Make Sure You Print This

[uberteeb]

Ian McCall is not ******* good enough.

 

2 weeks in row we have looked no better than part time third division diddies. Last week you could make excuses, Clyde's big game, rusty in the first game of the season and of course the infamous 'quite crowd'.

 

What was your excuse yesterday Ian? I can only assume he will be praising us for making Galabank like a Thistle home game? Annan are a team of absolute nobodies, how many shots did we have on target? How many times did we look dangerous? If it wasn't for them being even more toothless than us up front we would have been in real danger. Yesterday Morton went to third division diddies and pumped them 7-1, we scraped a 1-0, not good enough.

 

I'm missing the first 2 games of the season as I'm on holiday, I fully expect to come home to find us on 0 points. Lets hope Stirling and Cowdenbeath are as bad as people seem to be saying otherwise it's the seaside league for us.

 

Then again if the seaside league means more away days like yesterday I'm all for it. Hats off to those who made the journey, one of those away days which will stand out in the hazy memories as one of the best.

 

Naff off McCall.

[jagaritis]

Ian McCall is not ******* good enough.

 

2 weeks in row we have looked no better than part time third division diddies. Last week you could make excuses, Clyde's big game, rusty in the first game of the season and of course the infamous 'quite crowd'.

 

What was your excuse yesterday Ian? I can only assume he will be praising us for making Galabank like a Thistle home game? Annan are a team of absolute nobodies, how many shots did we have on target? How many times did we look dangerous? If it wasn't for them being even more toothless than us up front we would have been in real danger. Yesterday Morton went to third division diddies and pumped them 7-1, we scraped a 1-0, not good enough.

 

I'm missing the first 2 games of the season as I'm on holiday, I fully expect to come home to find us on 0 points. Lets hope Stirling and Cowdenbeath are as bad as people seem to be saying otherwise it's the seaside league for us.

 

Then again if the seaside league means more away days like yesterday I'm all for it. Hats off to those who made the journey, one of those away days which will stand out in the hazy memories as one of the best.

 

Naff off McCall.

I was not there yesterday so cant comment on the perforance,but away trips to wee diddy teams is one of football hazzards that come up year after year and are not unique to Prtick Thistle.With regards to Ian Mccall he will not be replaced 2 games into a season,he is on a contract,and would need a pay off,with the clubs finances that aint gonnae happen.I think Mccall has had his hands tied behind his back with regards to signings,and this is going to be a long hard season unless the youngsters shine through.You are calling for Mccall to go,fair enough thats your opinion,name me a replacement manager,a manager who will come in and improve whats on offer with the same players because that is the senario.A Mccall pay off takes away finance,and with a board who scrimp and save and dont offer contracts to players until they have no option,ie 48 hours before games,its the board that i would question before Mccall.I am with Mccall because i dont beleive there is another alternative at the moment with our present financial situation,like it or lump it,it aint gonnae change before this season,or Ian's contract ends.

[uberteeb]

Budget and finances aside his tactics are shite and you have to question why little things like Paul Paton's left foot still not working are allowed to continue.

 

You tell Paton in the training games he cannot use his right foot. You make him do this until he becomes semi-competent in using his left.

 

You sit the players down, show them where the channels are, how to run into them/play the ball into them.

 

You explain to the defenders to look for a pass to a midfielder instead of lofting it high to small strikers.

 

You explain to the midfielders that they need to control the ball and turn towards goal before looking for a forward pass instead of laying it off backwards at the first opportunity.

 

It really isn't that hard I don't think. We make the same mistakes week in week out. We are out thought by the opposing manager almost every week. We don't apdapt our approach for different teams.

[Vladimir Putin]

Budget and finances aside his tactics are shite and you have to question why little things like Paul Paton's left foot still not working are allowed to continue.

 

You tell Paton in the training games he cannot use his right foot. You make him do this until he becomes semi-competent in using his left.

 

You sit the players down, show them where the channels are, how to run into them/play the ball into them.

 

You explain to the defenders to look for a pass to a midfielder instead of lofting it high to small strikers.

