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1 hour ago, Old Scrotum said:

If you purchased your 1972-73 top from either of Ian Tyrrell's sports shops in the town the gold band faded as soon as it even looked at water. 

Tyrrell's. Now there's a memory. Who else bought (or still has) a DFC holdall?

My brother and I had one each - bought from Tyrrell's - great memory OS! I had it for years until it just simply wore out (a bit like OS!).

What is all this talk about going out of business?

Get a grip folks.

One bad result at Brechin and we are relegated? We are barely half way though the season, Duffy is in his first transfer window but still having to cope with the mess left behind by the "saviour", the finances are not great but they are no  better or worse than at the start of the season - there are many clubs that manage on a lot less than we do.

There are a lot of games to go, there are a lot of ways the club can generate money and too much collective gloom and misery on here. 

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I actually think our main issue just now is the inability to change things during a game. Whilst some of the players, who are playing regularly just now, aren't good enough, we know they are capable of a performance (Brechin and East Fife at home). By only having 1 fit centre half and 1 fit centre mid on the bench we are instantly giving our opponents a big advantage. Folk can pine back to the days of only being allowed 1 sub all they want but today you are allowed 3 and us only being able to bring on 1 is a huge disadvantage. If Calum Gallagher, Bobby Barr or Michael Paton are having a bad game or looking tired there's quite literally f**k all we can do. Bringing fresh legs on for a player who's having a stinker shouldn't be underestimated and can be a real game changer.

You also have the issue of lack of competition for places. Our starting 11 don't need to play well to keep their place in the team because they know they are guaranteed a start every week. Whilst you would expect a professional footballer to play to their absolute best every week there is no doubt that mentally, having no competition for places, will have an impact.

Almost every team in the league has started to strengthen and none of them have the sheer lack of numbers we do. We really need to hope Duffy can pull a few rabbits out of his baldy heid over the next week and a half because I'm not convinced a development loan from Morton will be enough (no offence to Ben Armour). We need numbers and we need them quickly. We are now 4 bodies down on what we started the season with (Aitchison, Allardice, Dowie, Little and Thomas all gone and only Armour in) and even back then I was concered about how threadbare our squad was.

In Jim Duffy we trust... I think.

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57 minutes ago, Sons FC said:

There are a lot of games to go, there are a lot of ways the club can generate money and too much collective gloom and misery on here. 

I had responded to optimistics question assuming it was a hypothetical rather than any of us actually predicting our demise and I didn't mean to come across as a doom merchant - FWIW I don't think we'll go out of business unless Brabco do something drastic.

What ways do you feel the club can raise cash?  As part of the working group of fans who are regularly tasked with running the fundraisers and the like I'm genuinely interested to hear other fans ideas on this stuff.  We have a race night planned in the next couple of months which will hopefully raise a decent amount of cash, but if there are any immediate ideas that fans have then fire them my/the trusts way and we'll see if it can be done.  And of course if anyone is happy to help out running these things we're always looking for more volunteers.

 

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1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:



You also have the issue of lack of competition for places. Our starting 11 don't need to play well to keep their place in the team because they know they are guaranteed a start every week. Whilst you would expect a professional footballer to play to their absolute best every week there is no doubt that mentally, having no competition for places, will have an impact.

 

I think you've made an excellent point there.

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Purely hypothetical, continuing the theme a bit.

I do not think for a minute we’ll go down, players will be signed in this window I’m sure, then hopefully mid table security, or play offs. Let’s face it, we’re only half way through, Arbroath may do a morton 🤞

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1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I actually think our main issue just now is the inability to change things during a game. Whilst some of the players, who are playing regularly just now, aren't good enough, we know they are capable of a performance (Brechin and East Fife at home). By only having 1 fit centre half and 1 fit centre mid on the bench we are instantly giving our opponents a big advantage. Folk can pine back to the days of only being allowed 1 sub all they want but today you are allowed 3 and us only being able to bring on 1 is a huge disadvantage. If Calum Gallagher, Bobby Barr or Michael Paton are having a bad game or looking tired there's quite literally f**k all we can do. Bringing fresh legs on for a player who's having a stinker shouldn't be underestimated and can be a real game changer.

You also have the issue of lack of competition for places. Our starting 11 don't need to play well to keep their place in the team because they know they are guaranteed a start every week. Whilst you would expect a professional footballer to play to their absolute best every week there is no doubt that mentally, having no competition for places, will have an impact.

