O'Kelly Isley III
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Posts posted by O'Kelly Isley III
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4 hours ago, BallochSonsFan said:
In fairness we haven't really thrown away the equivalent of 800 empty seats every all ticket game.
I'm not defending the club here. All ticket policy is a pain in the arse and the concession made to season ticket holders that we no longer need to swap the season ticket voucher doesnt really address the disruption caused for PAYG fans.
But would we really have had an extra 800 fans turning up to pay at the gate but who couldn't because there was no cash gate option? We might have got an extra couple of dozen. That's still money in the bank. But its small fry compared to the bigger picture.
All ticket games are a pain in the hole for everybody. The club need to put measures in place to get tickets printed and sold. Fans need to make arrangements to get to the stadium to buy tickets. The late night opening is a relatively new idea for these all ticket games since we now strangely seem not to sell tickets during the home games immediately preceding the all ticket match. Is all ticket really the reason we don't sell out those games? The truth is that the Dunbartonshire public on the whole has absolutely no interest in us. You could tour the county in an open-topped bus and shout from a megaphone that there's a game on at the Rock and you'd struggle to increase the home gate. All ticket matches are an inconvenience to current fans but they really do little to discourage new ones.
Until we somehow find a way of generating more interest in the club from the local population? Moaning about an all ticket fixture and the handful of fans who miss out is ignoring the gaping holes in our support for every other game where locals can walk up, pay their money and support their local team. When we're getting 800+ home fans at every home game and we have a healthy walk up crowd we can point our finger at all ticket games as being a major disincentive. Until then? The bigger issue is why these fans don't turn up at any other game.
The bigger issue is why so many fans have deserted us in recent seasons, and there can be no doubt that there is now a perception of a complete dislocation between the club and both its support and the local community. It is almost as if the foyer entrance straddles two completely different worlds, and never the twain shall meet.
Ticket games have merely highlighted the sinking relationship that exists between DFC and the fans, and there are now far, far too many reports of sullen, unhelpful and downright rude responses to peoples' enquiries. I expressed my disappointment to Ian Wilson of Brabco in person at the recent stadium plans presentation; from his response it was clear he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.
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2 hours ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:
Cheers C
Ach well. If he repliactes his performances for the first half of the season in the second I won't be bothered in the slightest.This is a bit of a weird one, no ?
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1 hour ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:
If this is bad I'll be seething.
He'll be in The Corinthian before the night's oot...
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1 hour ago, sons'r'us said:
I hope there is a change of heart with ticket sales for this and they do indeed sell them right up until 2pm Saturday. There's absolutely no reason not to have tickets on sale on Saturday.
I'll not even go there about the game being all ticket to start with. I've had a good moan in recent weeks to some in the club about ticket games. It is about time those making these stupid decisions see some sense. Mr Jardine, etc are you listening?In absolute fairness to the club there is now a notice on the OS advertising a range of times this week, including Thursday evening, when tickets can be purchased. I doubt we'll see Saturday sales but I hope everyone who wishes to be there can get a ticket and we get a full home end this weekend.
As regards the decision to go all-ticket, I suspect that 'authorities' in some shape or form are behind this and not DFC.
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Re next Saturday's game; it's vital and it's all-ticket, so is it too much to expect that the club makes every effort to make it easy for folk intending to attend, and, dare I suggest, advertises them for sale on the day of the game ?
I was at a social function last night, sat next to a total stranger who in the course of chat told me he recently carried out midweek work in the reception area of the CID. He told me that a guy came in to purchase two match briefs with the request that they were adjacent to his season ticket, and he listened with incredulity as this was met with both a refusal and a barrage of aggressive negativity. In his words, he said that were he that person he would have told the seller to 'stick them up their arse' (his words).
I never enquired further but it made for painful listening.
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Apart from what appears to have been a very good performance and win for us today, could we really have scripted events any better elsewhere ? Other than ourselves, only Dunfermline of the bottom six picked up a point.
Make no mistake, that was a BIG result for us today, and it would have come as a hammer blow to not only Raith, but also St.Mirren and Ayr (thank you Falkirk and Morton BTW). With a bit of luck we'll have both Vaughn and Garry available for selection next week, and we've given ourselves a great platform heading into this next fixture.
How bad was Nade's injury BTW ?
#atitfromthestart
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47 minutes ago, The Moonster said:
Wasn't sure about Durrant but the twitter storm is great reading. Every Celtic fan in Dumbarton now hate us and hope we go down with one guy even stating that we've "lost the goodwill of a large percentage of the local population"
This'll be the same goodwill that sees absolutely none of them attend Dumbarton games on a regular basis or take an interest in the future of the club. Their goodwill stretches as far as "how did Dumbarton get on today?" when they see a fan in the pub and every last one of them can bite my banger.
