Sons' sorrow

[The Moonster]

I also think Stevie's comments are scrutinised more because he speaks to the press a lot more than previous managers. Stevie loves talking to the media and speaks to them a lot - how many times have we seen stuff about Stevie or the team in the gossip/rumour columns of the Daily Record and the likes? Something that we rarely used to see. I honestly think the press know he loves talking to them so they call him for a scoop more often than others. I could also be wrong here but I don't remember Ian Murray or Adamson being interviewed on SonsTV after games? Perhaps the fact that Stevie is on our screens every week now it exposes the stuff he says more often than previous managers. 

I agree that he has talked us down and talked our opposition up a bit too much this season, but I suppose he sees it as a way of protecting the players or the inadequacies in the squad.  But at least he doesn't hide.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

16 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I also think Stevie's comments are scrutinised more because he speaks to the press a lot more than previous managers. Stevie loves talking to the media and speaks to them a lot - how many times have we seen stuff about Stevie or the team in the gossip/rumour columns of the Daily Record and the likes? Something that we rarely used to see. I honestly think the press know he loves talking to them so they call him for a scoop more often than others. I could also be wrong here but I don't remember Ian Murray or Adamson being interviewed on SonsTV after games? Perhaps the fact that Stevie is on our screens every week now it exposes the stuff he says more often than previous managers. 

I agree that he has talked us down and talked our opposition up a bit too much this season, but I suppose he sees it as a way of protecting the players or the inadequacies in the squad.  But at least he doesn't hide.

I think what Smoky Bacon says and doesn't say in interviews is far less important than other stuff swirling around the club right now.  For example, and I repeat, now that Brabco have publicly declared that bringing their vision to reality is heavily dependent on Championship football can we now expect a break from tradition by digging their hands into their pockets to strengthen the playing squad ?  An positive indication of that would make a welcome interlude to the gloom enveloping the fanbase at present, save of course for those few myopic zealots who could give the North Koreans a run for their money.

 

[C'mon_the_Sons]

If my boss told anyone who'd listen that I had no chance of completing a task / closing a deal / etc etc. would I even bother? 

This is exactly what Stevie is doing with the team. He needs to instil some belief in the team rather than being on a downer all the time.

[Nowhereman]

5 hours ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

It doesn't hugely bother me in all honesty, but if we are discussing his interviews, there's no denying they are fairly cliche'd and he often goes off on a tangent about how we're part-time, low budget, poor us etc etc. I find it so boring I now don't bother watching them. Comparing him to Peter Houston, a guy who is widely regarded as being a p***k due to his constant blame game, isn't any sort of defence, that's a bad thing.

FWIW - I spoke to guy who is involved in the game at our level and the first thing he mentioned to me was the post-match interviews. And that was the morning after the great Bonnyrigg disaster of 2016.

Have you ever heard a post match interview that isn't. Complete waste of time.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

If my boss told anyone who'd listen that I had no chance of completing a task / closing a deal / etc etc. would I even bother? 
This is exactly what Stevie is doing with the team. He needs to instil some belief in the team rather than being on a downer all the time.

I agree with this.

People downplay how important this is, something I've been chanting since that awfully negative article on the OS. If you breed negativity you're doing absolutely ziltch to aid your cause, infact you are massively hindering it. Confidence in football is massive, we seen that first hand the season Murray took over. By reminding everyone how little we are, how poor we are and how impossible a task we face is shockingly negative.

[albundy]

As I said on the Hibs match thread, the irony could be that it might be worth keeping Aitken if we go down with the converse maybe being the case if he pulls the rabbit from the hat.

Based on his competitive record against lower league opposition with us, I'll pass.

[Johan Cruyff]

I agree with this.

People downplay how important this is, something I've been chanting since that awfully negative article on the OS. If you breed negativity you're doing absolutely ziltch to aid your cause, infact you are massively hindering it. Confidence in football is massive, we seen that first hand the season Murray took over. By reminding everyone how little we are, how poor we are and how impossible a task we face is shockingly negative.

