Fuctifano
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Posts posted by Fuctifano
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I'd heard that too about parachute payment, but what if the Premiership team stays up? Does it go into the prize pot for next year or the SPFL Christmas Night Out?
4 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said:Would we have to pay to install the VAR stuff again this season (if we make it that far) or would we already have most of it in place due to last season? @Ad Lib can you shed any light on this?
If you believe that guy who thinks there was a conspiracy at Dingwall it shouldn't cost much to install a bit of plastic with a piece of card in it saying "give the decision against Thistle"
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1 hour ago, Dunning1874 said:
If you left the top flight at 12 though, then expanding the second tier to 18 simply wouldn't cause the same problem of that gulf between divisions. You get away from clubs playing each other six times a season unless you're very unlucky with cup draws, only drop one home game compared to currently, the meaningless game argument is hugely overstated and there's something in it for everyone.
just to piggyback on this, the usual argument is it allows managers to play more youth players without fear of losing games but in reality:
1) there are actually far fewer "meaningless" game than you'd imagine. Even in the English Championship this year, a league of 24 teams and 46 games, with 3 games to go there were only 3 teams who were arithmetically both safe from relegation and out of the promotion play off race (plus Rotherham who were already relegated). With 6 games to go literally everyone still had something to play for.
2) going back to the Scottish second tier, we've seen on here in the last few weeks the discussions about how much prize money means to a team at this level and that the difference between finishing a place or two higher is effectively an extra couple of players wages for the following season. yes, that bit is a slightly harder sell to casual fans rather than diehards but there's always something to play for.
In a 2nd tier of 18 you'd probably have the same playoff system as now as Prem clubs still unlikely to agree to 2 down automatically but you'd also have 3 going down at the bottom, 3rd bottom can either be automatic or playoff. I think folk would be surprised about the low number of "meaningless" games in that scenario.
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17 minutes ago, BFTD said:
Everyone plays twice for 30 games, then a split for another seven games each for 37 matches in total.
Not saying it's my preferred choice, but that sounds do-able.
This used to be the set up in Poland but I think they went to 18 during covid. The teams that finished top half of each section got the extra home game.
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I think the issue with playing teams repetitively is more of an issue outside the top tier. Premiership clubs don't play (their first teams) in the Challenge Cup, and the nature of the playoffs means they can't play another Premiership team in them whereas in the Championship you're guaranteed to do so meaning a minimum of 6 games a season vs the same team before cup draws- and in leagues 1 & 2 you will do so if you finish 2nd or 3rd (or 4th and then beat the team from league above).
I think there's an argument for a bigger second tier -with split if need be- with the current Premiership / Championship play off format, at least if you finish 4th in a league of 14/16 it seems more reasonable to get a shot at promotion rather than 4th in a league of 10.
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46 minutes ago, Alert Mongoose said:
In order to resolve a minor disagreement on the Utd v Ayr thread @Fuctifanowould it be possible to show us what your predictor states now for Utd to win the league? Cheers
Not sure what the disagreement is tbh but there's no scope in the model, or in real life, for a nonsensical GD overturn.
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I should add that as Morton are safe this year, they will complete ten years in the 2nd tier next year to equal QoS, so if they don't go up or down in 24/25 then they will be the new holders of this very niche record.
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50 minutes ago, The Ghost of B A R P said:
A 16-team league with a split into four sections of four after 30 games gives a 36-game season (with the post-split games evenly home and away). It also virtually guarantees the broadcasters their four games between the sisters (added bonus being that two of them are late in the run in).
This is and always has been the answer.
I generally like this sort of idea but I think it would need a playoff system for the last European spot else teams 5-13 are playing for not much- this is easier since the Conference League has come in.
Currently, the Czech and Bulgarian leagues are both 16 team leagues which split 3 ways after 30 games but split 6/4/6.
In Czech league the 4 teams in the middle play a straight 2-leg knockout series for the last Conference League place. In Bulgaria the team which finishes top of the middle section plays off against the team sitting in the last qualifying slot in the top section for that last Conference League place.
