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Duffy will reckon that yesterday was a good result. Didn't concede. Game still alive going into second leg. Every chance of taking the time at home. It feels very much like the Alloa games under Aitken. Do the bare minimum to scrape through. The big issue with that is, much like the Alloa playoffs, if you lose a late goal then you're screwed. Stranraer have nothing to lose on Tuesday. They're the League Two team. If they don't get past us then it's probably the expected result. For us it's a huge pressure game. If we lose then we're down. If we win then we're through to another difficult playoff tie. The longer the game goes at 0-0 then the more pressure we're under. God help us if we concede the first goal.

I genuinely don't know what we've got in us for Tuesday? Is McGeever back? Who in that squad can we rely on to give us any kind of goal threat? 

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1 hour ago, SLClyde said:

Why after sticking 3 past Peterhead would Duffy go back to sitting for 0-0, it must be torture to have watched that every week. 

It is torture, but fortunately I discovered a wasp's bike in the loft which prevented me from watching yesterday.  I'm going back up today to see if I can find any dry rot to keep me busy on Tuesday night.

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Duffy will reckon that yesterday was a good result. Didn't concede. Game still alive going into second leg. Every chance of taking the time at home. It feels very much like the Alloa games under Aitken. Do the bare minimum to scrape through. The big issue with that is, much like the Alloa playoffs, if you lose a late goal then you're screwed. Stranraer have nothing to lose on Tuesday. They're the League Two team. If they don't get past us then it's probably the expected result. For us it's a huge pressure game. If we lose then we're down. If we win then we're through to another difficult playoff tie. The longer the game goes at 0-0 then the more pressure we're under. God help us if we concede the first goal.
I genuinely don't know what we've got in us for Tuesday? Is McGeever back? Who in that squad can we rely on to give us any kind of goal threat? 

Given our record at Stair Park over the last twenty years or so I’d say it was a decent result
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12 hours ago, FifeSons said:

One of the few shining lights of the season has been Sam Ramsbottom. He's been immense since the horror goal on his debut and deserves a massive amount of credit for coming back from that. If he doesn't stay with us, I hope he get a good move elsewhere.

Just imagine that Ramsbottom blast of the back of McGeevers heid  didn't happen our season would be done and Duffy would probably be gone. 

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44 minutes ago, Nowhereman said:


Given our record at Stair Park over the last twenty years or so I’d say it was a decent result

That’s a fair point, actually.

28 minutes ago, the snudge said:

Just imagine that Ramsbottom blast of the back of McGeevers heid  didn't happen our season would be done and Duffy would probably be gone. 

We’d probably have bottled it against Peterhead if we knew the win would’ve definitely saved us.

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On 05/05/2021 at 17:42, Gordon EF said:

Of course it's possible to do a Queen's Park and just go FT because money's been pumped into the club but assuming that's not going to be the case here, I really don't see how or why a club with a steady fan base of less than at least 1000 would go full time. It's unlikely to be financially viable and what kind of quality of full time players would you be attracting at that level of possible wages? East Fife's ill-fated attempt to move to a hybrid model in the early 2010's saw us relegated from L1 because the FT players we were able to attract (many through "foreign contacts") were no better than the standard of part-time players we could attract at L1 level except we were paying more for them and it put the club in a financially perilous position that it took years to recover from.

Hope for Dumbarton's sake this isn't going to end up a similar way.

