The Partick Thistle thread

[Jacky1990]

Think its fairly clear the competitive budget thing has turned out to be utter guff.

What are the chances we had a budget in place on the provision of a) Barton, Storey and Keown all leaving and b) getting a significant chunk of money for Liam Lindsay being sold by Barnsley?

Because at this stage to not be able to fill the bench means something, somewhere is severley fucked.

[Thistle4eva]

Asking a young left back that’s trained with the team for a week to play right back is also mental ! Surely there was a better solution than that even with the shortage of players.

Also Sticking Penrice to CB in the 2nd half ? I’m certainly no manager but sticking him into midfield and bringing Keown on at CB was more logical ? Just my opinion.

[oneteaminglasgow]

3 minutes ago, Thistle4eva said:

Asking a young left back that’s trained with the team for a week to play right back is also mental ! Surely there was a better solution than that even with the shortage of players.

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. 

[Nightmare]

39 minutes ago, Jacky1990 said:

Think its fairly clear the competitive budget thing has turned out to be utter guff.

The whole "competitive" thing was so ambiguous, it could mean fucking anything. Most of us took it to mean competitive at the top of the league, but I don't think they ever directly said that. Right now it looks like we'll be competing with Morton, Queens, Ayr and Falkirk to avoid being in some kind of relegation battle. Technically, that's competitive. So it was a nonsense term to begin with.

But even if we didn't have the type of budget to compete with County and United, which is a pretty reasonable thing to assume at this point, Archie has still made a complete arse of the budget he actually does have available to him.

26 minutes ago, Thistle4eva said:

Also Sticking Penrice to CB in the 2nd half ? I’m certainly no manager but sticking him into midfield and bringing Keown on at CB was more logical ? Just my opinion.

In terms of an actual logical formation based on the players available to us, Keown being involved in some capacity definitely made sense. But I think Archie is hamstrung by the board not wanting us to play him, which Keown said outside Stenhousemuir to some fans. You can only really assume based on this that he must have a substantial appearance fee in his contract, which is why we're trying to avoid playing him unless absolutely necessary. Which it probably should have been yesterday, tbh.

[Paul Cicero]

When's Willo Flood signing?

[forameus]

10 hours ago, Nightmare said:

The whole "competitive" thing was so ambiguous, it could mean fucking anything. Most of us took it to mean competitive at the top of the league, but I don't think they ever directly said that. Right now it looks like we'll be competing with Morton, Queens, Ayr and Falkirk to avoid being in some kind of relegation battle. Technically, that's competitive. So it was a nonsense term to begin with.

This.  No mention of who we'd be competing with, so not technically wrong.

[jagfox]

Almost 3/1 on Falkirk. Fill yer boots lads.

[BdenJag]

Can a message please be sent to whoever deals with the clubs Twitter account to stop these ridiculous season ticket renewal posts? With so much apathy within the support at the moment, especially regarding the poor state of the squad, it is just embarrassing.

[the_paulo]

11 hours ago, Paul Cicero said:

When's Willo Flood signing?

Current levels of panic not quite high enough, but I reckon the countdown is on to the first post of 'I'd take him'.  

[jagfox]

16 minutes ago, BdenJag said:

Can a message please be sent to whoever deals with the clubs Twitter account to stop these ridiculous season ticket renewal posts? With so much apathy within the support at the moment, especially regarding the poor state of the squad, it is just embarrassing.

Quite bizarre, I don't think there'll be any new additions either...

[Pie Of The Month]

I'm quite enjoying how people at the club are so oblivious to fan opinion that they can describe this season as 'exciting' on social media the other day and are still persisting with this 'next big moment' campaign when the only next big moment I hope to be there for is the unveiling of a new manager. 

Maybe we'll get a snide reply to a fan on twitter to announce our next signing like happened with one of the last ones, that was fun.

[Hammer Jag]

“Not so cuddly anymore”

[Dr Koop]

I'm quite enjoying how people at the club are so oblivious to fan opinion that they can describe this season as 'exciting' on social media the other day and are still persisting with this 'next big moment' campaign when the only next big moment I hope to be there for is the unveiling of a new manager. 
Maybe we'll get a snide reply to a fan on twitter to announce our next signing like happened with one of the last ones, that was fun.

Well, you have to recall that a few years ago our chairman was probably describing the repellent Michael Forsyth as ‘exciting’ or ‘visionary’.

[Armand 2]

Despite a largely new squad, the same malaise continues to plague the team - it's difficult to see any other reason for that than the manager. I was supportive of him staying on especially given the backing demonstrated in David Beattie's statement which, rather dumbly, nobody (I included) seemed to realise was a play straight from 'How to Sell Season Tickets 101'.

I think we'd struggle to find a better custodian of Partick Thistle than Gerry Britton but I really can't see him pulling the trigger on Archie if/when he has to. I don't think there's anyone on the board with the level of objectivity or decisiveness to do it either. That potentially leaves us in a very troubling position. I dread to think what the 'Next Big Moment' might be.

We were led to believe that the continued employment of Barton, Keown and Storey on Premier League salaries was a significant factor in our limited early transfer activity. However since Barton left the club and Storey accepted reduced terms, we've signed one player. On loan. The start of the league season isn't suddenly sprung upon you. To begin in such an under-prepared fashion is negligent from all concerned - and of course, it isn't the first time. Finishing in the Top 6 was supposed to give us more time to identify and recruit players yet we ended up with no midfielders and signing two strikers on the last day of August. There's quite clearly an issue in this department - whether that is because the scope of the Chief Executive role is too vast or that folk aren't particularly good at selling the club is open for debate. What isn't debatable is that it needs addressed.

