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Sons' sorrow


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1 hour ago, the snudge said:

What objective did the board set out for Jim Duffy this season?

Given the absolute shit show that we've seen last summer and the uncertainty surrounding Covid, I'm not sure that they'd have been particularly demanding of Duffy.

I'd absolutely hope that they expected better than to struggle to avoid automatic relegation and set a higher expectation than 9th and a play-off.

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1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I was about to bring the board into this. They also have to be held accountable for the situation we find ourselves in and the regression under them is alarming. The once very vocal Mr Steele has gone awfully quiet. On the community side of things we have progressed so credit where it’s due for that but when it comes to on the park questions surely have to be asked.

Steele once stood infront of us (before Duffy’s first full season) and told us the aim was the promotion playoffs. Duffy then proceeded to sign a team that everybody knew would struggle to stay up nevermind be gunning for promotion. Either Duffy spends his budget terribly or John Steele isn’t overly clued up on what it takes to be successful at this level. I’d imagine it’s a mixture of both. It actually seems to me like our most proactive member of staff is the fucking receptionist (who, from the outside looking in, does a very good job). I want Duffy gone but I’m not particularly confident when it comes to replacing him. Who on the board has the contacts or knowledge to seek out a capable replacement? 

 

John Steele is a decent guy. He's far more decent than the absolute arsepiece he replaced (Les Hope - tried to sink us) and he's far more open to fan inclusion than Jardine. If he earned kudos for pissing off Brabco then his cup would be overflowing. Unfortunately on the organisation and hands on management front he's not the best and some of his communication has been misjudged. Particularly giving the impression that the board had funded Duffy with the expectation that we'd be going for promotion. We hadn't and we were amongst the cheaper 1/2 of league budgets that year. Fans naturally took him at his word and it lead to a fair bit of anger as the season went on.

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59 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I was about to bring the board into this. They also have to be held accountable for the situation we find ourselves in and the regression under them is alarming. The once very vocal Mr Steele has gone awfully quiet. On the community side of things we have progressed so credit where it’s due for that but when it comes to on the park questions surely have to be asked.

Steele once stood infront of us (before Duffy’s first full season) and told us the aim was the promotion playoffs. Duffy then proceeded to sign a team that everybody knew would struggle to stay up nevermind be gunning for promotion. Either Duffy spends his budget terribly or John Steele isn’t overly clued up on what it takes to be successful at this level. I’d imagine it’s a mixture of both. It actually seems to me like our most proactive member of staff is the fucking receptionist (who, from the outside looking in, does a very good job). I want Duffy gone but I’m not particularly confident when it comes to replacing him. Who on the board has the contacts or knowledge to seek out a capable replacement? 

To be fair, John Steele won't be setting the budget, Stevie Lynch will. I have faith that Stevie is aware of what it takes to get out of this division (budget wise) - he has access to all of our previous budgets and if he tells us that we have a budget fit to challenge for 4th I'd be happy to believe that. You are correct that where we may fall down is the actual football knowledge. I dare say it's relatively easy for a manager to talk a good game, especially in job interviews. The difficulty for our board is going to be sifting out the jokers from those who actually know what they're talking about. I always have concerns when we're looking for a new manager as it can be a bit of a lottery, we just need to hope that the interview process reveals a couple of decent options.

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1 hour ago, BallochSonsFan said:

 

John Steele is a decent guy. He's far more decent than the absolute arsepiece he replaced (Les Hope - tried to sink us) and he's far more open to fan inclusion than Jardine. If he earned kudos for pissing off Brabco then his cup would be overflowing. Unfortunately on the organisation and hands on management front he's not the best and some of his communication has been misjudged. Particularly giving the impression that the board had funded Duffy with the expectation that we'd be going for promotion. We hadn't and we were amongst the cheaper 1/2 of league budgets that year. Fans naturally took him at his word and it lead to a fair bit of anger as the season went on.

No doubting he’s a decent guy with the clubs best intentions at heart. The fan inclusion stuff I agree on and he seems far more open to building us as a community club.

For me personally, the most important thing is what happens on the park. I value those other things but to me they come second to the football and in that department the current board are failing badly. The ownership situation is far from ideal but that doesn’t mean we should just be happy farting about in League 2 which is a real possibility at this stage. Perhaps the board needs freshening up with someone who has more contacts in the game and is better placed to advise on footballing matters such as our management team absolutely stinking the place out and who is the best option for replacing them. Perhaps the balance is wrong, there’s nothing to say we can’t be a community club, with good fan engagement and be able to put a winning team on the park.

Some of our fans seem happy to just survive and winning games doesn’t really matter to them. Anyone who dares question things when they aren’t working is considered negative. Personally I’d rather survive AND see a team who are capable of winning football matches and if that means our board making cut throat decisions then I’m all for it.

