Leaderboard

I had already decided to ditch Celtic for a season ticket at the Sons next season but today has just cemented that decision. These days do impact people so you never know, perhaps there will be a few more new faces along next season. I was at the league cup final earlier in the season as a Celtic fan and it was shite, there was no build up, no atmosphere, I never even wore my scarf that day. We won but it pretty much felt like another run of the mill league win. Today I woke up to my 2 kids chanting a Dumbarton song at me, over excited, shirts and scarfs on for a trip down to the stadium for a few beers before the buses left. They gave the kids a goody bag with balloons, confetti stuff and a son's trust application form (which will be getting filled in). We get there and they see all the black and gold flags and feel the excitement. My eldest was nearly in tears when Caley scored. The whole experience was fantastic despite the result.

Oh my...

Jack has done very well to keep the squad competitive: we've got very healthy competition for places that is giving us an edge. Crazy that the likes of Gary Mac, Stelios, McShane, Hippolyte, and even Gavin Reilly, aren't automatic starters at the moment. Any let up from the first XI will see people happy to drop in - and more than capable of doing so. Also, even beyond the management team, we've got the best captain in the division by some distance. The abiding image of this season will, for me, be McGinn bollocking everyone around him after a lacklustre opening five minutes at EEP. No doubt whatsoever what was expected of everyone on the park that night.

Can anyone explain the reason for three or four sizeable union flags in amongst the Sons support behind the goal yesterday? Whilst it is the UK's flag and all that, its appearance at sporting occasions in Scotland are usually just at one club. Its appearance in public is not usually a sign of something positive. Or have I perhaps got that wrong?

Funny, I bumped into the chairman when I went down to buy a new hat and scarf on Friday. There were no scarves. Les seemed in good spirits and said that he was hoping for a victory and was looking forward to a five figure spin off from the game which he said would see us through to the end of the season. I’ve known him for a few years and found him pretty personable. Colin came over well in the TV situation. Amongst the board it has to be Colin and Alan Findlay whose credentials and motives are beyond reproach and any accusation of ulterior motives.

Totally agree with Wilf, some of the comments are a little unfair. I thought we more than competed and actually played well, especially the first half. What a great build up though. Full marks to the club, the Trust and all the fans for fantastic day out. As I said in the pub before we headed to the game, it all goes downhill from here (tongue in cheek of course). I met a number of people who said they would start going back to games - we'll soon see if they do.

Probably some of the comments directed at Stevie and the team are a little unfair. The only explanation for Beanie starting over Stewart would be respective fitness. If we had had a bigger threat up front maybe the result would have been different. ICT's defence seemed to panic when the ball was anywhere near their goal area. Perhaps Froxy was to blame for not tracking back (just watched it on catch up) but he was the guy who almost single handedly got us to the final by setting up one goal and scoring a wonder strike himself. There was a noticeable tiring of our team. The penalty save should have been the catalyst for a final push but we just didn't have the legs. Either team could have won and it had looked from midway through the second half that one goal would settle it. An absolutely fantastic turnout from the fans. Great to see folk at a Dumbarton game I haven't seen in many a year.

Really sad to see you guys lose today, was a massively fun day out for us when we won it. It must be hard to lose in that way especially but it's a great advert for the Sons getting to a cup final and taking that many there. It's insane to see that many fans travel to the game and hopefully you guys retain them and run the revenge train to relegate ICT. For some reason always had a wee soft spot for Dumbarton and liked to see them defy the odds each season in staying up. Hopefully the great escape starts a week after our game

The amount of times I write the wrong thing it could very well have been my mistake so no worries. I had a cracking day yesterday until the 93rd minute. That was my 8th Sons game this season which is more than I've been to in years and it'll probably not the the last one of the season I'll be at either. Have fallen in love with the club I got taken to see as a boy again this year and days like yesterday show me exactly why. Can I just say another massive well done to everyone involved, the atmosphere in there yesterday was absolutely sensational

Fergus McCann's letter to the Bank of Scotland a week before they were ready to pull the plug on Celtic and the old board, and as history tells us the wee man with the bunnet stepped in and saved the day.

ROFL Sell one of the Range Rovers you stupid Tory voting fermer c***s [emoji38]

Froxy is fully to blame for that goal in terms of switching off and not even attempting to track his man. Very basic stuff that even the most undefensive of players should be able to do. You can see the other players looking over at him absolutely bewildered. Whether or not he should've been on the park in the first place is a different matter. The guy must have been absolutely fucked and deserves massive credit for even making it to the game.

