Sons Sorrow 2018/19

[lorenzo71]

2 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Short of us pimping out Craig Barr to wealthy cougars, I can't see where the money's coming from.

seems a pretty viable option.Probably need to hang around Monaco or Marbella though.Are you up for pimping Fifesons?lol

[The Moonster]

7 minutes ago, lorenzo71 said:

Yeah i guess weve spunked away our budget and we are running the risk of struggling to put out a decent first 11.Damned if you do, damned if you dont......had SA gone for quantity that wouldnt necessarily mean a good team.Now on paper we have a good team with players willing and able to cover different positions.In that  respect he has done a decent job.Now if he could just change our awful style of play and get us playing as a team.I cant even bring myself to look at the highlights again...its just turgid.

If Aitken had not bothered signing Forbes and signed a couple of players inferior to him, then Forbes signed for say Airdrie, I guarantee we'd have folk on here complaining that we didn't push the boat out for Forbes. I genuinely think Aitken was in for criticism no matter how he built the squad.  The big thing is now results, that's the only way he escapes criticism.  I don't actually give a shite how we play, get the ball in the net and 3 points in the bag and everyone will be happy come the end of May.

[lorenzo71]

1 minute ago, The Moonster said:

If Aitken had not bothered signing Forbes and signed a couple of players inferior to him, then Forbes signed for say Airdrie, I guarantee we'd have folk on here complaining that we didn't push the boat out for Forbes. I genuinely think Aitken was in for criticism no matter how he built the squad.  The big thing is now results, that's the only way he escapes criticism.  I don't actually give a shite how we play, get the ball in the net and 3 points in the bag and everyone will be happy come the end of May.

i hear you but right now we are doing neither very well...4 pts from 9 is midtable stuff when we have a side i believe capable of much more.It is only 3 games in and im holding on to the alan adamson stats from 2011 as hope.He took 10 pts from Q1, then 15 Q2, then 20  from Q3  and finally 13 from Q4.At least got us 3rd

 

[The Moonster]

Just now, lorenzo71 said:

i hear you but right now we are doing neither very well...4 pts from 9 is midtable stuff when we have a side i believe capable of much more.It is only 3 games in and im holding on to the alan adamson stats from 2011 as hope.He took 10 pts from Q1, then 15 Q2, then 20  from Q3  and finally 13 from Q4.At least got us 3rd

 

I agree. Remember though that of our starting 11, only 5 of them have played together before this year. Couple that with the fact that our two biggest signings Forbes and Loy are coming off the back of long seasons without games (and missing some of preseason this summer) then I'm not entirely shocked that we're not playing our best stuff at this point.  We all agree improvement is needed, but let's reassess at the end of Q1 and see where we are.

[lorenzo71]

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

I agree. Remember though that of our starting 11, only 5 of them have played together before this year. Couple that with the fact that our two biggest signings Forbes and Loy are coming off the back of long seasons without games (and missing some of preseason this summer) then I'm not entirely shocked that we're not playing our best stuff at this point.  We all agree improvement is needed, but let's reassess at the end of Q1 and see where we are.

Its odd what makes a team tick.Ian Murray worked a miracle overnight  ....no games to get it right.And we played the best football that i can remember against good opposition.

[The Moonster]

1 minute ago, lorenzo71 said:

Its odd what makes a team tick.Ian Murray worked a miracle overnight  ....no games to get it right.And we played the best football that i can remember against good opposition.

I think you're on the right track here - mentality is a huge part of football. Ian Murray came in at a time when nobody in that Sons team believed in themselves or the management, we couldn't buy a win and were shipping goals left, right and centre. Murray immediately added some professionalism, I remember us being at Starks park not long after he took over and the two subs benches came out at half time - ours were lined up, carrying out drills and our sports scientist (also brought in by Murray) pushing them hard. At the other end the Raith players were smashing 50 yard passes to each other and generally fannying around. I'm not saying that is the sole reason for the turn around, but the players mentality completely changed from day 1 under Murray. But, even with that professionalism and work ethic, Murray's style went stale here too. Finding the right mix isn't an easy job.

In regards to the mentality of this squad, I thought after the Forfar game that some of our players weren't giving their all.  The reaction in that respect has been pleasing, but as I said at the time, we need to want this more than any other team in the league. We won't be able to just show up and blow teams off the park, the difference in quality between the 3 sides we've seen so far is pretty minimal IMO, determination to win will be huge this year. 

[lorenzo71]

2 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I think you're on the right track here - mentality is a huge part of football. Ian Murray came in at a time when nobody in that Sons team believed in themselves or the management, we couldn't buy a win and were shipping goals left, right and centre. Murray immediately added some professionalism, I remember us being at Starks park not long after he took over and the two subs benches came out at half time - ours were lined up, carrying out drills and our sports scientist (also brought in by Murray) pushing them hard. At the other end the Raith players were smashing 50 yard passes to each other and generally fannying around. I'm not saying that is the sole reason for the turn around, but the players mentality completely changed from day 1 under Murray. But, even with that professionalism and work ethic, Murray's style went stale here too. Finding the right mix isn't an easy job.