 

You explain to the midfielders that they need to control the ball and turn towards goal before looking for a forward pass instead of laying it off backwards at the first opportunity.

 

It really isn't that hard I don't think. We make the same mistakes week in week out. We are out thought by the opposing manager almost every week. We don't apdapt our approach for different teams.

 

Paton being rubbish with his left foot is hardly McCall's fault. Plenty of players are absolutely one-footed - the only reason this issue is arising with Paton is that he wasn't especially good with his right foot last season either. Ryan Giggs has never kicked a ball with his right foot in his career - does this make Alex Ferguson a bad manager?

 

With regards to McCall - there is absolutely no chance he will either leave or be sacked unless we are deep in the relegation zone, so calling for his head is a waste of time. And honestly, with the budget we have and the fact that it would be reduced even further by paying of McCall, I don't see who we could bring in that would do a better job. It would be nice if we played fewer long balls to Sid and Liam, but turning Kinniburgh and Boyle into cultured ball-playing defenders is beyond him, or anyone.

 

We may well end up being rubbish this season, but if we start it by calling for the Board to be sacked, the manager to be sacked, and for half the team to f**k off, we will only make it worse for ourselves.

[uberteeb]

Paton being rubbish with his left foot is hardly McCall's fault. Plenty of players are absolutely one-footed - the only reason this issue is arising with Paton is that he wasn't especially good with his right foot last season either. Ryan Giggs has never kicked a ball with his right foot in his career - does this make Alex Ferguson a bad manager?

 

With regards to McCall - there is absolutely no chance he will either leave or be sacked unless we are deep in the relegation zone, so calling for his head is a waste of time. And honestly, with the budget we have and the fact that it would be reduced even further by paying of McCall, I don't see who we could bring in that would do a better job. It would be nice if we played fewer long balls to Sid and Liam, but turning Kinniburgh and Boyle into cultured ball-playing defenders is beyond him, or anyone.

 

We may well end up being rubbish this season, but if we start it by calling for the Board to be sacked, the manager to be sacked, and for half the team to f**k off, we will only make it worse for ourselves.

 

The only valid point you make there is about Paton which I suppose is true, not every player can be two footed, you can't blame McCall for him being shite with his left. But you can blame McCall for not telling him to stop cutting in on his shite foot.

 

I simply do not believe there is no better man for the job. Someone from the lower leagues? Or if we want someone with an equally illustrious history as Sir Ian then I'm sure there must be some manager currently out of work that has been in the SPL.

 

In fact how do you qualify to become a football manager? Half the people on this forum could probably do a better job than McCall.

 

We are not progressing under McCall and we are not learning from our mistakes.

 

McCall must love being at a skint club like outs, it gives him the perfect excuse to hide behind and so many seem to buy into it. The tide is turning on him now though, seems to be a growing McCall out contingent within the support.

[Alan Murray]

We already have the replacement here, step forward uberteeb. I can already see him on the training pitch telling the players were the channels are…

[MWM]

McCall wasted his budget on pish like the following - Kinniburgh, Doolan, Sid, Boyle, Paton.

 

What a ******' cheek he has. Slags the support rotten for not getting up for a 1st round home game in the diddy cup against a team playing their cup final, and yesterday the support we're brilliant, but he trots out some grudged looking line about the support. Sounds to me like some of the comments he came out with near his time at QotS.

 

I agree fully with what Uberteeb says.

Edited August 1, 2010 by MWM

[lady-isobel-barnett]

We already have the replacement here, step forward uberteeb. I can already see him on the training pitch telling the players were the channels are…

Let him have his holiday first. The lad's already stressed out with Thistle

 

[uberteeb]

Dear Lord

 

Apologies for not making it to church this morning, please grant me 3 wishes.

 

1. - Send that there Louise Redknapp off that Something For The Weekend programme round to my house. Naked. Now.

 

2. - Sack Ian McCall

 

3. - Bring me another one of them Jubbly ice lolly things from the freezer, maybe Louise could stop by the shops on her way and pick me up some more as I only have a couple left? Her treat.

 

Ta.

 

See you next week.

