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I sat and watched the first two episodes of Young SonsTV, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. First of all the wee guy who presents it does a very decent job; it isn't easy to stand and interview footballers whilst trying to look natural on camera, but he does well - whilst DT, Hutton and Carsy all come across as very decent guys.

Enjoyed the wee teammates section with Hutton and Carsy too. It's nice to find out a wee bit more about the players as people, not just the guys we pan/fanboy over for 90 minutes on a Saturday. 

 

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57 minutes ago, Ross Forbes said:

I sat and watched the first two episodes of Young SonsTV, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. First of all the wee guy who presents it does a very decent job; it isn't easy to stand and interview footballers whilst trying to look natural on camera, but he does well - whilst DT, Hutton and Carsy all come across as very decent guys.

Enjoyed the wee teammates section with Hutton and Carsy too. It's nice to find out a wee bit more about the players as people, not just the guys we pan/fanboy over for 90 minutes on a Saturday. 

 

That's a good feature, background music is a bit annoying.

Thumbs up

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16 minutes ago, Silverton End said:

That's a good feature, background music is a bit annoying.

Thumbs up

Aye, I'd agree with that - it's fine being there, but the levels were just a bit too high and you couldn't hear a few answers.

Looking forward to seeing what he's got up his sleeve from now on. Hoping for a feature that's just Bobby Barr tearing into East Fife. Or Brechin. Or Arbroath. Or Raith. Or whoever else he's riled this season.

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IMO (not that it’s worth anything) i wouldn’t keep Gal either, yes he “tries” but sometimes he just looks like he’s putting in so much effort and still looks like he’s running through tar. Can’t argue that his finishing has slightly improved but he still can’t judge the flight of a ball. If it goes over shoulder height he’s lost it.

As for the keeper situation, Adam reminds me of the monk from mean machine. A loose canon just looking for a fight. Plus he’s injury prone and his distribution is questionable at best. I would like to see a keeper who has a good proven track record in this league or from one of the lower teams in the championship come in.

But let’s be realistic, in terms of finances are we going to be able to completely revamp the team in one summer transfer window ?

I hope we can but i doubt it will a complete transformation.
With gal like some, we could end up with worse, we could end up with better. A lot will depend on budget, scouting, availability and Duffy's powers of persuasion.

If we are confident of 3/4 of them, then we should probably start with a blank slate.
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Andy Graham still doing the business in the Championship tonight. So glad we released him.
To be fair, at the time, Andy Graham was looking like it could be a season too far. In hindsight it was a poor decision and there is no denying Aitken handled the situation terribly. He was effectively stripped of the captaincy and hounded out the door, he deserved better than that. The replacements weren't bad ones though, Barr and Buchanan were a good partnership.

The one that stuck out for me was Scott Taggart. A guy who was easily capable of playing in the Championship, had never let us down, was fairly young and was solid defensively and going forward. He was replaced by Saunders, who was ok but not as good as Taggart. Within a season we had gone from Scott Taggart to Craig Pettigrew. Shudder.
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1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

To be fair, at the time, Andy Graham was looking like it could be a season too far. In hindsight it was a poor decision and there is no denying Aitken handled the situation terribly. He was effectively stripped of the captaincy and hounded out the door, he deserved better than that. The replacements weren't bad ones though, Barr and Buchanan were a good partnership.

The one that stuck out for me was Scott Taggart. A guy who was easily capable of playing in the Championship, had never let us down, was fairly young and was solid defensively and going forward. He was replaced by Saunders, who was ok but not as good as Taggart. Within a season we had gone from Scott Taggart to Craig Pettigrew. Shudder.

Kirkpatrick is probably the one that stings most for me. I know he had some injury problems, but he was clearly a class act in a position we had/have absolutely zero creativity from.

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55 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Kirkpatrick is probably the one that stings most for me. I know he had some injury problems, but he was clearly a class act in a position we had/have absolutely zero creativity from.

