BallochSonsFan
-
Posts
3,829 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Store
Posts posted by BallochSonsFan
-
-
It's a cracking ground. Feels properly old school without being a ramshackle tip. Good views of the pitch. Covered terracing is fine. Fan facilities are absolutely fine. Food is decent. The social club pre-match is great and the staff and home fans are friendly and accommodating before the game. It's a great away day.
1 -
1 minute ago, Sweet Pete said:
It's absolutely lashing down in the Vale, but we always get the weather a bit worse here due to the valley.
I'm hoping that the ref doesnt fancy it this afternoon so that I can watch the national, but it'll probably be playable.
0 -
Just now, EdinburghBlue said:
This failure should be relatively easy to sort out. The required form should take no more than five minutes to fill in. But it does suggest that the Board isn't fully on top of things.
Dumbarton's accounts aren't due at Companies House until the end of next month.
Unfortunately the problem in this case has not been caused by the local club board.
1 -
I've been listening to this a lot lately
0 -
Been pissing down on and off for the past 2-3 days. Some really heavy showers yesterday and overnight.
Anybody confident that this game actually goes ahead today> Groundsman should be down at the club 8:00 this morning starting to try to work on the pitch. Its going to be showery between now and kick off too. Can easily see this one passing a morning inspection but getting progressively worse towards kick off time.
0 -
6 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:
No, it was one with no structural integrity. The sides came apart from the bottom so it all spilled out, and it was actually a bit undercooked. The gravy wasn't that tasty, either.
Sausage rolls were decent.
0 -
On 17/03/2024 at 15:06, DiegoDiego said:
Very enjoyable game that as a neutral. The Spartans actually seemed pretty decent for team losing 6-2, though McNulty did nothing and they really need to improve on the Pilton Shilton next season, never before have I seen a side whose shortest player is the goalkeeper. Dumbarton as others have said, showed great work ethic and certainly didn't come across as a team in trouble.
Ainsley Park is a not bad wee stadium and as has been said, they were a very friendly lot, got given some free pasta after the match and the The Spartans beer was really nice. The massive touchscreen tv was a bit of a novelty, too.
Edit: pie was shite though.
Was it one of the burnt ones?
0 -
Bit of a 90s mood just now. Supposed to be a new Lemonheads album released this year. Would love to see them again and it would be absolutely amazing if Juiana was touring with them. I'd maybe even be tempted to travel if she was doing a few shows with them somewhere in the world.
0 -
We've had the better of the first half. A couple of good chances forcing the Spartans keeper into smart saves. The free kicks were taken well. I thought Hilton's shot just before our 2nd was smart as the Spartans keeper was on his heels. We need to do better for their 2nd, but Lennon did really well for our 3rd. As Jan said, it's been a good watch. Lynas booking was absurd - he has to challenge for the header and doesn't lead with the elbow or otherwise go in risky. Wins the header well.
0 -
No Crighton, Carlo, Orsi or Div Wilson tomorrow.
Oh joy.
0 -
2 hours ago, Cowdenleith said:
I think some of you are a bit mixed up. Spartans play next to a leisure centre, and share a car park with, but their ground is separate and fully enclosed.
I believe the ground is owned by the Spartans Community Association, which is not the club itself, but close links, and they have just invested in a new small stand on the opposite side to the main stand.
You can also watch the match from 4 different sides of the ground if you wish, something you guys might find a novelty, eh?
I believe the novelty is not having to watch a game through safety mesh and with tyre crash barriers between fans and the pitch.
0 -
1 hour ago, Cosmic Joe said:
In what way are Spartans a joke of a club?
I can't recall any sectarian comments made by Spartans' officials against their players recently.
Pots and kettles.
I'd much rather that they didnt play at what is effectively a local leisure centre. Clubs have had to pay to build stadiums and maintain them. Spartans get to play at a leisure centre and don't have the cost burden associated with owning and running a proper ground.
