O'Kelly Isley III

Your old dad is not wrong. I'm pretty sure the year was 1975 when Sons defeated a 'local side' to lift 'The Lloret De Mar Trophy', and a damned impressive thing it was too. I must check if it is one of the showcases in the foyer and if it is you can both see it on March 7th !!

Really no point in adding anything to this, it has pretty much all now been said. Maybe the emperor has misplaced his breeks.

We are all agreed, Mark Wilson is an excellent acquisition. Now all we need to do is persuade his namesake Kenny to come out of retirement.

There is a converse to your argument Wilf, in that our league current status and a wage structure considerably improved from the days of Stevie Mallan could arguably make playing for Dumbarton a much more attractive proposition these days. But we'll never know, just as we'll never know of players whom we have approached in recent times and who have knocked us back. I happen to believe there are not many, and that gets back to my original point of building a squad - some managers are more suited or better-connected than others. Are we 'selling' ourselves out there ? But back to wider point; when folk like me and BBPF raise concerns this should not be interpreted as being anti-Ian Murray, although there are a few on here who seem to view the guy as a plaster saint FFS. We are simply highlighting the (perceived in this case) risk of entering a crucial stage in the season without an obvious goal threat. That is all, there is no campaign or hidden agenda going on here, Murray has done a wonderful job and none of us want it to stop. If that means occasionally putting a flea in his ear then happy to oblige. Finally (for now) Wilf, I have it on good authority that funding is in place for the right acquisition should he appear Now let's get on with it !

No panic button Jordo, but no complacency either. My definition of a minimum standard ? A first-team squad with a balance in defence, midfield and attack. A squad with no position overloaded. A squad with a minimum of jersey-fillers. A team where players play in position. A reasonably settled first eleven. A squad maintained at a sensible numerical level, and never allowed to drop to bare minimum. Achieve that and you have built the platform for any division - that is the challenge for the team manager and the Board. As for nominating strikers, since when was that the responsibility of supporters ?

I totally agree with this, and some Sons fans on here seem to regard any sort of robust discussion concerning Ian Murray as a heresy. Remember this folks, he is on a decent wage at DFC, indeed it was (and may still be) based on his role as Player/Manager, so I think we have a right to expect some sort of minimum standard. Somewhat ironically, most of his less illustrious predecessors were at least able to fill the bench ! But that's not the point. Kane's waygoing was known for long enough and irrespective of Nish's departure we had a crying need for a striker; the fact that there has been little obvious news suggests that for all Murray's attributes, wheeling and dealing and having a fat contacts book are not two of them. Like BBPF I'd rather a rabbit was pulled from the hat before Saturday but we may just have to get on with it - hardly ideal, despite three goals at Falkirk.

That will be Five Apprentice Boys I take it ??

Really sorry to hear that Casey, he was a one-off, the big man. And possibly and perhaps probably the only Sons fan in attendance when we played a friendly years ago in Coleraine in Northern Ireland.

I see some changes on the Youth set-up have appeared on the OS. I was fine until I got to the word 'pathway'...

You mean 'Last Orders At The Burgh Bar' ? That is a magnificent painting, so much so that Brabco made it a condition of the takeover, and I have it on good authority that it will adorn the showhouse on the new Portcullis Estate at the base of The Rock.

Lots of words have already been put in BBPF, and to be honest if the decision was local management's alone then we might have had a more positive response by now. It isn't however, and the reason given is that DFC falls below the profile at which the company seeks corporate sponsorship involvement. Aggreko did advertise in the past at the Turnberry end of Boghead (check my avatar) so there has been previous involvement. Bet Butler's evaporation could though be a game changer inasmuch as any company or organisation is currently shooting at an open goal, so rest assured if there is further approach I'll be assisting in any way I can. For the record, many employees are slightly puzzled as there is a lot of local kudos to be had at a fairly modest cost.

Thye word on the fish counter is that the designation of the land WILL be altered from green belt. However, that stops way short of any bricks being laid as there are plenty of other considerations in play, and to be honest I feel that this project remains very much up in the air. As fans we should obviously keep a keen eye on this, but we should also be prepared for other scenarios like what would Brabco do vis-a-vis DFC should their plans come to nought, still very much a possibility.

Not trying to be cheeky like, but as the iceberg moves another day closer would The Dumbarton Terrace not be better trying to find out just what the f*** is going on concerning team affairs at DFC ? Or rather what is not going on ?

Wilf, I actually agree on the Livvy game; I was in hospitality with 25 workmates and they were dumbfounded at the last half-hour. After half-time you would have bet more on an equaliser than a 1-5 final scoreline. But the point is, those who don't learn from their mistakes will surely repeat them, and after it went 2-0 there was a horrible inevitability about it all. The world and his mother can see that three centre-backs doesn't work for us so why is Ian Murray hellbent on trying to defy gravity here ? And how we are now reduced to a rump of a playing staff at a crucial point of the season surely needs to be questioned. Everyone at DFC has worked incerdibly hard to try and establish us at a higher level, and it seems to be unravelling at breakneck speed - as I said previously it's painful to watch.

I don't know about anyone else, but that particular passage in time wasn't uppermost in my thoughts as the tenth home goal conceded in the last two home fixtures bulged the net on Saturday. I'd really like us to maintain that current league position, and for that we need to assess the current state of affairs, not trawl thro the archives to a set of statistics dating from a time when the club was run, operated and financed in a very different manner from today. And at least then we could fill a subs bench.....

So why are they heading to Helensburgh ?

Can't say I'm dismayed at this as we definitely need to stop leaking goals, and let's hope there's more folk to come. There was a rumour concerning Joe Thompson of Celtic but that may have come to nought. I see the lad was on loan at Morton last season, somebody please tell me he didn't feature in their last league fixture Shit, just noticed he scored Accies 9th with an OG Welcome aboard Big Man !

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.