oneteaminglasgow

Glad to see FM is still mugging me off at every possible opportunity.

Was QLP the boy who accused some whistleblower of being a lesbian who was lashing out or something like that?

If signing Joe Cardle means that Miles Storey is less likely to play, then bring him in immediately.

Ah pish, I've been sacked. I'm going to fanny about with some other saves and give it another go.

Gretna 2008 - Season 2019/20 First Team Squad | Transfers | Finances | Training | Facilities | End of Season Awards League Campaign As expected, we weren't very good. That's putting it lightly to be honest, we were an absolute gang of jobbers for the most part, but thankfully Queens Park went into administration and their 15 point deduction kept us up. We've still not won a game in 2020, taking a grand total of 7 out of 51 points since the new year. The one thing that I had been happy with was that most of our losses were pretty tight, but that changed later on and we took some real hammerings later on in the season. We scored much, much less than anyone else, and conceded almost as many as anyone else, so it's no surprise to see us where we are. I'm going to have to work out a tactic for next season in order to bring everyone else down to our level, as what we've been doing isn't working. Still, survival is something I suppose. The Cups The season opener was a bit of a thrashing by St Johnstone, who probably should have had more goals than they did, and our goal came when we were already 4 down and they were in cruise control. We followed it up with 3 draws, and two horrific penalty shootouts then a good one. We should have lost to both Dumbarton and Queen of the South, but managed to hold on in the latter while Dumbarton seemed to go out of their way to throw the win away. Meant that the group finished like this. 4th place is fine, a bit more prize money, and the 3 draws ensured our confidence wasn't absolutely destroyed. Beat Annan in extra time, before being pumped out by Motherwell Reserved. Oh well, never mind. The tournament ended up being won by Dundalk. Cheers for that one, Neil Doncaster. This one really annoyed me. We should be beating Spartans. We dominated the game as well, but contrived to lose through an own goal by Daniel Wadge. Perhaps, I shouldn't be surprised since it came right in the middle of a run of 12 games without a win, but still. Youth Intake Not really ideal, there's some decent prospects in there, but not one of them is anywhere near good enough to make much of an impression on my current first team. Still, it is what it is, and the best of them, on first impression, are: Jack Waterston: An attacking midfielder, he's not great just now but certainly could be a good player for us. Has already had some game time, as I have very little strength in his position, so hopefully he'll get better pretty quick. Billy Forbes: He should be decent (at some point in the future) as the holding player in my midfield. I don't really have anyone for that role, so I'll look to introduce him in for a bit of game time throughout the season coming. He's had a bit already and been... well, poor at best, but I've no choice but to persevere. Calum Connelly: My defence is terrible, so he'll be getting player regularly most likely. His positioning and tackling is already good, which is ideal, so it's just everything else about him I'll need to work on. Paul Wilson: See above, my right backs have been consistently dreadful all season, so this guy can't do any worse. He's determined, and that's about it, but f**k it. Let's just see what happens. This might well be the only season I complete, as after the last game of the season I was called into a meeting and told if I didn't pick up 7 points from our next 5 games, I'd be out on my arse. As above, I took 16 games to get that many points recently... It's not looking good. I really need some money to invest in the youth development, but, without a good cup run, that's not going to happen, so I'll need to be patient for the time being. Still, we've stayed up (albeit largely due to Queens Park's administration) and that's going to be our aim for the next few seasons (if I can stay in the job) at the very least. I think the best we can look for is small improvements each year, not necessarily in the league table, but all over the club.

As if football wasn't shite enough already at the minute, I've decided to completely ruin football manager for myself as well by giving this another go. So far, all I've done is holiday through a season, and this time it's Gretna 2008. Despite, as any right-thinking person should, hugely disliking the original Gretna for their antics, hopefully this should be interesting. They've already had a number of players sign, and a similar number leave as well so I think I'll just leave it as it is, as I'll have about 13 players left without them. A wildly unbalanced squad, 5 strikers and 3 goalkeepers in a 22 man squad seems like overkill. Centre back, right back and right midfield particularly look like problem areas, just for depth if nothing else. Jamie Hope, Connor Scully and Daniel Wadge all look like they'll be pretty important players for me this season, and particularly for Hope and Wadge, seem to have a lot of potential to be decent players going forward as well. Our facilities are dreadful, we're still playing at Raydale park, have poor training facilities, and the ability to bring through youth players is... we'll say lacking. I'll need to look to fix that pretty quickly, or this'll be even more of an absolute slog of a save than it usually would be. Right, that's that for now I think, I'll probably not really start properly until the full game is out, but I'll probably start trying to work out a way to not be too terrible before then. The first few seasons will, without doubt, be really, really grim, so obviously can't wait for that.

