squeezeboxson

Think I would say we should be looking to; Keep: Martin, Ewing's (assuming he is happy with things how they are), Barr, Buchanan, Docherty, Carswell. Smith - I think has done enough to merit a new offer. I don't doubt there are better RBs out there but I don't know if we could bring one in. Even if we did, he is a handy player to have in the squad. Nade - would need to get fitter but I would also be inclined to offer him terms. With a full preseason and hopefully staying clear of injury he would be worth keeping. Fleming - is in the same boat. Body language and attitude have been all wrong this season (especially since Xmas when the rest of the team started picking up). If he is willing to put in the effort to sort his fitness out and get into a better frame of mind then there's certainly a player in there with something to contribute. Weird one, but I'd be more than happy for all of our loanees to return (Nuttal being the only exception because I didn't see enough). Undecided on the 2 Gall's. Not seen enough of Calum to make my kind up and Grant would have to get fit pretty soon to be worth retaining. Everyone else is either gone or are youngsters who, once again, we know very little about. I'd imagine Donald will move on since his loan didn't work out too well. The rest I really have no idea.

Only read about halfway through it. Decent analysis so far. One (I think there was 2 but can't remember the 2nd) thing I noticed was saying that Tom Walsh was on loan with Rangers. But I might have read it wrong too. I'll update anything further

Jeez. He was easily one of our most consistent performers and without him I think we would probably have finished lower down the table. The defense overall has been much better this season as it has been pretty settled and that suited us. My favourite bit is this part... "And as I said at the awards night, I don't think I've ever felt more at home with any club than I have at Dumbarton, with the environment created by fans and players. It's no secret that I wanted to sort out my future back in December. I'm more than happy here and I'm delighted that Dumbarton gave me the chance."

Those 2 are very obviously happy here. Garry has had a pretty awful season and if he weren't the local hero posterboy he is then he would have been getting a lot of stick from fans. He obviously has the ability but if he does stay he seriously needs to sort out his fitness and mentality. I would love him to do just that. Gregor is another one who just seems to love it with us. Not just him, his whole family really seem to enjoy being around DFC and that is something which is really great to see from players (especially good players who we could do with holding onto).

Nothing new then unfortunately. I know a few of the players love it at Dumbarton. But they probably love it because of the team ethic and working with Stevie (and Durrant).

Must be some kind of feedback from the awards bash last night? Who sounded keen to stay and who was saying their goodbyes etc. Gutted I missed it as I always enjoy it when I can go, but sometimes work/gigs take priority.

Reading elsewhere that Dunfermline have released BRE. Do we think he would be worth a punt? I can't remember much about him other than he is quite a big CB. Worked well with Buchanan... ETA: I mean Buchanan moving to us from Dunfermline not that BRE and Bucky played together.

The thing with Stevie Aitken is, guys appear to really enjoy working with him. Players seem to respect him and I would debate that some of the players we have in the squad currently have signed up to work with him as much as play for Dumbarton in this league. I almost get the feeling that he is one of very few managers in the country who could have got away with the player criticism after the cup defeat. It had the perfect resulting effect and without sounding silly, I think losing that game is essentially what has kept us in this league. Had we ended up scraping through that game to then lose to Hibs in the next round, the turnaround probably wouldn't have happened. On another note, I know there's only one game left of the season, but does anyone else think that Yogi has tried the same approach in desperation after Saturday - in the hope they can get the result they need against Ayr?

It's too late to change you mind now

On a serious note, could this be enough to see Stevie sign a new deal to remain at the club this week? Would be very nice to get him signed up so we can start planning for next season!

To be fair, he had only just started to prove himself at the start of the season. But yeah, I agree with Moonster in that I would keep him and give him the chance. He was starting to look much better and I don't imagine he would be a huge earner.

Of course a few will move on especially the likes of Stirling who has had a terrific season since Christmas. Martin has already said he wants to sign up and Stevie Aitken seems to be able to hold squads together well. If he stays, I reckon we will keep at least half of the team we have at the moment. Obviously if he moves on then a new manager comes in and the changes will be completely different throughout the club.

And you missed the first half of it... Hope it does make people sign up though. Could do with having a few more supporting the trust and what they do for us. Especially with everything going on at the moment.

Got to love the mentality of some of our fans. In the queue at the bar and guy behind me spouts some nonsense about, "6 guys on loan and Robert Thomson leaving. What a great way to plan for the future!" Talking about the POTY vote. What do these folk expect us to be doing?

I do remember quite a few folk saying this kind of thing when he came in. Seemed like the right appointment at the time but they haven't really improved much at all.

Hasn't actually been playing that well the last few weeks but his goals have been important. Thanks Gary

If we win on Saturday and Ayr don't, then all of what you have mentioned tonight will be completely invalid anyway

What's the general consensus on the result tonight then? I'm happy St Mirren aren't any closer and if either team had to win I think I'd have preferred it to be Raith in all honesty. If we beat them on Saturday it puts us back above them anyway.

This is basically what I hope for. But nobody could argue if the guys (Sparky more so) were made to apologize to the fans and fined in some way.

I saw it as more handbags and had Carswell not already had a broken nose - which obviously proceeded to bleed badly again - then the players would have squared up, calmed down, shrugged it off and continued with the game. I also believe that Aitken is doing the completely correct thing in taking his time, turning a blind eye slightly (even if he did see it at the time) to deliberate, watch the incident again and then take the required action. If he had just jumped in and made a hasty decision he may have later found out he had misjudged it or regretted the action(s) he had taken. It will be interesting to see what comes of it, but I think thus far Stevie is handling it in the best way possible.

I may be wrong, but I am pretty certain that in order to recall a loanee, all 3 parties have to be in agreement for that to happen. So Raith, Dumbarton and Vaughan would all have to agree for it to happen. Can't see Vaughan or Dumbarton thinking that it would be a good decision. Obviously in 99% of cases the team who have taken a player on loan wouldn't stand in the way of a player returning because it would damage reputation for future loan signings between the clubs.

That was basically the point I was making. There were quite a few blaming Locke last night and one or two today. It just bothered me that no one was pointing the finger at the current boss when he has had adequate time to sort the situation. Cheers.

I can accept most of what you have said above. I agree with most of it actually, I just feel like Locke has absolutely nothing to do with the goalkeeper situation you were in last night. People at your club have came out today and admitted they could have brought someone in, giving different reasons why you didn't in the end.

Are you seriously still trying to blame Locke for this?? I guess the whole thing is that, clubs are a victim of their own success in terms of bringing young players though. Player have to develop. Our best example would be young Donald McCallum, who spend the best part of 3 years on our bench because he wasn't quite ready. He hasn't developed enough. He has however developed as much as he could playing with our understanding and development teams. Because we are in the championship it is a much higher level than league 2. The only way he has to progress up to the right standard is by playing at that level for a bit. So he is now away to Arbroath (a little too late in most of our fans opinions). At the end of the day though, if we were in the "third division" he would have been in our starting line up 2 1/2 years ago.

I believe it is also to do with age and having your quota of loans at one time. Someone else will explain it better. But basically Commons and Ambrose couldn't have signed at the same time for Hibs.