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47 minutes ago, Only one David Marsh said:

Are you heading the same way as the OG Clydebank? I was listening to a podcast the other day and the guy from supporters trust was saying Dumbarton are the biggest concern for next season with absent owners and being run into the ground for the land value of the stadium 

Can you provide a link or a name for this podcast ?

 

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53 minutes ago, Only one David Marsh said:

Are you heading the same way as the OG Clydebank? I was listening to a podcast the other day and the guy from supporters trust was saying Dumbarton are the biggest concern for next season with absent owners and being run into the ground for the land value of the stadium 

Yes, that's about the size of it.

The further we slide down the leagues, our shady owners rub their hands.

They've taken out loans on parts of the land our stadium sits on.

 

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45 minutes ago, Only one David Marsh said:

Are you heading the same way as the OG Clydebank? I was listening to a podcast the other day and the guy from supporters trust was saying Dumbarton are the biggest concern for next season with absent owners and being run into the ground for the land value of the stadium 

It's complicated.

Under our previous owners there was a plan to move us to a site on the very edge of town. And edge is being generous. The plan was to sell 26 acres of land at the Youngs Farm site for £500k per acre, use some of the funds to build a new ground and then sell the current ground. Owners would have got the difference between the total money raised and the cost of a new stadium. That didnt happen as planning permission for the development was refused and the previous owners wanted to cut their losses and run.

Enter Henning Kristofferson and Cognitive Capital, with the assistance of a familiar and unsavoury face in Andy Hosie.

The initial plan was still to pursue a move to Youngs Farm. This time the new owners didnt even get as far as being refused planning permission - they never submitted either the previous plans or an amended plan - and it would appear that the development is dead. What isnt clear is what their next steps are going to be. The supporters trust is challenging them on this and has repeatedly asked for information as to what they intend to do and how they plan to do it. Answers are either vague, fantasy or simply non-existent. Right now we've got serious concerns about land at the current ground that had already been subject to planning permission and the granting of securities on club land as a means of financing a housing development at the current ground. 

We started last season with a board of directors that were trying to challenge the new owners on their plans. We finished the season having seen the previous chairman, company secretary/chief financial officer and 2 respected non-executive directors walk away and the club board finally consisting of a former GP as chairman, a fan appointed rep, the club's long standing vice chair and a completely unknown quantity with a murky background in football north and south of the border. We agreed a £35k sponsorship deal with companies connected to our new owners. That money was never received by the club. Its something that the club board has been pursuing all season, but alas something that hasn't been addressed to a satisfactory conclusion.

There's a worrying disconnect at all levels of the club right now. The owners aren't providing satisfactory answers to trust questions and we're pursuing them on the issues we're worried about. The club board don't seem to see this as a problem and aren't doing nearly enough to hold the ownership to account. The club board are also massively disconnected from the support. You only need to read back a few pages on here to see how unhappy fans are. The board are backing Farrell to continue in a job, much to the anger of fans. It's unclear as to whether this is because they believe in him as a manager or because we're hamstrung financially? For me it's probably 50/50 with both being factors. The recent comms output from the club has been tone deaf and has worsened the relationship between the club and the support. We're long overdue a proper meeting with the chairman and club board where we can have an open and honest conversation. The chairman can't simply leave the owners to their own devices, indulge in pet projects that are nice to have, but far from important given the current state of affairs, and refuse to face up to the disconnect between the club and the fans.

Is this another Clydebank? There's certainly a genuine risk to the club. Fans are withholding season ticket money in the hope that it forces the club to sack Farrell. That isnt going to happen, but people are understandably and correctly angry at the season just finished and the manager can count himself lucky not to have received a P45. There's also a belief amongst the fans that withholding season ticket money will force the chairman to step down. Again that's not going to happen. Our owners wouldn't be upset to see us go under and whilst they might not be actively working towards that end, they'd probably be quite pleased if it happened. Kristofferson is not going to force our current board to step down in order to satisfy the support. Which leaves the club circling the plug hole - an ownership that has no real interest in the club's survival, a support withholding money as the only real protest they feel is open to them and a club board in the middle doing nothing about either. They're deluded if they think they can go all summer without having a brutally honest and painful conversation with the fans, but right now that doesnt look like it's happening.

Things aren't quite terminal at Dumbarton, but right now the club is certainly in a critical condition.

