Sons' sorrow

[Thommo90]

How is everyone enjoying the streaming of games?  Last night was only my third one and I struggled to get into it, probably not helped with the poor performance and the fact it kept following Sammons heid instead of the ball.

Choking to get back into the ground, hopefully allowing a number of fans in isn't too far away.

[The Moonster]

2 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

The last three games have been extremely dispiriting. Two of these have been against a Falkirk team which is expected to be challenging for promotion, so no disgrace there, but the nature of the defeats has been concerning as a pointer for what lies ahead.
And there are reasons for that. When you are skint you don't have the luxury of building the squad you would wish in terms of both quality and fitness. You also have very basic training facilities. So you hope that the squad hangs together fitness-wise, that Denny Johnstone and Adam Frizzell defy their history, and that you can still squeeze something from Ross Forbes. We do have a lot of honest, hardworking guys, but hardly an ounce of flair, invention or genuine pace. We can argue about some of Jim Duffy's signings, but everything will eventually come back to money, or the lack of it.
But there is hope. I recall chucking money into a bucket at Brockville in the early 1990's as Falkirk faced extinction. Change can happen, but it will involve getting Brabco off the scene. Not only for what is happening on the park, but because interest in and support for the club is steadily waning. We have no meaningful connection with local football and the club has become a hard sell.
Asking a shrinking support base to keep digging deep is not a workable business plan. Nor is a policy of continued passive resistance. By hook or by crook Brabco have to be brought to the table to explain their intentions.; it won't be easy but the requirement for it to happen is increasingly clear to see.
At least the subject is at last being aired.

I just don't buy this "we're skint" line in regards to Duffy and the squad. Last season when all our players started jumping ship after receiving absolutely derisory offers from Duffy, I was told that the budget Duffy was working with was NOT considerably smaller than what Aitken worked with the year before and he was simply choosing to use it in a different manner. I was told at that time that when Duffy arrived he felt the whole squad was overpaid. Bobby Barr went to East Stirlingshire for more money. Ian Murray very publicly stated that they didn't have to offer Gallagher much to get him on board. We only held onto Carswell and Hutton because our stadium sponsor stepped in to supplement their wages as Duffy wasn't willing to give them more despite both players not wanting to leave. He has continually low balled players despite having a suitable budget available.

If I am to accept we are skint and money is tight and we really are struggling to pay for League 1 quality players, then I'm afraid Duffy's squad build makes even less sense. 20 players signed up. 4 of them can play full back. The only players we've got you could call natural wingers are Reilly, Frizzell and Crossan and the latter 2 sees themselves as a striker/are being played as a striker. We're playing a guy brought in to cover central defence and defensive midfield on the left wing. We've got 3 central midfielders in Carswell, Wedderburn and Langan who do very similar jobs, none of them with any great pace and only Wedderburn has a pass in him. Our striking options include a guy who was about the chuck the game altogether, a guy who should be playing in the Lowland league and a guy who was completely untested at this level. 

If you've got so little money to work with you need to be careful how you spend it. We've signed up some utter shite and Brabco aren't to blame for that. You only need to look at the knock on effect a poor squad has on the club finances too - look at the comments on the thread last night, "glad it didn't get this game" and "£12 saved" being two. That's not a result of Brabco, that's a result of Duffy building a team that are horrible to watch and don't win games, or even score goals at this current time. I'm right behind getting the owners to f**k and I'll be front of the queue to wave them goodbye when they go but I can't say I'll be sad when we wave Duffy goodbye either. A safe pair of hands which is what we needed after Aitkens f**k up, but we're through that now and by next season we need to start showing ambitions of getting back to the second tier or more fans will fall away.

[FifeSons]

6 hours ago, Thommo90 said:

How is everyone enjoying the streaming of games?

From a totally selfish point of view, I absolutely love the streaming since it means I can watch every single game from down South (whereas I would only see a handful of games a season otherwise).

I'll of course be pleased when we can get crowds back in, but I'll also be gutted not to be able to see all the games anymore.

Edited November 25, 2020 by FifeSons

[Jumbo Muir]

How is everyone enjoying the streaming of games?  Last night was only my third one and I struggled to get into it, probably not helped with the poor performance and the fact it kept following Sammons heid instead of the ball.

Choking to get back into the ground, hopefully allowing a number of fans in isn't too far away.

Streaming has been first class. No buffering, nice bright picture.

I read that a few people had sound to picture lag but personally I didn’t.

The commentary team do an excellent job and getting players in to join them is a master stroke as we get to hear a few wee insights as to what JD wants.

It’s good. Glad we still have our wee club to support.

