Sons' sorrow

[Jan Vojáček]

I've just realised we signed Mark Lamont months ago. But he's not in the squad photo.

I haven't missed that he's left or anything have I? 

[The Moonster]

2 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I've just realised we signed Mark Lamont months ago. But he's not in the squad photo.

I haven't missed that he's left or anything have I? 

Perhaps he's on holiday again. 

I genuinely don't think I'll be as baffled by a signing ever again. 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

11 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I've just realised we signed Mark Lamont months ago. But he's not in the squad photo.

I haven't missed that he's left or anything have I? 

I completey forgot about him. Faz has got almost absolutely everything bang on so far but there’s nae denying the signing of Mark Lamont was seriously bizarre.

[BallochSonsFan]

36 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Perhaps he's on holiday again. 

I genuinely don't think I'll be as baffled by a signing ever again. 

Better or worse than Kler Heh?

[The Moonster]

1 hour ago, BallochSonsFan said:

Better or worse than Kler Heh?

That was a bizarre signing but I wouldn't have said it was baffling at the time. Stuart Millar brought him in through his contacts down south and we all thought we might be getting a decent player, he was just too young and ultimately not very good. Us signing Mark Lamont seemed to baffle everyone, probably Mark Lamont too. 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

4 hours ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I completey forgot about him. Faz has got almost absolutely everything bang on so far but there’s nae denying the signing of Mark Lamont was seriously bizarre.

My understanding was that he previously worked with Faz outside as well as within football and he requested training facilities.  For reasons I don't fully understand he signed amateur forms and was listed as a squad member - I can only assume he was retained in case of an ultra-emergency.  Anyway, his departure presumably frees up a place for Rodriguez from Everton on loan.

[The Moonster]

How many guys are signed as an amateur this season then? Lamont, McKnight, Muir and Maley?

[Jan Vojáček]

Lamont has a long-term injury apparently. I probably should've read his profile on the website this morning.

I'll ask Faz a bit about it on Saturday if I remember.

https://www.dumbartonfootballclub.com/squad/?mode=squad&SquadID=55&id=1068

[Skyline Drifter]

On 27/09/2021 at 15:16, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

Whilst I do appreciate costs are higher than they once were, 25 quid still seems quite steep.

One thing I’ve never understood is why the people who run the supporters bus don’t run a smaller bus or a mini bus. Surely a big fancy Marbill or Wilson’s of Rhu coach costs far more to run than a minibus? Especially just now when they are struggling to fill and seem gutted by the prospect of having to fork oot for the train. You get guys locally who do that sort of thing on the side and I can’t imagine it would cost as much as a coach, my mates have booked mini buses for gigs and airport runs etc and I always remeber it being peanuts.

I doubt there's a significant cost difference to be honest. I've had a bit of experience in bus hire in the past and it's clearly more expensive to hire a 52 seater than to hire a 16 seater or whatever but if you are hiring commercially then the main costs are actually to cover the driver's wage and the fuel and they will be pretty much unchanged whatever size bus you take. It may even be two drivers for mileage to Peterhead. We had two drivers to Inverness on Saturday setting off from Cumbernauld. It probably costs you the guts of £800 to hire a bus from Dumbarton to Peterhead. I would fully expect a smaller bus to still be £650 at least. For the cost difference to get a bigger bus with more space and the ability carry a few more if you can get them you may as well get the bigger bus.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

3 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

I doubt there's a significant cost difference to be honest. I've had a bit of experience in bus hire in the past and it's clearly more expensive to hire a 52 seater than to hire a 16 seater or whatever but if you are hiring commercially then the main costs are actually to cover the driver's wage and the fuel and they will be pretty much unchanged whatever size bus you take. It may even be two drivers for mileage to Peterhead. We had two drivers to Inverness on Saturday setting off from Cumbernauld. It probably costs you the guts of £800 to hire a bus from Dumbarton to Peterhead. I would fully expect a smaller bus to still be £650 at least. For the cost difference to get a bigger bus with more space and the ability carry a few more if you can get them you may as well get the bigger bus.

I’m not entirely surely the local guy from the Renton who does it on the side would be bringing a 2nd driver along to ensure guidelines are being met tbh. 

I don’t travel on the bus so it doesn’t impact me at all but there have been loads of posts on Facebook etc recently that are verging on guilt tripping folk for not booking onto the bus. A general concesus from the bus travellers seems to be that they don’t want to have to pay train prices as they are too expensive so the bus not running is an inconvenience for them. Even hiring a minibus and having one of the regulars drive it would be a better option than trying to fill a coach or getting a train. At the minute the option seems to be fill a massive coach (which is evidently a struggle) or pay astronomical train prices. There must be ways around either filling a luxury coach or travelling by train.

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

I’m not entirely surely the local guy from the Renton who does it on the side would be bringing a 2nd driver along to ensure guidelines are being met tbh. 