Almost every team in the league has started to strengthen and none of them have the sheer lack of numbers we do. We really need to hope Duffy can pull a few rabbits out of his baldy heid over the next week and a half because I'm not convinced a development loan from Morton will be enough (no offence to Ben Armour). We need numbers and we need them quickly. We are now 4 bodies down on what we started the season with (Aitchison, Allardice, Dowie, Little and Thomas all gone and only Armour in) and even back then I was concered about how threadbare our squad was.

In Jim Duffy we trust... I think.

I've been saying this for weeks. Even when we had 2 or 3 subs. They were significantly weakening us when we brought them on (often played out of position). We have absolutely no way of changing things and if the system isn't working we just plod our way through and lose. A different option up front would make a massive difference. CG and RT are both far too much a jack of all trades. Not a target man, not a hold up player, not full of pace etc... most importantly none of them are good finishers.

 I also don't think we can underestimate the fact that we lost a last minute goal when we must have been tiring badly (down to 10 men and only 1 sub to bring on). Not to mention we had 2 midfielders playing in defence. 

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Purely hypothetical, continuing the theme a bit.

I do not think for a minute we’ll go down, players will be signed in this window I’m sure, then hopefully mid table security, or play offs. Let’s face it, we’re only half way through, Arbroath may do a morton 🤞
I certainly hope you are correct but Aitken's Law states 'that optimism grows exponentially in proportion to the time which has elapsed since the last debacle'.

Just saying.....
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Brad Spencer and Jamie McGowan have now left the club. How many fit players do Dumbarton have in their ranks just now?
God knows but I can only assume Duffy has numerous signings lined up. We have a free weel this weekend due to being pumped out the cup so I'm viewing it as a good thing rather than a bad thing. Neither of them featured under Duffy unless he had no choice but to use them.
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I'm quite sorry to see Brad Spencer go. It's not a surprise given Duffy literally moved Paton to right-back and Ballantyne to left-back at the weekend to keep him out the team, but I do feel for him.

He's got a smashing engine and scored some nice goals. He was also the only midfielder we've got who really had the pace and drive to go box-to-box, and I'm really hoping that we won't stick with the stodgy Forbes and Hutton pairing from now on. It really hasn't been working. 

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Spencer get another club in this division and do well for himself. 

McGowan obviously got less of a chance and, given we played two emergency loanees over him, can't be blamed for wanting away. I hope wherever he ends up he gets a couple of seasons regular gametime under his belt. With that (and a haircut) he'll do alright.

Big task for Jim now, but I'm assuming he must have a few things lined up. It would be daft to let a perfectly decent, fit centre-mid like Spencer go otherwise.

11 minutes ago, Francesc Fabregas said:

Brad Spencer and Jamie McGowan have now left the club. How many fit players do Dumbarton have in their ranks just now?

I make it Cammy Ballantyne, Stuart Carswell, Calum Gallagher, Ross Forbes, Bobby Barr, Michael Paton (suspended though...), Ben Armour, Chris Smith and Ryan Thomson. You could probably include Kyle Hutton too, though he's been playing through injury since September apparently. 

That leaves Adam and Loy (likely to be the season), Dyer (who was ill at the weekend apparently), Perry and Beany (who must be close, because they were doing a light warmup) and Mango who should be back soon.

Tl;dr version: About nine, one of whom is suspended.

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6 hours ago, optimistic said:

Purely hypothetical, continuing the theme a bit.

I do not think for a minute we’ll go down, players will be signed in this window I’m sure, then hopefully mid table security, or play offs. Let’s face it, we’re only half way through, Arbroath may do a morton

You’re certainly living up to your username there!

It all depends on the signings. I certainly trust Duffy to do a better job on that front than his predecessor, but I don’t think there’s any guarantee we’ll be able to get the required quality in January.

8th would be a blessing right now.

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9 hours ago, RGD89 said:

I have a feeling it’s going to be a long recovery to get back to the championship.

The last time we came down from tier 2 to 3 it was something like twenty-five years - with several sojourns in Tier 4 in between, one of those starting the season directly after so I've always feared successive relegations - before we got up to Tier 2 again.

The club's finances can't be in a good state. Another relegation won't improve that.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Thommo90 said:

Think the other day optimistic (?) posted about boomer playing as a trialist for the accies....

He did. He asked to be subbed at half time. Overweight.

Heading back to Australia soon.

That’s really disappointing.

Presumably the last two statements aren’t related! 

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