1 -
11 minutes ago, super-son said:
That's the date I was going off.
The club really are shocking at communication. Why is it some fans on here have this information but none of it is being published to the wider fanbase?
I get that some people like BSF are more involved at the club and might know more but why can we not announce any updates however small with things like that and be more inclusive. I'm sure everyone would like to know more about the bigger picture ideas like this instead of constantly blasting out sponsorship opportunities every day.
I'm not involved at the club. Obviously I used to run the man of the match award for a few years and I ran the 50/50 for a couple of seasons when the previous volunteers stepped down having had enough of it. As a current trust board member, we've had semi-regular meetings with the club board whist we were without a trust rep on the club board., so I've had some conversations with messrs Mackay and Hosie throughout the season in conjunction with my trust board colleagues. I've always taken the view that the club needs to be better at communication. We criticise Cognitive for it and we've tried to re-enforce the value of proper engagement from the owners and from the club board. Thats a particular challenge when we've got a club chairman who will not put himself out there and actually spend time with fans. I try to be as honest as possible with posts on here - I'll never break confidences or reveal anything that was discussed that is deemed to be sensitive, but equally I'm more than happy to say what I can and when I can. We've just about got the trust rep on the club board in post now (as he's already said on here) and I reckon that our club chair sees both the trust/club board member and the new SLO as being conduits for communication with fans.
I still think that the chairman needs to be far more visible. Half the fans couldn't pick him out from a line up. That's not good. I think he'd be genuinely surprised at the nature of conversation in person rather than the sometimes more aggressive tone of social media posts. But it's not going to happen any time soon. At least with the trust/club board rep just about in place, there should be a more direct voice within the club and a means of encouraging better communication going forward.
But a state of the nation address from the chairman to let fans know how the club sees this season and what it's plans are for the future would be very welcome.
0 -
5 minutes ago, Nowhereman said:
The perceived view is that having two teams play on the pitch is the main cause of it's dreadful state. But Stirling Albion and University of Stirling both play at Forthbank and I don't hear anyone complaining about the condition of their pitch. Could it maybe more to do about how the pitch is (or isn't) looked after?
I think it's a combination of factors. The pitch sits on an old dock. All sorts of shite was used to fill it in. God knows what drainage is like underneath the pitch and it tends to hold a lot of water. Possibly a really poor soil layer immediately below the turf. Then there's the cutbacks to the maintenance budget over the years. Add in 2 teams playing on it and that's just a losing combination right there.
0 -
4 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:
Dr Dofuckall should probably provide us with an update regarding that then. On the 6th of August 2023 he said the following…
He isnt going to. As much as its a really untenable position for a football club chairman to hold, he seems to have an absolute terror of public speaking and will not address the fans directly. The club really should be making a public comment about whats happening internally. I'd really hope that we'll get proper communication about the club board's plans for the future sooner rather than later. Until that happens it'll be a case of watching for updates. But it is still in their plans. It won't happen until the funding is in place as the board don't want to commit to something that they may be left struggling to pay for until the finances are all agreed. Which leaves us in the unacceptable position of being at the mercy of the weather and how our pitch holds up with 2 teams playing on it.
0 -
30 minutes ago, super-son said:
If the club really are looking to get an artificial pitch installed, which I highly doubt to be true tbh, all this bad publicity of late really won’t help any potential applications for grants and funding. Especially when advertising it as a community hub.
The club very much are looking to have an artificial pitch installed. But it isnt going to happen any time before the 25/26 season.
0 -
2 minutes ago, TheChase said:
Sorry Officer
Until such times as the police deal with the matter then folk shouldn't be posting or quoting things that make a bad situation worse. There will be plenty of time to do that when the police do their thing, the club does it's investigation and there's actually something to talk about.
0 -
3 minutes ago, Helensburgh_Accent said:
yea yea ok mr serious maybe try supporting the team instead of spreading negative thoughts!!
