BallochSonsFan

Should add that despite having Newcastle and Sunderland on their doorstep, South Shields managed to draw over 2000 fans today to the National League North - tier 6 of the English football set-up. Its almost as if its possible to live in the shadow of 2 much bigger clubs and to still bring in a healthy crowd if you do things properly and create the right kind of condition for the club to attract fans. And certainly not a ploughed field masquerading as a football park.

Can I suggest the silky skills and flowing football of the National League North? I thought I was watching Stevie Farrell's geordie cousin.

Just home from my 400+ mile round trip to watch South Shields FC v Brackley Town. How bad were we? Injury time winner for EF is a painful one.

Tomorrow is now an absolute nightmare for us. Crighton missing is a massive blow. Lennon is no left back and he's barely better at centre half. I like Newbury, but the thought of starting the game with a back 4 featuring Ryan Blair at left back and 2 very inexperienced centre halves is terrifying. Durnan hasn't played since October and you wonder what kind of state he's in right now? Do we risk him from the start? Do we drop Newbury back to centre half? Do we go with Newbury and Lennon or do we go Newbury and somebody else? I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow's back 4 is Pigniatello on the right, Ryan Blair on the left and a centre half partnership of Lynas and Newbury. Properly scary stuff. Add in Blair Malcolm in centre midfield, with Div Wilson and Finlay Gray playing too. Graham has to get a start tomorrow. Kalvin Orsi is nowhere near fit enough. Absolutely no point in having Graham if we're not going to play him. He can play wide and has a fair bit of pace. Ruth needs help and it's incredibly frustrating watching one of the best forwards in the league trying to feed of such meagre opportunities. Tomorrow is either going to be a gritty, battling performance where we secure all 3 points in difficult circumstances or an absolute horsing. I don't really see there being much in between. We'll either use Tuesday to focus the players and we'll feed off that anger or we'll ship an early goal, the heads will go down and EF will put 4 or 5 past us. If it's the latter then I fear for us. Spartans the following week won't be a great game and Bonnyrigg at home on the 23rd could well be the game where fans properly turn on the manager and the chairman.

Most felt that it was pretty much a straight swap. And it probably has been. The big difference is that Crighton has had a few different partners at the back, none of whom have been consistent enough. And we're hamstrung by the tactical genius that is Stevie Farrell and his constant shuffling of the midfield. The best option we've got to play in front of the defence and give them a bit of protection is Cian Newbury, and whilst he''s done well in the 2 home games he's played there, its no substitute for a proper defensive midfielder who can give the defence a bit of protection.

The pitch issue is really hurting us. It's harming our reputation for sure. An inability to maintain a reasonable pitch is pretty shameful. There are reasons for that, but I do wonder how much we're making from Broomhill and whether or not we could make up any shortfall if we were drawing bigger crowds because the team were playing better? A huge part of that would be better football on a better pitch. Then there's the potential to make up a revenue shortfall through sponsorship. We havent seen the same debacle that we had last season with the repeatedly postponed Stirling game, but the fact that we're barely getting games played isn't really a significant improvement. The Rangers game was probably the game that killed the pitch for the rest of the season and had that been a lesser tie that wasn't on TV then there's no way the game would have gone ahead. Players can't really play much football on it and it has to be a concern that it'll make niggly injuries that bit more troublesome. We desperately need to get Broomhill away from our ground and to find the funds to maintain the pitch properly. We can't have another season of things being reasonable until Christmas and then spending 4-5 months playing on something resembling a WW1 battle field.

Please tell me it's not Carluke. Because my SEO has moved from Forth to Carluke.

He certainly threatened the club with court action in order to kill us if he didn't get a director loan repaid to him when he left our board.

I'll be giving this one a miss. The flowing football of South Shields FC vs Brackley Town in the National League North is just too tempting to miss.

