O'Kelly Isley III
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Posts posted by O'Kelly Isley III
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45 minutes ago, squeezebox-son said:
I have to say, I don't think Stranraer were very good at all. They had plenty of the ball but other than Ben Armour's header, they didn't look like nearly scoring. I think we were good value for the win over the 90 mins.
Although I agree that Farrell deserves some credit for making the changes (ones we have all been suggesting for weeks but it took him til yesterday to see...) I also think he invited the pressure in the last 15 mins or so. Every sub made us more defensive and I didn't think that was right approach, albeit we ended up with the 3 points.
I think Michael Ruth and Tony Wallace in particular started to tire out of it as the game went on. They were superb in the first half though. T Wallace in particular always makes good use of the ball, compared to other players we have been starting ahead of him in recent weeks. Watching yesterday and he very rarely loses possession and usually when he finds a teammate we are in a better position than when he received the ball. Like others, I'm very concerned about Michael Ruth's fitness! He is having to play 90 mins in every game and we will fall apart without him available.
I'd be concerned as a Stranraer fan. They are rotten and with Clyde's result yesterday, I could see them in some trouble in the coming weeks. The only saving grace is that Stair Park is a tough place to go. Without checking, I'd imagine their form at home is slightly better than their away form.
A good post. I think the sense of relief at once again winning a league game is masking another trademark patchy performance. A more incisive team than Stranraer would maybe have made much more of their second half possession, and it's a worry that we could be heading into playoffs incapable of maintaining a performance level for ninety minutes.
But it is what it is, and it's not likely to change.
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That was a disgraceful performance from Oliver Dowden on the Kuenssberg Show this morning. And it's disturbing that Hoyle's utterly fabricated excuse for his actions last week are now being regarded as some sort of factual narrative. The truth is that he was floundering for something to remove himself from the hook he had impaled himself on.
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15 minutes ago, George Parr said:
Better than the last few weeks I suppose but I wouldn’t have had any complaints if Stranraer had taken another one of their chances. The draw would have been deserved.
The 11 players who started for us yesterday could be roughly split into two camps:
1. Comfortably able to play at League 1 level.
2. More suited to the lowland league.
There’s a really noticeable distance between our best and poorest players.
Our season is basically over now. There’s not a sweet hope in f**k of promotion and we’re well free of relegation.
A pretty good summation George. And I fear that next season will see more Camp 2 players than Camp 1. I'll be very surprised if Finlay Gray hangs around and Michael Ruth must be fed up playing in a different postcode from his team-mates. And we need to remember that Cian Newbury is a loanee.
Other than a very few people I don't there can be many Sons supporters who would think that Stevie Farrell hasn't now had a decent time period as team manager, in what is admittedly a difficult job. He's contracted for next season but I'm struggling to see any reason to believe that things will be any better, quite the opposite in fact.
There's nothing personal in this, just an obvious realisation that the team and indeed the club is stagnating badly. If the former situation can be improved then the latter can begin to improve. Yesterday was a welcome win but there is a much bigger picture and the Board of Directors now need to show courage.
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Unlike the recent Spartans game this was a much more open affair and a better watch. The win was welcome in stopping the rot but I don't think we learned too much, other than whatever team we have on the park we'll cease being an attacking force for a sizeable segment of the match.
Whilst there were some decent cameos - Orsi until he tired, the hardworking Ruth, Tony Wallace, Sean Crighton and Jay Hogarth - the feeling was one of a team limping into the playoffs rather than striding.
Hopefully if Callum Wilson and Mark Durnan DO return in the next couple of weeks they will make a difference, but the issue of having only one recognised striker will remain, and especially if Ruth was to get injured.
With the exception of the wee lively guy up front Stranraer looked pretty ordinary, but based on their second half effort had they taken a point I don't think anyone could have complained too much.
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Wow, just wow ! The Bully Wee take a felt pen to the Mona Lisa, and then some - what a result that is !
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1 hour ago, Jan Vojáček said:
The thing that totally blows my mind is how we're still (at this exact moment in time) sitting comfortably in the playoffs places.
What you haven't realised Jan is that we have pioneered the concept of the football team as pacemaker. It's like the 10,000 metres - we perform for 15 games then quietly slip out of the race to let the Binos, Stenny and whoever fight it out. It's pretty impressive how we can almost precisely repeat it.
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I see from tomorrow's match preview that Callum Wilson will return to the squad for next Saturday's game and Mark Durnan the week after. That sounds to me a bit like wishful thinking, and it will be asking a lot of both players, but I wish them both well.