Yup it's the sort of stuff Alan Adamson was saying every week and it was self fulfilling

[aftershocker]

I agree with this.

People downplay how important this is, something I've been chanting since that awfully negative article on the OS. If you breed negativity you're doing absolutely ziltch to aid your cause, infact you are massively hindering it. Confidence in football is massive, we seen that first hand the season Murray took over. By reminding everyone how little we are, how poor we are and how impossible a task we face is shockingly negative.

This is assuming Aitken is saying the same things in the dressing room....he wouldn't be the first manager to privately say the complete opposite to his players

[justin time]

Looking from the outside in, Aitken's been on borrowed time for around a year at least now.  He's been fortunate that teams around dumbarton have somehow conspired to do worse than he has, rather than him being any good as a manager.  Hopkin got him out of jail last year and St Mirren were providing the safety net this year until the last couple of results.  His win ration must be around the worst in the country for any manager still in a job, but it looks like the board at dumbarton are just blindly clingin on hoping st mirren can remain crap and they can stay in the division via the play offs.  3 wins from 23 matches this season takes some doing, along with cup defeats to league 1, league 2 and a junior sides makes for an unbelievably grim record. 

[George Parr]

33 minutes ago, justin time said:

Looking from the outside in, Aitken's been on borrowed time for around a year at least now.  He's been fortunate that teams around dumbarton have somehow conspired to do worse than he has, rather than him being any good as a manager.  Hopkin got him out of jail last year and St Mirren were providing the safety net this year until the last couple of results.  His win ration must be around the worst in the country for any manager still in a job, but it looks like the board at dumbarton are just blindly clingin on hoping st mirren can remain crap and they can stay in the division via the play offs.  3 wins from 23 matches this season takes some doing, along with cup defeats to league 1, league 2 and a junior sides makes for an unbelievably grim record. 

That's about the size of it unfortunately. What goodwill there was remaining towards Stevie took a critical hit or disappeared completely after 'Bonnyrigg'.

In years to come I think we'll reflect that staying on as manager after that night was a brave but ultimately unwise decision.

 

[The Moonster]

45 minutes ago, justin time said:

Looking from the outside in, Aitken's been on borrowed time for around a year at least now.  He's been fortunate that teams around dumbarton have somehow conspired to do worse than he has, rather than him being any good as a manager.  Hopkin got him out of jail last year and St Mirren were providing the safety net this year until the last couple of results.  His win ration must be around the worst in the country for any manager still in a job, but it looks like the board at dumbarton are just blindly clingin on hoping st mirren can remain crap and they can stay in the division via the play offs.  3 wins from 23 matches this season takes some doing, along with cup defeats to league 1, league 2 and a junior sides makes for an unbelievably grim record. 

He did a decent job last year, we can only beat what's in front of us and frankly the fact Livi were shite is neither here nor there, we still got the points we needed to stay up without a play-off and that was everything that was asked of him. The problems of this year do stem from last year, but he had the chance to right a few wrongs in regards to his squad building and seems to have gotten the major calls wrong. He can absolutely be criticised for our performances this year, our record is grim and our record against lower league opposition is abhorrent.  

The margins in this league are extremely fine though, if we'd managed the home wins against St Mirren and Queen of the South (or even Dunfermline) instead of draws then the league table looks much more favourable for us.  It's taking those chances which will decide our season and if we can start by getting 3 points at home on Saturday against a Falkirk side who aren't exactly on fire then we could potentially be above/level with Ayr going into the game against them next week. Everything then looks a bit more rosy for us and we can start to forget the shite we've witnessed so far.  Need some big performances though.

[Jan Vojáček]

Given that he won 3 out of his first 5 games in charge the statistics don't look too bad for Aitken. Remove those 5 games,where the 'new manager bounce' could be given as the reason, and we have a manager who, in 18 months, has presided over just 13 wins in 62 games.