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15 hours ago, BallochSonsFan said:

If it makes money then fine. Unfortunately we're not in a position where we can turn down events that make money. If there's no risk to the club and it's being funded by the promoters then wire in. We could have stripper nights, battle of the band nights, "an evening with" nights or competitive tiddly winks nights - as long as it makes money and doesnt interfere with crowds on a Saturday home game then wire in. The only event thats even remotely my thing is the Rock Comedy Club. Even then I wasn't a regular before the pandemic because I usually had a gig to go to. Ultimately Dumbarton can''t afford to rely on football crowd income only. If this brings in money to the club then its worth doing. 

Re the Comedy Club, I see they've got Ray Bradshaw doing one of the September slots. That's a pretty stellar booking and vaguely football-related as well.

That Platinum Jubilee tea thing can get to f**k though.

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Is a tenner a fair price for a tea and cakes day? Seems pricey to me but I don't attend many tea and cake events. 

The comments I saw on the facebook were all fairly sensible criticisms of the youth set up with the occassional ramble from someone who didn't make much of a point. The detail given by the club on who was running things was piss poor, so folk were asking who would be in charge before thinking about sending kids along - if your kid has been ditched before you're not going to send them back to the same set up. The fact its basically slapping a Dumbarton badge on a Renton shirt is probably part of the problem too, you can't bullshit parents who are involved in youth football and know where most of the better kids play (and I don't think that's in any regional district league). I hope it's a success but the club need to be very careful in censoring things on social media - if there is no profanity or libelous stuff then people should be free to comment. Another worrying turn from this board tbh. 

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59 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

It's complicated.

Under our previous owners there was a plan to move us to a site on the very edge of town. And edge is being generous. The plan was to sell 26 acres of land at the Youngs Farm site for £500k per acre, use some of the funds to build a new ground and then sell the current ground. Owners would have got the difference between the total money raised and the cost of a new stadium. That didnt happen as planning permission for the development was refused and the previous owners wanted to cut their losses and run.

Enter Henning Kristofferson and Cognitive Capital, with the assistance of a familiar and unsavoury face in Andy Hosie.

The initial plan was still to pursue a move to Youngs Farm. This time the new owners didnt even get as far as being refused planning permission - they never submitted either the previous plans or an amended plan - and it would appear that the development is dead. What isnt clear is what their next steps are going to be. The supporters trust is challenging them on this and has repeatedly asked for information as to what they intend to do and how they plan to do it. Answers are either vague, fantasy or simply non-existent. Right now we've got serious concerns about land at the current ground that had already been subject to planning permission and the granting of securities on club land as a means of financing a housing development at the current ground. 

We started last season with a board of directors that were trying to challenge the new owners on their plans. We finished the season having seen the previous chairman, company secretary/chief financial officer and 2 respected non-executive directors walk away and the club board finally consisting of a former GP as chairman, a fan appointed rep, the club's long standing vice chair and a completely unknown quantity with a murky background in football north and south of the border. We agreed a £35k sponsorship deal with companies connected to our new owners. That money was never received by the club. Its something that the club board has been pursuing all season, but alas something that hasn't been addressed to a satisfactory conclusion.

There's a worrying disconnect at all levels of the club right now. The owners aren't providing satisfactory answers to trust questions and we're pursuing them on the issues we're worried about. The club board don't seem to see this as a problem and aren't doing nearly enough to hold the ownership to account. The club board are also massively disconnected from the support. You only need to read back a few pages on here to see how unhappy fans are. The board are backing Farrell to continue in a job, much to the anger of fans. It's unclear as to whether this is because they believe in him as a manager or because we're hamstrung financially? For me it's probably 50/50 with both being factors. The recent comms output from the club has been tone deaf and has worsened the relationship between the club and the support. We're long overdue a proper meeting with the chairman and club board where we can have an open and honest conversation. The chairman can't simply leave the owners to their own devices, indulge in pet projects that are nice to have, but far from important given the current state of affairs, and refuse to face up to the disconnect between the club and the fans.