A supporters Q&A is something that the Trust has suggested amongst a greater discussion about fan engagement and communicating with fans about the club's current position and future intentions. Unfortunately its not something that the chairman is likely to do himself. He has already ruled out public meetings where he'd be available for supporters to question directly. The club needs to realise the importance of engaging with fans and to find away that the chairman is able to do that. I think it's a major weakness of the club right now. As for Mackay not caring what supporters think? Nothing could be further from the truth. Our chairman cares deeply about what fans think. Not necessarily in the way that fans would want and not to the extent where he's wiling to put himself out there in a public meeting to answer questions and talk with fans. But as recent events have shown, criticism does get to him and he's said on several occasions that the air of negativity around the club is a source of significant worry. Actually clearing that air by communicating with fans and being available on a more personal level? Therein lies the problem and it's one that won't easily be solved.

Tonight will have absolutely no consequences for Farrell. We're still the most likely team to finish 4th. We'll almost certainly fail in the play-offs. We'll sign more than a few of this team for next season. It doesn't have to be this way, but nothing will change under this board of directors and these owners. The ownership issue is a massive problem and will always be so. The uncertainty around their bat shit mental plans for developing the land round the ground will either act as an ever present threat or will cause significant damage to a future at our current ground. But lets not use that as a reason to let the board off the hook. We're a terribly run football club. The chairman won't engage with fans. Won't put himself out there to face difficult questions and provide worth while answers. We've got a manager who has shown nothing but disappointing failure in the high pressure games - relegation, a failed play-off against Annan and now another disappointing season. There's absolutely no pressure on him. Long term we need new ownership. That doesnt mean that short term we wouldn't be in a far better position as a football club if we had a board of directors who were willing and able to lead this club and to make far better decisions that were within their control to make.

The idea of an updated version of Sensible Soccer fills me with more than a bit of sadness. The graphics should be ropey. The gameplay should be fun - pick up and play for an hour or two without really bothering about all the shite you get with EA's football game. And they should have the option of daft teams like the Kids TV XI that let you play as Zippy or Bungle.

9.5? Really? Thought they absolutely fucked one of the main characters in the movie. Flat out destroyed her with a needless rewrite. The stuff they changed didn't just make the movie poorer, it actually made adapting Dune Messiah and Children of Dune even harder because of how they treated Chani in the movie. 1 exceptional scene in the movie. And the big final battle set piece should have been a few minutes longer. But the character changes they made to Chani - absolutely kills the film.

The trailers they had before Dune part 2 today were absolutely garbage. The Deadpool movie suggesting that nobody at Marvel even cares any more and Godzilla x King Kong looking even worse.

Meanwhile a club barely a few miles along the river Leven can keep their park in this kind of condition.

Proverbial game of two halves. Thought that despite losing the early goal, Dumbarton were by far the better side in the first half. At times we were playing some decent stuff on our disaster of a park. That all changed in the 2nd half and Stranraer seemed to be sharper and first to every 50/50 ball. A few dangerous moments where it looked like we might give up an equaliser. Thought the ref was atrocious. Some of the fouls that weren't given for poor and reckless tackles on Gray were shocking. And some that were even given to Stranraer. Linesman called a couple of things today that the ref otherwise wasn't giving. Hopefully Farrell has learned that we're a better team with Gray and Wallace. I thought Newbury did ok pushed into midfield. I thought Lennon looked pretty poor today and didnt inspire any more confidence playing centre half than he does as a left back, I'd like to see Carlo playing the Div Wilson role and Lynas in at right back as I think that Lynas and Orsi down the right and Carlo as the right sided midfielder of the 3 would be a far stronger proposition. Michael Ruth with another gutsy, hard working performance - he really would be an absolute star at this level in a more consistent team.

What do we reckon for today then? Farrell still refusing to play Gray from the start? Tony Wallace on the bench too? Hilton and Kelly taking turns to show that neither are wide players? Lennon left really exposed because whichever one of the afore mentioned players doesnt give him any kind of protection. I'm not ruling out Sam Mendes showing up to film a sequel to 1917 on that disgrace of a pitch. We need to win today. If we don't then we'll have managed just 2 league wins for the whole of December, January and February. The idea that we can potentially hit 3 calendar months with only 2 league wins should be unthinkable. Sadly there's every chance that we'll be in that exact position around 3:50 this afternoon. I think this is probably the last chance to prevent things from becoming really nasty.