Roll on the vaccine [emoji106]

[BallochSonsFan]

8 hours ago, The Moonster said:

I just don't buy this "we're skint" line in regards to Duffy and the squad. Last season when all our players started jumping ship after receiving absolutely derisory offers from Duffy, I was told that the budget Duffy was working with was NOT considerably smaller than what Aitken worked with the year before and he was simply choosing to use it in a different manner. I was told at that time that when Duffy arrived he felt the whole squad was overpaid. Bobby Barr went to East Stirlingshire for more money. Ian Murray very publicly stated that they didn't have to offer Gallagher much to get him on board. We only held onto Carswell and Hutton because our stadium sponsor stepped in to supplement their wages as Duffy wasn't willing to give them more despite both players not wanting to leave. He has continually low balled players despite having a suitable budget available.

If I am to accept we are skint and money is tight and we really are struggling to pay for League 1 quality players, then I'm afraid Duffy's squad build makes even less sense. 20 players signed up. 4 of them can play full back. The only players we've got you could call natural wingers are Reilly, Frizzell and Crossan and the latter 2 sees themselves as a striker/are being played as a striker. We're playing a guy brought in to cover central defence and defensive midfield on the left wing. We've got 3 central midfielders in Carswell, Wedderburn and Langan who do very similar jobs, none of them with any great pace and only Wedderburn has a pass in him. Our striking options include a guy who was about the chuck the game altogether, a guy who should be playing in the Lowland league and a guy who was completely untested at this level. 

If you've got so little money to work with you need to be careful how you spend it. We've signed up some utter shite and Brabco aren't to blame for that. You only need to look at the knock on effect a poor squad has on the club finances too - look at the comments on the thread last night, "glad it didn't get this game" and "£12 saved" being two. That's not a result of Brabco, that's a result of Duffy building a team that are horrible to watch and don't win games, or even score goals at this current time. I'm right behind getting the owners to f**k and I'll be front of the queue to wave them goodbye when they go but I can't say I'll be sad when we wave Duffy goodbye either. A safe pair of hands which is what we needed after Aitkens f**k up, but we're through that now and by next season we need to start showing ambitions of getting back to the second tier or more fans will fall away.

We are skint. Our budget wasn't the lowest in the division last year but it wasn't in the top half. We had that horrible mess where John Steele's comments were at odds with Duffy's view on the budget and where fans were under the misapprehension that we were funding a squad that would chase promotion.

Doesnt mean that I think we've recruited well. Denny Johnstone was a massive risk given his injury issues. We knew Robert Jones didnt carry any kind of goal threat. Langan is an honest trier but doesnt have any real quality in midfield. I've made my views on Forbes clear many a time on here - living on past reputations and dead balls but missing for most of a 90 minute game. We seem to have done really well picking up Wilson but Frizzell has injury problems to overcome and I don't think he was that great for us first time round. In previous years we signed some really useful loan players. I know that was when we were in the Championship but, Dom Thomas aside, we've struggled with loan signings over the past couple of years. 

I wasnt happy that Duffy kept us waiting before agreeing to return last summer. I think that contributed to our recruitment problems and I wouldn't have been upset to see him go. I'm in the same position this year. Regardless of what happens this season, I wouldn't be worried if Duffy left. I don't like the style of football I've seen from Duffy at times. Sure we might struggle against the bigger budget teams but at least have a go. As for the Peterhead game last Saturday - that for me was far worse than Falkirk last night. Falkirk are a bigger budget team and they're a better team. They were always capable of giving us a hiding. The 1-0 loss to Peterhead was different. We should have been looking to go there and pick up 3 points. We should at least have come away with a draw. But for all that we were competitive in the middle of the park and did well enough at the back, we barely laid a finger on them and didnt test their makeshift defence. I don't want to see us trying to shit house our way to a 1-0 win against Peterhead or Forfar. I don't expect to see skill levels akin to 1970s Ajax or Pep's Barcelona. I just want to see us having a go against opponents we should be able to have a go at. The relentlessly negative, long ball to nobody tactics will drive fans to despair.

Our squad is exceptionally unbalanced. We have so little creativity in our team and pretty limited options out wide. We rarely play the ball with pace, although thats when we've looked most dangerous so far this season, and the long balls for Wilson or AN Other to chase just don't work. We recruited poorly this summer, although thats understandable given the issues with Coronavirus and the huge question over finances. I still think we could have done better than we did with the squad we built. The squad is just built to play dour, negative football. I'd rather watch us having a go and losing than playing negative football and still losing games like the Peterhead match last Saturday.

[BallochSonsFan]

8 hours ago, Thommo90 said:

How is everyone enjoying the streaming of games?  Last night was only my third one and I struggled to get into it, probably not helped with the poor performance and the fact it kept following Sammons heid instead of the ball.

Choking to get back into the ground, hopefully allowing a number of fans in isn't too far away.

I havent had any issues with streaming quality. Our commentators are well informed but seem a wee bit too nice at times. Last night they were claiming a level of compete from Dumbarton that simply wasn't there. At no time did we look like doing anything and yet if you relied on the audio commentary then you'd think that we lost due to a combination of back luck and ruthlessness. We didn't. We were absolutely garbage.

But the bigger worry is that it's just not good to watch. 

