BallochSonsFan
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Posts posted by BallochSonsFan
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I renewed my season ticket when I was lucky enough to get a week off work. Amy was still on the desk (and was exceptionally pleasant and helpful) so it was before Gilbert started messing things up.
I can see a degree of logic in limiting the number of season tickets that can be sold. The club need to retain the ability for folk to turn up on the day and to be able to get a seat to watch the game. I started going to Sons games pay at the gate in 08/09. 14/15 will be my 3rd Sons season ticket. Theres always a chance that the club can attract new fans, particularly with the spotlight on our division this year, and it needs to be able to meet what the board perceive to be a demand.
That said, I think they've got the numbers wrong.
I know that Rangers, Hearts, Hibs and Falkirk will take decent travelling supports to the BB. Should we really be making 900 seats available to visiting fans at the cost of keeping our own season ticket holders happy? Away capacity should be cut to 700. Season ticket limit should be increased to 700. That still leaves 400+ walk-up spaces per game. It means splitting the home support and having some walk-up fans sitting beside the away fans but its a small price to pay for getting extra money in up front and avoiding the mess of having people wanting to buy season tickets but being unable to do so.
Opening hours at the ground during the season ticket renewal period were also a big problem. They should have been open late nights on several occasions. It would hardly have been an issue to open the ground to 9pm one day on alternate weeks. The club haven't exactly made it easy for fans.
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Any breaking news from the Morrisons fish counter?
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We've got a lot of issues still to address:
First choice keeper
Depth in defence
Paul McGinn
Mitch Megginson
Our first choice strike partnership
Bringing back players Murray trusts to be part of the squad is fair enough - the new season is going to be a complete basket case for part time teams against 3 of the 5 best supported sides in the country and the gaffer needs to have a squad with guys he can trust.
That said, our first friendly is a month away. Hopefully we'll see a few of the bigger issues sorted out in the next week to 10 days.
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They grudge paying a quid, bit bizarre really.
I'd like to see your plan enforced vigorously as there's nothing worse than leaving the stadium to be confronted with morons who have parked on Castle Road facing towards the Rock.
I don't grudge paying to park.
I just don't want to park behind the goals where there's a risk of balls going over the fence and hitting my car.
People who park facing the castle are morons and should be forced to wait until all other traffic has left the ground before being allowed to leave.
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Any one of Ewings, Davie Crawford, Grindlay, Flynn, Robinson, Lumsden, Jan Vojacek, Sweet Pete or Joe Mbu.
Blobby Mann's goal from the half way line against Dr Jan still gives me nightmares.
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Happy to see the back of Scott Smith. The most frustrating thing is that he doesn't lack ability but his conditioning was absolutely shocking. When we were so short of defenders that Murray would rather play CT at left back than Scott Smith (the only player jersey I'd have a chance of fitting in) then it really was the end for him. I'm less than happy to see McDougall back for pretty much the same reasons: Bags of ability but a terrible attitude. I've seen him turn a game with some great skill (up at Dunfermline season before last when they were fighting relegation) but his attitude and application are poor.
Definitely need a proper first choice keeper. I'd have kept Grindlay as back-up before Ewings but neither are good enough to be a first choice.
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I want to see an installment option added for season tickets as I pay for my fathers. So im having to fork out 470 quid.
An instalment option would be very welcome.
£235 could easily be done as 4 instalments of £60. This would include an administration charge of a fiver.
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Season ticket prices announced.
On the face of it the increase looks quite steep. Its an extra £45 for me and thats a fair whack to add on to a season ticket, particularly with no early sign-up discount. That said, the savings per game last year were £5.50 a match (roughly) and this year will be £5 a match for cat B games and £7 a match for cat A. In that context, the board have done well to keep a decent discount on the cost of a single game entry.
I'm near the half way line and I'm sure there was previously 2 categories of season tickets. It's a bigger jump for those in the 2nd category by grouping all seats into a single season ticket price.
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I have no issue with an increase in season ticket costs. I'd be concerned if the season ticket rose to a similar level to prices charged by full time teams. A significant increase in prices may allow us to recruit a stronger squad but fans wage rises haven't returned to pre-crash levels and its a big ask to expect fans to pay full time prices for part time football.
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With the suggestion/website glitch that showed cat A and cat B games, I'd expect a £20-£30 increase on the cost of a season ticket to reflect the 2 home games v Hearts and Rangers. No early bird is a shame as it was a decent encouragement for fans to sign up early and give the club a decent financial boost before the start of the season.
Hopefully it won't be more than that.
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I wonder where Scott Smith and Nicky Phinn will end up next season?
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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...............
It was good to see him back at the game on Saturday. He's a couple of rows in front of me.
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Pete doesn't mix with us ruffians up the back, he's not been through his initiation process yet.
As for our patter, we are very sorry. Maybe if everyone else in the ground made some more noise than rustling their sweety papers you wouldn't need to listen to us.
Woooooooooooooooooooooah You're SHITE. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
In fairness we've got our own shouts that add to the atmosphere. It's usually a certain auld fellah abusing the ref, but he does make some noise.