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26 minutes ago, The Moonster said:
Tony has been good for us this season, an unconventional wide player but pops up with goals at the back post and tucks away penalties, also never leaves us exposed at the back. No surprise that Farrell has tried to fix the only part of the team that didn't need fixing by bringing in some powder puff wingers and dropping our top scorer.
He's been decent but is he promotion-winning decent ? It already looks to me that at best it will be more of the same, with most of those signed-up unlikely to get a gig with another league club and therefore happy to stay.
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Just now, The Moonster said:
I assume the legal ones are the ones we're using for maintaining the pitch.
Yes, I thought ourselves and Broomhill was enough but if the Sealed Knot Society are paying us money for battle re-enactments then why not ?
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52 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:
Ryan Wallace played a full 90 minutes six times in his 58 appearances for us based on my maths. But not since April 1 last year in a 2-1 defeat to Stenny.
His other 90 minutes were on his debut against Stirling Albion in July 2022. A 0-0 draw with Forfar in October 2022. In the 1-1 at Bonnyrigg in December 2022. The 2-1 loss to Forfar in January last year. In back-to-back games against East Fife and Elgin (both defeats) last February.
Thanks Jan, so marginally over 10% of his total, there can't be many ex-players with over 50 appearances anywhere with that sort of record - it just seemed an odd one.
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This is one for @microdave or @Jan Vojáček.
I'm wondering if Ryan Wallace may have created some sort of record - did he ever play a full ninety minutes for us ?
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9 minutes ago, Sawkye said:
Think it's time to draw a line under this and move on. Last thing DFC needs is fans arguing over stupid shouts from the terracing. If we are going to survive we need to be shoulder to shoulder against the owner and board.
It IS time to draw a line and move on but not before I say this. The Trust is a supporters representative body and as such we have a duty to respond to any behaviour, verbal or otherwise, which may be offensive to anyone, be that players, club or match officials or fellow supporters.
No-one wants to be having to take people aside or banning people but it's a two-way bargain. The statement was by way of a reminder to everyone that there does exist a line as to what is and what isn't acceptable, and we don't apologise for that.
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1 hour ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:
Neil Mackay can shove that statement up his farter. One wee steaming guy shouting something personal is not representative of us a fan base and that statement make us sound like a collective group of animals. It’s now getting firmly into “blown well out of proportion” territory. A word in the culprits ear, an apology and lets move on. I’d be confident he wouldn’t be doing it again. As I suspected, this incident would used to deflect from our complete shiteness all round. The Trust wading in with statements on social media is not necessary IMHO.
Funnily enough, the Trust has been previously approached on several occasions with comments/complaints on the behaviour of fellow fans, so obviously some people think the Trust has a relevance here. None of these previous instances resulted in any form of Trust statement, but such was the content of what was reported to us about Saturday's incident that it was felt necessary on this occasion.
If that is 'wading in', then guilty as charged.
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20 minutes ago, Left Back said:
For the reasons I already stated. In the UK we also have the complication of our relationship with the US to consider. Again like it or not we still have to do business with them in the future and don’t want to alienate them. There is an effective Jewish lobby in US politics/society.
Very rarely are these things as simple as people imagine.
Ha ha, the Special Relationship. It's akin to the one a dog has with a lamp-post.
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Well, I didn't see that one coming, or should that be going ? If RW had determined that he would retire at the end of this season then fair enough, but to decide to go at the end of February suggests to me that he really didn't fancy hanging around any longer.
He leaves with our best wishes, but also the best football brain we had in the squad. Onwards and downwards.
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40 minutes ago, The Moonster said:
It really cannot be understated just how shit we are right now.
I don't think anyone who has been watching us since December could disagree with that. And the worse the run goes, the more ragged it gets - even the better performers like Carlo, Ryan W, Finlay and Mikey Ruth are struggling, and the departure of Matty Shiels has been much more significant than most of us anticipated.
As of this morning, there are now three teams seven points behind us with another a further point behind. We are still to play all of them and within that group are East Fife and Elgin, both of whom are now a very different proposition indeed.
It is far from certain that we will finish in fourth place and I would hope that whoever is in charge of football at Dumbarton is now actively considering all scenarios, including that one. The only certainty is that Stranraer will visit the Rock on Saturday with little fear.
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The club is skint and the Rangers money is probably long gone. We have a Manager and I presume a backroom team contracted to the end of next season. To break that contract and hire a new management team would cost money. Money the club doesn't have.
I assume the banker of last resort is the club ownership, which would effectively make them the decision makers. I might be wrong but I don't imagine they would view the manager's situation as any sort of pressing decision, despite their recent claim to be Dumbarton supporters.
