The Club held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday 6th February 2025.
Several members of TJF’s Board attended the meeting, on behalf of the majority shareholder (the PTFC Trust) as one of its two corporate trustees.
Ahead of the meeting we invited fans to submit questions, either to be asked at the meeting itself or to be put forward for written answer afterwards.
The written responses from the Club Board are available below. This is part of our commitment to transparency and openness at our fan-owned Football Club.
The AGM is not the only opportunity to raise questions, and both TJF and the PTFC Trust are happy to raise matters on behalf of fans with the Club Board throughout the year.
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1. Transfer policy and decisions
Question 1
Club Response
Departures in January fell into two categories:
- Players who were not in the manager’s plans and could be released to free up budget
- Players who received offers from other clubs and advised us that they wanted to leave
Question 2
Club Response
The £300k donation toward the playing budget is factored into our headline loss of £280k. This additional money allowed us to have a more competitive budget than we would otherwise have been able to afford.
The summer transfer window was a difficult one with some of our targets only becoming available late in the window.
We were also unable to arrange development loans for some of our players before the deadline.
As a result, we entered the first half of the season with a larger than intended squad that was costing more than we had budgeted for.
We therefore had to make decisions in January that would bring us back on budget overall.
It is normal practice within a football squad budget to reshape the size and cost of the squad when likely expectations for the season become clearer than they were in the summer.
On this occasion the changes were made to ensure we were better placed to deliver the overall budget for the season.
Question 3
Club Response
Speaking about a transfer window publicly in advance runs the risk of weakening our position in transfer negotiations. Had we made it known that there was a requirement to balance our budget, it may have lessened the value of offers that we received for our players.
The opposite is also true. Often when clubs make it known that they have money to spend, it becomes harder to deal with rivals who will push for a higher price because “they know we can afford it”.
Additionally, as we saw in the summer, having a plan for a transfer window is no guarantee of being able to execute it perfectly. Setting expectations of an outcome before we have achieved it would be unwise and could cause confusion or disappointment if the window doesn’t play out as we had hoped.
Also, things can happen that are out of our control such as the transfers of Harry Milne and Scott Robinson. After the Morton game on Saturday 1st February we expected them to be our players for the next game at Falkirk – Heart of Midlothian and Hamilton did not express an interest until Sunday 2nd February.
Finally, it’s important to remember that our players are employees and that we must handle individual cases sensitively. There was a lot of work behind the scenes being led by the manager on engaging with impacted players and we were keen for this to be given the respect and confidentiality that it deserves.
Question 4
How much did the club receive for the sale of Harry Milne?
Club Response
The transfer agreement contains a confidentiality clause which means that we are unable to disclose the amount received.
What we can say is that we achieved a meaningful value which reflected Harry’s importance to us, even though he was coming to the end of his existing deal.
The fee secured was significant for a player with six months left on his contract, and will allow us to support the manager in the loan market during February should he identify suitable targets to strengthen the squad.
The deal also includes a sell-on clause.
Question 5
Why didn’t the Club do what was necessary to keep Scott Robinson at the Club?
Club Response
Scott advised the Club on deadline day that he would like to pursue a new opportunity at Hamilton Academicals where he had been offered a contract until the summer of 2027.
In the circumstances, we worked with the manager to achieve the best deal possible for Partick Thistle and are delighted to welcome Scott Martin to the club.
Question 6
What was the summer recruitment strategy and why did it go so badly?
Club Response
Football recruitment was led by the First Team Manager and supported by Board Members.
There have been some notable successes from the summer window including Myles Roberts, Logan Chalmers and Lee Ashcroft.
All football recruitment is a risk, even more of a risk when you are recruiting from new markets, and some signings don’t work out for a variety of reasons including injury, personal circumstances or tactical changes.
2. Other football department matters
Question 7
What is the support structure around the football manager?
Club Response
The First Team Manager heads up a coaching staff, including his assistant, goalkeeping coach, fitness coach and the Club’s scouting network. Football admin is handled by the Club Secretary.
In addition, the First Team Manager has regular catch ups with the Club Board who are willing to offer opinions/undertake negotiations or discussions with players/agents if asked to do so by the Manager.
Question 8
Who is responsible for the Club’s scouting, and in particular scouting of English leagues?
Club Response
The ultimate decision for player recruitment lies with the First Team Manager.
As part of that process he will discuss options with his assistant, after viewing video footage on Wyscout and watching targets in person.
They will also use data and reports prepared by Chief Scout Tony Kinnear and his team.
NB: Tony Kinnear has been a scout with the Club for over a decade. Fans may wish to listen to a recent podcast interview he gave about his role.
Question 9
Why did the Club choose to prioritise signings from England (especially English academies) rather than from the Scottish lower leagues?