Spot feckin' on Moonster. And I hope this demonstrates that the knuckle-draggers wear colours other than blue, brutal enough as they are.
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3 hours ago, The Moonster said:
What Durrant brings to the table needs to outweigh what Faz has just taken off the table. We'll see if it works but I have my doubts.
That qualification applies to any appointment, and as far as I'm concerned if is to be Ian Durrant then I for one will welcome what at face value is a bold and imaginative appointment. As I recall, Ian Murray brought several good practices from his times at higher level clubs, and I've no doubt that Durrant would bring things of his own.
I wish whoever becomes our Assistant Manager all the very best.
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2 hours ago, The Moonster said:
I agree it's obvious that Stanton is better through the middle, but in order for us to accommodate Stanton in the middle now we need to either a) Drop Lewis Vaughan or Nade and play with only 1 up front or b) Drop Mark Docherty or Carswell and go 4-4-2. Option A seems unlikely to me, Vaughan hasn't come here to sit on his arse. Not sure Vaughan is much of a lone striker either. Option B would see us lose some of the dig we have in midfield and both players would feel hard done by to find themselves on the bench, the former especially. It's a problem that Stevie has brought upon himself by filling the squad with attacking options in January, I think sometimes without a lot of thought. For example, I don't think we ever had any intention of bringing Vaughan here until Raith came calling for Stevo. I think Stevie has jumped at that chance and worry about how it all works later. Don't get me wrong, I'm much happier with our squad now than it was 3 weeks ago, but it's now time for Stevie to get figure out who works best where and get them playing. We can ill afford to go through another transitional process while the team "gels", we need to get it right and fast.
Assuming young Harvie recovers OK, then I'd consider going with Gal (C), Carswell, Sparky & Stirling across the middle with Garry and Vaughn up top. Sam S is a handy guy to have around but his workrate is patchy, and he doesn't track back too convincingly. Nade meantime as a bench player too IMO.
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On 22/01/2017 at 16:34, DumbartonTheSons said:
Stevie's post-match interview was pretty accurate I feel from yesterday. He spoke honestly and I agreed with much of what he said (a change from pressers' from the result of which we shan't speak of).
While we have now gone three games and got 0 points, yesterday I thought we played pretty well, if a little sloppy on occasion and I think if we play like that until the end of the season, the results will come and we will be fine.
Nade was good for the first hour, Smith again was very decent, Aldo made a couple of decent saves, and Stuart Carswell looks to be a find, giving a rigidity in midfield which we've all too often lacked of late. And Stirling too was excellent, so lots of positives to take as far as I'm concerned.I'm not sure I agree with the general feeling that everything except the result was generally OK on Saturday. Whilst the first half was even, had I been a neutral I would have thought that Queens created much more danger around our goal than vice-versa in the second period. At times we looked ragged, and the build-up to the second goal was like watching the rerun of an old movie as Queens stretched us all over the park for about four minutes before finally opening us up (yet again) from our right flank.
And although he took his goal well, Nade's lack of mobility and seeming to play thro a first-half injury was a concern; it was significant that the first time in the game he broke clear to take part in a ground move the result was our goal - we need much more of that. And the strange decision to play Sam Stanton on the wide right of midfield should be strictly a one-off, I would build our midfeld around a central core of Carswell and Stanton on the RH and LH respectively.
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1 hour ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:
That's Faz away
And sincerely, good luck to him. I very much doubt that Stevie A will look to fly solo, but we all need to keep the heid and try and seek out a replacement who complements the Manager as opposed to being an identikit version - the correct appointment is more important than the quickest one.
Actually, I wouldn't be averse to scouring the Junior game as there are some decently-performing outfits with (presumably) young ambitious managers looking to take the next step.
Anyway, talk amongst yourselves, I'm away down to the stadium car-park with a wean in a buggy, a pregnant 17-year old and a huge Alsatian to await the announcement.
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3 hours ago, The Moonster said:
That's how fucking good we are, players choose to play for us when we aren't even in for them.
Ryan Stevenson has always wanted to play for us.
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Curiously enough I was discussing Stuart Carswell with a Saints-supporting work colleague before Xmas and he actually rated him, although he also admitted that no-one has really emerged with much credit at Paisley over the last eighteen months or so.
If he turns out to be solid and efficient with a bit of dig then that will be quite satisfactory.