[The optimist]

2 competitive games, 2 wins. That reads well with me. I can appreciate that they were against lower league opposistion. Lower league teams always raise their game against bigger teams, i suppose that part of the romance of the clubs.

 

I thought Clyde looked a half decent team last week and if they play like that in Div 3, they have got a chance of stepping right back up. They also beat Cowden yesterday, which hopefully emphasises my point.

 

Uberteeb: you were asked the question of propsing a new manager to take over from McCall, and you gave an answer of "there must be somebody", Well who? Sometimes the grass isnt always greener. The club struglled to get out of div 2 a few seasons back and making a bad rash decision (which I tink getting rid of McCall would be) could easily send us back down there.

 

I'm not a fianance expert, but we have had a good few games against rangers in the last few seasons, which have been televised. A nice link up with Greaves. A good sponsership with Puma, with the strips selling better now than they have done in years. Finally recieve very substansial tranfer fees for div 1 standards for Twaddle and Harkins. In his defence, McCall has never seen any of this money to help improve his squad. Continually he has had to work with ever reducing budgets.

 

We are two wins outta 2, and traditionally these cups are sorta still treated as pre season. Why all the doom and gloom? I would ask fans on here to try and reserve their judgement until at least 1/4 of the way thru the season.

 

Personally, I think he is doing a good job. I'll repeat, the grass isnt always greener.

[jagaritis]

The only valid point you make there is about Paton which I suppose is true, not every player can be two footed, you can't blame McCall for him being shite with his left. But you can blame McCall for not telling him to stop cutting in on his shite foot.

 

I simply do not believe there is no better man for the job. Someone from the lower leagues? Or if we want someone with an equally illustrious history as Sir Ian then I'm sure there must be some manager currently out of work that has been in the SPL.

 

In fact how do you qualify to become a football manager? Half the people on this forum could probably do a better job than McCall.

 

We are not progressing under McCall and we are not learning from our mistakes.

 

McCall must love being at a skint club like outs, it gives him the perfect excuse to hide behind and so many seem to buy into it. The tide is turning on him now though, seems to be a growing McCall out contingent within the support.

With respect,you still have not named a replacement manager,Lambie apart...and he had his critics,every manager at Firhill has taken heaps of slack,ROONEY,LAMONT,CORMACK,JONSTON,CAMPBELL now MCCALL.Do we just keep sacking managers every 2/3 years,Mcall is doing what Thistle managers do,his best in the circumstances,time for the harsh reality check,PTFC are a skint middle of the road first division outfit that have unrealistic visions of being better than they are.It hurts to say it,apart from the Lambie times,in something out of 30 seasons maybe 7 have been in the top flight.Iam not saying Mccall is the answer,but surely sacking managers every 2 years aint either.Ilove the Jags and want the best,but it can be unrealistic at times..sadly.

[jagaritis]

We already have the replacement here, step forward uberteeb. I can already see him on the training pitch telling the players were the channels are…

should that not be where the CANALS are

[uberteeb]

We should have got Danny Lennon. Moore would have been a good appointment.

 

I don't have a clue who manages teams in the leagues below us so I can't give you names but one of them would do.

 

Managers have to start somewhere, take a punt on an up and coming manager. Where did Derek Adams come from for example? We are currently stagnating.

 

Is Gus McPherson not looking for work?

[German Jag]

We should have got Danny Lennon. Moore would have been a good appointment.

 

I don't have a clue who manages teams in the leagues below us so I can't give you names but one of them would do.

 

Managers have to start somewhere, take a punt on an up and coming manager. Where did Derek Adams come from for example? We are currently stagnating.

 

Is Gus McPherson not looking for work?

 

What about Jim Duffy?

