Sons' sorrow

[BallochSonsFan]

It's off topic to a degree as it isnt football club related but the troubles Your Radio have faced are probably very similar to ours.

In the west of Scotland you have a commercial radio monster in Radio Clyde. You also have competition from national commercial stations, but the big competition is from the Clydebank-based giant. The firms paying the kind of money that would keep Your Radio going would primarily be spent on advertising with Clyde. That puts the local station in a difficult position as they're relying on a small pool of local businesses who see their market as West Dunbartonshire and Inverclyde and who feel that the station lets them target that area. Did the station have a high audience within the local area? Thats the kind of question advertisers would be asking.

I've got a friend who is a DJ on Celtic Music Radio. The big difference is that it's a community station and works on a combination of volunteers, sponsorship and advertising and donations. That might be the way forward for ultra local radio in West Dunbartonshire or Inverclyde but it's a significant change in business model from a fully commercial operation.

Much like Dumbarton, Your Radio have suffered due to the dominance of a rival station in a neighbouring area.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

 
all outdoor events have to run that way, you can't get a safety certificate until the venue is set up fully, the promoter takes insurance out against it.
 
I know that when the folk festival was on they had to delay entry to campers while the inspection was ongoing, I've also been in a queue on the first day of the fringe where the first show was delayed while they did it.
 
That's what knackered the Green Day gig too I think?

Nah the Green day thing was solely the promoters fault, tried to use a half built stage no bigger than something you’d see at a xmas lights switch on in Bowling or something.

[Jan Vojáček]

Just in case anyone's missed it, that's us confirmed as finishing ninth.

Experimental team tomorrow night plz Stevie. Quite literally nothing to lose.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

14 minutes ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:

Just in case anyone's missed it, that's us confirmed as finishing ninth.

Experimental team tomorrow night plz Stevie. Quite literally nothing to lose.

Oh, we noticed all right.  And what a Hobson's Choice we're left with; stutter our way thro the closing three fixtures and somehow summon the wherewithal to fend off the challenge from below and retain Championship status, or slide honourably out of the Championship after six seasons no-one ever really anticipated.

Actually, I think it may be bigger than either scenario and the club faces an existential situation whichever way the cards fall.  It desperately needs stability of ownership and administration, and above all financial investment.  None of this will be easy to secure and I feel that the sooner everyone parks the arguments about tactics, formations, 'best part-time team' etc., and concentrates on how the club can survive and prosper, the better.  I also think Brabco should be asked directly as to their intentions for DFC before we sleepwalk into a potentially irreversible decline.

In all my years of following Sons the upcoming period will be as critical as any I can remember.  And I repeat my earlier opinion that I think  steadying the ship will be much more difficult should Sons remain in the Championship, unless there are some pretty momentous changes behind the scenes.

[JinkyBairn]

Still think you lot will stay up via the play-offs tbh.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

49 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Oh, we noticed all right.  And what a Hobson's Choice we're left with; stutter our way thro the closing three fixtures and somehow summon the wherewithal to fend off the challenge from below and retain Championship status, or slide honourably out of the Championship after six seasons no-one ever really anticipated.

Actually, I think it may be bigger than either scenario and the club faces an existential situation whichever way the cards fall.  It desperately needs stability of ownership and administration, and above all financial investment.  None of this will be easy to secure and I feel that the sooner everyone parks the arguments about tactics, formations, 'best part-time team' etc., and concentrates on how the club can survive and prosper, the better.  I also think Brabco should be asked directly as to their intentions for DFC before we sleepwalk into a potentially irreversible decline.

In all my years of following Sons the upcoming period will be as critical as any I can remember.  And I repeat my earlier opinion that I think  steadying the ship will be much more difficult should Sons remain in the Championship, unless there are some pretty momentous changes behind the scenes.

I think everyone is well aware of the off the field issues but it I don't think we should solely be discussing that. 