Romania is also a 16 team league but splits 6-10 with the top half playing a double round robin and bottom half playing once for 40/39 games. Again there are playoffs where the top team in the bottom half can get into Europe. That's probably too many games though given the already congested calendar
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Got home from primary school at about 3.05 in time to see the finish. 6 minutes injury time in those days must be equivalent to about 25 minutes now.
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Only the final which is now set in stone given Aberdeen can't be in both that and the SC final on 25th- those are Thu 23rd and Sun 26th May.
I'd be very surprised if the others aren't Tuesday and Friday nights given they're on BBC but nothing official as yet, maybe get confirmation tomorrow, they maybe had contingency plans if Aberdeen won yesterday which are no longer required
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For next season we already have a relatively large number of players signed up both for a club at this level and for our recent past.
GK: McCready, Stewart (if we exercise option). Erm. Not great.
Defence: Milne, McBeth, Williams, O'Reilly and there was a lot of talk Muirhead had triggered an extension even if nothing official. I'm keeping McBeth here for now but we might try him in midfield again next year.
Midfield/ Wingers: Fitzpatrick, Lawless, Bannigan, Stanway, Mackenzie, Lyon, Robinson
Forwards: Graham, Diack.
That's 16 players - although I don't think we'll sign Stewart (if Doolan has a functioning pair of eyes), Lawless has got to be a large question mark moving forward given the severity of his injury and his age, though obviously I hope I'm wrong on that, and Lyon might get moved on during the summer especially if we're signing another young midfielder.
f**k knows what we'll do with half these guys if we go up , but I'm willing to find out.
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I think even if Airdrie lose to DU on Friday which would realistically confirm us as 3rd given our GD advantage, we'll start this game with our strongest team available, but depending on how it's going the likes of Graham and Fitzpatrick might only play 60 minutes or so.
The argument for resting players in this game and not at Tannadice would be if we played a shadow team on the last day and got thumped then does it affect the team morale going into the playoffs? You can argue these things either way, probably one of those situations where the result vs Airdrie means we've done the right thing if we win and wrong thing if we lose regardless of what option we take.
I agree with playing O'Reilly ahead of Muirhead to get him some game time as well
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To sort of answer the original query:
Since we went to 4 tiers in 1994-95 the longest spell in 2nd tier without moving up or down is 10 years by QoS from promotion in summer of 2002 to relegation in 2012. A couple of teams have done 9, Falkirk and Morton.
The longest in the 3rd tier (and this surprised me) is Brechin who spent 11 years without going up or down from 2006 to 2017, when they got promoted into the championship. Tailed off a bit after that it's fair to say. Airdrie next best with 10 which ended last summer.
So Elgin quite comfortably in the lead albeit it still is harder to get out of the 4th tier in the wrong direction.
Morton have had the most seasons in the 2nd tier since that date with 22 and Forfar in the 3rd tier with 20 , but Forfar have never had more than 7 in a row in the third tier.
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3 minutes ago, The Thistle Archive said:
Most of your post-Airdrie updates in place, with a packed edition of 'Stats Watch'. Donald Wilson's capture nails it!
● Brian Graham - the Division's top-scorer - has now scored against every team in the league this season! Has that ever happened before for us? Seems unlikely - certainly prior to 10 team divisions.
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Model has QP just about odds on vs Arbroath.
Re: the playoffs, even thought we've finished 4th last 2 seasons and could still do this season, I still think it makes more sense for 2nd vs 3rd to play off followed by the winner vs 11th as that evens the number of games played and also 4th in a ten team league shouldn't have a shot at promotion.
Then the argument is there's no real advantage for finishing 2nd over 3rd other than having the 2nd leg at home. Part of me likes the idea that the 2nd place club would go through if it's a draw in such a scenario, but that's effectively giving them a goal of a start and if you phrase it like that it seems like madness.