That's Paul '12 wins in 67' Martin-esque form.

[Frank Quitely]

1 hour ago, justin time said:

Looking from the outside in, Aitken's been on borrowed time for around a year at least now.  He's been fortunate that teams around dumbarton have somehow conspired to do worse than he has, rather than him being any good as a manager.  Hopkin got him out of jail last year and St Mirren were providing the safety net this year until the last couple of results.  His win ration must be around the worst in the country for any manager still in a job, but it looks like the board at dumbarton are just blindly clingin on hoping st mirren can remain crap and they can stay in the division via the play offs.  3 wins from 23 matches this season takes some doing, along with cup defeats to league 1, league 2 and a junior sides makes for an unbelievably grim record. 

You may well be absolutely spot-on with that phrase, but not in the way you mean.  It would not surprise me at all if they are clinging on to the Manager because they simply can't afford to pay him off, and he is unwilling to walk without some 'agreement'.

[lionel wickson]

Does anyone know if tickets for the home game with Dundee United will be on sale/available for collection on Saturday?

[Howlin' Wilf]

4 hours ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:

Given that he won 3 out of his first 5 games in charge the statistics don't look too bad for Aitken. Remove those 5 games,where the 'new manager bounce' could be given as the reason, and we have a manager who, in 18 months, has presided over just 13 wins in 62 games.

That's Paul '12 wins in 67' Martin-esque form.

I have already compared his popularity amongst the support to that of Paul Martin. However, Martin was operating a division lower than Aitken is.

[Howlin' Wilf]

5 hours ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:

Given that he won 3 out of his first 5 games in charge the statistics don't look too bad for Aitken. Remove those 5 games,where the 'new manager bounce' could be given as the reason, and we have a manager who, in 18 months, has presided over just 13 wins in 62 games.

That's Paul '12 wins in 67' Martin-esque form.

And is 'seasonally adjusted'.

[Howlin' Wilf]

It seems like Aitken is a 'dead man walking'.

For fun only, who do you think would be within DFC's budget and would do a better job?

Obviously only out of work guys as DFC wouldn't be paying compensation.

Take your pick.

 

 

 

[Howlin' Wilf]

5 hours ago, Consolidate said:

That's about the size of it unfortunately. What goodwill there was remaining towards Stevie took a critical hit or disappeared completely after 'Bonnyrigg'.

In years to come I think we'll reflect that staying on as manager after that night was a brave but ultimately unwise decision.

 

Seeing it in inverted commas like that, it's like a cross between Donnybrook and Brigadoon....

[KennyWilsonsMoustache]

47 minutes ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

It seems like Aitken is a 'dead man walking'.

For fun only, who do you think would be within DFC's budget and would do a better job?

Obviously only out of work guys as DFC wouldn't be paying compensation.

Take your pick.

 

 

 

From that list, Alex Rae and Ian Murray may have failed at St Mirren but given where that club is, isn't too much of a blemish. Can't see Murray entertaining the thought of a return though, especially if he is looking at an adventure in the fjords.

The audacious moves - Jamie Fullarton, Billy McKinlay and Paul Dickov

Ally McCoist has made noises about getting back into management, would certainly be high profile...

Neil Collins has set himself up a nice life in Tampa with his family but one can dream of a return as player manager. Joe Cole was on Soccer AM saying that he is very aggressive and intense so that would be good fun.

Aitken a dead man walking - dismissing the idea of him staying on in the event of a narrow relegation via the playoffs?

Edited December 13, 2016 by KennyWilsonsMoustache

[Boghead ranter]

52 minutes ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

It seems like Aitken is a 'dead man walking'.

For fun only, who do you think would be within DFC's budget and would do a better job?

Obviously only out of work guys as DFC wouldn't be paying compensation.

Take your pick.

 

 

 

I'll take anyone who can satisfactorily answer @Kenny Ashwood's questions re EXACTLY what tactics and formation they are going to employ to make us better.