As far as I’m aware there is now 8 applicants into the EOS with a week to go. 3 Superleague, 2 Premier, 2 South division, 1 from the West (not Clydebank) Looking like the Lowland and East Of Scotland Leagues will be the place to be for the better non league players in the East from next season, this will only get stronger when clubs get licenced and compete in the big Scottish Cup each season. With the extra finances involved rewarding and helping clubs then Tier 5 and 6 could be about to take a major shot in the arm as budgets increase and facilities get better.

Just informed The Captain that he is in the play-off. He is sporting a magnificent Stan Laurel hairdo today.

Surprised to see Sons complaining about Aitken's tactics. I thought you were really well organised and cruising towards a win on penalties until Froxy failed to track his man. And i don't buy the excuse that he was tired cos of Cyprus - he only had to play for 20 minutes and does he ever track his full-back? We're full-time, half our team's on Premiership wages but the 3 games we've played against each other have been tight as f**k. Aitken's overachieving. I'd have him over Robbo tomorrow.

This wee arsehole is getting quite the attitude these days.

This post is going to be fucking massive, apologies in advance. If we go for the viewpoints at either extreme with the Raes and discard any nuance in between, you can look at it either of these ways: 1. Douglas Rae is the benevolent hero who saved Morton from liquidation and continues to save the club. He continues to cover losses every single year and Morton would be right back into financial trouble if he left because the club simply isn't capable of breaking even and we should count ourselves lucky that we have a businessman willing to plug those losses. If he was to turn around and walk away tomorrow the best case scenario would be falling into a spiral the way Clyde did, but we'd be more likely to go the way of Clydebank. 2. Douglas Rae is at best a blithering incompetent who doesn't have the ability to run Morton as a sustainable enterprise or at worst a mendacious megalomaniac who is perfectly happy for Morton to run at loss as it increases his grip over the club due to the increase in debt owed to him, as he hopes to get back the money he feels is owed to him when the club was only making losses in the first place due to his shambolic administration of the club. I've gone for hyperbole with both of those but you get the idea. There are elements of truth in both of them. Regardless of the fact that other businessmen were interested in stepping in and that fan organisations put up money towards it too, the reality is that Morton were in serious danger of liquidation and Douglas Rae was the one who stepped up to prevent it, get Hugh Scott out of the club, get a CVA through and keep us at Cappielow. That will never be forgotten, he will always have goodwill for it and rightly so. However, that entirely merited goodwill doesn't mean he can get off with bad decision after bad decision since. Due to the circumstances of his takeover he was given nothing but adulation and hero-worship in his first few years, and that the attitude towards him has cooled and in some cases turned to outright hostility isn't a cautionary tale about how fickle football supports can be but testament to just how badly the club botched things when Douglas Rae was seen as the messiah who could do no wrong. Every club in financial trouble has fans saying they're just happy to have a club if they make it through it, and it's true. However, this doesn't mean you should be happy to see the club stagnate or go backwards when you know there's no reason they can't be capable of better. When we had a second successive relegation to drop to the fourth tier in Rae's first season as Chairman there were no rumblings of discontent: at that point we really were just glad the club had survived, the fact that a team thrown together in two weeks before the start of the season was utter shite was no surprise and no one's fault really. Fast forward five years from that though and the club is still in the Second Division, having tossed money down the drain on transfer fees and clinging to full-time status while watching part-time teams finish ahead of us time and time again. At that point we're making a loss every year but still no discontent with Rae despite that; he told us that being in the First Division was necessary to break even and it was accepted, even though some could point out that we'd have got there quicker if he wasn't sticking by bad managers and it maybe wasn't entirely necessary to throw around £185K in transfer fees over five years in the third & fourth tiers. Then we get to the second tier where we're going to break even - nope, still six figure losses every year. The answer from the club is that they expected crowds to be higher, with the quite hilarious revelation that we budgeted for an average attendance of 4000 in our first season up in 2007/08. If fans want Morton to be in a better position, it's up to fans to bring a friend. Rae also really struggled to contain his fury with the support in that season when he finally accepted Jim McInally's resignation at the third time it was offered, with the reason given that the fans just weren't going to get back behind the players while McInally remained in charge. He's never forgiven the fans for that and it was around this time that a real us and them mentality between the club and support became entrenched, which if we're being honest has never entirely gone away although it's certainly been less pronounced under Duffy, to his credit. As we continued making six figure losses annually there was a growing feeling that while he should always be thanked for being the man who saved the club, the continued losses weren't down to it being impossible for Morton to ever break even while putting a competitive team on the pitch but instead down to incompetence in the boardroom. If clubs like Raith and Queen of the South could not only break even but do it while finishing above Morton then what exactly was Morton's problem? Neither of them had money rolling in from selling their old ground to a supermarket, they didn't have a new build stadium generating revenue seven days a week and their average attendances were usually smaller. Were there hundreds of thousands of pounds of overheads associated with Cappielow that didn't apply to Palmerston or Starks? Were we paying hundreds of thousands of pounds more in wages than them but showing nothing for it? Morton had gone from being a full-time seaside league club to being a mediocre second tier club never threatening a promotion challenge and we had seven figures of debt to show for it. Why couldn't we have got into that position without a penny of debt? A few years on, a few years of continued losses, we finally threaten a title challenge but end up finishing 11 points behind. For that second place finish we got prize money of £67K. Then we go and get relegated in hilariously awful circumstances with Rae again covering himself in glory with some of his comments throughout the season, but the creation of the SPFL happens and prize money is restructured. When we come back up we're getting £211K for finishing fifth, while we get to quarter finals of both the Scottish & League Cups with TV money and share of the gate at Parkhead, along with our highest average league attendance in more than a decade. Having made an operating loss of £320K in 12/13 while second with our prize money of £67K, none of those cup runs and a considerably smaller average attendance, in 15/16 with those advantages we made an operating loss in 15/16 of... £275K. How do we manage that? Is there some unforeseen cost in the intervening years that has sent the overheads of Cappielow flying up? There is absolutely no chance we were paying nearly as much in wages in 15/16 as we were three years previously, so what has wiped out that massive increase in revenue? When you see it like that, it's easy to see why someone does conclude it suits the Raes to run at a loss. Even last season we've finally, finally made an operating profit - it was £130K. That should be great news and the natural reaction is cautious optimism, but that's come in a season where we made £90K from the League Cup semi-final prize and TV money alone, before considering the four way split of the semi-final gate money, having a televised Scottish Cup tie with a share of the gate at Ibrox, and finished fourth, with £274K in prize money and a playoff tie. We obviously aren't going to get that kind of revenue from the cups every single season and not making it out of the League Cup group stage this season probably wipes out that £130K compared to last season immediately, while we can't guarantee finishing top four either. Are we really going to continue to see the debt increase if we continue getting solid mid-table finishes? It's hard to avoid concluding someone at Cappielow is guilty of gross incompetence if so. Douglas Rae's long-term legacy at Morton should be as the man who saved the club from administration, but he's the one who has jeopardised that. Ultimately if he burdens the club with £2 million of debt with nothing to show for it then he becomes the one jeopardising the future of the club. No one doubts that he really is a Morton fan and wants what's best for the club, but is he capable of seeing when he's harming it or the potential risk in passing it over to his son with that debt still hanging over it? If he wants what's best for Morton he should accept that he's the one who put the club in this position and write it off rather than chasing after 'his' money.

