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Sons' sorrow


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21 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Your posts have been very interesting and in parts quite inspiring but at present there is no direct comparison between our two football clubs.

As a co-founder of the Sonstrust, myself and a colleague became tangentially involved in the efforts to preserve the Bankies as a senior club.  That ultimately failed and whilst that was a grimly painful experience, it allowed the people who really cared about having a football club in the town to forge their own future, something which has been achieved with great distinction.

Turning to Dumbarton FC, relocation to the site at The Rock in 2000 has now proven to be much more of a curse than a blessing, and whilst we regularly appear on websites and in books about iconic football grounds, the sad truth is that the club has also become a magnet for chancers who wish to use it as a relocation vehicle to make money from  speculative land sales.  This process started around ten years ago with a Faustian pact between the then club Board and a consortium of businessmen with no previous experience of delivering such a development.  That adventure eventually imploded on the refusal of Planning Consent; meanwhile a football club has somehow managed to struggle on.

As things now stand our majority shareholder is the last man standing from the Brabco consortium who has enlisted a Norwegian business associate to the cause.  I am a current member of the Trust Board and myself and a colleague have now spoken with the latter (a Director of DFC), and we are poles apart on the future affairs of Dumbarton FC.  The majority shareholder keeps a lower profile but he produced the lyrics for the hymn sheet.

All these years of fantastic visions, promises, meetings, presentations, assurances and ultimately repeated failure to prise us away from our iconic location has had a debilitating effect on the club's standing in the local community and a measure of the current situation is the recent resignation of the club Chairman, Company Secretary and two Associate Directors who have been important sponsors.  There is still hope of better days, but like the Bankies, the best route to that will be when DFC is in the control of the local community. 

 

Thank you, O'Kelly. Could you expand on how the Trust sees the future affairs of  the club and how we could make that a reality?

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20 minutes ago, cremola foam said:

Thank you, O'Kelly. Could you expand on how the Trust sees the future affairs of  the club and how we could make that a reality?

Well, the contributions from ICR above pretty much outlines what can be achieved when the supporters and the wider local community are invested, literally and metaphorically, in their football club.  However, as I've written above that situation only ever came about following the effective extinction of the original Clydebank FC, and I'm not fully convinced that should the same situation arise at Dumbarton that there would be sufficient commitment or enthusiasm to match the Bankies effort.

I would hope never to have to find out, but to answer your question directly control of the club would need to wrested away from the current ownership.  That's an ownership which in my opinion has no intrinsic interest or background in football, never mind Dumbarton FC; an ownership which has no track record in delivering the type of development on which they are now embarked, and which incidentally has already failed; an ownership intent on using DFC as a vehicle for financial acquisition thro land speculation.

As I said, only my opinion, and not one I think is shared by what remains of the DFC Board.  Worrying.

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20 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Well, the contributions from ICR above pretty much outlines what can be achieved when the supporters and the wider local community are invested, literally and metaphorically, in their football club.  However, as I've written above that situation only ever came about following the effective extinction of the original Clydebank FC, and I'm not fully convinced that should the same situation arise at Dumbarton that there would be sufficient commitment or enthusiasm to match the Bankies effort.

I would hope never to have to find out, but to answer your question directly control of the club would need to wrested away from the current ownership.  That's an ownership which in my opinion has no intrinsic interest or background in football, never mind Dumbarton FC; an ownership which has no track record in delivering the type of development on which they are now embarked, and which incidentally has already failed; an ownership intent on using DFC as a vehicle for financial acquisition thro land speculation.

As I said, only my opinion, and not one I think is shared by what remains of the DFC Board.  Worrying.

We only have three board members left. I don't know the Chairman but surely Colin and Stephanie must share your opinion. Given that the owners aim since they took over from Neil Rankine has been to make money from the club I fail to see how anyone could not share your opinion.

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I thought Henning, his wife and that Neil Dermybobs character from Four Architects were on the board too? I'm sure that's how it was announced when they took over, that Henning and his wife were the football masterminds and Dermybobs was the genius architect ready to turn water into wine, but their names aren't listed as club officials on the website. 

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12 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I thought Henning, his wife and that Neil Dermybobs character from Four Architects were on the board too? I'm sure that's how it was announced when they took over, that Henning and his wife were the football masterminds and Dermybobs was the genius architect ready to turn water into wine, but their names aren't listed as club officials on the website. 

Dumbarton have 6 directors according to Companies House:

Neil Dermott, Colin Hosie, Henning Kristoffersen, Neil Mackay, Stephanie Park and John Steele.

I'm not clear on what exactly an "associate director" is that the two guys resigned from last month? It certainly wasn't a legal directorship position.

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1 hour ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Dumbarton have 6 directors according to Companies House:

Neil Dermott, Colin Hosie, Henning Kristoffersen, Neil Mackay, Stephanie Park and John Steele.

I'm not clear on what exactly an "associate director" is that the two guys resigned from last month? It certainly wasn't a legal directorship position.

Cumpany's Hoose huzny been updated yit. 

Oot o' the frame is Steeley and Lynchy as cumpany secratury.

Wi' Lynchy jumpin' ship, the update is still pendin'.

 

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49 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Dumbarton have 6 directors according to Companies House:

Neil Dermott, Colin Hosie, Henning Kristoffersen, Neil Mackay, Stephanie Park and John Steele.

I'm not clear on what exactly an "associate director" is that the two guys resigned from last month? It certainly wasn't a legal directorship position.

John Steele has resigned along with Stephen Lynch who were official directors. Andy Gordon and Graham Casey were associate directors who resigned shortly after the former two. It was a "made up" position, they were involved in just about everything the club did but didn't have any official position so John Steele made them associate directors to give them some recognition for the work they'd done. I thought Henning's wife was on the board too but obviously not. 