Yes, at the time I'd hoped Jordan could have went on to be a mainstay in our team.

In fairness, Stevie's time at the club was peppered with surprising release decisions, starting with Mark Gilhaney, who looked as though he was worth another season at the time.

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4 hours ago, FifeSons said:

Kirkpatrick is probably the one that stings most for me. I know he had some injury problems, but he was clearly a class act in a position we had/have absolutely zero creativity from.

It looked to me far too much that he couldn't be bothered even playing. Possibly he wasn't happy with the management at the time or whatever but he didn't produce anywhere near often enough - but he did have natural talent but at the time we didn't need passengers in the squad (still don't fwiw).

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Aitken's decision to punt the three Alloa stars mentioned really doesn't look great on paper at all, and the more time goes on the worse it looks.

Stripping Graham of the captaincy when he'd been nothing short of a model pro for us was a woeful bit of management. Especially when he replaced him with a guy who had barely managed a full season of football in about four years - fortunately for Stevie, Darren Barr was a good player for us, but that could easily have backfired. Although Barr and Buchanan were our first choice pairing for a wee bit, Darren actually moved into midfield for a decent chunk of the season when Graham was punted - leaving us with Frazer Wright and Gregor Buchanan as our centre-half pairing.

I liked big Fraz a lot. But he was only playing because he had injections in his hip, and he was quite clearly done by the start of the next season. Getting rid of a centre-back who was slow, read the game well and fit, for a centre-back who was slow, read the game well but was coming towards the end of his career was a very short sighted decision.

Kirkpatrick could be a bit of an enigma at times. In the 2013/14 season he slotted into Aggy's role in the heart of our midfield and was nothing short of a revelation. The guy has bucketloads of ability, and if I was Aitken I'd have been keen to build a team around him. As a player he's probably not dissimilar to Ross Forbes in that he's full of quality on the ball, but isn't exactly going to charge about and stretch teams. As Forbes quickly found out, that isn't Aitken's sort of player.

Stevie didn't seem to fancy him at all. In fact looking through my notes we tended to go with Jon Routledge and Darren Barr in a typically defensive Aitken central-midfield pairing, with Kevin Cawley and Jamie Lindsay wide (I'd forgotten how frustrating that was given neither were wide players, but that's an issue for another time). Or with Routledge and Barr as defensive mids and Grant Gallagher in behind Nade/Fleming/Heffernan in a 4-2-3-1.

Does everyone remember Kirkpatrick's last game for us? 

Queen of the South 6-0 Dumbarton - where he was hooked at half-time with us 2-0 down along with Gregor Buchanan for Grant Gallagher and Tom Walsh...I think it's safe to assume words may have been had, because he was quickly punted to Clyde.

Right, that's me made Stevie's excuses for getting rid of a very talented centre-mid who had been a big player for us in the past, and a centre-back who is still strolling it in the Championship...Now for Scott Taggart.

There can be no excuses. Taggart was a better right-back than Steven Saunders and we were screaming out for a wee bit of pace in that defence. I remember thinking he'd regret A) Not playing him more and B) Releasing him at the time, because it looked short sighted given Saunders was clearly going to go back full-time. The fact we replaced him with Craig Pettigrew might just be our Ryan Stevenson for Lewis Vaughan moment - though at least we didn't give Taggart directly to our nearest rival.

I do wonder, when he looks back on his time at us, what decisions Stevie would change. I'd imagine that all three players might pop into his mind.

Edited by Ross Forbes
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9 minutes ago, Ross Forbes said:

I do wonder, when he looks back on his time at us, what decisions Stevie would change. I'd imagine that all three players might pop into his mind.

Based on his media interviews and social media postings since, the answer to that would be : None.

He firmly believes that he did nothing wrong, certainly not that he needs to admit to.

