Thistle Bonnet

I think Thistle went something like 63 successive games in the Premiership without being awarded a penalty...nobody knew who our designated penalty taker was...astonishingly the sequence was ended by a soft penalty award against Celtic!

Most Thistle fans have a realistic assessment of Alan Archibald's time as Manager - he did well but lost the plot latterly. To compare him adversely with Lambie is bizarre:- Loyalty - Lambie left Thistle twice, once for Hamilton then Falkirk. League Position - the two lowest League finishes in the Club's History were in 1998/99 & 1999/2000 - 8th then 5th in the Second Division - Lambie was the manager, albeit in the first of those seasons he took over late on. Cup Record - Thistle have been awful in all Cups since Bertie Auld was in charge - apart from one Cup Semi-Final, Lambie record was very poor with a home defeat against a Cowdenbeath side which hardly won a game that season a particular low point. Signings - Higgy, Cerny, Erskine, Taylor,Osman & Barton(first season) were very good signings....Lambie's strength was getting great performances from journeymen professionals...none of them had transfer re-sale values....Henry, Lindsay & Fitzpatrick were sold for decent transfer fees whereas Lambie barely had a young player who was a first time regular Archie was sent off for head-butting Dougie Imrie ( a gentleman footballer but not a youth player) and I understand that Lawless indicated that he would not re-sign for the Club . But apart from that Mr Jacker is spot on.

It's only fair to highlight Motherwell's Stellar role in that fiasco - they were in Administration the previous season, finished bottom of the League but were saved from relegation by the operation of the 10,000 seat Stadium Rule. Their Administrator was nonetheless able to offer better deals to two of Thistle's best players (Steven Craigan & Alex Burns)...we also lost Alan Archibald, Scott Paterson and Martin Hardie because our Board, exclusively in that League, tried to operate a balanced budget. We didn't help our cause by appointing the hapless Gerry Collins as manager. In their promotion season, Thistle had to have a compliant stadium by March - they wouldn't have been promoted if the Building work hadn't been completed by that deadline. Good luck to Inverness but these rules were waived for them. It suited Aberdeen, Hearts & Hibs to abandon the Stadium Rule - Thistle unlike Motherwell were not part of the Cartel and could readily be sacrificed. Shameless Motherwell voted to relegate us. With regard to Saturday's Game, well I was sure that Kris Doolan would score on his return to Firhill with Ayr and was quietly pleased when he did...I am almost as certain that Myles Storey will score at least one but I won't be applauding...in fairness Storey always tried and never hid but he was the most frustrating player I have ever seen for Thistle.

The border did run across the park at Shawfield though I don't think it was on the halfway line...my old Dad used to tell me the story of the player who hit a shot from Rutherglen and scored in Glasgow. Another myth is that Clyde's home attendances slumped when they moved from Shawfield to Cumbernauld...I believe there was no great difference in the average attendances for the years immediately before and after.

I took a short detour to visit the truly unremarkable little town of Glasgow, Virginia. Spookily, the song playing on the car radio as I drove past the town sign was Simple Minds "Don't you forget about me" There was also a Historic Marker Sign denoting the site of the first recorded skirmish between New World Settlers and Native American Indians...probably started by "What are you looking at?"

Even more damning that his paltry goal return, Storey only managed a single assist in over 60 games - he had the pace and strength to get into great positions and an uncanny ability to fail to find a team-mate with a pass or cross. I don't think that the decline in Doolan's scoring was entirely unconnected with Storey's inclusion in the side. Possibly the most frustrating player I have seen for Thistle.

Ronnie Simpson started his goalkeeping career with Queens Park at the age of 14...he played nearly 300 games with Newcastle United, twice winning the FA Cup...he also played for Hibernian...he won his first International Cap at the age of 36 when he was with Celtic. Lennox & Chalmers were competing with genuinely top class players like Denis Law, Alan Gilzean and Ian St John for the Scottish International Team...though it's always worth remembering that Law & St John together with Billy McNeill and the Double-winning Spurs Legend Dave McKay were team-mates in a Scotland team that played England at Wembley - as a prime example of institutional bias the Goalkeeper took the blame for the defeat and never played for Scotland again...he was Frank Haffey of Celtic...it was the infamous 9-3 defeat.

Paul McLaughlin played for Queens Park, Celtic & Thistle

Penrice is marginal but Elliot is clearly playing Telfer onside - I noticed McCarthy having an exchange with him after the goal. However this picture does show how disorganised the side is - there are 8 Thistle players back in their own half but the 2 Morton players were able to cut clean through. Scobbie has moved over from right centre back to the left back position leaving a gap and McGinty is spectating. I don't think either of them are good players but the changes in personnel and formation in central defence don't help.

