Sunday 2nd February, 2020 at 11:00am
In our article in the programme for our Scottish Cup tie with Celtic we provided a brief overview of the Working Group’s overall structure. Today we turn our attention towards just a couple of the sub-groups, the areas that they have responsibility for and the individuals that comprise the sub-groups. Over the course of future programme articles we will take a look a look at the other sub-groups and, of course, the Working Group itself which oversees the work of the sub-groups.
Model for Community Ownership
The overall responsibility of this sub-group is to help create the structure of the shareholding entity that will hold the majority shareholding when it is transferred over.
This sub-group is Chaired by Paul Goodwin and with his experience of taking Stirling Albion into community ownership, saving them from potential liquidation in the process, plus his contribution towards the community ownership models at Hearts, Dunfermline and Annan Athletic makes him the ideal individual to take the lead in this sub-group.
Paul will be ably supported in the task detailed above by a very strong team which comprises of:
Jim McLaggan:
A lifelong Thistle fan, Jim is a Chartered Secretary and Chartered Governance professional with 20 years experience working with boards, membership organisations and governing bodies. Additionally Jim is a director of the Scottish Youth Football Association where he is the Chair of football operations.
Gavin Smart:
For the last 10 years Gavin, a qualified Management Accountant, has been working in corporate finance roles as a valuation and business modelling consultant. He is strongly motivated to help put in place a structure that will put Thistle in a strong position for decades to come.
Gordon Scott:
Currently working in social care with East Dunbartonshire Social Care Partnerships, where he often works alongside various social enterprises, Gordon previously served on the Board of a fairly large housing association and for 5 years was the Chair of that housing association.
Gordon is a strong believer that communities should own and control their own assets.
Martin O’Neil:
Martin is a season ticket holder at Firhill and has 20 years experience in IT management setting up governance structures in both the public and private sector. A trade unionist and political activist, Martin has a passion for democracy.
Andrew Holloway:
Introduced to Thistle by his father, Andrew has been supporting the team since season 1995-1996.
A Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor, Andrew leads the Entrepreneurial Taxes team in a chartered accountants and business advisors company where he is involved in structuring various employee-owned corporates.
The concept of a sustainable future for Thistle is something that Andrew finds incredibly important.
Davy Mains:
Between the years 2012 and 2014 Davy was a Board member of the Jags Trust before going on to serve as a Board member and trustee of the Partick Thistle Charitable Trust.
He was also a founding member of the Partick Thistle Football Fans In Training football team and is an occasional contributor to the Jagscast podcast.
Away from Thistle and football, Davy has worked in recruitment for 25 years and his industry knowledge in the Digital and Technology sector led him to being selected as a judge at The Herald Digital Business Awards.
Finance and Membership
This sub-group will look at who will be members of the new shareholding entity, what it will cost to run, how finances will be arranged and pledges made and is chaired by Stuart Callison, a Thistle fan of some 50 years standing and is the CEO of St Andrews First Aid. Stuart will be supported in his sub-group by:
Stewart McLuckie:
Stewart has been a Thistle fan since 1968 and for the last 30 years has been a Finance Manager with a Glasgow security firm.
Morag McHaffie:
Morag has been attending Firhill for over 50 years and currently works for a non-departmental organisation.
A season ticket holder, Morag was secretary to the original Partick Thistle Supporters Federation and has served as a committee member, secretary and is presently Chairperson of the Jags Trust. Morag is firmly involved in the Trust movement and is currently Chairperson of Supporters Direct Scotland.
Her main interest though lies in the future of Partick Thistle Football Club.
Billy Gow:
A Thistle supporter since the 1960s, Billy retired in April of 2019 after a career spent mainly in finance/accountancy in the private sector, latterly as operations director in a manufacturing company.
Jim Isherwood:
Long standing Thistle fan, Jim is retired having spent most of his working life in an office environment as a buyer in the shipbuilding industry.
Linda McGowan:
Linda is a member of the Jordanhill Supporters bus and is a passionate Thistle fan who cares deeply about the opportunity ahead.
Her professional life lies in the banking industry where she has worked for over 40 years managing small teams with tight deadlines and is currently working in the policy and regulatory team.
Linda also volunteers as a mentor for the MCR Pathways, mentoring a high school pupil.
Robert Taylor:
A season ticket holder, Robert has also supported the club by sponsoring players’ and managers’ tops.
Robert has been the director of two large credit unions and volunteers with the SSAFA as a Care Worker Training Officer.
Additionally, Robert has been a co-opted member of the PTFC Trust.
All sub-groups report back to the Working Group itself and, as detailed at the top of the page, we will provide a little more biographical detail of who sits on the Working Group in future programmes.
Meantime we are still in the process of arranging our next public meeting and we thank you for your patience while we do so but please rest assured that although the Working Group may not be publically visible at present much hard work is going on in the background. The purpose of our next public meeting will be to introduce, face to face, as many members of the Working Group and its sub-groups as possible thus giving a public face to the Working Group. We also intend to have a guest speaker from a club already operating with a fan ownership structure who will share some of their experiences before the floor will be opened for what we are sure will prove to be a lively question and answer session. Please check our social media platforms and the official club website for more information.