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Gilhaney blows hot and cold. If he's on form then he's a great player who gives us a good option going forward and who tracks back reasonably well. Even when he isn't delivering going forward and making eye-catching runs, his work-rate can often be pretty high. Unfortunately when he has a poor game he tends to have a stinker.
I really hope we start at the back this summer. AG is a rock for us but he needs a decent partner in the centre of defence. If we're lucky enough to keep McGinn then cover at right back is a must. Linton will hopefully stay but we need to do something about the shambles that is Scott Smith. The guy looked very good last season but looks like he could well pack the game in this year given his woeful conditioning.
We can always bag a midfielder or a forward but I'd hope we'll prioritise getting our defence in place.
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How do you market a club like Dumbarton?
We're 20 miles away from the 2 biggest teams in Scotland. These 2 have 2 of the largest regular supports in Britain. They also have a strong draw for both footballing and non-footballing reasons. How do you get fans to ignore the big 2 on our doorstep and head along to their local team?
Free kids tickets and tickets for schools isn't going to cut it. My other sport - the team who's logo I use as my avatar - have worked towards getting crowds of 2500-3500 over the space of 4 seasons. Their main selling point is that they AREN'T a football side and can therefore offer a family-friendly atmosphere. If that's the route the club were to go down (for example) then it would alienate the majority of our existing support.
There's a maximum number of people who will follow a team like Dumbarton. If we could get 2000-2500 crowds on a regular basis then we'd be doing very well and even that would require us to add about 1200-1800 fans onto our regular home gate. We can't change the football landscape in the west of Scotland. It's a big ask to get new fans through the gates and marketing in the normal sense is virtually impossible.
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Zero. I'm interested what's wrong with what I have said?
I'd start with:
Do we know every single detail about them? No, but do we need to?
Events within Scottish football over the past few years must surely show you that we absolutely need to know more about the owners.
As for your suggestion of commercial opportunities, we don't need a 4000 capacity ground and I'd question whether or not there would be sufficient demand for conference facilities to ever make money from them in West Dunbartonshire? Then theres access to the ground itself.
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By 'definite' I take it you mean a built, finished and fit-for-purpose stadium allowing a straight transition without lodging at Cliftonhill or wherever. That being the case and allowing for much improved facilities then despite the dreadful location I'd probably go for it.
As regards the Community Director he has to the best of my knowledge carried out his role scrupulously and with due discretion. Despite that he has not been kept fully in the communications loop, and that is both disappointing and disconcerting.
The Board collectively deserves great credit for the football side of things in recent times, and if Brabco have contributed to that then fine and dandy. Let's not get all dewy-eyed over Brabco however, their raison d'etre would remain the pursuit of profit from the land sale no matter what was DFC's league position. And should they achieve that what happens then to the ownership of DFC ?
If it does come down to ground sharing then ideally we would look to use the rugby ground at Yoker. It's a decent facility with enough capacity for us and it's easy to access by both road and rail (Scotstounhill station is about a 5 minute walk).
Far better than Coatbridge. Only question is whether or not it would stand up to being used twice a week.
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Any move that takes Dumbarton out of the town is bad for the club. Our ground is big enough for our current needs and we don't look to be increasing our attendances at a rate that would necessitate a bigger ground. We're easy to get to for the majority of our local fan base - close to 2 train stations, several bus routes and a short walk to the town centre. There's decent road access to the general area. The club doesn't need to move.
It's time for some honesty from our owners. Be honest about what their intentions are for the club and be honest about what the impact is going to be on the fans. We all know that any deal will profit the owners first and any benefits to the club will be a very distant concern - at least some transparency would help fans get a handle on what to expect in the next few years.
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Was ours the only professional game cancelled on Saturday?
In an ideal world we need some work done on the ground. Proper frost protection or a synthetic pitch and proper lighting would be the most urgent work. Unfortunately when the owners are still considering how many houses they can fit on the land and where we could relocate to, there would be little point in any investment in bringing our facilities up to scratch right now.
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As well as Murray has done with us, he's nowhere near ready for a top flight job. He's still tactically naïve at times and he's slow to react to things during a match. Hibs may well see him as a candidate, but there are plenty of options out there.
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I agree Pete.
If they can re-invest in facilities then it's one thing but blowing any money on a short term boost to the squad would be madness. We need to be settled in a ground that meets our needs. The only thing we'd possibly benefit from is better facilities for hospitality. Our ground is fine for matchdays for most fans.
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I wouldn't be dead against a move, but I'm not particularly for it. Our ground is fine - decent stand and ideal location for access. If we're moving then where could we realistically move to? One of the sites of the 2 schools that the council are trying to replace?
I'd be absolutely opposed to any option that sees us move from Dumbarton until a new ground is built. We shouldn't be moved until we know where we're going and a new ground is in place. Being passed around our various neighbours isnt even remotely acceptable.
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Sons' sorrow
in Scottish League 2 General Chatter
Posted
It puts the lotion on it's skin, or else it gets the hose again.
Start dancing to Goodbye Horses with yer tadger tucked away