BallochSonsFan

February 21

Everything around the club is incredibly frustrating right now. Frustrating and worrying.

We've got an ownership group who are less transparent than the last shower. Brabco, and this is the only shred of credit I'll give them, were keen to engage with the fans and saw the value in being transparent with their plans for Youngs Farm. Those plans may well have been bat shit crazy, but at least Brabco were transparent. They had regular meetings with the trust, eventually provided the evidence we pushed them on and were generally eager to meet with fans in order to try to generate some local good PR. Ian Wilson was a liability and some of his private comments would have had him run out of town, but Chris Stainton was generally a far better person to deal with and it's a major worry that the previous owners seem to have been better than the current ones. The trust pushed for some time to get in a room with Andy Hosie and eventually made it happen. The conversation was frank and neither side pulled any punches. Tellingly, Cognitive seem to have become even more guarded than they were previously. When guys like Clive Hymen are going public then you know something is amiss because Hymen is the type who doesnt like to be front and centre in deals like this. It'll be interesting to see what happens going forward between Cognitive and the trust. We're certainly willing to engage with them but it has to be in a spirit of transparency and there has to be a genuine willingness from the owners to demonstrate that their plans won't screw Dumbarton over.

That we were even able to have a meeting with Cognitive came as something of a surprise because we'd been raising that exact prospect with the club board and getting absolutely nowhere with it. Eventually we had to approach Andy Hosie directly. I'm not convinced that the club board were particularly happy with that. My own view has always been that the club board would much rather not have to deal with fans if people like the SLO and the trust can do it for them. Which highlights my biggest concern right now as far as Dumbarton goes.

The biggest concern isn't the garbage football we're witnessing under Stevie Farrell. I'll say flat out that any personal abuse of Farrell is unacceptable. Maybe it was only one or two idiots. Alcohol, or worse, was probably involved. I'm sure that if those fans met Farrell and had the chance to discuss things with him then they wouldn't abuse him directly. I don't think that the club making a statement reminding fans that abuse won't be tolerated is a terrible idea. Abuse is unacceptable and the club are right to challenge that, as are the trust. I think the club's statement in this case is a little poor. The basic message is fine, but a lot of the actual content oversteps the mark. Moderate, considered criticism is not only justified but it's also deserved. Abusing people connected to the club, including making personal comments about their families, oversteps whats acceptable. it's entirely wrong. We have to tackle abuse when it happens because it's unacceptable and because it cant be allowed to take the focus away from any of the very justified concerns and criticisms that fans have.

There are perfectly reasonable grounds to criticise Farrell and his players. We're playing poorly. We've won 2 league games since the start of December. If we lose or draw on Saturday then it'll be 2 wins in 3 months. That's simply not good enough. We've also seen Ryan Wallace leave the club today. The timing of that announcement is really frustrating. If he was unhappy and wanted to retire earlier than the end of the season then he should have done it last month and we could perhaps have signed a replacement using his wages from the budget? That said, Spartans were able to sign Marc McNulty today. As much as he's not a world beater, he'd have been a potentially capable replacement for Wallace at our level. The club effectively has 1 striker now and a supporting cast of wide players and attacking midfielders. A team that is already struggling for goals is now that bit weaker. I do respect Wallace for actually retiring and not simply picking up his wages from now until May. I do wonder if he's entirely happy stepping out like this? If we'd been challenging for a title or playing well and looking good for the play-offs then would he have stuck things out until the end of the season? The whole mood around our football right now is incredibly low.