As for Saturday, it played out rather how I expected it to. If we didn't match the Ayr midfield, it was going to be the same story as the previous week and so it proved. Shankland is playing very well at the moment but we made him look significantly better.

Sincerely hope that I'm wrong but Chris Erskine looks like he's done. Whether he's carrying a knock and is having to play through it due to squad numbers is anyone's guess; wouldn't be surprised with the track record of our supposed fitness team. He's lost the little pace that he had and the agility that he possessed to jink past players also seems to have deserted him.

I thought Max Melbourne was hung out to dry; anyone in the ground could see within 5 minutes that he was incapable of using his right foot for anything other than standing on. To reiterate a point made before the game, we knew since the end of last season that the only right back in the squad would be suspended for the opening game yet despite this notice, left ourselves with no viable option to play. 

What was worse about the above was that despite how clearly uncomfortable Melbourne was, we did absolutely nothing until damage had been done. I mean, it could have been a managerial masterstroke to sign a player to play in the opposite position from his natural one:

Oh wait, no. No, it isn't.

It is increasingly looking like Archie has in fact learned absolutely nothing from last season's abject failure. He was already in credit with a section of the support; I would guess that he's dipping into an overdraft with the majority now.

As for the chat about a possible return for McCall, there's few better around at squad building; there can be no denial that he is a very good lower league manager who has a proven track record of putting structures in place at clubs. He has a charisma that unfortunately Archie lacks and I think our transfer activity would be significantly more proactive with him in charge. With no disrespect to Ayr, he would jump at it too; he's said as much on the radio. But I'm not convinced it would be a move forward for us. If he was interested in taking a step back after Ayr though, I can't think of a better candidate for a Director of Football role at the club.

Edited August 6, 2018 by Armand 2

[Hammer Jag]

Excellent post. I couldn’t agree more with your last sentence.

[ayrmad]

17 minutes ago, Armand 2 said:

Despite a largely new squad, the same malaise continues to plague the team - it's difficult to see any other reason for that than the manager. I was supportive of him staying on especially given the backing demonstrated in David Beattie's statement which, rather dumbly, nobody (I included) seemed to realise was a play straight from 'How to Sell Season Tickets 101'.

I think we'd struggle to find a better custodian of Partick Thistle than Gerry Britton but I really can't see him pulling the trigger on Archie if/when he has to. I don't think there's anyone on the board with the level of objectivity or decisiveness to do it either. That potentially leaves us in a very troubling position. I dread to think what the 'Next Big Moment' might be.

We were led to believe that the continued employment of Barton, Keown and Storey on Premier League salaries was a significant factor in our limited early transfer activity. However since Barton left the club and Storey accepted reduced terms, we've signed one player. On loan. The start of the league season isn't suddenly sprung upon you. To begin in such an under-prepared fashion is negligent from all concerned - and of course, it isn't the first time. Finishing in the Top 6 was supposed to give us more time to identify and recruit players yet we ended up with no midfielders and signing two strikers on the last day of August. There's quite clearly an issue in this department - whether that is because the scope of the Chief Executive role is too vast or that folk aren't particularly good at selling the club is open for debate. What isn't debatable is that it needs addressed.

As for Saturday, it played out rather how I expected it to. If we didn't match the Ayr midfield, it was going to be the same story as the previous week and so it proved. Shankland is playing very well at the moment but we made him look significantly better.

Sincerely hope that I'm wrong but Chris Erskine looks like he's done. Whether he's carrying a knock and is having to play through it due to squad numbers is anyone's guess; wouldn't be surprised with the track record of our supposed fitness team. He's lost the little pace that he had and the agility that he possessed to jink past players also seems to have deserted him.

I thought Max Melbourne was hung out to dry; anyone in the ground could see within 5 minutes that he was incapable of using his right foot for anything other than standing on. To reiterate a point made before the game, we knew since the end of last season that the only right back in the squad would be suspended for the opening game yet despite this notice, left ourselves with no viable option to play. 

What was worse about the above was that despite how clearly uncomfortable Melbourne was, we did absolutely nothing until damage had been done. I mean, it could have been a managerial masterstroke to sign a player to play in the opposite position from his natural one:

Oh wait, no. No, it isn't.

It is increasingly looking like Archie has in fact learned absolutely nothing from last season's abject failure. He was already in credit with a section of the support; I would guess that he's dipping into an overdraft with the majority now.

As for the chat about a possible return for McCall, there's few better around at squad building; there can be no denial that he is a very good lower league manager who has a proven track record of putting structures in place at clubs. He has a charisma that unfortunately Archie lacks and I think our transfer activity would be significantly more proactive with him in charge. With no disrespect to Ayr, he would jump at it too; he's said as much on the radio. But I'm not convinced it would be a move forward for us. If he was interested in taking a step back after Ayr though, I can't think of a better candidate for a Director of Football role at the club.

I've only ever heard him saying Ayr will be his last managerial role, I believe him.

[jagfox]

McCall fucked it for himself at Thistle. He won't be back in any capacity.

[Dr Koop]

I've only ever heard him saying Ayr will be his last managerial role, I believe him.

Yeah, and he’s probably told you he’s right-footed, too.

[Ad Lib]

When Ian McCall used to say that he was just 5 signings short of a title challenge we at least had a starting XI of players in their natural positions and cover for each position...

[ayrmad]

16 minutes ago, Dr Koop said:

Yeah, and he’s probably told you he’s right-footed, too.

No, he's said it continually on TV and radio.