Frank Quitely

There's one hell of a lot riding on this coming Saturday.

Absolutely, it was a rhetorical question. There is no way there would have been anything like the forensic fiasco we witnessed - the 'goal' would have stood, end of.

What do we reckon would have been the outcome if that 'goal' had been scored at the other end ?

Where can you see these portraits ?

Interestingly there was no mention of this on the BBC Six O'Clock News.

This thread is living right down to expectations.

That was exactly my point and you've put it a lot better than I did. As further examples, I don't wish to live in a society which routinely apprehends young black men on suspicion of crime, but neither do I wish to live in one which turns a blind eye to arranged marriages for fear of upsetting cultural sensibilities. The former will find favour with racists, but the latter will provide ammunition. Neither situation is acceptable.

Scotland would do well to avoid any complacency, as the levels of immigration are proportionally less than other areas of the UK and we simply don't how attitudes would be should that situation alter dramatically in times to come. As such, whilst levels of overt racism may unfortunately be much more evident in England, I have no doubt that the so far individual cases up here could easily develop into something much worse should the societal mix alter significantly. As for a fragmented society, that has been a global pattern over centuries. Resident populations are wary and fearful of incomers, and the latter often form 'societies' in geographic areas based on ethnic, cultural and religious background. New York is a good example of how the 'melting pot' theory takes a long time to achieve. Tolerance itself won't achieve integration and harmony, it must be accompanied by economic opportunity, educational attainment and fairness for all. But that also requires immigrants to participate fully and for the uniform application of the rule of law. Britain is failing dismally on this critique. At one end of the spectrum we have right-wing hatred straight from the 1930's masquerading as Government policy, and at the other a failure to root out hatred-inspiring crimes like grooming gangs.

Perhaps, but the loss of Greig Young is a real blow on all counts, and Finlay Gray's fifteen minutes of mayhem doesn't help. Wee Aggy will be viewing this game as winnable, and why not against a team that finds scoring difficult.

Presumably the Irish will encounter teams much less profligate with their goal kicking.

Correct. The difference in a month was astonishing.

He was quite entitled - one of our absolute c*nts had launched a foul-mouthed rant at him just beforehand.

I said leaving the game that there are Adamson/Murray parallels here. We have a squad much, much more capable of producing more than we are seeing but it won't happen under the current team management. If only some of supporters would stop scapegoating match officials and concentrate on the football matches they'd maybe see that.

That last sentence is the line the Board took last season - the target set for the Manager was to reach the play-offs and he achieved that, so everyone move on, nothing to see here. Not acceptable, full stop. This season is his last chance saloon.

Stevie Farrell can afford to experiment, he's under the least pressure of any Manager in Scotland.

You are entitled to your opinion but it would be better if it was informed. By any normal standards Dumbarton FC is currently in desperate state and if anything is toxic it is the club ownership, with everything flowing from that.

Stevie Farrell has had every opportunity at this club. There is a growing feel though that he is not getting the best out of this squad, and that's based on evidence. Just like this time last year the statistics don't tell the whole story. Two of the wins came from 20-minute spells and another was a last-gasp winner when a draw was a fairer result.

Talking about the Board, what happened to the new guy ? Is he still around ?

I agree with almost everything that's been posted, but I'm concerned that Ryan Wallace is becoming a worry.

Beale's appointment was always questionable and it now looks even more like a low-cost punt. Returning players and managers seldom cut it second time around, and he was hardly tearing up any trees at Loftus Road before his return. The signings look to be highly questionable too with Morelos and Kent having been replaced with players more the quality of Itten, Sakala and Wright. A bad defeat on Sunday will likely press the ejector button but whoever comes in will be dealt a pretty bum hand squad-wise, with little genuine quality evident.

Talking of which, our new director seems to have gone awfully quite of late.

So what's to be done ?

And that's precisely what the owners want. But don't worry, club officials are probably in the same boat.

In more encouraging news I see that Jackie Baillie MSP has lodged a powerfully-worded objection to the proposed renewal of planning permission for housing on the land to the north and north west of the stadium.

I think we are all agreed that any upsurge in the Labour vote in Scotland will have very little to do with enthusiasm for their ever-shifting policy programme, and much more to do with disillusionment with the SNP.