In regards to the mentality of this squad, I thought after the Forfar game that some of our players weren't giving their all.  The reaction in that respect has been pleasing, but as I said at the time, we need to want this more than any other team in the league. We won't be able to just show up and blow teams off the park, the difference in quality between the 3 sides we've seen so far is pretty minimal IMO, determination to win will be huge this year. 

Yeah i agree with that.When you say it went 'stale' which was when the embra clubs and rangers joined the 1st division, i think that  was down to mentality too.Speaking to an ex-player he said that pride comes into it.IM changed our style as he truly feared a severe  hiding from any of the big 3 clubs.Cowden lost 10 nil to hearts.I believe IM didnt want to lose face and played a more staid styleas a result.It explains the change in style that season.

[Jumbo Muir]

I see that we now have a fully functioning club shop, that's something that quite a few fans have been vocal about so hopefully they fire all their money on DFC branded stuff.
https://www.dumbartonfootballclub.com/store/

I was one of the vocal ones and immediately placed my order on 1st August using PayPal.

Nothing arrived, so contacted the club on the advertised stadium open days. I allowed a match day to come and go too but no response.

Complained to PayPal and club immediately refunded me.

No explanation, no apology, no attempt to keep my custom, so they won't get my custom.

Not a great way to run a small business that isn't beating customers away at the door.

[the snudge]

Did Ian Murray not bring in a sports psychologist? 

[Jan Vojáček]

14 minutes ago, Jumbo Muir said:

I was one of the vocal ones and immediately placed my order on 1st August using PayPal.

Nothing arrived, so contacted the club on the advertised stadium open days. I allowed a match day to come and go too but no response.

Complained to PayPal and club immediately refunded me.

No explanation, no apology, no attempt to keep my custom, so they won't get my custom.

Not a great way to run a small business that isn't beating customers away at the door.

 

That's a pity. Did you phone Samantha during office hours? That's normally the best way to get things like that sorted.

[Jumbo Muir]

That's a pity. Did you phone Samantha during office hours? That's normally the best way to get things like that sorted.

I only rang once, around lunchtime on Friday and it rang out. I gave up then.

If they don't have the common courtesy to reply to my e-mail or answer the phone, I'm certainly not going to chase them up any further.

The immediate refund when PayPal got involved suggested they couldn't care less.

[lorenzo71]

Back in the day the club were great to deal with.I remember buying tix for an OF league cup tie and they sent the tix before they had received my chq.Same with the Alex Wright testimonial..ticket sent out before payment received.Always very chatty and sociable at that time.Cant say ive had any bad experiences recently but your story is worrying Jumbo when the club needs all the custom it can get.

[lionel wickson]

3 hours ago, the snudge said:

Did Ian Murray not bring in a sports psychologist? 

It was a sports scientist I think. Jim Chapman might have used a sports psychologist or similar, towards the end of our title winning run in 2009 iirc.

[lorenzo71]

38 minutes ago, lionel wickson said:

It was a sports scientist I think. Jim Chapman might have used a sports psychologist or similar, towards the end of our title winning run in 2009 iirc.

Whatever he did he worked a miracle truly and utterly.Was sorry that he went at the time but i am surprised no other Scottish teams have come in for him.

[DumbartonTheSons]

Whatever he did he worked a miracle truly and utterly.Was sorry that he went at the time but i am surprised no other Scottish teams have come in for him.

Chapman? He's had failed spells at Annan and Clyde since he left us.

[lorenzo71]

3 minutes ago, DumbartonTheSons said:

 

Chapman? He's had failed spells at Annan and Clyde since he left us.

 

No Ian Murray

[optimistic]

28 quid [emoji50]

[Jan Vojáček]

29 minutes ago, optimistic said:

28 quid

I suppose there are a few factors at play here. Bigger attendances, more prize money and TV money to name but a few.

Oh...and a multi-millionaire owner who is happy to plough his hard earned dough into the club. If we had one of them I've no doubt we could offer a couple of quid off tops without impacting the playing budget 

[George Parr]

Joe Cardle looking delighted to be involved in the shirt promotion  

[The Moonster]

23 minutes ago, Ross Forbes said:

I suppose there are a few factors at play here. Bigger attendances, more prize money and TV money to name but a few.

Oh...and a multi-millionaire owner who is happy to plough his hard earned dough into the club. If we had one of them I've no doubt we could offer a couple of quid off tops without impacting the playing budget 

You can buy that Kappa top for £7 on their website - http://www.3qsports.co.uk/Kappa-2018/Kappa-Rovigo-SS-Shirt

Fylde will likely get them cheaper than that if they have a kit deal, add on a few quid for sponsor and badging and they'll still be making a pretty good mark up at £28.  Our home kit is rarely off the shelf, so it's always going to be a bit more expensive.

Not to worry anyway, once I've won the Euro Millions I'll do a remake of the late 70's/early 80's Umbro tops and you can all have one for free (aside from Bring Back Paddy Flannery, he can pay his way).