Sons' sorrow

[lionel wickson]

I've heard his condition is a bit more serious than him being ill.

I've heard this too.

[rockson]

2 hours ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

3 hours ago, rockson said:

I've heard his condition is a bit more serious than him being ill.

It was reported as the flu. What's up with him?

I suspect it's confidential, but what was reported to me is more serious than flu.

[albundy]

I suspect it's confidential, but what was reported to me is more serious than flu.

Suggests something a little longer term, on a personal level I hope he is well soon.

At a club level, this has to be the most farcical I have witnessed.

[Jan Vojáček]

9 hours ago, rockson said:

I suspect it's confidential, but what was reported to me is more serious than flu.

 

11 hours ago, lionel wickson said:

12 hours ago, rockson said:

I've heard his condition is a bit more serious than him being ill.

I've heard this too.

Aye, I don't want to pry into a personal situation, but I hope that, if there is something more serious up, he gets the support he needs to get things sorted.

As albundy says though, on a purely footballing level, you couldn't write this season. Two players with serious back problems, two retiring mid-season, one going AWOL and now the propsect of this.

[Howlin' Wilf]

Flu can be pretty serious. More than 13,000 people died of complications from flu in the last serious outbreak in 2009.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

I suspect it's confidential, but what was reported to me is more serious than flu.

So who broke the confidentiality to start spreading the rumour to yourself?

[cameron2000]

Yeah, if it’s confidential then it’s best not mentioning it at all because now people are speculating.

[The Moonster]

DFC - Two players have left. We realise this leaves the squad very thin but please be assured everyone is working hard to bring in the players we need to try and turn this season around.

Gerry fae twitter - OMG THIS IS SHOCKING THE BOARD NEED TO TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON!!1!

The Moonster - 

[TheChase]

I've heard he's confidentially got the flu.

[TheChase]

DFC - Two players have left. We realise this leaves the squad very thin but please be assured everyone is working hard to bring in the players we need to try and turn this season around.
Gerry fae twitter - OMG THIS IS SHOCKING THE BOARD NEED TO TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON!!1!
The Moonster - 

Quite right. Board have been very quiet with regards to recruitment and spending money.

[albundy]

DFC - Two players have left. We realise this leaves the squad very thin but please be assured everyone is working hard to bring in the players we need to try and turn this season around.
Gerry fae twitter - OMG THIS IS SHOCKING THE BOARD NEED TO TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON!!1!
The Moonster - 

Is there a culture now where some fans expect the club to overspend the budget to bring in yet another defensive midfielder and an overpaid striker who we won't use effectively any way, both of whom will contribute little value.

Yet another toxic legacy.

[Jan Vojáček]

58 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

DFC - Two players have left. We realise this leaves the squad very thin but please be assured everyone is working hard to bring in the players we need to try and turn this season around.

Gerry fae twitter - OMG THIS IS SHOCKING THE BOARD NEED TO TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON!!1!

The Moonster - 

There's a guy on Twitter who I particularly like watching react. A few weeks ago it was "WE NEED TOO LET DUFFY BUILD HIS OWN SQUAD" and yesterday it was "WHAT ARE WEE DOING LETTING SO MANY PLAYYERS LEEVE!!11"

31 minutes ago, TheChase said:

58 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

 

Quite right. Board have been very quiet with regards to recruitment and spending money.

I'm not expert in negotiation, but I don't think releasing a  statement (a la Falkirk) detailing how much (or little) money we have to spend is a great approach. Agents will be rubbing their hands reading that sort of stuff from a desperate club.

[TheChase]

Is there a culture now where some fans expect the club to overspend the budget to bring in yet another defensive midfielder and an overpaid striker who we won't use effectively any way, both of whom will contribute little value.

Yet another toxic legacy.

I'm not expert in negotiation, but I don't think releasing a  statement (a la Falkirk) detailing how much (or little) money we have to spend is a great approach. Agents will be rubbing their hands reading that sort of stuff from a desperate club.

A successful man once said "you need to speculate to accumulate"

Take from that what you will.

[albundy]

A successful man once said "you need to speculate to accumulate"

Take from that what you will.