Being an eighteen year old Clyde fan means that your entire footballing memory consists of back-to-back relegations from the First Division, finishing below East Stirling as the worst side in the entire country and now fast approaching a decade spent stinking out the fourth tier of Scottish football. Just let that sink in. I'd be grateful of a two year ban from football under those circumstances.

There's a girl in my granddaughter's class called Innarah. She does not have a brother named Beau.

Some thoughts on yesterday https://piesontheterraces.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/dumbarton-v-inverness-caledonian-thistle/

The SPFL rules say that the dividing line is "56.4513N", which seems to be at the mouth of the Tay at Dundee. I think the confusion came because folk started saying "North of the Tay" as though the line followed the river across the country rather than just being based on a fixed latitude. That line would put 15 East Region Junior clubs in the Northern section: Arbroath Vics, Blairgowrie, Brechin Vics, Broughty Athletic, Carnoustie, Coupar Angus, Downfield, Dundee North End, Dundee Violet, East Craigie, Forfar West End, Kirriemuir, Lochee Harp, Lochee Utd, Luncarty. It would also include Aberdeen, Arbroath, Brechin, Dundee, Dundee Utd, Elgin, Forfar, Inverness, Montrose, Peterhead and Ross County from the SPFL.

You sure that’s not the early to mid-80’s pre-Souness ?....round about kick-off time

Applauding the pilot is the mark of a scheme goblin. Usually has 10 cartons of fags and 5 litres of (shit) spirits tucked away in Agnes' bag

We are comfortably the best team with the best squad in this division. We have also been the most consistent side by some distance, the turnaround from the beginning of last season to where we are now is quite a testement to our management team and what they have achieved in that short space of time. Jack Ross has been magnificent for our club, and made it enjoyable going to watch us again. In short it's fucking glorious to be a buddie

Is this in rugby, or just generally?