I once referred to Red Monkey as the Chic Charnley of the old PT.net Forum...capable of moments of brilliance but with a high chance of a vicious atrocity...he was always box-office but back then he was a rebel regularly berating the Board and Management and also Thistle fans for accepting mediocrity. He in now like Chic Charnley in his fourth spell at Firhill - he shouldn't have come back. I thought Archie merited to the end of last season and it was to the credit of the Club and Supporters that he was then given a reprieve. In hindsight, it would have been better if he had left then - our first choice defence this season includes Elliot, Keown and McGinty none of whom look to be good enough to be in a promoted team...and we have no other options.

Martin Woods was a journeyman midfielder - he actually briefly improved our midfield as we were playing Ryan Edwards and Adam Barton(Version II - not an upgrade) there. Poor though we were, we were ultimately relegated by one goal so it wouldn't have taken much to stay up - muscle man Abdul Osman not lying down pretending to be injured when Dundee scored their crucial equaliser would have done it. Archie's failure to anticipate that the loss of Sean Welsh and the injury history of Osman, Bannigan & Fraser might leave a gap in midfield or to give young McCarthy more of a chance was culpable . He replicated the error this season in recruiting a barely competent back four with no other options. Throughout his time, with the exception of Lyle Taylor, his attempts to sign a decent striker as an alternative to Doolan were dismal - Ade Azeez is the worst finisher I have seen in professional football...but he was better than Myles Storey. There are a lot of positives about Archie's time in charge but he had run his race.

Stuart Cosgrove was a very articulate voice at the time of Armageddon...I particularly remember him absolutely savaging Graham Speirs' argument that Scottish Football without the Old Firm would be on par with the Irish League. He seems to have lost his edge recently...I suspect Cosgrove having a young son and St Johnstone winning a Trophy has contributed but he did make a somewhat wistful comment a while ago about being a target when you give an opinion about Scottish Football. I still enjoy listening to Stuart & Tam...it does seem a bit tired but I would really miss it if it wasn't on.

Nacho Novo survived a heart attack earlier this year. Every Thistle Fan on this thread had nominated the little runt - it started so long ago that we were a Premiership side then. There were a good number of fans of other clubs who also nominated him so my expectation is that he will be the runaway winner. I'm sure the prospect of announcing a former Dens Park hero in the Number 1 position has no connection whatsoever with the slowest count since Jack Dempsey fought Gene Tunney

Liam Lindsay - transferred.; Sean Welsh - career-ending injury; Dumbuya & Osman injured/disaffected; Booth - injured for half the season; Adam Barton - outstanding sweeper/hopeless midfielder were all regulars in the Thistle team that finished 6th but didn't or hardly played last season. Our increased budget was squandered on Salmon & Storey who regularly played in preference to Doolan/Erskine/Lawless. It's an object lesson on the importance of spending your budget wisely.

Th e most depressing thing about this list is that there are probably at least another dozen games over the last few seasons when we have conceded late goals and points where we were in control - two 90th minute goals against the Hibs relegation side, a Balatoni og against Dundee, a penalty against St Mirren, a rebound from a penalty against Kilmarnock, that wee nyaff Sott MacDonald outjumping our defence for Motherwell are just a few that come to mind. It's happened too often.

In fairness to Sportsound, Souness' opinion was completely ridiculed tonight with Richard Gordon asking why anyone should care what the level of interest in Scottish Football in England is, backed up by Tom English and the list of clubs who have won trophies since Rangers' demise...then Willie Miller wading in about the Rangers team in Souness time signing players they couldn't afford...Chick Young was squealing like a pig! Great entertainment.

Azeez certainly offers more to the team than Pogba did...but Pogba was hopeless and the laziest player I've ever seen at getting back onside and didn't score enough either. The Thistle fans on more than one occasion have been genuinely willing Big Ade to score...but the reality is he is just about the poorest finisher I have ever seen. I think the statistics for last season were that he had 17 one-on-ones with the keeper but failed to score even once...and I don't recall a single effort bringing out a decent save. That's not good enough. He holds the ball up reasonably well and rattles defenders with his pace & power but he did lose his man for the last minute Inverness equaliser. I haven't seen much of Kevin Nisbet but he has been a regular scorer for the Development Side and did well in a loan spell with East Stirling. Like Liam Lindsay, he has the physique to step up to the first team but his loan at Ayr United doesn't seem to have gone well although the two goals he did score were excellent finishes. He looks like he might go the way of Declan McDaid and David Wilson - showing enough ability to make the first team squad but not doing enough in the few opportunities they were given to merit a regular start. This is a major problem in Scottish Football - the failure to develop promising young talent at 18 or 19 into top flight professionals. Both Azeez & Nisbet need to improve significantly and I hope they do...but we can't rely on Doolan alone to score goals for us...though it is worth remembering that he had a dismal loan spell at Clyde where he failed to score and he has done pretty well since then.