If we play terribly and lose on Saturday then there's bound to be more than a few F-bombs.

Everything around the club is incredibly frustrating right now. Frustrating and worrying. We've got an ownership group who are less transparent than the last shower. Brabco, and this is the only shred of credit I'll give them, were keen to engage with the fans and saw the value in being transparent with their plans for Youngs Farm. Those plans may well have been bat shit crazy, but at least Brabco were transparent. They had regular meetings with the trust, eventually provided the evidence we pushed them on and were generally eager to meet with fans in order to try to generate some local good PR. Ian Wilson was a liability and some of his private comments would have had him run out of town, but Chris Stainton was generally a far better person to deal with and it's a major worry that the previous owners seem to have been better than the current ones. The trust pushed for some time to get in a room with Andy Hosie and eventually made it happen. The conversation was frank and neither side pulled any punches. Tellingly, Cognitive seem to have become even more guarded than they were previously. When guys like Clive Hymen are going public then you know something is amiss because Hymen is the type who doesnt like to be front and centre in deals like this. It'll be interesting to see what happens going forward between Cognitive and the trust. We're certainly willing to engage with them but it has to be in a spirit of transparency and there has to be a genuine willingness from the owners to demonstrate that their plans won't screw Dumbarton over. That we were even able to have a meeting with Cognitive came as something of a surprise because we'd been raising that exact prospect with the club board and getting absolutely nowhere with it. Eventually we had to approach Andy Hosie directly. I'm not convinced that the club board were particularly happy with that. My own view has always been that the club board would much rather not have to deal with fans if people like the SLO and the trust can do it for them. Which highlights my biggest concern right now as far as Dumbarton goes. The biggest concern isn't the garbage football we're witnessing under Stevie Farrell. I'll say flat out that any personal abuse of Farrell is unacceptable. Maybe it was only one or two idiots. Alcohol, or worse, was probably involved. I'm sure that if those fans met Farrell and had the chance to discuss things with him then they wouldn't abuse him directly. I don't think that the club making a statement reminding fans that abuse won't be tolerated is a terrible idea. Abuse is unacceptable and the club are right to challenge that, as are the trust. I think the club's statement in this case is a little poor. The basic message is fine, but a lot of the actual content oversteps the mark. Moderate, considered criticism is not only justified but it's also deserved. Abusing people connected to the club, including making personal comments about their families, oversteps whats acceptable. it's entirely wrong. We have to tackle abuse when it happens because it's unacceptable and because it cant be allowed to take the focus away from any of the very justified concerns and criticisms that fans have. There are perfectly reasonable grounds to criticise Farrell and his players. We're playing poorly. We've won 2 league games since the start of December. If we lose or draw on Saturday then it'll be 2 wins in 3 months. That's simply not good enough. We've also seen Ryan Wallace leave the club today. The timing of that announcement is really frustrating. If he was unhappy and wanted to retire earlier than the end of the season then he should have done it last month and we could perhaps have signed a replacement using his wages from the budget? That said, Spartans were able to sign Marc McNulty today. As much as he's not a world beater, he'd have been a potentially capable replacement for Wallace at our level. The club effectively has 1 striker now and a supporting cast of wide players and attacking midfielders. A team that is already struggling for goals is now that bit weaker. I do respect Wallace for actually retiring and not simply picking up his wages from now until May. I do wonder if he's entirely happy stepping out like this? If we'd been challenging for a title or playing well and looking good for the play-offs then would he have stuck things out until the end of the season? The whole mood around our football right now is incredibly low. And thats the big issue I have with the club board. We've got huge concerns about our owners and their plans. We're performing particularly poorly on the park and have been for almost 3 months now. We struggled to attract a shirt sponsor until we mysteriously found one ahead of the Rangers game. The mood amongst the support is rock bottom and yet the club board has only broken cover when they've felt personally attacked by an article in the local press. That the club was the subject of comments in Holyrood during a debate about the need for an independent regulator for football seemed not to upset our club board. Suggestions that the board in general, and chairman in particular, were less than dogged in their pursuit of answers from the owners saw the chairman break cover and go on the offensive. And whilst I've said that the club are correct to address any abuse directed towards Farrell before the problem escalates, their refusal to address the very genuine and well founded concerns that the wider support has just doesnt sit right with me. We're long past the stage where the club board can sit in their bubble and simply try to ride out the storm. It's naive to think that they can't address the concerns that fans have. Perhaps they have limited pull with the owners, but there will be very real consequences to the club from whatever eventually happens with Cognitive and their land deal - we need to be 100% sure that the club board are pushing to protect the club's interests and to know exactly where we stand under the various scenarios that Cognitive may ultimately pursue.. The club may well be operating in a difficult financial climate and the oft used description that our finances are "grim" is almost certainly well deserved. That doesnt mean that we can blame an air of negativity for that poor financial climate. If we're struggling to raise income through sponsorship, hospitality and other avenues then its for the club board to find out why and to try to address those challenges. Footballing matters? We've seen crowds fall since Covid restrictions ended and yet the club seems unwilling to take action to try to arrest the decline. If our financial situation is preventing us from making changes then the decision to extend the manager's contract without some kind of review clause seems even more rash. As does extending the contract of crocked players like Mark Durnan, who looks no closer to a return to first team football than he did before Christmas. We don't even know what our pre-season targets were for this campaign and what Farrell's performance is being judged against? Or if it's being judged at all by anybody in a position of influence within the club. The ownership issue is of major concern. The club's performance on and off the park appears to be in free fall. We have a board at the club who go public regarding criticism they take personally, but who seem completely unwilling to address the very real and deserved criticisms that can be made of the past couple of years. This lack of leadership from the board can't continue - the only thing that's sure to guarantee is falling crowds, lower season ticket renewals, a more challenging environment in which to sell sponsorship and hospitality and our ever increasing progress through a cycle off decline. This has to change. The board needs to step up and show some actual leadership. Doing nothing risks consigning us to a very dangerous future.

