McNamara Under Pressure?

 Jackie McNamara hasn't been in the thistle hotseat for long but know's that the managers job at firhill is not for the faint hearted. The last 2 games have brought 1-0 defeats with the team conceding very late goals in both games to leave the fans disgruntled and unhappy. With being knocked out of all 3 cups early and 2 of them to smaller clubs than thistle (berwick rangers and queen of the south) the fans are not happy as most see that getting far in cups and a decent tie agaisnt either old firm club or a big supported spl side as a way of the club making money these days. Although currently sitting in 4th in the scottish first division there have been shouts from supporters for mcnamara to go which i find suprising. In my opionion its still to early to come to this decision but football supporters these day demand instants success but come on now lets be serious how much success can a run of the mill first division side with no finances get.

   Jackie McNamara took over from Ian McCall for the final 5 league games of the 2010/2011 season and in just those 5 games we were able to see that he liked the team to get the ball down and try and play football something that is not easy in the lower divisions of scottish football but most fans seemed happy and were willing enough for mcnamara to get the job on a full time basis. Under mccall the team in my opinion was becoming a bit stale and was only going to go in one direction and that was slide further down the table. Ian McCall had 4 years at the helm but towards the end things didnt seem right, when he first joined we started off well finishing runner up to st johnstone in the league and had 3 great games against rangers which included the 1-1 draw at ibrox. The last 18 months howver were different and the team started to slide down the league and struggle, I honestly believe that if mccall was still in charge to day that we would be down at the bottom of the first division this season. McCall was never really giving a hard time by the supporters towards the end of his tenure even though the football the team were playing was dire and just scraping bye on results. The biggest mistake ian mccall made was getting rid of cult hero Mark Roberts. Even before mccall thistle were under the management of a certain Dick Campbell. Campbell's side were never that great and he somehow managed to get us promoted throught the second division playoffs even though we finished 4th and more than 20 points behind 2nd place morton. What i cant understand was that thistle fans were allowing the past 2 managers at least 18 months to get things sorted on the park but are only allowing mcnamara just half a season.

Jackie Mcnamara with decembers manager of the month

  The product on the park in the first half of this season has been better than what was served up by campbell and mccall in his last 2 years and the squad that mcnamara has is full of youngsters which are trying to gel together. Also the fans have to remember that this is Jackie McNamara's first job in management. The supporters need to understand that jackie is trying to get the team to play a possesion and passing game and it seems to be working as in most games the reports read thistle lots of possesion and good football but lack the killer touch. I will admitt we do lack that killer touch and the striker that can get 20 goals a season but have done for years since the lambie days with scott mclean  mark roberts being the exception. The thistle fans have to realise that mcnamara is a hungry young boss wanting to be succesful playing agood brand of football and he should be giving time, in my opinion at least 2 full seasons and then see were the club is then not after only 19 leagues. Football supporters these days expect success overnight but how many clubs can guarntee that not many. For example the riches they have at chelsea took 5 season under roman abramovich before they won the premeir league and even the great fergie didnt win anything in his first 4 years at manchester united. Managers cant just turn things around overnight and in scotland it is even harder as the old firm dominate here.

 What are the real ambitions for partick thistle, i would love to see us in the premier league but in all honestly we are a first division club at best which is where we have been most of my watching day. Most supporters have us up there with the likes of St Mirren and Kilmarnock but in reality these days we are on par with the likes of hamilton and even ross county who have a better average home crowd and a bigger playing budget than us. The support is dwindling and the finances are poor but we still show our support for our club by turning up week in week out so lets just get behind the team and hopefully the results on the park will come and Jackie McNamara can be a success as thistle manager.

Jackie with his assistants simon and davie