what can I say? Another poor list of managerial deciscions. 2-1 flatters us. Elgin hit the bar twice in the first half. 4-5-1 AGAIN doesnt work, how obvious is it that as talanted as mcphee is he cant play up front on his own! Subs left far too late, game was over long before then. Off the field incidents of note include one of our fans being laughed at by a steward for complaining about sectarian abuse, wee boys in OF tops and tracksuits calling us weegie scum, our manager squaring up to one of our own fans for questioning his decison making! Gerry lost the drersing room a long time ago, he lost the fans backing too but the board wont sack him its now up to us to drive him out

Gerry gtf

what did he say

Who?

both i suppose

as far as I know one of the fans told Gerry the performance & tactics wern't good enough & Gerry just went off on one & did the ol' see you in the car park routine

What a fucking embarassment McCabe really is, to himself and the club. As for the wee boys wearing OF tops shouting weegie scum i doubt they even know where Celtic and Rangers play.

Tinkers and Inbreads no worries

Bakers?

the highlight of the day was stopping off at the paperweight factory

Gettin' back to the football yesterday then ....... well, it's obvious to all that the present team really is not up to getting the job of winning promotion - either via the play-offs or a straight championship win.

We've had a few positive 'blips' along the way this season, but in the main, it's been very poor.

Yesterday's defeat at Elgin was hard to take in so many ways. Long trip, cash etc, but more importantly the performance. It was frankly rubbish.

A 4-5-1 formation, which by and large was forced on the manager given the horrendous injury list, is one that says 'defend'. Dumbarton's squad can ill-afford to lose our better players such as David Craig, Andy Geggan and Fergus Tiernan and that showed yesterday, big style. The formation Gerry adopted only ever works if the lone striker is a buzz bomb, capable of knocking himself out for 90 mins. It's never an option with a 37 year-old veteran after a long car drive.

Hounding the manager is not a good idea though ; for me, Gerry fell on his sword yesterday by reacting the way he did to justifiable constructive criticism. Some things you can't do. Once the wee man knows he's a dead duck managerially he will go.

The old question (and challenge) remains for the new Dumbarton though. A replacement. Yes, I know it's the job of directors to make these decisions, but really, who would take the job and have the credentials that we need?

Dick Campbell? Sonsanorak suggests that he would be expensive and play ugly football. Taking the first part about money, well I'm afraid no matter the name, paying the guy cash and handing him a budget WILL mean the biscuit tin being opened. As for ugly football, personally speaking, right now I'll take a winning team no matter how it's achieved. It's SO important on many levels, not least for generating income.

Another name suggested by TFF is John Richardson, currently doing a fantastic job with Kirky Rabs, and of course has been at SHS before with PM as 19's coach. It would though be another experiment as John has no experience in the senior game. Are we prepared for a team to be built (again)?

Or do we approach another club and pinch someone with the pitch being that the Club is going forward and a good place to be?

OK, some serious debate required now ; who?

I dont think Elgin will be up there come end of season but only seen them once
anybody have different opinions?

On the assumption that the participants in the new DFC Boardroom set-up have ambitions higher than 5th bottom of the Scottish League I'd hope that the main players are addressing your question as I type.

Calum Hosie now seems to be the main player with his son Andy tipped also to take a role. Andy was previously in a high-profile appointment at Everton so presumably he (or they) will have contacts down south. What I'm suggesting here is that ALL avenues should be explored, English non-league if necessary, both for a management team and players. If ithat requires cash then find it.

Right now DFC is in a bad place and many people would not want associated with the club on its current reputation. Some painful decisions need to be made and the door shown to a fair number of individuals before there can be any progress.

Unfortunately, the above statement is correct.

We have to admit, why would any respected manager, who has had success elsewhere, wnat our job at the moment?

Roll on the end of November, if that is what it takes to get us sorted out.

After the performance yesterday, the worry is that, sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better....

Tom, you must realise that:

Any team that sacks the Manager usually (not always, but usually) wins their next match.

The current Board, reputed to be hand-wringers from what I read, won't fire the Manager. If that's the case, the new(ish) Board set-up might just do so. If he doesn't walk by then. Which he won't, 'cos he'll hang on for a severance package.