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Aitken's decision to punt the three Alloa stars mentioned really doesn't look great on paper at all, and the more time goes on the worse it looks.
Stripping Graham of the captaincy when he'd been nothing short of a model pro for us was a woeful bit of management. Especially when he replaced him with a guy who had barely managed a full season of football in about four years - fortunately for Stevie, Darren Barr was a good player for us, but that could easily have backfired. Although Barr and Buchanan were our first choice pairing for a wee bit, Darren actually moved into midfield for a decent chunk of the season when Graham was punted - leaving us with Frazer Wright and Gregor Buchanan as our centre-half pairing.
I liked big Fraz a lot. But he was only playing because he had injections in his hip, and he was quite clearly done by the start of the next season. Getting rid of a centre-back who was slow, read the game well and fit, for a centre-back who was slow, read the game well but was coming towards the end of his career was a very short sighted decision.
Kirkpatrick could be a bit of an enigma at times. In the 2013/14 season he slotted into Aggy's role in the heart of our midfield and was nothing short of a revelation. The guy has bucketloads of ability, and if I was Aitken I'd have been keen to build a team around him. As a player he's probably not dissimilar to Ross Forbes in that he's full of quality on the ball, but isn't exactly going to charge about and stretch teams. As Forbes quickly found out, that isn't Aitken's sort of player.
Stevie didn't seem to fancy him at all. In fact looking through my notes we tended to go with Jon Routledge and Darren Barr in a typically defensive Aitken central-midfield pairing, with Kevin Cawley and Jamie Lindsay wide (I'd forgotten how frustrating that was given neither were wide players, but that's an issue for another time). Or with Routledge and Barr as defensive mids and Grant Gallagher in behind Nade/Fleming/Heffernan in a 4-2-3-1.
Does everyone remember Kirkpatrick's last game for us? 
Queen of the South 6-0 Dumbarton - where he was hooked at half-time with us 2-0 down along with Gregor Buchanan for Grant Gallagher and Tom Walsh...I think it's safe to assume words may have been had, because he was quickly punted to Clyde.
Right, that's me made Stevie's excuses for getting rid of a very talented centre-mid who had been a big player for us in the past, and a centre-back who is still strolling it in the Championship...Now for Scott Taggart.
There can be no excuses. Taggart was a better right-back than Steven Saunders and we were screaming out for a wee bit of pace in that defence. I remember thinking he'd regret A) Not playing him more and B) Releasing him at the time, because it looked short sighted given Saunders was clearly going to go back full-time. The fact we replaced him with Craig Pettigrew might just be our Ryan Stevenson for Lewis Vaughan moment - though at least we didn't give Taggart directly to our nearest rival.
I do wonder, when he looks back on his time at us, what decisions Stevie would change. I'd imagine that all three players might pop into his mind.
I always got the impression Stevie's approach to recruitment was based around players he liked or were a big enough name for him. The actual building of a team was a secondary concern.
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12 minutes ago, albundy said:
1 hour ago, Ross Forbes said:

 

I always got the impression Stevie's approach to recruitment was based around players he liked or were a big enough name for him. The actual building of a team was a secondary concern.

I'd agree with that. It's like when you search by free agent on Football Manager, and just sign all the guys you've heard of.

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A wee question sons, just catching up on p and b after 7 hours on the road from legoland there.....

See the guys that are working with C&G (I think that's the name) that are out of contract in the summer.... Will they lose the jobs on the railway if they leave dumbo?

We're lead to believe that the jobs aren't linked to their footballing contracts.

 

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A wee question sons, just catching up on p and b after 7 hours on the road from legoland there.....
See the guys that are working with C&G (I think that's the name) that are out of contract in the summer.... Will they lose the jobs on the railway if they leave dumbo?
Na, not unless they choose to leave the company to do something else.

The Dumbarton players do get some preferential treatment vs normal employees (start late on Tuesdays and Thursdays to attend training etc) so I'm not sure if that would stop. I'd imagine if they signed elsewhere they'd probably be allowed to do the same dependant on which days their new club trains.

The C&G guys seem decent and it probably suits them having young, fit guys working for them.
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