 

Talking about tactics and formations doesn't mean people are ignoring other issues but at the end of the day we are a football club with potentially 2 or 4 huge games fast approaching. 

[lionel wickson]

38 minutes ago, JinkyBairn said:

Still think you lot will stay up via the play-offs tbh.

Wish I had your confidence!

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I think everyone is well aware of the off the field issues but it I don't think we should solely be discussing that. 
 
Talking about tactics and formations doesn't mean people are ignoring other issues but at the end of the day we are a football club with potentially 2 or 4 huge games fast approaching. 

That's fair comment but I'm not convinced everyone IS aware of the gravity of the situation, and my post above was intended to address that.

[sonsanorak]

I've been surprised how many regulars at dumbarton games have asked me about the new stadium knock back, that and how little they know of our ownership and brabco's involvement.

There's a real lack of knowledge and understanding amongst the support about some big issues around dfc that insinuation and rumour doesnt address.

The trust are again stepping up to do the legwork.

[BallochSonsFan]

Many football fans pay no attention to anything other than what's happening on the football park. It's understandable - transparency isn't great at Dumbarton and for many fans the business side of things is an area dealt with by the board and of no real concern to them. For decades there was a clear split - fans concentrate on the football and let the board worry about the business.

It's a shame that those days are over but unfortunately all fans now need to be just as concerned with issues of club governance as with tactics and players.

Fans across the whole of Scottish football need to wake up to the new reality that the business side of things is as important as the football side. None of us support a business but in order to continue to support our football club we'll need to make sure that we hold the business side of football to account.

[optimistic]

[bridge of allan bairn]

now that we are officially clear of the play offs I wish you guys well . good fans on here

[albundy]

now that we are officially clear of the play offs I wish you guys well . good fans on here

Cheers, I don't know if I'm the only one but between the off and on field problems at the moment, I couldn't give a monkeys if we stay up or go down.

[Jan Vojáček]

14 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Oh, we noticed all right.  And what a Hobson's Choice we're left with; stutter our way thro the closing three fixtures and somehow summon the wherewithal to fend off the challenge from below and retain Championship status, or slide honourably out of the Championship after six seasons no-one ever really anticipated.

Actually, I think it may be bigger than either scenario and the club faces an existential situation whichever way the cards fall.  It desperately needs stability of ownership and administration, and above all financial investment.  None of this will be easy to secure and I feel that the sooner everyone parks the arguments about tactics, formations, 'best part-time team' etc., and concentrates on how the club can survive and prosper, the better.  I also think Brabco should be asked directly as to their intentions for DFC before we sleepwalk into a potentially irreversible decline.

In all my years of following Sons the upcoming period will be as critical as any I can remember.  And I repeat my earlier opinion that I think  steadying the ship will be much more difficult should Sons remain in the Championship, unless there are some pretty momentous changes behind the scenes.

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I've ended up putting it into Monopoly terms. At the moment we're scrabbling together the money for a studio flat on Bond Street. We don't get a lot for our money, but the location is secure and if we end up dropping out next season (as in relegated this time next year) then we should have a bit of time in Leicester Square to get things in order.

If we do go down now though then we should have enough for a comfortable standard of living in Euston Road, but lurking over our shoulder is Old Kent Road (or the wrong end of League Two in this bizarre metaphor) and so we really can't afford a bad choice of management/poor squad or any more turmoil.

That reads like a Carlos Carvalhal press conference, so I'll summarise: If we stay up then it buys us more time off the park, even if the product on the park will be miserable. If we go down then we might be less stretched financially (and produce something better on the park) but it comes with the risk that we're closer to the abyss that is League Two should things start to go wrong - which has to be a serious possibility.

Whatever happens over the coming three weeks we're going to be in a difficult situation, so we might as well strap ourselves in, get behind the team and see where we end up. Either way it could be a total disaster, or work out alright.

Spoiler

I can't believe I'm actually posting this. I've had my brain scrambled by an essay I'm working on at the minute, and I'm just hammering letters into my keyboard (no change to the usual then, eh?)