It very much has the air of Tom Wotherspoon turning Airdrie fully full-time as well. Wotherspoon had a 'three-year plan' to get Airdrie to the Premier League which essentially involved letting go a whole squad of decent part-time players to sign a bunch of kids and guys at the arse-end of the full-time scale - Ryan Conroy, Simon Mensing, Joe Gorman, Daniel Boateng and 'marquee' signing Kevin McBride who ended up only playing about half a dozen games before retiring and briefly becoming a coach then the manager. The only redeeming feature of that team was Andy Ryan and Iain Russell and without their goals we'd have most likely been the in the play-offs at the other end of the table (we finished 3rd yet conceded just under 70 goals). Really the main issue was that Wotherspoon had no idea what it actually required to successfully run a football team at this level on and off the park and he eventually got disillusioned with it all and left us in real financial shit. The club has only really just recovered in the last season or two. Also has an air of Airdrie's recruitment from agents this pre-season. It's fair enough if you can find a gem like Thomas Robert but for every Robert you're going to get a Griffin Sabatini, Harlain Mbayo, Jack McKay and Eoghan Stokes most of whom have barely even played a minute of league football. I sincerely hope it works out for Dumbarton but I certainly have my concerns about it all. 

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4 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

It very much has the air of Tom Wotherspoon turning Airdrie fully full-time as well. Wotherspoon had a 'three-year plan' to get Airdrie to the Premier League which essentially involved letting go a whole squad of decent part-time players to sign a bunch of kids and guys at the arse-end of the full-time scale - Ryan Conroy, Simon Mensing, Joe Gorman, Daniel Boateng and 'marquee' signing Kevin McBride who ended up only playing about half a dozen games before retiring and briefly becoming a coach then the manager. The only redeeming feature of that team was Andy Ryan and Iain Russell and without their goals we'd have most likely been the in the play-offs at the other end of the table (we finished 3rd yet conceded just under 70 goals). Really the main issue was that Wotherspoon had no idea what it actually required to successfully run a football team at this level on and off the park and he eventually got disillusioned with it all and left us in real financial shit. The club has only really just recovered in the last season or two. Also has an air of Airdrie's recruitment from agents this pre-season. It's fair enough if you can find a gem like Thomas Robert but for every Robert you're going to get a Griffin Sabatini, Harlain Mbayo, Jack McKay and Eoghan Stokes most of whom have barely even played a minute of league football. I sincerely hope it works out for Dumbarton but I certainly have my concerns about it all. 

Aye, I should add that it wasn't just the hybrid stuff that put East Fife in the shit. A chairman who had no idea how to run a football club (Lee Murray) and a manager who had no idea how to manage a football team (Willie Atchison) were also pretty big factors.

Edited by Gordon EF
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4 hours ago, airdrieman said:

It very much has the air of Tom Wotherspoon turning Airdrie fully full-time as well. Wotherspoon had a 'three-year plan' to get Airdrie to the Premier League which essentially involved letting go a whole squad of decent part-time players to sign a bunch of kids and guys at the arse-end of the full-time scale - Ryan Conroy, Simon Mensing, Joe Gorman, Daniel Boateng and 'marquee' signing Kevin McBride who ended up only playing about half a dozen games before retiring and briefly becoming a coach then the manager. The only redeeming feature of that team was Andy Ryan and Iain Russell and without their goals we'd have most likely been the in the play-offs at the other end of the table (we finished 3rd yet conceded just under 70 goals). Really the main issue was that Wotherspoon had no idea what it actually required to successfully run a football team at this level on and off the park and he eventually got disillusioned with it all and left us in real financial shit. The club has only really just recovered in the last season or two. Also has an air of Airdrie's recruitment from agents this pre-season. It's fair enough if you can find a gem like Thomas Robert but for every Robert you're going to get a Griffin Sabatini, Harlain Mbayo, Jack McKay and Eoghan Stokes most of whom have barely even played a minute of league football. I sincerely hope it works out for Dumbarton but I certainly have my concerns about it all. 

Everything was going fine  under Wotherspoons initial splatter cash phase,  bringing in Alan Upton (who) as a Head of Football and  that oddity Wolecki Black to stitch up Bollan,   it went Pete tong when Wotherspoon got caught pumping his Secretary (Right Here,Right Now) and his wife took him to the cleaners, after that his interest waned somewhat....

 

Onto Dumbarton,   with our Ian Murray's contract ending at end of the month, and him having various coaching jobs at FC Oster in Norway, I wonder if they might go try and go down that route especially with the club possibly going full time in the near future.... Maybe looking too much into the Norway link...