And Spartans announce the signing of Marc McNulty today. A player who would have been well worth signing at this level. Right now I can't see us holding on to 4th. We're an absolute bin fire.

Losing Wallace is a blow. He was a better player than James Hilton and I'm not convinced that Kelly steps in and replaces him. Had he made the decision a month ago then maybe we can allocate the wages to another player. Packing it now is frustrating. We're a player down until the end of the season when we could have replaced him if he'd retired last month. If he's had enough then I appreciate his honesty in not just sticking around to pick up a wage. And if he's got an opportunity outside football or wants/needs to spend more time with his family then those considerations will (and should) always come first. But it's an annoying one.

I thought I'd read that Div had a contract extension. It was on here, but that was referring to his 2 year deal in April 2023. Same concern though - why did Div deserve a 2 year deal last April? Young I can almost agree with. Young guy at the start of his career. Season ending injury. That we're standing by him by offering the extension feels like a decent thing to do and portrays the club in a good light. But it's massively risky and we could be looking at a player who doesn't come back as good as he'd shown pre-injury.

Saturday is must win. If we close out February having won 2 league games in 3 months then I fear that things will ramp up and become properly nasty. I can see crowds dropping even further and criticism becoming far more vocal. We need to win. As for OK3's remark about the running of football matters within the club, I suspect that the answer to that is Stevie Farrell. I'm massively concerned by our club board. The handing out of new contracts to Durnan and Wilson are not the decisions of a board making sound decisions.

I've got first hand experience of that. Straight from the horse's mouth. Sadly I know all too well the kind of struggles that what I'm suggesting would face.

You're correct. None of this is the fault of supporters. That doesnt mean that a bit of proper leadership from the club wouldn't give the fans a proper understanding of whats happening right now and what the club is trying to do to improve things. Proper leadership from the club might just galvanise the support a little and give our current struggles far more context.