It could be particularly problematic if the East as a whole votes to merge (somehow), but the North are against it. In that case, if the East Juniors as we know it disappeared, what would happen to the likes of Lochee, Carnoustie and others who lie (I think) north of the Highland/Lowland divide? They presumably wouldn't be able to join the EoS, and would therefore have to either form their own league, or more likely apply to the North Juniors or Highland League. If they were rejected, then where do they stand? That's why the SFA does have some responsibility to act in the North in particular, where the clubs seem unwilling or unable to do it by themselves.

But quite often the last few games of the premiership season are meaningless and so players can be rested. That doesn't compare well with very tough playoff matches, coming thick and fast. I don't think the team who finishes 11th will have been playing "meaningless" matches or resting players.

Unfortunately yesterday's game panned out exactly as I had feared, as all the preceding week I had felt that the Oswestry experience was the final before the Final. I haven't watched the game on catch-up and I maybe won't, but in truth it was a pretty God-awful affair between two struggling teams. In the end ICT ground us down as for once the full-time training proved decisive. We can argue long into the night about refereeing decisions and team selection, and from Sons' point of view both were questionable, but recrimination is futile. After the best part of 60 years I saw my team take the field in a meaningful Cup Final backed by a sizeable and good-natured travelling support and that will live with me in the memory bank. As for the furore about the passionless ICT fans and the 'Diddy Cup' tag, well the joyous outpouring behind Gal's goal at the winner rather put a lie to that. A few points though; I felt that the gamble with Tom Walsh backfired and I agree with BBPF's opinion on Beany. Mark Stewart is not however fully fit and neither is Boomer, although some of the critics on the Cup thread are obviously unaware of all the good performances he's put in this season. Donaldson got MOTM because we stood off him; I could play square passes all day in that situation. I though Gal, Smith, Mango, Hutton and Dowie were excellent. Handling continues to confound me that he was once a rising star at Hibs. We have no time to mope, and arguably the two games this week are as difficult as we could have. At least Stirling, Nisbet and young Wilson give us some options. I still expect us to be in the play-off spot as never mind the part-time thing and the rather patchwork squad, we simply are not cynical enough; ICT again demonstrated that yesterday. Well done to everyone involved in yesterday's effort, if cups were awarded for marketing we'd have silverware in the cabinet today.

Julia Hartley Brewer and Euan McColm are a pair of arseholes. Right up your street though.

First of all I`d make it quite clear as a Trust Member and Supporter, Shareholder in Stirling Albion, that I`m NOT a Stuart Brown fan. Think Stuart has done a good job as Chairman of Stirling Albion over the years but his meddling in the appointment of the current manager where he produced another candidate at the final shift of 2, a person who did NOT apply for the job clearly beggars belief. For that reason I believe its time for Stuart to go and be replaced by someone else. Regarding the Albion being in League 2, yes have to agree that the Club should be playing at a much higher level at least League 1 imo but we are here in League 2 after 2 bad appointments made by the Exec Board of the Club of managers, toped off by offering the previous manager Stuart McLaren another years contract when most of the fans felt that he did not deserve one. Regarding top young talent signed on Amateur contracts and going to Premier Clubs for nothing on 2 occasions yes its disappointing but unless the Club has the money to pay for the Under 20`s development squad players to go on pro contracts then its a situation that will continue not only at Stirling Albion but MOST other Clubs outside the SPL. Totally agree with Stuart on this occasion, their was a Police investigation underway and clearly he would have been informed to keep this information confidential and the Club informed the SFA and other bodies as required to do so. Regarding the Trust not being informed clearly certain Trust members know about these 2 coaches but they also chose not to past on information, one of whom I understand was the VICE CHAIRPERSON of the Trust, who has since resigned from his post. Being a walloper on Social media each to his own imo, not on Social Media but that does not bother me. Agree that the way the Club Exec Board is run clearly needs to be changed and for elections to be held every year with a number of Directors standing down and reapplying for Election. Their was a vote taken at a Trust AGM but a lot of Trust members did NOT get the chance to vote. Yes imo the Trust Board are entitled to make changes as the Major Shareholders in the Club but due to the way the structure of the way the Club operates that this was not possible without going to an EGM of the Club Shareholders. A EGM will be held on Wednesday 28th March at Forthbank where Stuart Brown position as Chairman will be decided. Yes their is a vandetta imo, the way that the newly appointed Trust Chairman was announced with NO consultation with Trust Members, who did NOT get the chance to submit nominations for those vacant posts, clearly demonstrates that steps had been taken to get rid of Stuart Brown and be replaced by the newly appointed Trust Chairman. We have a Trust Board who do NOT seem to want to communicate with Trust members and try to get their own way, that's NOT VERY DEMOCRATIC is It ? Therefore it comes as no surprise that a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE has been lodged with the Trust Board and a vote will take place on the 2nd April to decide this resolution.

