O'Kelly Isley III

He certainly played in a 0-6 mauling from Coventry in a pre-season friendly.

I'm lost and bored in equal measure.

No, I don't think they did Wilf. However, to suggest that Brabco have somehow taken DFC to it's current position by means of a structured, financed plan or anything like it would be an utter nonsense. Their time as (largely absentee) owners has coincided with great efforts made by the local Directors who actually run the club and who have in the main managed what finances are available wisely. It also helped greatly that a team which finished in fourth position was (unusually) able to gain promotion via the play-offs, the corollary of that being that we were able to subsequently attract a young manager with potential in Ian Murray, again mainly down to the 'local' Board. Let's make sure credit goes where it's due - long way to go yet for Brabco. 'Coincided' is the key word here.

Looks like I've been whooshed massively here

I have checked and can find hee-haw - please provide a link.

I was going to write that Ian Murray doesn't quite seem to know what he's doing at the moment, but I'm not altogether sure who is actually determining formations and tactics right now. If whoever doesn't get it sorted soon then our goals against will soon be looking like Rothes and Strathspey Thistle in the Highland League. As regards Marko, at 39 (this week) he probably just wants a game and I'm sure would be a good fit for Clyde. As Moonster says, McDonald has featured only occasionally but I think he's worth more than that. Assuming Kano is deffo away, if we pass thro the January window without adding a striker then we look to be in deep doo-doo.

If only it were that straightforward. As was said at the meeting no Sons fan would be opposed to the facilities on display but the plain fact is that the proposed development currently appears more pie in the sky than bricks on the ground. There are enough examples of clubs, Livingston being a prime example, whose vaulting ambition got them into deep shit for people to remain very cautious. As for revenues, well football in general remains far too expensive for all but the committed whilst Dumbarton FC operates without any sort of Commercial or Sales Manager yet bemoans the lack of income - eh ??

Planning consent for housing development on the present site is the least of that aspect for me Wilf, it's what numbers come out of it. The projection shown last night was for 180 dwellings and the Planning Consultant was honest enough to admit that such a figure would likely need reduce due to WDC (rightly) wishing a cordon around the Rock. So, to use the Chairman's arithmetic you may only get 150/160 bangs for your bucks as opposed to 180, which I would imagine would depress the purchase price of the land. As I said last night that matters a good deal, espcially with Brabco having no advertised funding to supplement the land sale. I also queried the need/market for such housing given the considerable amount of new builds which have sprung up in the town over the last decade. I received a bullish response but I remain sceptical, especially that given by the time foundations would be being laid the interest rate will almost certainly have risen from the present very low level. Are there 160 families or individuals looking to move down there ? No-one knows, but Turnberry took a long time to fill all the current properties and significantly (to me anyway) they have effectively mothballed the old Blackburn site until whenever. Just how attractive to any developer/builder that 10-acre site will be in hard cash will go some way to determining if Phase One commences at the Dalmoakdome.

The meeting was certainly helpful in many respects but there are still things that unclear and undefined. One thing that does give me comfort is the fact that Gilbert has direct experience in seeing thro turnkey projects like this proposal, maybe not on this scale, but I would expect considerably in excess of anyone in the Brabco consortium. I remain concerned however by his assertion that DFC has very little exposure to risk, how can that be when the proposers own 75% of the football club and should their plans be thwarted could presumably press the nuclear button and cash in their chips on the existing site, the name Hosie in the mix or not ? Could the Golden Share survive that in a court of law ?

Dumbarton FC is run on the lines of a private member's golf club rather than a community football club, and that tends to pervade dealings with the public. When people are not comfortable in certain situations they can withdraw into a defensive position which often manifests itself as abruptness. As regards John Hosie and Alex Wright they were considerably more personable than anyone who has succeeded them, Ian McFarlane included. No-one however was any more loyal, decent, honest than anyone else, it's just that small local football clubs really need to get their supporters and the wider public onside and there are ways of doing just that. We are currently not doing it well enough in my opinion.

Just heard that the attendance is 749.

Yes it is indeed but I have been giving this serious thought. Like yourself I still need answers and some guarantees but there is a bigger picture in all of this. Important as the proposal is, it's not all about the new site, we need to consider the limitations and likely future if we remain where we are. The fact remains that we do sit on a highly saleable parcel of land and if there is to be an opportunity to realise it with something better to move to this may be it. That's not a ringing endorsement of Brabco, more a recognition of the possible need for us all to compromise our views.

I've been giving this ground move proposal a lot of thought over the last 87 hours, and there are definitely several differing ways to look at the situation. If we consider the literally here and now, and accept that Brabco will likely do no more than underwrite the most basic investment in the current location then the following might still apply:- 1. We have crap floodlights unfit for purpose. 2. We have no local training facility and are shelling out money on Toryglen. 3. We play in a location in which games are often ruined by howling winds (as opposed to Howlin' Wilf...). 4. We have a bloody great dip along one goal-line. 5. Even if money to uprate were available there will be a poor chance of planning permission, whether the Trust or whoever took on ownership of DFC. 6. Motor access is now heavily restricted thanks to the travelling community. 7. With each passing year the fabric of the poorly spec'd BBS frays further. 8. There are swathes of scabby waste ground and crumbling brickwork surrounding the ground. 9. For many non-football people the BBS may be standing in the way of enhancing a key area of the town and its rivers. 9. Last and by no means least, as and when Ian Murray moves on, it may well be very difficult to attract a manager of comparable rank, especially given the limited facilities. OK, I'm doing my Devil's Advocate here, and the Brabco proposal still has to stack up, but for example if Phase One were to be concluded without DFC having to vacate the present ground then that starts to become interesting. All I'm trying to highlight here is that wild as it may sound to some, maybe once we get more detail, hopefully starting next week at The Abbotsford, then we begin to consider everything in the round. I don't want a pig-in-a-poke but neither do I want us all to be wishing five years down the line that we had taken the chance when it was there. Not everything in the current garden is rosy, and perhaps the proposed garden could be rosier than many of us are prepared to concede. Let's all keep an open mind for now.

