BallochSonsFan

Maybe worth offering a reduced price package for games like yesterday? It might not generate extra revenue on the day but if fans get a taste for it, they may be more inclined to book for future games?

I would have liked to have seen him getting more of a chance. If he isn't going to play then there's no point keeping him. It's harsh for folk to hold his football loyalties against him - I'd want any decision to be made for football reasons unless he did something that brought the club into disrepute. Bottom line is that he wasn't getting a shot at Dumbarton and he's at an age where he wants to be playing. If he needs to drop down the divisions to get a shot, or even go junior, then it's his choice to make.

Certainly a few.

Its an area that regularly floods. How is that not a bad location?

I can see the point in having a gym. We don't have a private gym firm within Alexandria, Dumbarton or Helensburgh so it makes commercial sense to get the likes of Bannatynes, Greens or LA Fitness in to offer competition to the council's extortionate prices. But what about the rest of the facilities? We don't really need hotel accomodation. Dumbarton already has 2 hotels and there's a cut price option between Dumbarton and Alexandria. Helensburgh has a hotel. Balloch has a hotel. Where's the need for more hotel rooms? Conference facilities? I don't see it. Larger conferences will stick to Glasgow. Smaller ones can be accomodated in the hotel facilites that alread exist. Retail? We've already got 2 supermarkets in Dumbarton with an Aldi in Alexandria. We also have a retail park. Wheres the need for more retail outlets in Dunbartonshire? And lastly - the ground itself. I'd expect 2 of the big 3 sides to escape the Championship at the end of this season. Where will we ever need a 4000 capacity ground? Even if we build a single stand and increase as needs arise, I doubt we'll ever see the need to build stands 2, 3 and 4 because it's going to take a long time for Dumbarton to grow the fanbase to a significant number. Hell, Braehead Clan have been on the go for 4 and a bit years now and have started selling out Braehead. The Clan regularly get 2800-3200 fans now. Our attendance figures have been static for as long as I've been going to games (which admittedly isnt as long as many) and they don't look like increasing any time soon. It's a terrible location away from the town that's poorly served by public transport and isn't good for road access. Imagine the stream of several hundred cars trying to turn onto the bypass at the edge of the Tontine football pitches? That junction will need serious upgrading to avoid saturday afternoon traffic chaos. I hope this doesnt disadvantage the club. Anything that moves the club to the outskirts of town has the potential to cause disruption for fans. I'd also be concerned at being left with an expensive white elephant facility that we can't afford and can't fill. If it's done properly then theres no reason why it wont be at worst financially neutral for the club but I have genuine concerns that it'll be done in such a way that it'll still create an overall drain on the club. The devil will be in the detail. The sooner it's published then the sooner we can all give it proper scruitiny.

The previous announcement was that the club would be open from 10am til 12 to allow fans to purchase tickets or swap season ticket vouchers. After that the club won't sell match tickets and won't swap season ticket vouchers. Castle Street is supposed to be closed from 2pm. It may be a police decision but it's been implemented exceptionally poorly. Was there a late night opening at the stadium? If you missed the Livi game then when could you get your match ticket? If closing Castle St at 2pm is all about controlling traffic in the area, where are the rest of the support expected to park? It's forcing a couple of hundred extra cars onto the surrounding streets that will already be full of residents parking. No other club has faced this level of disruption for a category A game. If this is down to Dumbarton's finest boys in blue then by f**k they're a shower of incompetents.

Craig Nelson was playing for Brechin at 40.

I suppose it all comes down to what our squad players offer us. Can we rely on Mclaughlin to offer cover? If he's not playing then is he going to be reliable when called on? Same goes for Shug Murray. Both are in the late stages of their careers (38 and 35) and might struggle to get up to game speed if called on at short notice. McDougall gives us absolutely nothing - plenty of ability but a lack of any kind of desire to use it.

Great to see Kane back but not happy with Prunty leaving. I've made no secret of my dislike of Colin Nish. He's often ineffective yet always seems to start matches. He's poor in the air, his first reaction to any kind of attention is to look for the foul and when he drops deep, he tends to take up poor positions that marginalise him from the rest of a phase of play. If we want an attacking player to play around the box, battle with defenders, hold the ball and bring others into the game then Gary Fleming is a better option for me. He does some great work in the final 3rd and whilst he's not a particularly prolific finisher, he's strong and has a great work rate. I'd have kept Prunty in the squad. If we're without Kane for any length of time then we don't really have any proven penalty box players. Megginson was a striker with Aberdeen but we don't use him up front. Campbell had a decent time in Greenock before injury but couldn't recapture that form (and was used sparingly when he regained his fitness). As above, Fleming isn't an out and out poacher. I think we've got options for the final 3rd but by losing Prunty, we're getting rid of our only other penalty box player. I was also seriously disappointed with Nish at the Sons v Clydebank game. He stood for the entire match with his arms folded and offered almost no vocal encouragement to the players. He didn't look to be giving the players any instructions during the game and the only time I heard him in the whole of the first half was when he questioned the linesman about a foul. I know that shouting at players isn't everybody's style and constantly shouting at kids isn't going to help them but at least give them a bit of encouragement - tell them if they've done something well or if you've spotted something that they haven't that you want them to change or adapt to. Nish didn't look even remotely right for a role as under 20s head coach/manager.