I'm not suggesting we sign no one, just the previous incumbent seemed to have got comfortable blowing the budget and that can't be the norm.

[George Parr]

13 minutes ago, albundy said:

17 minutes ago, TheChase said:

A successful man once said "you need to speculate to accumulate"

Take from that what you will.

I'm not suggesting we sign no one, just the previous incumbent seemed to have got comfortable blowing the budget and that can't be the norm.

 I'm not surprised to learn there's been some hysterical online reactions when, as things stand, we'd have to consider forfeiture next week. A couple of signings in the next few days should ease fears. Good luck to the club in making it happen.

 

 

[Scosha]

Jamie McGowan must be seething at Duffy right now. Continually kept him at Morton but never ever gave him a chance, with a couple of loan spells to the juniors. Finally gets a chance to play under Duffy with Dumbarton and he's released  

[O'Kelly Isley III]

3 minutes ago, Scosha said:

Jamie McGowan must be seething at Duffy right now. Continually kept him at Morton but never ever gave him a chance, with a couple of loan spells to the juniors. Finally gets a chance to play under Duffy with Dumbarton and he's released  

Be thankful for that Sir, be thankful.  He's probably a really nice lad, but he's not my idea of a goalkeeper.

[The Moonster]

12 minutes ago, Scosha said:

Jamie McGowan must be seething at Duffy right now. Continually kept him at Morton but never ever gave him a chance, with a couple of loan spells to the juniors. Finally gets a chance to play under Duffy with Dumbarton and he's released  

Not sure he can be too seething, he's looked like a fish out of water any time he's been given a chance this season.  I'll be amazed if he finds a senior league club.

[pleslie99]

The lack of players is a concern at the moment. I understand as it stands we don't even have enough to field a full team next week.
I believe this is the sole reason we are where we are this year. BBPF hit the nail on the head a few pages back when he said players need competition. We havnt had that all season, everyone has been basically guaranteed their spot. Aitken signed a load of players who were injury prone or indeed injured. I know we maybe don't have the facilities to complete medicals on players but surely if someone is currently injured, why are we signing them? Aitken 100% has to take the blame.
Now Jim Duffy is left with the issue of trying to bulk out the squad to make us competitive but most of all trying to get a team on the pitch. The players that have retired were out of his hands, the ones released he obviously didn't fancy and believes he can get better elsewhere. Unfortunately our predicament is well known and although I am fully confident Jim will, by the end of the month, get us a squad of 17 or so to make us more competitive I do worry the signings that will be made will not be as exciting as we hoped and a relegation battle will be as exciting as this season gets.

[The Moonster]

20 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

 Aitken signed a load of players who were injury prone or indeed injured. I know we maybe don't have the facilities to complete medicals on players but surely if someone is currently injured, why are we signing them? 

Risk vs reward.  Craig Barr for example - keep him fit and he's good enough to play in the 2nd tier in Scotland. Signing him is a massive risk though as I don't think he's completed a full season without an injury somewhere. It's down to the gaffer to decide whether a players ability is worth the risk of injury, in Craig Barr's case I think we all agree that Aitken was right to sign him and this latest injury seems quite unlucky on the face of it.  At the opposite end of the scale you have Andy Little - a career ravaged by injuries, only ever really proven himself in the bottom tier for a club that was dominating that league and hadn't really played any games in about 5 or 6 years. I think we can all agree his signing wasn't worth the risk.

You'll probably find quite a lot of players have some sort of recurring injury or they're carrying a knock when contracts are being discussed, I don't think we can simply wipe them from the marketplace for fear of being burned again.  The problem this season was that we signed too many which represented a risk. Mango, Loy, Perry, Little, Paton and to a lesser extent, Beany, all represent an injury risk.  When guys like Ryan Thomson and Grant Adam who don't really come with a history of problems then end up with bad injuries on top of that and your squad is only 18-20 deep, it becomes a big problem.  Add in a loan move which went sour and you end up with a dogs dinner that you're desperately try to move around the plate in the hope that it begins to look edible.

I expect Duffy's signing policy to be very different. Young, fit guys with energy and a point to prove. Armour certainly fits that bill, so hopefully with a few more additions and a few games together we'll start to see some matches that don't make your eyes bleed.