As said, unless we somehow end up with a stronger TV deal meaning we're less reliant on gate money, the format isn't changing any time soon. 12-10-10-10 is certainly the most stable it's been in my lifetime, been like this for nearly 25 years whereas in the 80s and 90s the top flight kept changing between 12 and 10 teams.
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18 minutes ago, jagsfan57 said:
I imagine that Ross County had a larger squad than us, which probably would have had an impact on fitness.
They named an incomplete bench for both legs (7 subs for first leg and 6 for second) while we named a full one. While we would have had a couple of kids on the bench that had no chance of getting on I'm not sure that the larger squad argument is true.
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In terms of omens we beat QP 4-0 last year after being 0-0 at HT not long before the playoffs. Hopefully same outcome.
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Looks like McInroy wide right in our usual formation.
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Would have said Graham was our only deserving candidate but that Mcmillan might have got it due to no one else really standing out in that position.
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O'Reilly, Robinson and Bannigan all back in the squad- even if only Robinson starts then the bench should be a bit stronger than last few weeks.
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I don't think anyone has missed them in Scotland albeit it was even worse here due to playing each other 4 times a season already. Surprised at the amount of shock from EFL clubs tbh.
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On the development issue and players being better when they leave us than when they sign, I think it's more relevant to the guys who have come through the youth academy: Stanway, MacKenzie and maybe Lyon, although I can see Lyon being mutually consented in the summer or loaned out for the full last year of his contract. McBeth is probably a special case despite him being 24 years old given he was in the 6th tier before Christmas and is another one we need to make sure develops.
If we're serious about integrating the youth team players into the first team squad then they're the guys who have to improve; from the outside it's been a waste of a year for MacKenzie, a few games out of position at the start of the season and he might now get a run in another position which isn't his own with Lawless being injured. He's not really any further forward in establishing himself than he was this time last season.
Stanway I've thought for lots of this season hasn't quite seemed up to this level yet but I also think the potential is there- by all accounts he had a great game on Saturday so hopefully he's getting there.
I suppose it can take some time - going back to McBeth, it took Doolan and Erskine probably 2 seasons to make the jump from juniors to being good Championship players, then another year to be standouts at Championship level and then onto being comfortable the Premiership.
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Up until Adeloye and Lawless' injuries I don't think we'd been that bad for injuries this season, from Thistle Archive site we've played 42 competitive games so far and here's what each player has missed
Lawless : 1 (and counting obvs
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Muirhead: 1 -and that was suspension
Stanway: 1
Fitz: 2
Graham: 2 - 1 of which was suspension
Milne : 2 - as Graham
Alston: 3- but hasn't missed a game since he signed as signed before the final LC Group game
Bannigan: 4
Neilson: 6- some of that would be international duty plus he didn't sign til after the LC group stages so not sure he's missed a game injured
McInroy- 7 - again he didn't sign til after the LC groups so 3 games injured at most
That's a reasonable core of guys who have missed next to no game timeThen we come to (list isn't comprehensive):
Williams: 11
Adeloye: 11
McMillan : 12- mostly at start of season IIRC
O'Reilly 12
Robinson : 17
Ngwenya: 20 (didn't sign until after LC )Considering we had about a ten minute turnaround between last season finishing and this one starting, I think we've done OK to only have McMillan from last season's guys miss any significant time.
Robinson's recent career history is injury plagued and I don't know whether we took a punt on O'Reilly knowing he was injured but hope it would clear up sooner than it has.
The issue for me was that was had no depth in certain positions, one of which is now biting us severely with Lawless injury.
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5 minutes ago, Zanetti said:
I agree that we're definitely favourites for 9th and fully expect that to happen, but I'm assuming these probabilities don't account for teams that have nothing to play for potentially taking their foot off the gas a bit and resting players?
Yeah intangibles like that and injuries can't be factored in without me having to make a guess so I just leave it as is.
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#Barclays 23/24
in Misc Other Fitba Chat
Posted · Edited by Fuctifano
I know it was onside in the end but surely the fact Liverpool had 2,765 chances to clear the free kick would render the original 'offside' before the goal irrelevant?