[Firhillista]

With the exception of Lambie - and, let's face it, how exceptional was the great Lambini? - McCall is the best manager Thistle have had in the past twenty years. I defy anyone to name a better Thistle manager over that time frame. And as for there being 'better managers out there' - name one. The belief that we could take an untried manager from the lower divisions and he'd turn out to be the the greatest thing since Alex Ferguson is just nonsense. There are too many precious Jags fans at the moment who're chucking the dummy out the pram because we're not winning promotion. Christ, what makes anyone think that we should sack the manager because he can't guarantee success to a club like Thistle? Who could, particularly given the current economic conditions? Does anyone think the Clyde fans have warm cuddly feelings for the folk in charge of their club? - re-location to the back of beyond and near extinction is all they've been offered in a generation with some crap managers and players along the way. But they managed to support their team last Saturday, while some Thistle fans sat glowering in their seats because we're not better than they think we should be. Get a grip. Get a sense of perspective. Start supporting the team. This is, God help us, meant to be fun, remember.

 

And as for the growing 'McCall out' brigade - not in my name....

[Guest Argus]

I thought McCall was a reasonable choice when he was first chosen (where would we have been if we had chosen Billy Reid, who was on the shortlist?).

 

In the begining he was producing good teams with nice football but it seems more likely now that was in great part down to his assistants (where are we going with Ian Maxwell!) AND the fact it took about half a season for other managers to out think him or find him out.

 

I see less and less difference between him and the bunnet where tactics are concerned. He seems unable to read a game or make a telling substitution or change a formation. The only major difference is he is better at how he gets himself portrayed in the media, until the mask slipped, last week. He is good at using our financial postion to take the blame of himself but it needs to be remembered whatever limited funds we have he is responsible for spending and a lot of it doesn't bear close scrutinty.

 

Due to the money problems, we are stuck with him unless the position becomes so bad he has to be replaced.

[Firhillista]

Can we get rid of this nonsense that McCall's successes so far have been down to his assistant managers? If that was the case, wouldn't there be evidence of these self-same people going on to achieve success elsewhere? How did Thistle do when Gerry was in charge, not just the assistant? How well are Queen's Park doing exactly? How is Irons getting on? And what is everyone basing the assumption that Iain Maxwell is a poor assistant manager on?

 

I watched the same games last season as everyone else on here and what I saw was Thistle consistently out-playing the opposition and failing to win because they couldn't score. A problem we're likely to experience again this season. This, doubtless, will be blamed on McCall. But he did his best to bring in a goal scorer last year and I don't see that he can be faulted for getting us Amy MacDonald's boyfried - top scorer in the SPL outwith the Old Firm - even if it didn't work out.

 

Played two, won two. Really, let's keep calm....

[uberteeb]

Can we get rid of this nonsense that McCall's successes so far have been down to his assistant managers? If that was the case, wouldn't there be evidence of these self-same people going on to achieve success elsewhere? How did Thistle do when Gerry was in charge, not just the assistant? How well are Queen's Park doing exactly? How is Irons getting on? And what is everyone basing the assumption that Iain Maxwell is a poor assistant manager on?

 

I watched the same games last season as everyone else on here and what I saw was Thistle consistently out-playing the opposition and failing to win because they couldn't score. A problem we're likely to experience again this season. This, doubtless, will be blamed on McCall. But he did his best to bring in a goal scorer last year and I don't see that he can be faulted for getting us Amy MacDonald's boyfried - top scorer in the SPL outwith the Old Firm - even if it didn't work out.

 

Played two, won two. Really, let's keep calm....

 

What I witnessed time and time again last season was us lacking any sort of cutting edge.

 

I watched a team that was not motivated.

 

I watched a team who had no plan B.

 

I watched other teams figure out how to play us after the first round of games.

 

I watched us fail to counter the oppositions strengths.

 

Putting all talk of budgets to one side all of those things are simply a sign of a poor manager.

[Firhillista]

What I witnessed time and time again last season was us lacking any sort of cutting edge.

 

I watched a team that was not motivated.

 

I watched a team who had no plan B.

 

I watched other teams figure out how to play us after the first round of games.

 

I watched us fail to counter the oppositions strengths.

 

Putting all talk of budgets to one side all of those things are simply a sign of a poor manager.

 

We obviously weren't watching the same games...

[jagaritis]

What I witnessed time and time again last season was us lacking any sort of cutting edge.

 

I watched a team that was not motivated.