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The one thing to remember in all of this is that where DFC is currently concerned there are no simple assumptions to be had.  As regards the Board I have long had reservations about their number (I believe we currently have four Directors in total and only one, Colin Hosie, is what I would term an experienced football operator) but the addition of further Directors may require Brabco's approval, I simply don't know.  Colin seems to be the point of contact with the team management and that relationship is always a balancing act; you employ a professional to carry out his or her duties to an agreed budget and objectives, but at what point do you look to intervene in their activities ?  Signing Denny Johnstone ?  Filling your midfield with too many similar-type players ?  Seemingly repeatedly scrambling at points in the season(s) to get a team on the park ?  Maybe these conversations took place, maybe not; my view is that if they didn't then they should have, as this admittedly very difficult campaign has unfolded pretty clearly and in slow motion, and not in a good way.

Football-wise, we now are where we are, but in other areas a helluva lot of really great work and effort has gone in by the Board and many others.  Much has been written about funding and grant monies, but a lot of that cash was contingent on providing evidence of community benefit and credit is due to the Chairman and his fellow Directors for addressing that.  And unedifying as a lot of the games have been, the Pixellot system has allowed us to view the matches and in many cases hear about goals even before they happened 😉.  I could go on at length, but the message is that we must not let the angst at the team's parlous position obscure some very honest and voluntary good work at the club.  These are decent people.

But there is a but.  Smaller teams like Dumbarton can only ever maximise their potential by putting bums on seats, whether that be in the stand or in hospitality or in the function suites.  And since the beginning of football time, and religious bigotry aside, the proven method for that has been the product on the park - get that right and a lot of good stuff can begin to flow.  In that regard I really hope that whatever Division we are in next season, the football side of the club gets the high priority it demands, because to be honest that product has been sub-standard over the last two seasons, not just this current one.  And if that means getting more experienced people around the Boardroom table then the current Board should try their best to make it happen.

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5 hours ago, cameron2000 said:


I do think this reflects very harshly on Aitken - we had a lot of memorable occasions under him until it all went badly wrong in the final 8/9 months (potentially this was partly due to injuries of McLaughlin and Wardrop for 1/2 a season, leaving us without both first choice full backs)

^^^Aitkenarmy.JPG.9fb5ce2634b998eed14d6aa853663625.JPG

First outing this season, I think. 😃

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I'd rather we weren't celebrating our performances this season at all. If we get ourselves safe then by all means lets pat some folk on the back but we're in the shit here. Not sure a goal of the season comp sits well with the tone of the room, although I appreciate why we do this stuff, its good for young fans.

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44 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I'd rather we weren't celebrating our performances this season at all. If we get ourselves safe then by all means lets pat some folk on the back but we're in the shit here. Not sure a goal of the season comp sits well with the tone of the room, although I appreciate why we do this stuff, its good for young fans.

I agree. We will give out awards as is tradition etc but PoTY this season is like giving awards to kids at school for taking part! I'd rather we drew a line under this season, said cheerio to JD, half (most) his squad and moved on with a young, ambitious manager for next season.

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According to the OS the French and Irish TV crews who are going to be at the Forfar match are going to be focusing on how the club fared as a business during lockdown and the views of the fans.

They know that apart from the wee guys on their bikes that there will be no fans at the ground ?

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1 hour ago, Jumbo Muir said:

According to the OS the French and Irish TV crews who are going to be at the Forfar match are going to be focusing on how the club fared as a business during lockdown and the views of the fans.

They know that apart from the wee guys on their bikes that there will be no fans at the ground ?

I can only assume the fans will be hand picked and invited down to give interviews or some pish. I think they should invite @The Moonsterdown to represent the Duffy Out movement and deliver a few home truths to the French and Irish media. They deserve to know how much we are suffering under ol’ slapheid.

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1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I can only assume the fans will be hand picked and invited down to give interviews or some pish. I think they should invite @The Moonsterdown to represent the Duffy Out movement and deliver a few home truths to the French and Irish media. They deserve to know how much we are suffering under ol’ slapheid.

 

Je ne pense pas que son français soit bon. Est-ce un pré-bassin versant?

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23 hours ago, Jumbo Muir said:

According to the OS the French and Irish TV crews who are going to be at the Forfar match are going to be focusing on how the club fared as a business during lockdown and the views of the fans.

They know that apart from the wee guys on their bikes that there will be no fans at the ground ?

Judging by the Twitter account it’s actually two board members being interviewed. Predictable.

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22 minutes ago, Sub-Keeper said:

Clyde v EF game called off. Positive Covid test getting talked about on the match thread.
 

Aye that's the chat on twitter too! Clyde would need to forfeit I think and would they be able to play remaining games with isolating etc? Could get us out of jail 🙈

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