[FifeSons]

55 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

As for the Peterhead game last Saturday - that for me was far worse than Falkirk last night. Falkirk are a bigger budget team and they're a better team. They were always capable of giving us a hiding. The 1-0 loss to Peterhead was different. We should have been looking to go there and pick up 3 points. We should at least have come away with a draw. But for all that we were competitive in the middle of the park and did well enough at the back, we barely laid a finger on them and didnt test their makeshift defence.

 I'd rather watch us having a go and losing than playing negative football and still losing games like the Peterhead match last Saturday.

Losing the Peterhead game was much worse than losing to Falkirk, but I disagree about the performance. We played well at Balmoor and as you say should’ve (at the very least) come away with a point.

I don’t agree that we went there for a draw or didn’t cause them problems. We had plenty of terrific chances, but just didn’t take them. Which is still worrying and frustrating.

We deserved much, much more from East Fife and Peterhead than we got. Neither of those sides deserved to win those games more than us.

Edited November 25, 2020 by FifeSons

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I havent had any issues with streaming quality. Our commentators are well informed but seem a wee bit too nice at times. Last night they were claiming a level of compete from Dumbarton that simply wasn't there. At no time did we look like doing anything and yet if you relied on the audio commentary then you'd think that we lost due to a combination of back luck and ruthlessness. We didn't. We were absolutely garbage.
But the bigger worry is that it's just not good to watch. 

You are on a roll here BSF, two of the most honest and accurate posts I've seen in a long time.

[Jan Vojáček]

I see that former YPOTY Chris 'Boomer' McLaughlin is the latest former Dumbarton player to join Stevie Aitken at East Kilbride.

I hope that Stevie can get him back into the form (and shape) he was in whilst he was with us. I thought he had the potential to be an absolutely tremendous player but he seems to be following the Ryan Finnie career path. Feels like this might be his last chance, so hopefully he doesn't waste it.

 

[The Moonster]

Looking a tad rotund there.

[pleslie99]

25 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Looking a tad rotund there.

He played a game (or 2) for the accies a couple years ago and was pretty rotund then

[FifeSons]

2 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I see that former YPOTY Chris 'Boomer' McLaughlin is the latest former Dumbarton player to join Stevie Aitken at East Kilbride.

I hope that Stevie can get him back into the form (and shape) he was in whilst he was with us. I thought he had the potential to be an absolutely tremendous player but he seems to be following the Ryan Finnie career path. Feels like this might be his last chance, so hopefully he doesn't waste it.

 

The other guy looks about 10.

Or maybe I'm just getting old.

[FifeSons]

The top of the lowland league is seriously #staunch. Aitken and Durrant will be having a massive sectarian love in with Barry Ferguson.

Edited November 27, 2020 by FifeSons

[FifeSons]

Out of interest, does anyone have a rough idea of the average wage our squad is on? Would £200/week be about right?

Edited November 27, 2020 by FifeSons

[The Moonster]

3 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Out of interest, does anyone have a rough idea of the average wage our squad is on? Would £200/week be about right?

I'd be shocked if it was much more than that, especially this season.

[FifeSons]

Just now, The Moonster said:

I'd be shocked if it was much more than that, especially this season.

Me too. £200/week average for a 20-man squad would be around £200k annually - and that's not even including Duffy. Given our prize money last season was £80k, even that seems a stretch. I can't imagine season ticket sales add much either...

If anyone wants to really feel depressed clicky.

[BallochSonsFan]

18 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Me too. £200/week average for a 20-man squad would be around £200k annually - and that's not even including Duffy. Given our prize money last season was £80k, even that seems a stretch. I can't imagine season ticket sales add much either...

If anyone wants to really feel depressed clicky.

Thats what happens when you sell Hampden to the SFA.

[squeezeboxson]

3 hours ago, FifeSons said:

Me too. £200/week average for a 20-man squad would be around £200k annually - and that's not even including Duffy. Given our prize money last season was £80k, even that seems a stretch. I can't imagine season ticket sales add much either...

If anyone wants to really feel depressed clicky.

Hooruva money being thrown around there...

[pleslie99]

There are a lot of ambitious big spending clubs around. Cove, Edinburgh City and QP are 3 just in the leagues. The lowland, and WOS leagues are full of teams splashing the cash trying to get to the big time. Clubs like us will struggle to continue to compete for players unless we get some investment and get rid of brabco. Its worrying for teams like us trying to get by.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

9 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I see that former YPOTY Chris 'Boomer' McLaughlin is the latest former Dumbarton player to join Stevie Aitken at East Kilbride.

I hope that Stevie can get him back into the form (and shape) he was in whilst he was with us. I thought he had the potential to be an absolutely tremendous player but he seems to be following the Ryan Finnie career path. Feels like this might be his last chance, so hopefully he doesn't waste it.

 

He’s really let himself go.

The worst thing he ever done was leave us, I think he thought he was better than playing for a part-time club when in reality 2 or 3 solid seasons with us would’ve seen him earn a full-time deal in the Championship at least.