I don’t travel on the bus so it doesn’t impact me at all but there have been loads of posts on Facebook etc recently that are verging on guilt tripping folk for not booking onto the bus. A general concesus from the bus travellers seems to be that they don’t want to have to pay train prices as they are too expensive so the bus not running is an inconvenience for them. Even hiring a minibus and having one of the regulars drive it would be a better option than trying to fill a coach or getting a train. At the minute the option seems to be fill a massive coach (which is evidently a struggle) or pay astronomical train prices. There must be ways around either filling a luxury coach or travelling by train.

All entirely reasonable points (although the first one is against the law not just a 'guideline' and the driver's risking his licence if he's doing that commercially).

Doesn't change the crux of my point though which was that in the scheme of things with respect to the cost of bus travel, the size of the bus is a minor factor compared to the cost of the driver and the fuel.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

18 hours ago, The Moonster said:

How many guys are signed as an amateur this season then? Lamont, McKnight, Muir and Maley?

There’s just something I don’t like about signing young guys on amateur deals. Are we taking advantage of Muir and Maleys desperation to make it in the game by offering them a deal where they get paid f**k all? Obviously they weren’t forced into it but I dunno if I’m a huge fan of it other than when it’s in the players best interests (Josh Todd kind of situation).

[D'Jaffo]

Looks like we’re appointing Duffy permanently. How many of you would’ve thought his next job would be a league up when he left you?

[microdave]

I didn't think he would manage again tbh, but more through his choice. The football was horrendous last season but I don't bear him any ill will. He had us playing some good stuff in the first season when he had someone else's players. The problems started when he started "building" his own squad. Good luck to him though.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[The Moonster]

34 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Looks like we’re appointing Duffy permanently. How many of you would’ve thought his next job would be a league up when he left you?

I'm not THAT surprised tbh, he's almost the perfect guy for a crisis and his reputation in the media will always see him connected with jobs, like microdave I thought he might fancy sitting in the shadows at a club after two covid seasons and a heart attack but if he feels fit then it's not all that surprising. He follows almost exactly the same circle of life at each club he goes to though - improves things initially, gets your team stabilised, starts building his own team, style stagnates, fans get sick of him, he leaves. Good luck to you boys though.

[BallochSonsFan]

I wasnt convinced that Duffy would want another manager job at his age and having had recent heart problems. On the other hand it's an easier task - full time club and parity of resource with a lot of the other teams in the league. He isnt going to have to look for guys on the cheap who have potential but also serious flaws.

[D'Jaffo]

I'm not THAT surprised tbh, he's almost the perfect guy for a crisis and his reputation in the media will always see him connected with jobs, like microdave I thought he might fancy sitting in the shadows at a club after two covid seasons and a heart attack but if he feels fit then it's not all that surprising. He follows almost exactly the same circle of life at each club he goes to though - improves things initially, gets your team stabilised, starts building his own team, style stagnates, fans get sick of him, he leaves. Good luck to you boys though.

Yeah I wasn’t entirely convinced he’d be interested either but maybe getting back in the dugout and getting a few wins with some good performances has encouraged him to get back into management full time. We have obviously improved although that wouldn’t have been hard after the previous incumbent and the main worry is how will he do over the summer when he has to bring players in.

No offence to Dumbarton but you’d hope that given we are full time with some more resources he might make a better hand of recruitment with us although if he starts fishing about non league teams and exit trial players I’ll be worried.

[Ludo*1]

47 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said:

Yeah I wasn’t entirely convinced he’d be interested either but maybe getting back in the dugout and getting a few wins with some good performances has encouraged him to get back into management full time. We have obviously improved although that wouldn’t have been hard after the previous incumbent and the main worry is how will he do over the summer when he has to bring players in.

No offence to Dumbarton but you’d hope that given we are full time with some more resources he might make a better hand of recruitment with us although if he starts fishing about non league teams and exit trial players I’ll be worried.

He loved a non-league jobber even when we were spending millions.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

Between Jaime Wilson and Robert Jones causing mass hysteria at Falkirk and Clyde respectively, and now Jim Duffy's return to management at Ayr this is becoming quite the season.  Cue Ruaridh Langan to turn up in Norwich midfield.

[Jan Vojáček]

2 hours ago, D'Jaffo said:

Looks like we’re appointing Duffy permanently. How many of you would’ve thought his next job would be a league up when he left you?

I'm surprised he's moving back into management. I spoke to him a fair bit after he left us here and here and really thought that he'd be delighted to move into a background role. An academy director, assistant manager or whatever.

As others have said, Duffy will stabilise, improve and then things will stagnate and come to a natural end. Players will love him and give their all. But don't expect him to keep your good ones over the summer. And his recruitment isn't great at all. He loves bringing in players he feels he can improve, rather than players who will improve your team straight away.

It felt like his heart was maybe never fully in being our manager. He could be quite dour, the style of football ranged from poor to woeful and, at times, he felt quite disconnected from the club as a whole.

In saying all that he's fundamentally a decent guy and an absolutely excellent coach of defenders. He'll keep you up this season which, given the mess Hopkin left, is probably not a bad outcome. I hope he does well.