Sons' sorrow

[Kilbowie Benches]

2 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

 

The stadium as a place for a football club to play football is adequate.

The stadium as a facility for a business to use to maximise income is not.

Without money, the ability of the club to use the stadium for the former purpose is undeniably limited. For far too long there has been a refusal for many to face up to the fact that we as a club live hand to mouth. It's a difficult existence and one that sees us only one or two potholes away from the wheels coming off the wagon.

The days of burying heads in the sand and thinking that everything can carry on regardless are over. Football clubs like Dumbarton need to do more than simply host football matches. The current ground is chronically underused. It brings in a minimal amount of revenue. That isn't sustainable for clubs like Dumbarton. The harsh truth is that clubs that cannot do more to generate revenue are going to find life exceptionally difficult. As a fan it's never nice to think of fans as customers or football as a business. Reality check - if a club can't afford to pay it's way then it either downsizes massively or it risks it's very future.

New ground or current ground is an entirely incorrect argument. Whether it's at the rock or elsewhere? The club needs fundamental change. Moving was, and remains, a means to an end for the owners. That end is clearly now in need of a significant rethink. That's entirely for the owners to do. It doesn't change the need for a fundamental change within the club. It simply means that for at least the immediate future that change has to happen with what we have to work with at Castle Road.

 

To make the current stadium a community facility you’d need to get a 3G pitch for daily use as so many other clubs have done.

[Nowhereman]

To make the current stadium a community facility you’d need to get a 3G pitch for daily use as so many other clubs have done.

Well perhaps if West Dunbartonshire Council chipped in three quarters of a million we'd be able to do that

[BallochSonsFan]

To make the current stadium a community facility you’d need to get a 3G pitch for daily use as so many other clubs have done.

Which, if you believe that Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven needs more all weather football pitches, was a major feature of the proposed development at Young's Farm.

A single competition standard 3g pitch at the rock not paid for with council money? You're looking at close to a decade before it wipes its face financially.

[Kilbowie Benches]

Has anyone from DFC approached the council,sportscotland etc to ask if there is money available for a 3G pitch?

[Kilbowie Benches]

6 minutes ago, Nowhereman said:

Well perhaps if West Dunbartonshire Council chipped in three quarters of a million we'd be able to do that

Holm Park is a council owned facility.

[BallochSonsFan]

Has anyone from DFC approached the council,sportscotland etc to ask if there is money available for a 3G pitch?

There isn't.

Now about that £750,000. Easy to talk about the benefits of community use 3g when somebody else is paying to have it installed and maintained.

[Kilbowie Benches]

3 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

 

There isn't.

Now about that £750,000. Easy to talk about the benefits of community use 3g when somebody else is paying to have it installed and maintained.

 

Installed in their own facility not one owned privately by a bunch of shysters.

It won’t be maintained by WDC either.

[BallochSonsFan]

Installed in their own facility not one owned privately by a bunch of shysters.
It won’t be maintained by WDC either.

What won't be?

So the council owns Holm Park, is spending £750k on a 3g pitch and won't be paying for the maintenance needed after everybody and their dug hires it out?

You're making this up as you go along aren't you.

[Kilbowie Benches]

Just now, BallochSonsFan said:

 

What won't be?

So the council owns Holm Park, is spending £750k on a 3g pitch and won't be paying for the maintenance needed after everybody and their dug hires it out?

You're making this up as you go along aren't you.

 

Why would I make it up?

The lease for the ground is moving from Yoker to a new company made up of reps from Yoker,Clydebank and other locals.

That company will be responsible for the day to day running of the place and maintaining the facility as per the lease.

 

 

[BallochSonsFan]

So that'll be placing the facility in the hands of private shysters then

[Kilbowie Benches]

3 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

So that'll be placing the facility in the hands of private shysters then

It’s still in the hands of WDC or do I need to explain the term lease to you?

You’re just being a tit now so I’ll leave you to it.

[BallochSonsFan]

It’s still in the hands of WDC or do I need to explain the term lease to you?
You’re just being a tit now so I’ll leave you to it.

Council pay for it.

Council own it.

Private company run it and profit from it.

Seems pretty straight forward to me. £750k investment so that a private company can make money running a football ground. Have they been taking tips from Airdrie, Clyde and Livingston?

[the snudge]

Wdc have previous for this with the 3g facility at the Vale academy. It's staffed by wdc but profit goes to BAM. 

Now why should the council spend our 3 quarters of a million on Clydebank and Yoker but not the Sons?  We pay our council tax aswell. Dumbarton fc are nothing to the council for whatever reason. The investment in sports facilities in Clydebank far outstrips that of Dumbarton. New leisure facilities, face-lift on the Clyde, it even has a council run museum for a new town, ancient Dumbarton does not. 

 

[Howlin' Wilf]

2 hours ago, Kilbowie Benches said:

You are correct,there was no need for us to move!

Is that what you want for DFC?

From outside the story looks sadly familiar.Blame the bad old council.

 

The "bad old council" fairly fucked things up for Clydebank FC. They turned their application down on the basis that Green Belt land had to remain between Hardgate and Drumchapel. Then however, they allowed various developments thereafter.

The only reason I can think of for the Clydebank councillors turning down the DFC application is.........er.......badness...or parochialism.

 

[Kilbowie Benches]

Clydebank FC will have to pay for lets.

The company will be a registered charity and not for profit.All money will be used to improve the facility and put towards a sink fund for pitch replacement.

Anything else you conspiracy theorists want answered ?

[Howlin' Wilf]

2 minutes ago, Kilbowie Benches said:

Clydebank FC will have to pay for lets.

The company will be a registered charity and not for profit.All money will be used to improve the facility and put towards a sink fund for pitch replacement.

Anything else you conspiracy theorists want answered ?

I honestly and sincerely wish you and Clydebank FC all the best.

[Thommo90]

f**k the bankies

[Kilbowie Benches]

1 hour ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

I honestly and sincerely wish you and Clydebank FC all the best.

I sincerely hope that what happened to us isn’t repeated at DFC.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I don't think anything is served by a spat between supporters of the two local clubs. 

If I was to try and sum up the situation I'd say that after being shafted by a number of people with no emotional attachment to Clydebank FC, that club is now wholly run by genuine people who have the club's interests fully at heart.  Good luck to them in their endeavours.  For their part,  Dumbarton FC also has a goodly number of people with the requisite credentials to both protect and promote the club, but they are not in possession of the levers of power, and given both the Clydebank experience and the calibre of those who ARE in charge that is  a very serious concern indeed.

Everyone should also be assured that whenever perceived benefits to the community are highlighted in any stadium plan application they are invariably sweeteners or add-ons as opposed to core objectives.  Brabco, like others before them, is not an association of philanthropists, and planning applications should deal exclusively with  the relevant issues .

[Howlin' Wilf]

I sincerely hope that what happened to us isn’t repeated at DFC.

It would appear that all the ingredients are prepared.