Howlin' Wilf

For the avoidance of doubt, Mr Ryan's comment above should be regarded as ironic (as f*ck)

FTFY

If you're dishing it out you have to take it. The general level of debate there is pretty juvenile and Paddy's contributions do nothing to alter that. His almost gleeful reaction to yesterday's defeat was poor stuff.

I just had a look and couldn't see anything - I didn't look that closely. I saw a post from Paddy Flannery trying to rubbish Jim Duffy. "Any manager worth his salt can get an extra 30% out of the players he inherits" I replied thus: Aitken gained 8 points from a possible 30 which is a points score of 26.66% of the maximum. Duffy has taken 6 points from a possible 12, this is a points score of 50% of the maximum. The improvement under Duffy in terms of points gained is 87.71%, nearly double Aitken's rate. Just saying.

The trail goes cold after Morton. No-one seems to know where Froxylias is either.......

FWIW there is nothing to be gained by the fans admitting defeat here. I watched the game and it’s clear that we need a heart, a spine and a defence. From that point of view a fit Barr, Dowie and Thomson would assist us at the moment. Three bad goals to lose - two set pieces and a volley. It’s early days for Duffy.

If that last sentence comes to fruition it could be a very bleak season indeed. But something tells me that JD didn't come to Dumbarton to manage decline. It's already a very bleak season but maybe not quite beyond redemption. Aitken managed 8 points from 10 games and Duffy thus far has managed 6 from 4. Applying Duffy's rate to the other games we'd be sitting where Forfar are on 21 points. Looking at the facts we've had three "straight" wins and five "straight" defeats. We've had one win from a losing position and three defeats from a winning position We've had one draw from a losing position and one from a winning position. We're a team with nae heart. Craig Barr and Ryan Thomson are a big miss in this respect. I'm not expecting anything from next week's cup game and tbh I don't mind if we lose it. We don't need any distractions from the job in hand. Mind you a win followed by a trip to one of the Old Firm would solve some problems. We have three winnable home games in December(optimistically) and what looks like one write off. From where we are, seven points would be a decent haul from those games. Anything less would confirm and embed the bleakness.

Is it true that Steve Aitken has been drafted in to do the post-match interview after the Scotland match on Saturday? "To be fair we had nine unable to play because of injuries"

So let’s get this straight. The First Minister of Scotland wants Scotland to remain in the single market but the draft agreement says no. The First Minister of Northern Ireland doesn’t want Northern Ireland to be in the single market but the draft agreement says yes. The Brexiteers in the cabinet hate the draft agreement but have fallen into line in case they risk a general election. The Remainers in the cabinet hate the draft agreement but have fallen into line in case they risk a general election. Corbyn is deciding whether he needs a shite, a haircut or a hot pie. Democracy – Everyone gets what nobody wants!

Obviously, John Robertson rates him because he tried to sign him for the Championship. I'm not sure if he's ever seen him in training. Hutton played three league games and the cup final v ICT last season and in two of those Carswell played too. So that's three managers who rate him.

I just remembered that at the time he was Sons boss, I used to bump into Murdo in Helensburgh and we’d chat about how Sons were doing. One day I asked him if Charlie Gibson was injured as he wasn’t playing. His reply was that the Sons legend Colin McKinnon was a better player.........

I can think of players, going back to Alan Kay and Tom Coyle whom the fans didn’t rate but the manager(s) did. In fairly recent (for an old git anyway) memory the two who spring to mind are John Dillon and Stevie Bonar. Then there were fans favourites whom, for whatever reason, wouldn’t get picked. Craig Brittain and Bryan Prunty for example. It’s clear that Kyle Hutton is in the former category. As has been pointed out on the Forfar thread, there are players to cover for him but both Aitken and Duffy prefer an unfit Hutton to fit alternatives. Why is this?

Just been messaging back and forth with a friend of mine who’s a Killie fan. She reckons that they’ll be quite amenable to Thomas staying for the season. She says he’s nowhere near their first team or bench at the moment.

I don’t think so but I didn’t hear the whole thing. I think when they said “Let’s hear from the Dumbarton fans”, they were looking for backing for poor wee hard done to Stevie.

He actually said “full time players” who could compete.

As far as the sacked by phone thing went, there is no correct way to do these things. Perhaps the chairman wanted to inform Aitken of the decision as soon as it had been taken rather than hear it second hand in between the decision and the meeting. I agree that he's doing himself no favours and I have emailed the show.

Aitken is a guest on Off the Ball. Two minutes into his contribution and he's moaning about being sacked over the phone and not face to face, how unfair it all was and how in his last game he had eight injuries. Confirms he spoke to Stirling Albion.

I know it’s an allegorical depiction. However it looks a bit like Beanie claiming a penalty. Seriously though, good job by the artist on a difficult surface.

Just in case anyone thought you made it up, here is the report from the Herald on 28/11/1932

Typical Herald. Glasgow Athletic should read Port Glasgow Athletic.

Remember when Murray came in and he employed the services of a sports scientist as well as a sports psychologist? I think that apart from getting Loy's back better as the primary injury, a session or two with a sports psychologist would perhaps help him if there's a confidence issue as some have implied. I don't know what the nature of Loy's back injury is but for a wide variety of back problems, osteopaths, physios and chiropractors will generally know more than doctors about diagnoses and treatments. BTW, we live in a world where everything is judged by statistics and surely it's useful sometimes to have some information beyond results and points total to pinpoint what's going right and indeed, wrong?

Rory Loy's best moments in a Sons jersey were as a sub in the home defeat to Killie; indeed I recall Moonster waxing along the lines that he would burn up the division. Regrettably it has been downhill all the way since then and I don't really buy this 'give him a goal and he'll turn the corner' schtick. The new Stevie Craig/Isaac English/Stevie Mallan is not what we need right now. Isn't he on a two year deal?

I'd be interested to know how many enquiries they'll get. Probably around the zero mark that Rankine got between 2001 and 2005.

It sounded like a sideways dig at our Sonstrust director. The implication being that the trust director is friendly with the people who think it's time for a change etc. I have to agree with others that he sounds delusional and "everyone's fault but mine" just about covers it. Disappointing because I think the board gave him a fair chance. Delusional too in that he thinks his stock is high. I'd be surprised if he were to resurface in League 1 or higher.

Surely "You're guess is as good as mine"