I would hope Colin, Stephanie and Neil MacKay are standing up to any pish from Henning and Dermybobs, but O'Kelly's posts worries me that might not be the case. 

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11 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

John Steele has resigned along with Stephen Lynch who were official directors. Andy Gordon and Graham Casey were associate directors who resigned shortly after the former two. It was a "made up" position, they were involved in just about everything the club did but didn't have any official position so John Steele made them associate directors to give them some recognition for the work they'd done. I thought Henning's wife was on the board too but obviously not. 

I would hope Colin, Stephanie and Neil MacKay are standing up to any pish from Henning and Dermybobs, but O'Kelly's posts worries me that might not be the case. 

Stephen Lynch isn't a Director. He's the Company Secretary. And still is according to Companies House, though I appreciate per @start the war above it may simply not have been updated yet. Documents are supposed to be lodged within 14 days so they are cutting it fine although it's not unusual for such docs to be lodged significantly late with little consequence to be honest.

A Daniel Stephen Lynch of Dundee was a director from November 2004 to March 09 and was clearly something to do with National Cash Registers at the time. Same guy? Even if it was he hasn't been a director for over a decade.

Appreciate the local knowledge is likely clearer regarding Steele but the club statement on 27th October didn't actually say he was resigning as a Director, merely that he'd stepped down as Chairman in favour of Neil Mackay. It could be perceived that the offer of "Honorary President" was an indication that he was stepping off the Board entirely though. Has he definitely done so?

Edited by Skyline Drifter
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15 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Stephen Lynch isn't a Director. He's the Company Secretary. And still is according to Companies House, though I appreciate per @start the war above it may simply not have been updated yet. Documents are supposed to be lodged within 14 days so they are cutting it fine although it's not unusual for such docs to be lodged significantly late with little consequence to be honest.

A Daniel Stephen Lynch of Dundee was a director from November 2004 to March 09 and was clearly something to do with National Cash Registers at the time. Same guy? Even if it was he hasn't been a director for over a decade.

Appreciate the local knowledge is likely clearer regarding Steele but the club statement on 27th October didn't actually say he was resigning as a Director, merely that he'd stepped down as Chairman in favour of Neil Mackay. It could be perceived that the offer of "Honorary President" was an indication that he was stepping off the Board entirely though. Has he definitely done so?

Just assumed Stephen was a director, I knew he was a club official in any case. Pretty sure he was involved with a company in Dundee too, yes.

I'm led to believe Steele is gone completely, but tbh the communication is piss poor so anything is possible. 

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15 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Stephen Lynch isn't a Director. He's the Company Secretary. And still is according to Companies House, though I appreciate per @start the war above it may simply not have been updated yet. Documents are supposed to be lodged within 14 days so they are cutting it fine although it's not unusual for such docs to be lodged significantly late with little consequence to be honest.

A Daniel Stephen Lynch of Dundee was a director from November 2004 to March 09 and was clearly something to do with National Cash Registers at the time. Same guy? Even if it was he hasn't been a director for over a decade.

Appreciate the local knowledge is likely clearer regarding Steele but the club statement on 27th October didn't actually say he was resigning as a Director, merely that he'd stepped down as Chairman in favour of Neil Mackay. It could be perceived that the offer of "Honorary President" was an indication that he was stepping off the Board entirely though. Has he definitely done so?

Firstly, in respect of the affairs of Dumbarton FC in the last six months or so Companies House has resembled an explosion in a Tippex factory; it has been difficult to keep up with all the changes, and not all of them concerning roles and positions.

Secondly, as far as I am aware John Steele is no longer a Director of the club. 

Thirdly, and most importantly, you will not see the name of the person with probably the most influence in the Boardroom of Dumbarton FC currently listed anywhere.  There's a good reason for that, but I'll let you all work it out.

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4 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Thirdly, and most importantly, you will not see the name of the person with probably the most influence in the Boardroom of Dumbarton FC currently listed anywhere.  There's a good reason for that, but I'll let you all work it out.

What can be done about this? It's probably the most infuriating thing about all of this for me. 

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31 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Firstly, in respect of the affairs of Dumbarton FC in the last six months or so Companies House has resembled an explosion in a Tippex factory; it has been difficult to keep up with all the changes, and not all of them concerning roles and positions.

Secondly, as far as I am aware John Steele is no longer a Director of the club. 

Thirdly, and most importantly, you will not see the name of the person with probably the most influence in the Boardroom of Dumbarton FC currently listed anywhere.  There's a good reason for that, but I'll let you all work it out.

Unless there's something else being alluded to here it's because 'the person' is disqualified as a director under the Directors Disqualification Act is it not? It's a matter of public record.

26 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

What can be done about this? It's probably the most infuriating thing about all of this for me. 

Not a thing.

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17 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Unless there's something else being alluded to here it's because 'the person' is disqualified as a director under the Directors Disqualification Act is it not? It's a matter of public record.

Not a thing.

It's very much public record, aye - https://www.dumbartonreporter.co.uk/news/14922429.andrew-laird-hosie-former-director-of-company-which-owns-dumbarton-fc-disqualified-for-business-dealings/

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56 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

What an absolute weapon Gerry Britton is. He might've outweaponed that fuming guy from Cumbernauld who wrote to Nicola Sturgeon about a Tweet with this.

Jan, you commentated that evening.  Am I right in saying that after Graham's horrendous challenge Ian McCall wasted very little time in hooking him ?  If so, perhaps Britton wants to get his Manager's take on things. 

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