And thats the big issue I have with the club board. We've got huge concerns about our owners and their plans. We're performing particularly poorly on the park and have been for almost 3 months now. We struggled to attract a shirt sponsor until we mysteriously found one ahead of the Rangers game. The mood amongst the support is rock bottom and yet the club board has only broken cover when they've felt personally attacked by an article in the local press. That the club was the subject of comments in Holyrood during a debate about the need for an independent regulator for football seemed not to upset our club board. Suggestions that the board in general, and chairman in particular, were less than dogged in their pursuit of answers from the owners saw the chairman break cover and go on the offensive. And whilst I've said that the club are correct to address any abuse directed towards Farrell before the problem escalates, their refusal to address the very genuine and well founded concerns that the wider support has just doesnt sit right with me. We're long past the stage where the club board can sit in their bubble and simply try to ride out the storm. It's naive to think that they can't address the concerns that fans have. Perhaps they have limited pull with the owners, but there will be very real consequences to the club from whatever eventually happens with Cognitive and their land deal - we need to be 100% sure that the club board are pushing to protect the club's interests and to know exactly where we stand under the various scenarios that Cognitive may ultimately pursue.. The club may well be operating in a difficult financial climate and the oft used description that our finances are "grim" is almost certainly well deserved. That doesnt mean that we can blame an air of negativity for that poor financial climate. If we're struggling to raise income through sponsorship, hospitality and other avenues then its for the club board to find out why and to try to address those challenges. Footballing matters? We've seen crowds fall since Covid restrictions ended and yet the club seems unwilling to take action to try to arrest the decline. If our financial situation is preventing us from making changes then the decision to extend the manager's contract without some kind of review clause seems even more rash. As does extending the contract of crocked players like Mark Durnan, who looks no closer to a return to first team football than he did before Christmas. We don't even know what our pre-season targets were for this campaign and what Farrell's performance is being judged against? Or if it's being judged at all by anybody in a position of influence within the club.

The ownership issue is of major concern. The club's performance on and off the park appears to be in free fall. We have a board at the club who go public regarding criticism they take personally, but who seem completely unwilling to address the very real and deserved criticisms that can be made of the past couple of years. This lack of leadership from the board can't continue - the only thing that's sure to guarantee is falling crowds, lower season ticket renewals, a more challenging environment in which to sell sponsorship and hospitality and our ever increasing progress through a cycle off decline.

This has to change. The board needs to step up and show some actual leadership. Doing nothing risks consigning us to a very dangerous future.

February 21

And Spartans announce the signing of Marc McNulty today.

A player who would have been well worth signing at this level.

Right now I can't see us holding on to 4th. We're an absolute bin fire.

February 21

Losing Wallace is a blow. He was a better player than James Hilton and I'm not convinced that Kelly steps in and replaces him. Had he made the decision a month ago then maybe we can allocate the wages to another player. Packing it now is frustrating. We're a player down until the end of the season when we could have replaced him if he'd retired last month. If he's had enough then I appreciate his honesty in not just sticking around to pick up a wage. And if he's got an opportunity outside football or wants/needs to spend more time with his family then those considerations will (and should) always come first.

But it's an annoying one.

February 21

I thought I'd read that Div had a contract extension. It was on here, but that was referring to his 2 year deal in April 2023. Same concern though - why did Div deserve a 2 year deal last April?

Young I can almost agree with. Young guy at the start of his career. Season ending injury. That we're standing by him by offering the extension feels like a decent thing to do and portrays the club in a good light. But it's massively risky and we could be looking at a player who doesn't come back as good as he'd shown pre-injury.

February 21

Saturday is must win. If we close out February having won 2 league games in 3 months then I fear that things will ramp up and become properly nasty. I can see crowds dropping even further and criticism becoming far more vocal.

We need to win.

As for OK3's remark about the running of football matters within the club, I suspect that the answer to that is Stevie Farrell. I'm massively concerned by our club board. The handing out of new contracts to Durnan and Wilson are not the decisions of a board making sound decisions.

February 20

1 hour ago, Silverton End said:

There's nothing to suggest the Club are remotely interested in engaging with the support.

I've got first hand experience of that. Straight from the horse's mouth. Sadly I know all too well the kind of struggles that what I'm suggesting would face.

February 20

1 hour ago, Frank Quitely said:

Why should fans be sympathetic here ? It's not the supporters who have taken DFC to their current state. There's not one part of the club functioning properly right now, whose fault is that ?

You're correct. None of this is the fault of supporters.

That doesnt mean that a bit of proper leadership from the club wouldn't give the fans a proper understanding of whats happening right now and what the club is trying to do to improve things. Proper leadership from the club might just galvanise the support a little and give our current struggles far more context.