Thistle finished 5th in the League in 1975/76 - they had been promoted at the start of that season and had Alan Rough & Alan Hansen in the side with Doug Somner, Joe Craig, Jackie Campbell & Andy Anderson also pretty decent players. At New Year 1963, Thistle were on a 16 game unbeaten run and challenging Rangers at the top of the League...that Winter was the worst of the Century and almost no professional football was played in the UK from January to the beginning of March. Thistle never recovered their form after the long break and hardly won another game, eventually finishing third. I think Thistle also finished third on at least 2 previous occasions but have never finished higher than that, Considering that we have been without arguably our three best footballing midfielders - Bannigan, Gary Fraser & Welsh - for most of the season, we're doing pretty well.

I always listen to Sportsound on the car radio on the way back from Firhill - it's good to hear a neutral view on the game and to catch up on the scores and match reports for the other teams. Today, I got back to the car just after 5 o'clock...there was about 15 minutes of chat and interviews about the game at Parkhead including Pat Bonnar's blether then most of the rest of the programme to 5.30 was devoted to a pointless series of archive material & interviews with former Rangers players on the hostility towards Aberdeen, dwelling on the Simpson/Durrant incident - no mention of Willie Johnston's assault on John McMaster which as far as I can recall was the source of the antagonism. Willie Miller commented that he was disappointed in the content. Why does the BBC's flagship football programme pander so much to a Club that bans one of their reporters who committed the serious offence of mentioning their sectarian singing ? Other than a quick run through of the scores, there was no acknowlegment that other games had actually taken place..

At the time, I read the Panel Report following the Hearing. From the evidence given, my own impression was that if anyone was convinced by McMillan's hard luck story, I hope that they are on the Jury if I am ever on a Murder Rap, caught with a Smoking Gun. Even if his story of his drink being spiked is true, he was out on a heavy all-day drinking session at a time when he was unable to play for Thistle and on medication for an illness - a real model professional. It must have been poor quality cocaine as neither McMillan or any of his mates noticed any change in his behaviour after he took the allegedly spiked drink. In fairness, a two year ban for taking a performance reducing drug does seem harsh but any suggestion that he was badly treated by Thistle is way off the mark and does McMillan even less credit than the offence he was banned for.

Thistle have had one game postponed in the previous two seasons...why would they have spent money on the pitch at the start of this season? It has been an exceptionally wet winter...Glasgow Warriors with a far bigger budget that Thistle have been unable to play at nearby Scotstoun since early December. Motherwell(In Administration) escaped relegation in 2003 on the 10,000 seat rule. In 2004, they voted to disregard that rule and relegate Thistle - Motherwell were one of seven then SPL Teams who have been in Administration or Liquidation and preferred to sign players they couldn't afford than pay their bills...and have since pocketed £££ in SPL prize money when they should have been in the Seaside Leagues.

I went to the game that night...there was no queue by the time I got there as all the tickets had been sold and I didn't get one. The tickets sold was far more than the attendance at that night's game. Glory hunting Thistle Fans!!

Luxury in 1983, we drew 1-1 against Kilmarnock in the Cup at the end of January. In February, we played them twice more both with extra time before finally winning the fourth match. We fitted in a League match against Dumbarton, then drew a cup tie with Clyde, the replay was abandoned in extra time, played Clyde in the League then beat them 6-0 in the replayed replay, all before the end of the month.

It's a short trip across the Bridge by train from Copenhagen to Malmo. We got the train at about 9am and returned about 5.30pm the same day - Malmo is not really a tourist destination - the small Old Town is pleasant enough but we felt we had seen all Malmo had to offer in that time. Although Sweden has a reputation for cool and elegant design, Malmo Castle must be a contender for the Ugliest Castle in the World. Malmo is ok but I suspect there might be better destinations elsewhere in Denmark or Sweden for a day trip from Copenhagen.

News Reporters who are "across" a story make me cross.