All of which leaves genuine Sons supporters to make their own decisions, the evidence of which we will see over the coming weeks and months - possibly good news for fencing suppliers. And these decisions will perhaps also continue into next season, as I very much doubt that the 'good recruitment' of the last two seasons will be repeated - possibly bad news for season ticket suppliers.
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It's a horrible prospect the lot of it, but conventional politics as we knew it cannot coexist with a society built around capitalist greed, jingoistic militarism and institutionalised corruption.
I'm more drawn to the 'none of the above' spoilt ballot paper; if a sizeable number of people registered that it would at least be an action as opposed to the inaction of sitting on your arse and not voting, which can be easily dismissed.
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If we go up this season I think I'll treat everyone on here to a weekend at this place.....
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1 hour ago, RutherGlen said:
I'm so surprised to see you ignoring the relatively comprehensive win against 4th in the table yesterday. Well done Jimmy for keeping me on my toes!
Er, just to point out that we are currently parked on the League Two hard shoulder with the hazard lights on. And naebody's got a phone......
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55 minutes ago, cameron2000 said:
An absolute horror show yesterday by the sounds of it. The recent run of form is worse than I thought would be possible for this group of players to perform. However, we don’t actually look that strong personnel-wise now after recent squad movements and injuries. The left back situation is unfortunate and I’m far from sold by Lennon. In Goals, thankfully Hogarth as better than Broun but undoubtedly a massive downgrade on Long. In Central Midfield it’s absolutely baffling that Findlay Gray is stuck on the bench. A midfield pairing of Malcom/Blair and Wilson is one of the weakest in the league I would suspect. Malcom is a huge liability in possession, whilst Blair and Wilson are fairly weak when competing for second balls. I think the pressure to move Pignateillo to Midfield is huge now.
It’s a shame to see players like Ruth and Pignateillo stuck in this team as they are a pleasure to watch at this level.
With the players signing contract extensions it’s hard to believe Farrell will be going anywhere anytime soon but for a third season running we’re reaching a time period where he ultimately doesn’t deserve to remain in charge.
No comment from me on the off-field issues but certainly makes constantly grim reading.
The state of our pitch is once again absolutely atrocious and with upcoming fixtures (and presumably less help for the ground staff than last season when Rangers were assisting) it could be pretty much unplayable by the Peterhead game. I’ve never wanted us to go down the Astro route and took some pride in us having a proper grass pitch but this season, and last, has swung my view completely. If financially viable it makes so much sense for a ground affected by the tide, in one of the wettest locations in the country and with limited resources/personnel to maintain a decent standard of grass pitch.
Yesterday was as bad as anything served up under Jim Duffy. I kept getting flashbacks of Conor Scullion and Ruaridh Langan.
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That was a new low today, and I don't mean defeat by a team at the bottom of the division.
For possibly the first time in a long while I was watching players who looked completely devoid of confidence, belief, spirit, call it what you will, with some of them really struggling with the basics.
One thing is for sure. If anyone thinks we can now be guaranteed fourth spot and a Play-Off place then they might be in for a shock, because I'm really struggling to identify a League Two team we could be confident of beating right now. We could well be having the stats for the second-half of the season that Clyde had for the first half. Yes, that bad.
The Board may try to ride things out, and hope that everything just turns out OK - that appears to be their position on most things. That won't cut it though the longer this slump goes on, and especially if it continues into next season. Everyone else can see it, but can they ?
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I think that who wins the next GE is becoming increasingly secondary to the magnitude of the task which awaits them; in some aspects it's almost beyond conventional politics. Perhaps it may even be time for a Government of national unity.
I don't say that lightly either. Take Brexit for example. Inflicted on a false prospectus by the Tories, and now completely blanked by a craven Labour party. Only this week there was the latest in a series of damning reports, this time from Goldman Sachs (I know ...), highlighting how disastrous this has been for the UK economy.
This is but one of a range of major issues which needs to be addressed in a manner which can't happen properly in the normal bearpit of partisan politics.
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3 hours ago, Elrow said:
He played and was the hero for the shootout. They were all celebrating in Kong on Saturday and was speaking to one of his teammates.
The Burgh are obviously flush with cash when they can fly to Asia after a game.
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Tory Lies, Corruption and Hypocrisy- Add Them Here
in The Politics Forum
Posted
I'm less worried about what becomes of the Tories than the fact that there are so many people in the UK, but mostly in England, who are now openly responding to the deeply racist dog whistle from the likes of Anderson, Truss, Braverman and Tice. The last two weeks has been like lifting a stone and seeing the insects crawl around.