Howlin' Wilf

You are right about Andy. I spent a while talking to him and he seems a top bloke. The same goes for all the players and officials we spoke to including young Mr McGinn who seemed genuinely both humble and delighted with his awards haul.

Crikey, you are old! But maybe not as old as me! Stewart is still a legend at Dumbarton. Took us to the top league in 1972 for the first time in 50 years. Munro was amazing at the Bankies. It just shows that there are black arts involved in success and failure. Stewart never had managerial success after the Sons.

Well done Sons! Best league position in 27 years. Guaranteed 5th place in the Championship. In 1986/87 we finished 3rd in the first division.

Paul McGinn is on everyone's radar I hear...

I remember when Kenny Wilson and Roy McCormack got 66 goals between them in all competitions! (Peter Coleman was third top scorer with 17!) I am very old of course!

It's a shame the way that he doesn't figure in the manager's plans as he has been a great servant and consistent performer when given the chance in his preferred role, if it is true about Rovers' interest it'd be a great bit of business for them. Prunty would get somewhere in the region of 20 goals in league 1 or 2. I think he's on 8 this season with hardly a starting place.

I don't know his son but I don't have time for anyone who berates our own players - even those who aren't playing well. Gilhaney has overall been a great player for us and always puts in a shift. He had a good game on Saturday including a very welcome goal which steadied the nerves. If I hear someone going on like that I'll tend to shout back 'Give the player a chance' or something similar.

Guys like Fraser are no big deal and are part of the light and shade of supporting the Sons. Aye of course what he shouts is generally ridiculous but it's no big deal. I think we're all guilty of berating officials sometimes. Fraser is just on the militant wing of that. I agree that the away support is better and that's probably because at away games the singing section can congregate in the same place, whereas at home games they are more spread out. The home crowd definitely get on the team's back too much and it is counter productive.

There was a game earlier this season when the ref had stopped the game, concerned that a player had sustained a head injury. Fraser shouts "Just get on with the game! The only one out there with something wrong with his heid is you ref!"

The auld guy who abuses the refs hasn't been well. He's actually a nice fella if a little eccentric. Get well soon Fraser. I think the lads up the back are excellent. The goalie chant never fails to make me and my daughter laugh. It'd be good to hear some more variety in the songs beyond that though and Dumbarton! Clap! Clap! Clap! ( three times then stop) is not the best Here's a wee starter. In the 70s they would sing ( to the tune of I'm the urban spaceman baby- look it up on YouTube) "We're the mental sonsteam baby we've got class - mental ya bass!" I'll get ma coat...............

Well done Raith - thoroughly deserved victory. Two world class saves from Lee Robinson.

I think it may have been down to fewer than that at one stage. Gordon Smith recounts that he was part time with Killie. I have a feeling that in the early 70s full time fitba was the preserve of the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.

Insomnia

Fair dos on that. My involvement in recent times has just been around match day, sometimes hospitality and the excellent travel service provided by Sonstrust. I was commenting from that perspective.

What is it that we can't do though? I'm just a punter who pays in through the gate. I get a bar facility and the company of my fellow supporters pre match (and post match if I should wish) . I sit and watch the game in relative comfort with no hassle and then go home. I don't get any impression that there is anyone telling me not to do something or that I can't do something. I did see the diktat from our hosts Aberdeen FC last week - Now there was a list of do and donts!

Fair enough but the real estate value of the land remains the same whether the club is successful or not. However it would be far easier to just sell that ground from underneath a struggling third division club starved of investment (like we had under Rankine) than at a time when they were successful (like now).

But......isn't it true that Calum and Andy Hosie are part of the Brabco consortium? The Hosie family connection with DFC goes back to the middle of the last century. I'm old enough to remember John Hosie who kept the club running day to day as secretary for decades. Also isn't it so that these guys are involved with Bet Butler who have sponsored the strips and the stadium to the tune of a sum roughly equivalent to that required to employ Ian Murray? Didn't they oversee the appointment of a Chief Exec with decades of support and service to DFC on his CV? It seems clear that they want to see a return on their investment but maybe it's not their sole motivation? I'm only posing the questions. At the moment none of us know sufficient details of the plans to be certain of anything. All I will say is to repeat that if Brabco were asset strippers, it doesn't seem clear from their modus operandi.

Oops! I clicked to see who had given you a negative and somehow managed to add to it by mistake. I gave you a positive on another post to remedy it as it seems one can't withdraw the negative. Sorry and all that!

That's not a bad definition of definite but I simply don't know the practicalities involved. I think though that funding and permissions would at least have to be in place before any sale. I'm certainly not dewy eyed over Brabco, I was just judging them by their actions thus far. They would presumably retain their share or sell it but that happens at football clubs. There have been many owners and boards of DFC in my lifetime and this seems on the face of it to be one of the better administrations. The owner who took us to the Rock walked away with a tidy sum. All Brabco did was buy his investment. He made a profit. They hope to make a profit. C'est la vie. I can't comment on people being in or out of loops but I have already said that the Sonstrust director conducts himself very well in the role.

He has responsibilities as a board member as well as to Sonstrust and the supporters. There are things which simply can't be publicly disclosed too soon as they may be commercially sensitive. This is particularly so when things are at a planning stage. It's an onerous responsibility and I think he does very well.

It's applicable but why would those holding it apply a veto if there were a definite alternative stadium?

You've made a key point. Brabco's involvement was the quid pro quo for getting rid of Rankine. He had to be bought out if the club was ever going to progress and the money had to come from somewhere. And so progress has followed under the current board's stewardship and that of Chief Exec Gilbert Lawrie appointed to that position after Brabco's investment. Gilbert is a Sons fan of nearly 50 years and a Sonstrust member. It doesn't mean that Brabco shouldn't be subject to scrutiny, but the club does seem to be in much better fettle than it was five or ten years ago. If there were sinister motives afoot from Brabco, I doubt very much that the club would be in their current position. An asset stripper would run the club down and sell the stadium, not build it up and plan a new one. If it's a case of a new stadium and Brabco get a return on their investment through it I don't have a particular problem with that.

It'll be a love fest really, won't it?

Temporary applications are subject to the same planning process though and there is no apparent solution to the parking issue. I'm no expert on planning matters but the Chief Exec of the club, as a qualified surveyor and property consultant, is. He is someone whose very position is to maximise income for the club and he has concluded, after examining all the issues involved, that it can't be done.