Club Response
The Club Board looked at the best available players for each position, and the cost of bringing them to the Club.
We were unable to attain our first targets in Scotland for the wages we were willing to pay, and so looked at alternatives from England.
We also chose to favour loan signings as we didn’t want to commit to longer term contracts for players who may not have fitted into our first team.
Question 10
Who supports Kris Doolan on a day-to-day basis with regard to football matters?
Club Response
As above, the Club employs a coaching staff, including medical and scouting departments, and Club Secretary to support the First Team Manager.
Question 11
Who appraises the football manager’s performance and how would they summarise it at this stage?
Club Response
The First Team Manager’s performance is appraised collectively by the Club Board.
It would be inappropriate to discuss that appraisal process publicly, other than to say that the club’s focus remains solely on how we can support Kris and his team in securing qualification for the play-offs.
Question 12
Who is/was on the football committee and what are/were they responsible for? Why aren’t they identified on the website?
Club Response
Kris Doolan clarified this at the AGM. The use of the term “football committee” last summer seems to have created confusion and the image of a formalised body meeting regularly.
Insofar as there was a football committee responsible for player transfers, this was comprised of the First Team Manager and Assistant Manager and the Chief Scout.
Richard Beastall, who operates as the Club’s Finance Director in addition to his recent appointment as Chairman, was involved to ensure that all plans were affordable, and other Club Directors – primarily Donald McClymont – were on hand if the First Team Manager wished to delegate Club/agent negotiations for players he would like to sign.
Question 13
Why did you prioritise a non-footballing General Manager instead of a CEO or football minded senior appointment in the summer, when we know the manager is inexperienced?
Club Response
The General Manager is responsible for the off-field performance of the club.
This role replaced our previous CEO position and, while the job title is different, the duties are essentially the same. Our previous CEO was not actively involved in football matters either.
We recognise that the Club would benefit from the appointment of a Sporting Director to provide senior leadership on the football side of the Club, and we have recently begun the recruitment of this position.
Question 14
Despite the Club’s ambitions to improve its customer service to fans, we still hear examples of email correspondence going unanswered.
Supporters recognise that you might not always be able to provide the information they’re asking for, but they always deserve at least a courtesy response.
What will you do to improve that fan experience in the year ahead?
Club Response
This hits on a couple of interconnected issues. The first is one of admin capacity at the Club.
The volume of communication flowing in and out of the office is surprisingly high for an organisation of our size, and there is no Office Manager or equivalent position on the current team. Instead, queries are handled by whoever is available, irrespective of the department that they work in.
This is not a sustainable solution, and you may have seen in the General Manager’s recent update to supporters than an Office Manager is to be recruited to bring consistency and clarity to the communication traffic.
There is also an important fan ownership exercise to undertake, which the Club is happy to lead on with the supporter of TJF and other groups, to ensure that supporters can direct their queries to the most appropriate place. There are several potential entry points to the Club, and the best one to use depends on the issue.
Often our SLO, Norman Wilson, will be able to resolve a customer service issue. Other queries may require more technical skills from the commercial or media department, for example.
And still others, on football policy for example, would be best sent directly to fan board representatives to ensure that they can be raised during the standing ‘Fan Questions’ agenda item at board meetings.
Getting these communication lines right will not only reduce office workload and free up staff to work more effectively but also improve the customer service experience by ensuring that the right person can answer a question as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Question 15
We have had several reports from fans saying that they are encountering problems signing-up and paying to enter the Club Lottery. When they get in touch with the Club their problem goes unresolved.
In some cases there was no acknowledgment or reply. What will you do to fix this?
Club Response
Queries relating to the Club Lottery should be directed to our commercial team, who can be reached by calling the office during business hours.
5. Financial matters
Question 16
Will the Club commit to holding future AGMs, and circulating the previous year’s accounts, within 6 months of the financial year end?
The last two sets of accounts were essentially 7-8 months out of date, making effective financial scrutiny from shareholders much more difficult.
Club Response
In recent years the Club Board has focussed on securing inward investment into the Club, a process that was necessary on both occasions to ensure that our auditors were able to sign off the accounts.
This necessitated a delay in the publication of our accounts. However, we quickly communicated draft financial results to shareholders and supporters.
It is our intention in future years to bring the AGM back to its traditional slot of 6 months following the end of the financial year.
Question 17
At the last AGM you said that we would become sustainable by increasing commercial and hospitality income. How does commercial and hospitality revenue in the current season compare with last year?
Club Response
Commercial and hospitality revenue for this financial year is forecasted to be around £25k lower than last year, due primarily to a reduction in the number of home cup fixtures vs the previous season.
Whilst we have not hit the targets set (and understand some of the reasons for that), this performance is around £90k more than was achieved in season 2022-23.