You support the team in your way. Other fans support it in theirs. There's enough shite going on right now without Sons fans openly baiting each other. We've not been good enough this season. You'd rather we all clap that bit louder and give the guys encouragement. At times I do think fans are a little too negative, but equally folk aren't going to ignore our rubbish form since the start of December. If the club deserves praise when things are going well then it deserves criticism when they're not.
Folk support the club in their own way. What we really don't need is folk baiting each other on here and looking to cause friction.
0 -
2 minutes ago, Helensburgh_Accent said:
well well well im not surprised!!! get behind the manager and the players and stop the negativity!!! real fans will support the boss and the players and not stoop to these levels these guys will get us were we need to be. if we have any chance of playoffs this season a big change is needed from some of our so called fans
Stirring things on here really isnt needed right now.
There are plenty of reasons why criticism can and should be made of the club in general and the performances in particular. Things are not going to improve just because we all really want them to and we all clap that little bit harder. A degree of realism about our performances this season is needed. We've been wildly inconsistent, in really poor form since December and we've got a weaker squad now than we had at the start of the season. All things that fans are entitled to be worried about.
1 -
If possible and there's a thread moderator then a few sensible post deletions might be well advised.
0 -
That suggestion also goes to those quoting Sawkeye's post.
Be very careful about what you're posting and quoting.
1 -
2 minutes ago, Sawkye said:
I never named any player.
You were careless enough that you indirectly named the player by naming a family member.
It's currently with the police as a complaint was made. The police will investigate. The club will then investigate and take whatever action they deem to be appropriate. I'm sure that this isn't going away and that it'll be discussed on here in great detail in the fullness of time.
Until then? You might be well advised to edit your original post and take a few days away from PnB until such times as any police investigation is concluded and the club then deal with the situation. There's already going to be a lot of speculation about what happened. Nobody on here needs to be adding butter to the popcorn that the rest of the division's fans will be sitting with right now.
6 -
42 minutes ago, The Moonster said:
From what I've heard, it's not good and I expect this to blow up when the details emerge. I won't put up what I've heard given it may not be completely accurate and the polis are involved.
The matter has been referred to the police. Probably best to be very careful discussing until the police element of this incident has been concluded. There will be time enough to discuss what's alleged to have happened and how the club will ultimately react.
0 -
Hopefully the trust will have a very visible presence before our next few home games. We need a strong Sons Trust and that means members being engaged with the trust and turning out in numbers. A strong turn out shows the strength of feeling and appetite for change. It's really important with the challenges we're facing that the fans are engaged with whats happening and are ready to come together. The time will come when we're faced with the prospect of taking direct action or risking the club's decline becoming terminal.
0
Dumbarton v Elgin 27/04/24
in Scottish League 2 General Chatter
Posted
2 things I want from Saturday's game.
1. Avoid injuries.
2. Get a half way decent result.
Avoiding injury is the big one. We've got one eye on the play-offs and we need to avoid injuries to key players. The idea of losing key players going into the play-offs is worrying and the temptation in the next 2 games would presumably be to rotate the starting 11 and to try to get some playing time to guys we may need to use in the play-offs whilst protecting our first choice in those positions. Not that we've got a big squad, but you'd probably be looking at the likes of Kelly and Healy starting ahead of Hilton, Wallace or Orsi.
But that's a huge risk. Elgin will want to end the season maintaining their improved form. What we also have to avoid is taking a bit of a tanking this week and next because you suddenly find yourself going into the play-offs in terrible form and with no confidence. So we need to play well enough in the next 2 weeks that we go into the play-offs with our head up. A bit of belief. Not going into those games on the back of poor results against Elgin and Peterhead, especially since there's a good chance that we'll be playing Peterhead in the semis.
No injuries and a solid, if unspectacular, win. Anything more than that is a big positive. Anything less is a worry with our schedule over the next few weeks in mind.