In most business takeovers, I'd imagine that there is usually a clear out of people, and I hope that this is what happens come November - that was the basis of my original comment. An example - Mr D McIntyre is apparently only clinging on because of his SFA/SFL position, and will go soon enough if I read the article correctly - presumably very shortly after the takeover's complete. I think this is just one of the many reasons for folk to hang on to the coat-tails of their club - the "in" into the inner sanctum of SFA/SFL.

Alan Jardine once turned and said to me, as the crowd number (five or six hundred, IIRC) was announced over the old Boghead tannoy system ........."aye, an' whit aboot the Hingers-on - how many of them were counted in?"

That's the funny thing about football managers, there's always someone willing to take on even the daftest/hardest/least glamorous of jobs.

The level of talent in any new manager will be directly in proportion to the level of ambition shown by the board, the monthly salary offered, & the salary budget available to the manager to spend on the squad.

We're not famous for going overboard on any of those 3 factors. Not since Sir Hugh Fraser died anyway.

Here's a thought, how easy is it to change away from our obviously failing performance related wages?

How'd you attract a decent player into playing with a poor team?

I just want a team that I can get excited about, if that means offering an experienced pro a player/manager role then lets get on with it. I dont see the point in waiting until we re out the cup.

Oh, and with us leaving at 11 next week, are we going to a pub before the game and is there any laws against being drunk when you get on the bus?

Well me and a couple of the other boys were absolutely bollocks'd when we boarded the bus on the way to Elgin.

I can see this being the case again next week.

i think our next manager has to be someone with experience at this level. dick campbell has been mentioned but being realistic i don't think we would pay the cash he'd be looking for, which is a shame.

english lower leagues and junior managers have been mentioned but i think in our current state that we can't afford to take anymore risks by employing managers who are untried in the scottish lower leagues.

i agree that apart from maybe dick campbell there isn't many suitable candidates but surely bloody davie craig or the bee could get more out of that bunch than gerry is. he has clearly lost the dressing room and that was confirmed by anton nugent who told us after we asked him to tell gerry what we thought 'he doesn't like me that much anyway so no chance'

here, im second in the league in football manager and have even managed to get a couple of rangers youngsters on loan, i'll apply for the management position.

Meh, it couldn't be worse than what we have at present.

On a more serious note, how depressing that we once again arrive at that time (it seems almost yearly) where a Dumbarton manager's position becomes untainable. I don't honestly know who we could tempt to the club although Campbell would surely be no worse than McCabe.

However, we can speculate and suggest names all we want but ultimately it's the board's role to sort this mess out.

A win against Forfar next week I would suggest is a must. We won't win the Scottish Cup, but we need to get as far as we can in the competition, again for lots of reasons.



Yes, unfortunately!

The Dumbarton board are about as much use as Gerry's signings, they'll never sack him.

Are we not being a wee bit hard on mccabe here given what hes got to work with at the club? Can we not be more patient?

in a word. no.

What about wee moore at Stirling albion. Beanos fans wanted him out and then he came good.

if the what were going by is correct then he had plenty of cash in the old vault and used hee haw.

Our players arent nearly as talented as albions. At least stirlings fans could probably see the potential and where are they now???..... 1st division albeit not in a decent position but hey that club showed ambition. we have none and wont see any with this current crop of useless players that mccabe brought in

all this talk of new managers etc
where do we get the money
we were debt free
ALLEGEDLY
now the board have presumably had to put their hands in their pocket or at least commit to funds --can you see them doing it again
afraid not
too many in charge at SHS have forgotten that first and foremost it is a football club and not the whim of the multi national that is chivas and rob the club blind
any one know details of the money chivas pay
or am I right in thinking there would be outrage among the paying fans if they found out
remember this is the board who try frequently to charge the trust for use of facilities for fundraising for the club
do they charge chivas when they use the facility?????????

We're in a rite state. The board should have a meeting with the fans and set the record straight instead of hiding behind their prawn sandwiches.

If what i hear about gerrys 'i'll see you in the car park' antics is true, then he has no right being here. if he cant accept what i'm led to believe is constructive criticism then maybe he should stick to being a number two and let someone who can take the flack run the team. by sayin he should stick to being a number two I in no way mean at dumbarton. away back up bobby williamsons bum.

gerry.out.now

if rumours are to be believed he had a tranfer budget ranging between 30-100k, he brought the players in he wanted, he said his squad were good enough, he plays 4-5-1 away from home every game, he demoralises the players at every opportunity ... he has to go

Show Gerry the Red Card!