Tiredness and injuries cost us. I think the 3rd sub could have been either walshy or boomer at that point. But think of the recent game time both have had; it shouldve been expected that they'd tire badly. I think the cross for the goal comes through boomers legs, gets awful close to dowser and then gets to tremarco. Not sure if dowser gets a shout but he may have been able to stop it. Jimmy absolutely shouldve tracked his man; he crosses the half way line 5 yards in front of him and just switched off, ending up 5 or 10 yards behind him. It was much the same set up and tactics as TNS; sit in amd counter for an hour then open up and have a go. It might have worked but for the lack of fully fit players late in the game. There was an incident in the first half were Mango bullied and grabbed at their striker who turned and pushed Mango inthe chest/neck/face and conceded a foul. That could have gone either way, but for me the foul against Mango in the second half is a penalty. I dont think we'd have made penalties, such was the fatigue in the team. But what a great effort from them and the support. I wanted to leave when the podium came out and I noticed Hutts had to be turned back onto the park by someone; he was on his way to wreck the dressing room it seemed. Only other downside was the lack of food and drink at the ground. Its amazing that we can sell out the main stand but sell out food and drink before half time. Mrs Anorak had a good gripe about the ladies toilets too. Hopefully we get the disappoinment out our system quickly or St Mirren and Livy will hammer us.

Sporting tweet of the (yester)day? Check out @Morton_FC’s Tweet: It's certainly in my top one

Leonard and his team know perfectly well which issues are devolved and which are not. His agenda here is to confuse matters. To try and pin whatever is happening in Westminster to the SNP. I also wouldn't trust the Seamus Milne's of this world as far as I could throw them when it comes to defending devolution. It is a wild tactic though when the downside is making your leader look thick as f**k.

I'm not sure Stevie will regret anything. We had a cobbled together team and sitting in and trying to steal a goal from a set piece or counter was the right game plan IMO. We could argue the subs should've happened earlier but given both Froxylias and Burt had just stepped off a flight Stevie was probably in a better place to call that than us (Stewart can't be fit either or he would've started). We need to forget about it now though, we have 2 huge games against Inverness coming up in the league and hopefully without around 7 players out/injured we can cause them a few more problems. If you want to hand us some points on Tuesday that would be a lovely bonus though.

The P&B Quiz League needs the NJ2 pound!

Tbf Kane is now our main striker, of we play one then it'll be him. I just seen similarities in how they play. Both seem to like to have the first and final touch in a move, if that makes sense. And I wondered, as I say I don't see Dumbarton matches, so wasn't sure if it was the norm or not. I'd seen plenty of chat on here about you maybe struggling to have a full bench so assumed there was a fair whack of injuries. I'd love it if that happened. He's still, stats wise, one of the most clinical strikers in the country, sure one of the twitter pages had him scoring 50% of his chances this season, top scorer Morelos is at 22%. Only worry is you and Stirling end up in the same division. They're virtually our B side now.

A good weekend for goalscorer bets.

Met one of my heroes tonight - suggs. And I've had a few pints and a large kebab. Very happy man tonight.

Not a problem.@scotfree you're Oot.@NJ2 you're in.

I'm more concerned about the inclusion of Town Centre.

Slight difference is,we are or trying to pay our bills,you lot didnt

Too many c***s writing paragraphs.

Can I just say I find it harsh Winston is being credited with being the best in the latest episodes. Winston has Always been the best character in the show. That is all.

Paul Walker tribute stickers on their car.

Cracking ariel picture of Easter Road mid development, with the new stands behind the goals being in place and the old main stand still in use, late 90's methinks, Arthurs Seat in the background looking splendid in the early evening sundown.

That barmaid has really got to you tonight

Sound familiar?

That's basically it. We could storm the league or quite possibly have another nightmare like this one. Regarding the marketing, I think those guys do an amazing job. All the trucks and hot tubs get people talking about us, and look around the stadium the next time you're there. Pretty much every square centimetre is covered in logos. But to people like me and many others on here that has absolutely no impact on the chances of us going to the match on a Saturday or not. It's not for us.