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I've tried unsuccessfully to access the club website for the last five minutes, the guy who works the treadle must be on his break
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Just now, Sonsteam of 08 said:
Swapping Stevo for Vaughan. That seems like a good deal to me. Good work Stevie & Co
A good deal indeed, let's hope the lad enjoys his time at Dumbarton.
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On 29/12/2016 at 16:27, Kilbowie's Finest said:
Couple of fine future Bankies players in that Airdrie 1980-81 team picture- namely David Shanks and Jim Rodger
I attended Stow College with the Jolly Roger in the mid 1970's - cracking guy and a good left-back.
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4 hours ago, Howlin' Wilf said:
I don't know if anyone has pointed out a rather obvious contradiction in Celtic's decision to loan Thomson to QoS. On 22nd of Dec prior to Celtic's game with Hamilton, Brendan Rodgers was pretty scathing in his dismissal of 3G surfaces. Does he know about Palmerston do you think?
Thompson's departure is simply explained. Celtic occasionally phone to check on their players' progress and that can only happen if the host club has a working telephone. QED.
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So let me work this out... Joe Thompson moves to QoS but presumably still trains with Celtic thro the week; if so he meets his team-mates only on match days and plays in a game if selected.
Where exactly in that scenario is there difference between what he currently does at a P/T club and what he will be doing at a F/T one ?
No matter, the world will still go on.
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8 hours ago, Howlin' Wilf said:
The first game they both appeared at home was a 5-3 defeat by Airdrie on 07/03/1973 at Boghead. It was an evening game and Mathie played a blinder, scoring 2 goals.
The 6-0 defeat at Pittodrie on 20/02/1973 was indeed their debut for the club.
Ah yes, and John Cushley had his jaw broken by a local publican
in a very subtle demonstration of the violent black arts.
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2 hours ago, rockson said:
I was in a junk/second hand warehouse place today and picked up an issue of Goal magazine.
Thumbing through it I came across the Sons' league placing that week in November 1973.
Eighth.
In the top Division.
The previous Saturday's results were given towards the end. Dumbarton 3-0 Motherwell.
The Sons team was given as Williams, C McAdam, Wilkinson, Menzies, Cushley, Ruddy, Coleman, Wallace, McCormack, Patterson, Heron. John Bourke came on as a sub for Peter Coleman and Johnny Graham for Brian Heron. Scorers were Heron, Bourke and McCormack.
Those were the days, eh? I believe we finished tenth that season.
Doubt we'll see their like again.
Aye, I remember it as if it were yesterday. One of the best home performances in a period that produced many, we took Motherwell apart that afternoon. Big Roy's goal was a peach into the Turnberry End, but I'm almost certain that very soon after he suffered his leg break.
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13 minutes ago, Jordo1872 said:
Feel a bit more positive after yesterday's well deserved result. Thought the players gave their all, however it'll take more than a 1-in-whatever win ratio for me to fall back on the side of Aitken. The Bonnyrigg performances were unacceptable, as have been the tactics deployed for a large part of this season. If Aitken learns anything from that match is that we should afford our opponents less respect than we do. The gap between us and the others isn't as great as he'd let us believe.
Yesterdays win was a welcome boost, particularly with the results going out way elsewhere, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. There was still areas of our game that could've been better, most notably our ability, or willingness, to get men forward when we have possession. It's no conincidence the winning goal came from one of the few times we drove at the Falkirk defence. Stanton did well, and Fleming's finish was excellent. We do have players who can open teams up when our tactics allow them to do so. It just doesn't happen often enough.
We need to build on this win or it becomes another one off result sandwiched between too many inept performances. We need consistency. A win at Somerset and maybe I'll start believing Aitken has it in him to keep us in this division.
On a slightly different note; I took my brother-in-law along to the game yesterday, along with his two kids. When he tried to enter via the child and parent gate he was told he needed to go the the season ticket door to buy a parent & child ticket, then return to the turnstile to pay for the additional child. Unnecessary hassle, unprofessional system and not a great first impression of the club's set-up sadly. Wanted to buy a club scar for his son, non available. Add to that the price of over £30 and it's not hard to see why we don't attract many walk up fans. The club really do need to address the overall match day experience.
It's a shame that those who call the shots at DFC will probably not read this .
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6 hours ago, Sonsteam of 08 said:
"Dumbarton midfielder Josh Todd is attracting attention from Motherwell and Dundee United.