Is this another Clydebank? There's certainly a genuine risk to the club. Fans are withholding season ticket money in the hope that it forces the club to sack Farrell. That isnt going to happen, but people are understandably and correctly angry at the season just finished and the manager can count himself lucky not to have received a P45. There's also a belief amongst the fans that withholding season ticket money will force the chairman to step down. Again that's not going to happen. Our owners wouldn't be upset to see us go under and whilst they might not be actively working towards that end, they'd probably be quite pleased if it happened. Kristofferson is not going to force our current board to step down in order to satisfy the support. Which leaves the club circling the plug hole - an ownership that has no real interest in the club's survival, a support withholding money as the only real protest they feel is open to them and a club board in the middle doing nothing about either. They're deluded if they think they can go all summer without having a brutally honest and painful conversation with the fans, but right now that doesnt look like it's happening.

Things aren't quite terminal at Dumbarton, but right now the club is certainly in a critical condition.

This is absolutely awful to read, what a shambles. I really hope things work out for the better.

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27 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Is a tenner a fair price for a tea and cakes day? Seems pricey to me but I don't attend many tea and cake events. 

The comments I saw on the facebook were all fairly sensible criticisms of the youth set up with the occassional ramble from someone who didn't make much of a point. The detail given by the club on who was running things was piss poor, so folk were asking who would be in charge before thinking about sending kids along - if your kid has been ditched before you're not going to send them back to the same set up. The fact its basically slapping a Dumbarton badge on a Renton shirt is probably part of the problem too, you can't bullshit parents who are involved in youth football and know where most of the better kids play (and I don't think that's in any regional district league). I hope it's a success but the club need to be very careful in censoring things on social media - if there is no profanity or libelous stuff then people should be free to comment. Another worrying turn from this board tbh. 

It's pretty cheap. An afternoon tea is usually about £60.

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As someone who usually buys season tickets for myself and daughter plus sponsor a strip and plays club lottery etc - I'm very torn at moment. 

Certainly don't want to defend the current regime but I worry if cutting cashflow might just speed up the club's demise. 

 

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3 minutes ago, PWL said:

As someone who usually buys season tickets for myself and daughter plus sponsor a strip and plays club lottery etc - I'm very torn at moment. 

Certainly don't want to defend the current regime but I worry if cutting cashflow might just speed up the club's demise. 

 

Same here, I'll choose my games to attend and pay at the gate, I will certainly buy the new 150th anniversary shirt.

 

 

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21 minutes ago, Stevie Aitken's Love Child said:

Boys, talk to me about Carlo Pignatiello. Just signed for Morton.

Robbed of POTY.

Can play in a few positions but had his best games as a right back for us i'd say.  Could play well as a 6 if he had the right players around him.  Hope he does well.

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25 minutes ago, Stevie Aitken's Love Child said:

Boys, talk to me about Carlo Pignatiello. Just signed for Morton.

Sons fans will give you a complete and honest review of his abilities I'm sure.

From when I saw him against us and streaming a few Sons games this season he looked decent, one of the better Dumbarton players, but I was expecting him to leave Livi and join another league 1 club. Fairly versatile, I remember him playing as wing back and as DCM. Could maybe do a job in the Championship. Hope it does work out for him at Cappielow.

Edited by CoveRangers1922
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34 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

Conspiracy theorists (me included) are off the mark re turning off SM replies.

I've been updated from a source I completely trust that the only posts treated this way are the ones about the youth teams.

Yeah, that makes sense. Although they didn’t do it on any of the earlier posts about the youth team.

ETA on the previous post, they actually turned comments off after people started asking questions.

Edited by FifeSons
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13 hours ago, Hope Springs said:

GAFFER SATISFIED BY PROGRESS

Saturday 21st May 2022

Just read it again. Awful.....simply awful from start to finish!  I am so sad at what's happening at the end of Castle Road.

I don’t think you can really take anything Stevie Farrell says seriously, especially after the ‘joint-second’ and ‘double-figures a season’ lines.

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26 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

Conspiracy theorists (me included) are off the mark re turning off SM replies.

I've been updated from a source I completely trust that the only posts treated this way are the ones about the youth teams.

Fair enough, there always was going to be some rational enough reason for it. But that's far less kneejerk and interesting. 

I'll clarify and say my point still stands about the lack of response from the club generally anyway

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Boys, talk to me about Carlo Pignatiello. Just signed for Morton.

Best player at the Rock last season. Has pace and a good ball winner.
I thought Livi might have retained him as he has bags of potential.
A good signing for Morton.
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