I believe he's better than Colin Nish. Nish has managed 6 goals in 36 appearances for Dumbarton. Neither of them are probably good enough to be relied on at this level but I wouldn't be keeping a forward who's scored an average of a goal every 6 games. Until we can get a more prolific striker, Prunty looks to be a better option than Nish.

I'd be very disappointed if Prunty left. He has a far better scoring record than Colin Nish does. His work rate is high, he can take punishment from defenders and he's a better penalty box player than Nish. Strange getting rid of your best goalscoring option and keeping a guy who time and again has shown that he isnt going to get us goals.

Easy way to deal with that. Entry to the ground only on production of both a valid match day voucher and a valid Dumbarton season book. Voucher but no book? No entry.

Row M

He done that to me at the Raith game. In fairness its because he sits behind me and suffers my sweary outbursts every other Saturday afternoon.

I don't know who you are.

Ibrox is a reasonable example. Some fans have electronic smart cards. Some fans have paper tickets. It doesn't seem to cause any issues does it? Next week we'll be using our paper tickets right next to the guys with smart cards in the Govan front. It's an overzealous police match commander making an idiotic decision.

Club officials absolutely keep an eye on this thread. They can also probably put a name to most of the user names here. Doesn't bother me - fans should be able to talk about the football and the club whether it's to praise things or criticise them. As long as it's not abusive then the club really shouldn't be interfering.

In what way does a wee single match ticket make me any more of a genuine ticket holder than my season book? Surely by producing my season book to any steward/cop who wants to check me before I head down to the ground, I'm proving that I am indeed a genuine ticket holder? I'd say it's a better form of proof that I'm a genuine season ticket holder - whats to stop a Sons season ticket holder from punting their one-off match ticket to a Gers fan? You're hardly going to do that if it means giving them your book are you? Absolute f**k nugget of a decision. Next thing will be the social club being closed on the day of cat A games and the wee bowling club having it's license removed for a fixed period before and after the game. Just because Rangers, Hearts and Hibs turn up, its no excuse to treat the Sons fans like shite and make us jump through more hoops to get to the game.

Or find somewhere else to park.

Some of that is absolute madness. The season ticket thing. I have a voucher for entry to the match. This voucher is absolutely fine for cat B games but for cat A games I need to exchange it for a printed ticket. I can exchange my voucher for a ticket prior to the match - by the looks of things up until 12noon on the day of the game. If I haven't exchanged my voucher for a ticket by 12noon on the day of the game then I will be denied entry to the match. If I haven't exchanged my voucher for a ticket by 12noon then the club can't then sell my seat ticket on because it's the same 12noon deadline for selling a ticket as it is for swapping my season ticket voucher for the printed ticket. Whats the point of forcing me to go to the stadium to pick up a ticket in exchange for my season ticket voucher? I can't go to the game I've already paid for if I don't pick up my ticket by 12noon on the day of the game. The club can't sell my seat because it's the same 12noon deadline for selling tickets so it sits empty. I can't get access to the game and nobody can use my seat. Whats the point? Whats the point in making season ticket holders jump through hoops when the club can't then sell an unused season ticket seat? Car parking is going to be chaos as well.

Just in from the friendly v Clydebank. More mince than a butchers window.

I was never at Boghead so can't compare it to the Bet Butler but I like our ground. There are things that would improve it but on the whole it's a very good place to watch football. It suits our needs. I'm really not looking forward to moving in the next few years - if that happens.

Picking up a printed ticket to go with the season ticket voucher fans have already paid for on the basis that the club *might* be able to sell another dozen tickets from the minority of fans with season books who won't go to these games? Genius. Screw any fan who can't make it to the ground to pick up their brief - due to work commitments for example - who'll be denied access to a game they've already paid for. How dare they not fit in with the club's office opening hours.

I think a big part of him looking uncomfortable at times was that it was McDougall who was supposed to be protecting him. Shagger constantly cut inside, left his full back really badly exposed and did little in a defensive capacity. McDougall offers his full back as much protection as a punctured johnny.

Difficult to really take much positive or negative from last night's game. Wee Chris at right back did well. Contrary to what seems to be consensus on here, I thought the trialist left back did ok - distribution wasn't great but he was generally sound defensively and he made at least 1 important block in the first half where other players may well have shat themselves and failed to close the shot down. A couple of players - big Andy Graham being one of them - were doing some work with the physio during the warm up but weren't even on the bench. But £10 for that game was steep, particularly since 2/3 of the side were kids. Still, if the worst comes to the worst then there are a couple of youngsters in our squad who look like they'd be able to come in and do a job for us if needed and that has to be a major positive.