The 21-year-old impressed at Annan Athletic after leaving Carlisle United and has enjoyed an excellent season with the Championship club.Todd had trial spells on trial with Dunfermline and Ayr United in the summer before signing with Stevie Aitken’s side.
Dundee United are currently joint top of the Championship while Motherwell are in ninth place in the Premiership."
He's 22, but lets leave this minor mistake aside. He's been decent for us, not helped by being shunted around an awful lot, but I must admit I'd be surprised if clubs as big as United and Motherwell are interested in him.
Stevo's a weird one. He's not been as bad as I had feared, in fact he's scored a couple of smashing goals and played some stunning crossfield balls. If he had been a low profile signing from a lower league club (a la Josh Todd) I dare say we'd say he's done fairly well, he's just lazy and a luxury. That's the issue though, he's one of our most experienced, highest profile and (by all accounts) highest paid players, and he's just not done enough to justify the risk of signing him.
If we could get rid of him and bring in two players for his wages then I'd say that, that would be a decent bit of business.
Truly we live in a post-truth world. Had this article never appeared I would never have written the following, but in the interests of balance my opinion is that Josh Todd has been virtually anonymous as a Championship player thus far. I have no axe to grind against the lad and although he is willing, he is also lightweight and consistently peripheral, and I can barely recall an incident, never mind a game which sticks positively in the memory.
Enough crap already, this smells of an agent trying to winkle his player out of a club.
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16 minutes ago, The Moonster said:
I also think Stevie's comments are scrutinised more because he speaks to the press a lot more than previous managers. Stevie loves talking to the media and speaks to them a lot - how many times have we seen stuff about Stevie or the team in the gossip/rumour columns of the Daily Record and the likes? Something that we rarely used to see. I honestly think the press know he loves talking to them so they call him for a scoop more often than others. I could also be wrong here but I don't remember Ian Murray or Adamson being interviewed on SonsTV after games? Perhaps the fact that Stevie is on our screens every week now it exposes the stuff he says more often than previous managers.
I agree that he has talked us down and talked our opposition up a bit too much this season, but I suppose he sees it as a way of protecting the players or the inadequacies in the squad. But at least he doesn't hide.
I think what Smoky Bacon says and doesn't say in interviews is far less important than other stuff swirling around the club right now. For example, and I repeat, now that Brabco have publicly declared that bringing their vision to reality is heavily dependent on Championship football can we now expect a break from tradition by digging their hands into their pockets to strengthen the playing squad ? An positive indication of that would make a welcome interlude to the gloom enveloping the fanbase at present, save of course for those few myopic zealots who could give the North Koreans a run for their money.
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9 hours ago, DumbartonTheSons said:
I'm in agreement that we're inconsistent. But only in some areas. For the most part, we defend relatively stoutly and the only time we've been thumped is by Ayr.
It's the final third as you say, that we struggle. But the biggest thing for me is the way we struggle up top. If we were creating loads of chances and hitting the post and bar all the time and opposition goalkeepers were having blinders, that'd be one thing.
But we just seem so devoid of any creativity. The best we get is crosses hurled into a general area from wide, or balls just lumped forward without any sort of aim. There's no movement up front, there's no space being made, it all looks so lethargic. The last time we looked the same and albeit it was only one player, was when we had Steven Craig upfront. Only now, instead of only having him to deal with and try and squeeze some sort of urgency out of, we need to do it with all of our forward-thinking players. None of them display any urgency, ideas or nous for attacking at the moment, and that's the biggest thing for me just now.It's not only there, the midfield is pisspoor, hence the back four continually lamping those long hopeful and invariably hopeless long balls. I'm fed up reading on here about us having players who should be good enough to keep us in this division. Really ? Who, other than Alan Martin, would cause a sideways glance from other Championship clubs ?
As for the midfield, Todd has thus far been an utter lightweight non-event; Thompson and Stanton do not look Hibs and Celtic-class respectively, ie they are very ordinary and play in fits and starts; ditto Stirling, but again add lightweight; Stevenson looks done at this level and carries an attitude whilst Gallagher is honest, limited and crocked.
Craig Pettigrew has been slagged-off and lampooned on here, it's time some others were put under the spotlight - happy to oblige.
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The New Raith Rovers Thread
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted
Someone in Stevie Aitken's situation would need to be really ambitious to make the step up. I understand he is in a mid-management role locally at Rolls Royce, and this together with what we are paying him will be a reasonable income. Given that he is currently well thought of at DFC and he has just appointed Ian Durrant as assistant, for various reasons it would be quite a commitment right now to go to Raith, always with the possibility that by December, say, you could be out of work - totally.