 

Good luck against Stranraer..

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11 hours ago, Passionate said:

Everything was going fine  under Wotherspoons initial splatter cash phase,  bringing in Alan Upton (who) as a Head of Football and  that oddity Wolecki Black to stitch up Bollan,   it went Pete tong when Wotherspoon got caught pumping his Secretary (Right Here,Right Now) and his wife took him to the cleaners, after that his interest waned somewhat....

 

Onto Dumbarton,   with our Ian Murray's contract ending at end of the month, and him having various coaching jobs at FC Oster in Norway, I wonder if they might go try and go down that route especially with the club possibly going full time in the near future.... Maybe looking too much into the Norway link...

 

Good luck against Stranraer..

Regardless of the Norway link I'd love to see him back at the Sons. Can't see it happening though, doubt he'd want to drop into league 2

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I don't like the way Murray left us. It was underhand and it was unnecessary. The club wouldn't have stood in his way if he'd been honest about his intention to apply for the St Mirren job. The way he want about it doesnt reflect well on him. Maybe looking back he'd admit that he got that wrong and that he should have been more honest with the club from the start. I'm  also not a fan of bringing people back. Its rare for things to work out second time round. All of that said? I still like Murray as a manager. He has a level of professionalism about him. He isnt afraid to play a more attacking style of football. I wouldn't be against Murray, or an Ian Murray type of appointment. I think that we need a manager with recent playing experience who wants to make something of his career and is looking at taking that step. Murray doesnt fit that profile now, but seeing the likes of Andy Graham suggested previously would be the right idea.

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The way Murray left was dodgy, aye, but seeing the we were his first manager job, it's the first time he'd been in that position, so I'm sure he learned from it. I doubt he'd do the same again, not just to us, but anywhere.

I appreciate what's been said about 'not going back', but if we appointed him, I'd be very happy. 

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8 hours ago, FifeSons said:

See our old pal is absolutely delighted about the OF Colts joining his league because of course he is 😂

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/rangers-celtic-colts-would-exciting-24049218.amp

He really is such a wee fucking cretin. If he was saying this when he was our gaffer I’d like to think he’d be hounded right out the door. Him and East Kilbride really are a match made in heaven.

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2 hours ago, BallochSonsFan said:

I don't like the way Murray left us. It was underhand and it was unnecessary. The club wouldn't have stood in his way if he'd been honest about his intention to apply for the St Mirren job. The way he want about it doesnt reflect well on him. Maybe looking back he'd admit that he got that wrong and that he should have been more honest with the club from the start. I'm  also not a fan of bringing people back. Its rare for things to work out second time round. All of that said? I still like Murray as a manager. He has a level of professionalism about him. He isnt afraid to play a more attacking style of football. I wouldn't be against Murray, or an Ian Murray type of appointment. I think that we need a manager with recent playing experience who wants to make something of his career and is looking at taking that step. Murray doesnt fit that profile now, but seeing the likes of Andy Graham suggested previously would be the right idea.

This, exactly this.  It is very rare in football that the original script is re-enacted and I feel the enthusiasm for an Ian Murray return may have its origins more in the widespread disillusionment with Duffy than a close reading of the situation.   Never mind the manner of his departure to St Mirren, sleekit as it was, but IIRC the wheels had well and truly come off his team by that point also.  The real worry here is that the new ownership has a coherent plan for on and off the pitch, including team management and squad-building, and that is currently in the pending tray.  I would expect some sort of announcement as soon as the final ball is kicked in our season - let us all hope that is not tonight.

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Lets be honest here, if the goal of the Norweigans is to develop young foreigners at DFC they are absolutely not appointing someone who might not want to play said young foreigners. It will be a yes man who does what he’s told and I’m guessing it will be someone we’ve never heard of. I don’t mind owners or a board who are fairly active with the footballing side of things but the thought of them dictating what players are in a managers squad terrifies me and at the minute I’m absolutely convinced this is Raith Rovers and Claude Anelka II.

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