Pretty pleased with that. Delighted to have avoided the usual dross (Duffy, Hughes, Stubbs) and from the sounds of it, he knows what he wants to do, and has a plan in place already to achieve it. Whether or not that plan will work, or he'll be able to implement it properly is an entirely separate issue, but it looks promising that he's done some research.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1030033/Cambridge-university-poppy-remembrance-Sunday-student-union Sorry for the Daily Express link, but some of the comments on that are glorious.

Archibald has, for well over a year now, failed to meet his targets. In literally any line of work that would merit action, especially one as cut throat as football. There has been nothing to suggest he can salvage this, and the same failures on his part that have been prevalent through his tenure exist today. Your “I’m a better fan than you” shtick is laughable as well. As far as I’m concerned, a proper Thistle supporter would place what’s best for the club above what’s best for a particular employee. You, clearly, don’t.

I’m the exact opposite of this. We’ve gone completely stale, and someone with a fresh outlook who doesn’t know the club and is evaluating based on what he’s seeing at the time, rather than dwelling on the failures at the end of the Archibald regime, would be far better to sort out the mess we’re in imo. Ultimately, a good manager will be a good manager regardless of who they’ve played for before.

Aye there is, Archie used to play for Thistle you know. That’s more important than the fact that he’s obviously run out of ideas. I’m with you Colin, the 3rd tier of Scottish football is fine as long as it’s Archie managing us there.

I think you might want to check your figures.

Cheers for the memories Archie. Well, not the shite ones from the last 18 months, but the decent ones before that. Still absolutely the right decision though, even if it was made far later than it should have been. We'll end up with an absolute joke of an appointment. The only candidate around Scottish football that I'd be excited about is Robbie Neilson, and I'm absolutely certain we wouldn't get him. John Hughes, Alan Stubbs, Jim Duffy etc all fill me with absolute dread.

Spice Lounge in Drum Brae is good, as is Omar Khayyam just across from Haymarket, although it’s been a while since I’ve been there.

We’ll be hurtling towards the seaside leagues before the board apply even a hint of pressure on Archie.

Without wanting to go full Colin Quinn, anyone wanting Hughes as manager should be immediately banned from Firhill.

From what I recall, the team was an absolute shambles that whole season... Best of luck with your attempt

On second thought, we’ve probably got enough cover at the back after all...

What’s the chances of that, in your clearly expert opinion?

Don’t see that being an issue.

How did Penrice do in midfield?

Even if (when) Mutombo turns out to be shite, your post will still be absolutely ridiculous.

Doesn’t he have an injury record that Gary Fraser would be ashamed of?

I wasn't at the game yesterday, but if the options for right back was that or Blair fucking Spittal, then he's made the right call. The fact that he has put himself in that position, absolutely needlessly, is the real issue. We'll need at least 5 signings this week, a proper right back, a centre back who isn't a complete shambles, a ball winning midfielder, an attacking midfielder/winger and a striker.

Aye, you’d think we’d have learned from last season that, if avoidable, don’t make a complete arse of the summer transfer window and end up with complete shite like Martin Woods and Paul McGinn. Most of the guys we’ve signed look good enough (with the glaring exception of McGinty, who looks dreadful) but the sheer lack of numbers is a massive concern. Going into the season with arguably only adequate cover in one or two areas of the field is pretty shoddy, so hopefully we’ll get a few signings in over the next couple of days. Hopefully if we’re still targeting the English lower leagues we’ll get a flurry of activity when their window shuts and the guys without deals shite it. Not sure how/if the window affects free transfers though.