 

I watched a team who had no plan B.

 

I watched other teams figure out how to play us after the first round of games.

 

I watched us fail to counter the oppositions strengths.

 

Putting all talk of budgets to one side all of those things are simply a sign of a poor manager.

I agree that the team does not look motivated enough with Mccall at times and a plan B never materialises,but as i have said already he will not be replaced while in contract and certainly not before a fekkin league game has been played.Keep all opinions comeing,i am enjoying this debate.

[Firhillista]

I agree that the team does not look motivated enough with Mccall at times and a plan B never materialises,but as i have said already he will not be replaced while in contract and certainly not before a fekkin league game has been played.Keep all opinions comeing,i am enjoying this debate.

Really? It's doin' my head in! I'm concerned that the overwhelming sound coming from the Jackie Husband stand this season will be grumpy old men mumping 'cos we're not 3-0 up within the first ten minutes...

[uberteeb]

Really? It's doin' my head in! I'm concerned that the overwhelming sound coming from the Jackie Husband stand this season will be grumpy old men mumping 'cos we're not 3-0 up within the first ten minutes...

 

It is possible to support the team and not think Ian McCall is the best man for the job you know.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Can we get rid of this nonsense that McCall's successes so far have been down to his assistant managers? If that was the case, wouldn't there be evidence of these self-same people going on to achieve success elsewhere? How did Thistle do when Gerry was in charge, not just the assistant? How well are Queen's Park doing exactly? How is Irons getting on? And what is everyone basing the assumption that Iain Maxwell is a poor assistant manager on?

 

I watched the same games last season as everyone else on here and what I saw was Thistle consistently out-playing the opposition and failing to win because they couldn't score. A problem we're likely to experience again this season. This, doubtless, will be blamed on McCall. But he did his best to bring in a goal scorer last year and I don't see that he can be faulted for getting us Amy MacDonald's boyfried - top scorer in the SPL outwith the Old Firm - even if it didn't work out.

 

Played two, won two. Really, let's keep calm....

I'm just having a stab in the dark on this and suppose because Maxwell has no coaching pedigree and gets on well with McCall it's perceived as a cheap option jobs for the boys type appointment. That I should stress is not my opinion but you'll probably agree it's ready placed ammo for those wanting to have a cheap shot at McCall. Besides just what experienced manager/No2 would want to come to Firhill to be an assistant manager? Off the top of my head I can only think of a few names, who by no coincidence are out of work having been sacked elsewhere.

It's been argued the wheels came off last season long before Gerry B left. A viewpoint I agree with. What can't be argued with is our goalscoring dried up roughly from a date when Gerry left. I think folk are turning Gerry's leaving date as a kind of watershed. Just because we were scoring a few goals beforehand didn't mean things were that rosy. Far from it.

[Barney Rubble]

McCall wasted his budget on pish like the following - Kinniburgh, Doolan, Sid, Boyle, Paton.

 

What a ******' cheek he has. Slags the support rotten for not getting up for a 1st round home game in the diddy cup against a team playing their cup final, and yesterday the support we're brilliant, but he trots out some grudged looking line about the support. Sounds to me like some of the comments he came out with near his time at QotS.

 

I agree fully with what Uberteeb says.

 

 

Cannot accept that statement.

 

Sid has been one of the best players at Thistle since Chic left.

 

And it cuts both ways. Re the others you defame above, the other side of the coin is that the same manager signed Harkins, Twaddle, Cairney and Rowson., who have all been more than acceptable performers for the Jags.

Edited August 1, 2010 by Barney Rubble

[jagaritis]

Really? It's doin' my head in! I'm concerned that the overwhelming sound coming from the Jackie Husband stand this season will be grumpy old men mumping 'cos we're not 3-0 up within the first ten minutes...

I was more meaning debating about the managers capabilities,and its good to get a wee discusion and diff views on the matter.The jackie husband is always full of people moaning if we aint winnin by the tenth minute.Awee guy sits next to me and shouts most saturdays "dont think i will be back next week to watch this cause i wont" He has missed like 4 home games in 10 years