We are working on plans, including strengthening our Commercial Team, to achieve further growth over the next season.
Question 18
Other than getting a better deal on the shirt sponsor, what specifically is the Club going to do to increase commercial revenues further next season?
Club Response
There are several different initiatives that the Club need to explore in the coming months to ensure that our commercial revenues improve significantly next season.
Sell ourselves better: The Club needs to do better at making people aware of the opportunities that exist to sponsor the Club, and the potential benefits of doing so. We also need to raise awareness of our facilities and their potential uses, both matchday and non-matchday.
We plan to enter the season with a marketing plan and a clear sense of how we will elevate our profile in the local community, something that we have not had in place in previous years.
Innovate: As well as ‘selling better’, we need to identify new opportunities. These can be in sponsorship (particularly digital sponsorship where we have significant room to grow) or in events.
We’re keen to create a diary of non-matchday events for supporters and members of the local community to come along and enjoy. We also want to do more to engage with the large community of students in Glasgow
Increase capacity: The commercial department is not currently resourced to be able to upscale our activities to the required level.
We need to bring not only more capacity but also skilled and experienced people who can lead us on the journey of professionalising our commercial operations.
This was alluded to in the General Manager’s recent update. Recruitment of one role, a replacement for a recently departed member of the team, has begun, and further roles will be announced shortly.
The Fans Group meeting that was established in January will shortly be invited to discuss their views on JagsZone. There is a balance to be struck between creating revenue and having items in front and behind a paywall and we want the views of fans on how best to do this.
Question 19
Is the Club still on-track to deliver the £280k loss planned for this season?
Club Response
As of the most recent management accounts circulated to Club Board members in January, and our expected performance outcomes for the season, yes.
There are however elements of risk, should attendances fall significantly, or if we fail to finish in our targeted position of fourth.
The board continually monitor financial performance and will seek to take steps where possible to mitigate falling revenues.
Question 20
Greenock Morton, a Club with significantly fewer fans and which got significantly less league prize money than us last year, posted a significant six-figure profit in the same division.
Even without their Old Firm cup tie they’d have still been close to break even, and their costs appear to be a lot lower than ours.
Why is their fan-owned football club capable of balancing the books when (so far) our one isn’t?
Club Response
A study of the accounts of our fellow Championship clubs is certainly a worthwhile exercise and is something that we have asked the new Finance Working Group to lead.
It is difficult to comment on an individual club’s circumstances without first undertaking that exercise, but it is important to remember that there are several variables in the way that every club operates and indeed in the way that they present their accounts.
We understand that it is appropriate to re-examine every element of our cost base and ensure that it is adding value to the Club, this is something we have undertaken to do as part of the budgeting exercise for next season.
6. Women's team
Question 21
Why did you merge the accounts of the women’s team with the rest of the Club? Isn’t it a separate entity?
Club Response
Due to the success of the Women’s team, they breached the VAT registration threshold for a business during season 2023-24.
As such it was felt it was simpler from an accounting perspective to merge the two entities together.
The Women’s team present a budget to the Club Board on a breakeven basis with financial performance monitored as part of the monthly Club Board meeting cycle.
As indicated in the Directors’ Strategic Report (part of the draft annual accounts) the Women’s team is responsible for just over £153k of the Club’s operating expenditure in season 2023-24.
Question 22
How much is the Women’s team subsidised by the Club?
Club Response
The Club’s own budget allocated a £30k subsidy to the Women’s team in season 2023-24.
Question 23
How much money does the Women’s team raise per year?
Club Response
Excluding the £30k subsidy from the Club itself, the Women’s Team generated about £121k of income in season 2023-24.
Question 24
We have received some correspondence from some fans expressing concerns about parking and traffic around the ground on matchdays.
This has a particular impact for disabled supporters, whose access is often obstructed by illegally parked vehicles on pavements.
What will the Club do to discourage illegal parking in the vicinity of the stadium and what more can it do to encourage alternative modes of transport to be used by fans going to games?
Club Response
Illegal parking is of course first and foremost a matter for Glasgow City Council, though we are pleased to say we have an excellent working relationship with the local authority.
We have recently received a request from our Disabled Supporters Association to open an additional gate at the rear of the stadium on a matchday. This is now being done and is already making a big difference.
There is always more that we can do, and we will continue to work with our DSA, other fan groups and local authorities to ensure the best possible matchday experience for all supporters.
Encouraging alternative methods of transport is a great suggestion and something that we would like our SLO team to explore during 2025.
There are excellent examples of other clubs who advertise local cycle paths and scenic walking routes to and from the stadium, not only easing congestion but also encouraging families to attend fixtures as part of an active lifestyle.