs to become Director of Football. At which point a new Head Coach will be appointed to take us back to the SPL (and keep us there) 

Afraid I don't see one manager doing it all as we are falling too far too quickly! If we can return i

To the SPL within another 4/5 years we will be doing well. 

I think if we go down we could be in the 3rd tie for 4 or 5 seasons minimum, we will be seen as a scalp from all their and we have no Jim Oliver/ David Beattie or actual owner to bankroll a quick climb up

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, exiledjag said:

We are clearly in a mess when it comes to playing football. As regards off the park organisation and planning I don't really feel qualified to comment. Other than to say we are clearly in a transitional stage and facing a lot of uncertainty. 

However looking at "where we should be' only Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hibs & Hearts are bigger clubs and at a level which I suspect is beyond us! 

Of the others Dundee Utd could be considered a bigger club but that's  a relatively recent (in the history of the game) development since about 1980s.

Dundee, Motherwell & Kilmarnock have had their moments but would I seriously doubt, pass a FFT investigation, especially the latter.  I don"t see why we can't be the equal of these clubs. 

Of the others we are certainly equal to  and can be bigger than Livingston, St Johnstone, St Mirren, Hamilton, Ross County, ICT, Dunfermline, Falkirk, & Morton. 

I rember Jackie Charlton saying  that when a club starts to decline it can be a monumental task  for a manager to firstly arrest the decline and then turn the club around. 

I think IMC job is to arrest our decline,  even if it means going into League 1, stabilise the club and move upstairs to become Director of Football. At which point a new Head Coach will be appointed to take us back to the SPL (and keep us there) 

Afraid I don't see one manager doing it all as we are falling too far too quickly! If we can return i

To the SPL within another 4/5 years we will be doing well. 

A number of fans on this forum thought we would be in the Championship for 1 season before returning to the Premier league. Relegation is never good for any club and for us to go down to the third tier i feel would see us struggle to get back to the Championship in one season. Raith Rovers currently in their third year of trying and i think they have remained full time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Norgethistle said:

I think if we go down we could be in the 3rd tie for 4 or 5 seasons minimum, we will be seen as a scalp from all their and we have no Jim Oliver/ David Beattie or actual owner to bankroll a quick climb up

When did David Beattie ever bankroll us?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I might as well throw my tuppence worth in.

On the pitch, the results pretty much speak for themselves. We may be at, or may yet have further to travel before hitting rock bottom, but lets face it we're totally rank rotten and as soft as window putty on a hot summers day. If we can leave the abject failure of our team aside for a moment, it's a big ask I know, but if we can just forget about it for a moment let's look at the overall picture.

Things could have been and could be much much worse. Colin Weir has done our club a fantastic service, we now own the club and the stadium, lock stock and barrel and are debt free. Thanks to Mr Weirs generosity we are as a club in an truly enviable position. OK, we do not at present have strong leadership off the pitch, but surely we can and will get the club moving in the right direction. Thankfully, we are not in the grip of mercenary vulture capitalists bleeding our club dry of every dollar & cent.

Alan Archibald as a player, was tasked out of the blue to take over a promotion chasing team and managed to galvanise the team into winning the championship. As a rookie boss he managed to keep us in the top flight for 5 seasons, with no director of football, or ultra experienced assistant holding his hand and leading the way. Sure, Archie has his faults, who doesn't? Nevertheless, both he and Shaggy deserve great credit for keeping as up for so long in the top flight and for hitting the top six.

I first remember Ian McCall as manager of Clydebank where he worked minor miracles for them in very trying circumstances. I always thought that he would go on to achieve great things in football management, I know he has had some success, but I have always had the hunch that he would go on to do something really special, I think in some ways Ian McCall is a managerial underachiever.

Sometimes you can put people together and they amount to much more than the sum of their parts. This is what I hope of in McCall & Archie, they both have different qualities that should compliment each other. Perhaps they were destined to work together at our club at this time?