 

[Boghead ranter]

9 minutes ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I've ended up putting it into Monopoly terms. At the moment we're scrabbling together the money for a studio flat on Bond Street. We don't get a lot for our money, but the location is secure and if we end up dropping out next season (as in relegated this time next year) then we should have a bit of time in Leicester Square to get things in order.

If we do go down now though then we should have enough for a comfortable standard of living in Euston Road, but lurking over our shoulder is Old Kent Road (or the wrong end of League Two in this bizarre metaphor) and so we really can't afford a bad choice of management/poor squad or any more turmoil.

That reads like a Carlos Carvalhal press conference, so I'll summarise: If we stay up then it buys us more time off the park, even if the product on the park will be miserable. If we go down then we might be less stretched financially (and produce something better on the park) but it comes with the risk that we're closer to the abyss that is League Two should things start to go wrong - which has to be a serious possibility.

Whatever happens over the coming three weeks we're going to be in a difficult situation, so we might as well strap ourselves in, get behind the team and see where we end up. Either way it could be a total disaster, or work out alright.

  Hide contents

I can't believe I'm actually posting this. I've had my brain scrambled by an essay I'm working on at the minute, and I'm just hammering letters into my keyboard (no change to the usual then, eh?)

 

[The Moonster]

17 minutes ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:

I've been thinking about this a lot, and I've ended up putting it into Monopoly terms. At the moment we're scrabbling together the money for a studio flat on Bond Street. We don't get a lot for our money, but the location is secure and if we end up dropping out next season (as in relegated this time next year) then we should have a bit of time in Leicester Square to get things in order.

If we do go down now though then we should have enough for a comfortable standard of living in Euston Road, but lurking over our shoulder is Old Kent Road (or the wrong end of League Two in this bizarre metaphor) and so we really can't afford a bad choice of management/poor squad or any more turmoil.

That reads like a Carlos Carvalhal press conference, so I'll summarise: If we stay up then it buys us more time off the park, even if the product on the park will be miserable. If we go down then we might be less stretched financially (and produce something better on the park) but it comes with the risk that we're closer to the abyss that is League Two should things start to go wrong - which has to be a serious possibility.

Whatever happens over the coming three weeks we're going to be in a difficult situation, so we might as well strap ourselves in, get behind the team and see where we end up. Either way it could be a total disaster, or work out alright.

  Reveal hidden contents

I can't believe I'm actually posting this. I've had my brain scrambled by an essay I'm working on at the minute, and I'm just hammering letters into my keyboard (no change to the usual then, eh?)

 

I'm not so sure that if we went down we'd be any less stretched financially sadly and I remain entirely unconvinced that we'll be able to put a better fare on the pitch.

Its not a choice for me, staying up would be huge on and off the pitch for us. Dropping down offers us nothing positive IMO.

[BallochSonsFan]

Dropping down means a big drop in income. It doesn't necessarily mean we could sign a competitive squad on significantly lower wages. It wouldn't cost us less to run the club on a day to day basis and we still have remedial work to be addressed at some point.

A new board may well help us improve our revenue from commercial activities but the drop in SPFL money isn't insignificant.

Can we do It? Yes, but it would take serious change.

Is it potentially a difficult position for the club to operate from? Undoubtedly.

[lorenzo71]

1 hour ago, Boghead ranter said:

Its clear that we have to stay up regardless.When the pressure is really on...im talking about the floodlights situ...then i believe solutions will be forthcoming much as they were back in the days of setting the current ground up and the shortages of financing that existed then too.Going down may well be the slippery slope to jail.Its happened to cowden who are by no means the weakest club historically in scotland.

[optimistic]

Who plays who in the play offs? Is it us against second, then the two winners play each other?

 

[paulbrucerick]

You will play the team in fourth which is currently Alloa. Home advantage in the second leg as you finished higher.