A couple of points here; Dumbarton FC is a professional football club, not a wedding or conference venue, and whilst I'm all in favour of 'maximising revenue streams' decisions should be made in the best interests of the footballing aspects of the club and its support and shareholders. Secondly, if the current hospitality facilities at BBS are considered inadequate why can the possibility of adding a second storey to the existing building not be explored ? For that matter, the whole building could be enhanced at considerably less cost than uprooting as proposed, it's what many people do with their homes. Or is any investment now totally conditional on Brabco getting their pound of flesh ? Thirdly, as regards training pitches, etc., I suspect the projected income versus reality would be adverse; a club like Stenhousemuir could provide an indication of what to expect. And what of DFC's involvement in refurbishing East End Park for the club's and others' use - has this now been kicked into the long grass in favour of the current ground move proposal ?

You can bet the owners are well aware of what is posted here DK As for comments and opinions I get the feeling that the situation is now a bit clearer for everyone in the fan base, perversely due to the fact that so many answers were either vague or not forthcoming. Why move house when the one you have is basically still fit for purpose, expecially when you are moving initially to a smaller house with no firm idea of when it can be extended, if ever, and at what cost ? Unless of course the keyholder in the family needs cash in their sky rocket..... Anyway, as was posted earlier WDC may be in the driving seat now so get prepared for Lesser Millburn.

The eventual realisation of the full development appears to be contingent on attracting complementary commercial, hospitality, retail or industrial investment in the locale. As someone who works at Lomondgate and has seen various similar plans, which are only now beginning to come into any sort of modest fruition, ie Greggs, Subway, Starbucks and a filling station, dare I suggest that this will be an extremely big ask indeed, even with 'enabling development'.

From the outside it now looks like Brabco's complicity with the council will result in DFC moving home come what may. WDC now has the bit very firmly between it's teeth in terms of developing the whole area (long overdue by the way) but that leaves DFC at the mercy of some very hopeful projections indeed. As an indicator, if planning is to be refused for improved floodlighting (on what grounds exactly ?) then the club is shafted in it's present location. Brabco and their agents have sold WDC a pipe-dream and now they will be forced to make it happen. I'm not at all confident.

From the horses mouths yesterday, CT hopes to be ready for selection for the Hearts game whilst Kirky took a deadleg and hopes to be available this Saturday. Kano may still be some weeks off.

Yep, and the tweets. I wonder if he was at Ibrox the day we took dog's abuse from a rabid section of the home support.

There will be no seethe from this Yes voter I can assure you, it's the democracy thing you see. And perhaps the good ship UK will indeed limp into port but it's fatally holed below the waterline. The mould is broken, the dam is breached, the mirror is shattered and Gordon Brown's gonads which he injudiciously placed on a chopping board will start to feel gey tender in the coming months. I'm old enough to remember 1979 and all that, but I'm still young enough to see things come around again. Sure there will be disappointment but no dismay. And remember veikbe, if it is to be your night then there's way of accepting victory as well as defeat - I have to say you've made a poor start.

Well, that statement certainly reads a bit better since last Friday morning with the loan signing of Kane. Mikey Miller was part of the squad in the last third of last season and he's moved on. As has Jack Ross. And I don't think last term's performance can be any great barometer given the calibre of teams this time, but like you I really do hope we're fine.

You are really living up to your name with than one; Murray limped out of last season and isn't likely to hit the ground running in this one. The point about the midfield is not just signing more players but better ones, and if that means showing Murray, McDougall and one of the keepers the door to finance them then I'm absolutely fine with that - they should not have been retained in the first place. Ask yourself this; if CT gets crocked or suspended who have we got with any dig in midfield ? Teams are passing the ball thro us at will with him in the side FFS ! Let's not allow a very decent Kane-inspired second-half against Livi to blind us to some very real concerns.

I absolutely endorse that, and I'm delighted that he's got a new challenge at Clyde. I don't think I ever remember a Sons striker with such technique - the overhead kicks were a thing of genius - and I've seen more than a few.

Hmmm, I get the feeling that his stock may not be quite as high right now as it was in May. He's hit his first real turbulence and clubs will be watching to see the outcome - that's my take on it anyway. As an aside, if Prunty and Murray are moving on and we've obviously signed the lad from Accies on loan, this will be the second season in a row that we're seeing upheaval very early into the league campaign (Murray and Nish joined immediately prior to the first Morton game last term). It kinda poses the question of why Hugh Murray and Prunty were re-signed at all, possibly also McDougall, McLaughlin and one keeper, and suggests that we're a bit all over the place in pre-season team-building

He was a young left-back who never really got beyond the fringe of the first-team. A solid enough player, and I'm pretty sure that's him in the picture. John Watters was at school with me, a local lad from Bellsmyre and son of a more weel-kent faither of the same name.