I wanted Jim Goodwin to take over from Archie, I believed he was the right man at the time for our club, indeed I would say that the St Mirren job was the the wrong job for him, the obvious job, but the wrong one nevertheless. I will tell you something though if Goodwin (or any other manager) had been successful with us he would soon be off to pastures new.

Due to the solid and stable footing of our club, I truly believe, that given time; Ian McCall and Alan Archibald will build one of the best and most successful Thistle teams that any of us have ever seen. :fan:

Edited by AndyMac
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

AndyMac wrote:

"Due to the solid and stable footing of our club, I truly believe, that given time; Ian McCall and Alan Archibald will build one of the best and most successful Thistle teams that any of us have ever seen. "

I echo this somewhat.  I think stability is a VITAL quality.  We have stability financially now which is a major foundation.  McCall  and Archibald have had failings but overall they have been individually  successful.  I trust that good things will come from this partnership - and hopefully keep players that we can build a consistent  Starting XI around.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

March is make or break for us with home games against QoS, Alloa and Morton.

Queens look the most vulnerable out of those three but Morton having blown a 4.2 home lead today against Alloa are in the mix too.

Despite being part time Alloa have a great resilience about them and you can see them surviving.

Therefore our next game against QoS is possibly the most important for us, especially as it may set the tone for the rest of March. 

Of course in addition to taking a minimum of 7 points from those games we need to pick up points in our away games, and if our home tie against Dunfermline is rescheduled for March then something from that game too.

No hiding place, no room for passengers, no bottlers, no excuses. Sleeves rolled up, total commitment, energy, belief,... oh and defend set pieces.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Cfirejkl said:

AndyMac wrote:

"Due to the solid and stable footing of our club, I truly believe, that given time; Ian McCall and Alan Archibald will build one of the best and most successful Thistle teams that any of us have ever seen. "

I echo this somewhat.  I think stability is a VITAL quality.  We have stability financially now which is a major foundation.  McCall  and Archibald have had failings but overall they have been individually  successful.  I trust that good things will come from this partnership - and hopefully keep players that we can build a consistent  Starting XI around.  

Having no debt does not make a company solid or stable.

If (I still live in hope) we go down, our revenue drops dramatically even if our fanbase stays level.

Admission price is lower

League money is lower

Sponsorship is lower

Traveling supports are lower

 

We still need to fund Firhill, a full-time team, a full office, a youth academy, a women’s team. One or more of them will take a significant hit.

Falkirk have managed to stay full time by utilizing the ground 7 days a week and axing the academy.

Raith due to their chairman funding it.

Us?  Our Stadium is used once a fortnight, we have no rich chairman, and we have an academy we need to start paying for next year.

We spent significantly in January which I’d imagine would have eaten in to our cash reserves as I don’t see where any other funding could come from. 

We will only remain solid and stable if we can generate more than we can spend and with another relegation looming that looks tricky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Norgethistle said:

Having no debt does not make a company solid or stable.

If (I still live in hope) we go down, our revenue drops dramatically even if our fanbase stays level.

Admission price is lower

League money is lower

Sponsorship is lower

Traveling supports are lower

 

We still need to fund Firhill, a full-time team, a full office, a youth academy, a women’s team. One or more of them will take a significant hit.

Falkirk have managed to stay full time by utilizing the ground 7 days a week and axing the academy.

Raith due to their chairman funding it.

Us?  Our Stadium is used once a fortnight, we have no rich chairman, and we have an academy we need to start paying for next year.

We spent significantly in January which I’d imagine would have eaten in to our cash reserves as I don’t see where any other funding could come from. 

We will only remain solid and stable if we can generate more than we can spend and with another relegation looming that looks tricky

I just hope that if we do go down that we have release clauses in the contracts with all of these new signings and re signings or at least a reduction in salary.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, AndyMac said:

I truly believe, that given time; Ian McCall and Alan Archibald will build one of the best and most successful Thistle teams that any of us have ever seen. :fan:

In the same way that you can give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters you will get the works of Shakespeare 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...