February 20

19 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Agreed, but that's the base case scenario as far as I can see.

And thats what needs to change.

The club needs to be brutally honest with fans and to hope that by engaging properly with the support then enough fans are sympathetic to whats happening right now and are willing to stick with the club.

February 20

31 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Haven't you been telling us for the last two years that we can't afford to sack Farrell? Despite what it would do to attendances. Why should that change now?

I have. And that's still the position we're in. If you ask our chairman about club finances then he'll give you a 1 word answer - grim.

That doesnt mean that we don't need change.

If it's Farrell until the end of the season then it's Farrell, but I'd expect his performance to be subject to a discussion and his future to be in doubt. If we've got any money left from the Rangers game then dismissing him becomes a consideration. If we don't then that doesnt allow the board to sit in their bubble and refuse to engage with fans. Finances in the grubber? What are they doing to try to improve things?

So something has to change. We need to improve on the park. If Farrell can't achieve that then the club needs to find a way to pay for a change in manager or they need to come clean to fans, set out the club's position and be clear on what they're doing to try to change things. What we can't have is Farrell limping on as Dumbarton manager, the club saying and doing very little and fans becoming increasingly angry with the situation. All that achieves is driving fans away when people eventually reach the point where they've had enough.

February 20

It's a tough ask right now. The football on the park isnt good enough and it's near impossible to describe an afternoon at a Dumbarton game as an enjoyable experience. I think that better leadership and communication from the club would help. Not because it would make the football any more enjoyable - clearly the only thing that will help in that regard is for us to start winning games and playing better. But more to give fans a bit of insight into whats happening behind the scenes. Or, more pointedly, that something is actually happening behind the scenes. There is an air of negativity around the club. We've got owners who are pursuing their own plans for their property development. We've got a club that's struggling on the park. We've got a club board engaging in radio silence as far as meaningful communication with supporters is concerned.

Would proper engagement and communication from the club board solve all our problems? Far from it. But at least there would be some kind of indication that the board understood what was happening around the club and was actively trying to improve things. So fans see the owners pursuing their property development, the club struggling on the park and the board steadfastly refusing to have a meaningful dialogue with fans and the negativity not only sets in, but flourishes. Because lets be honest here, what is there at Dumbarton FC right now to be positive about?

I fear that our disappointing midweek crowd against Spartans will not be the last poorly attended Dumbarton game this season. I doubt if any Sons fans are confident of securing a result on Saturday, much less of witnessing a decent performance. It makes the lack of fan engagement even more concerning because all fans can see is a team struggling on the park and a club that looks incapable of driving any kind of improvement.

Something has to change, both on the park and off it, or we're going to see more poor attendances between now and May and an even bigger struggle to shift season tickets over the summer.

February 19

15 minutes ago, DFCTTFM said:

I won't repeat what was shouted, however it looked to me as if the boy regretted it as soon as it was shouted. He remained relatively quiet after it, i'd imagine he probably is regretting it himself as far as I know hes been a supporter for a while and is usually a regular home & away, I think its one of those things thats he just said it without thinking, possibly had a few drinks (no excuse by the way, but we have all done or said something stupid while pished) and that it'll be dealt with in whatever stevie/club sees fit. Hopefully that is the end of it and that in interest of all parties involved that it isnt repeated down the line.

Easy enough to sort out. He should write to the club offering a full apology. Show a bit of contrition and that he regrets his comments. That would draw a line under the abuse and help focus things on deserved and justified criticism.

Removes the club's ability to shoot the messenger and ignore the underlying message.

February 18

Can I suggest this for the next pre-match playlist?

February 18

46 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Wasn’t he ultimately tasked with getting us promoted? If by the playoffs, then great, but the playoffs themselves are meaningless if you don’t win them.

FWIW, I don’t think we’ll even make the playoffs. I think we’ll struggle to scrape another double figures worth of points from these next 12 games.

(Last season we took 15 points from our last 12 games, which would be enough for the playoffs, should we repeat it. Though I'd say the drop off this season has been even more dramatic and a good few of those 15 points were acquired in dead rubbers, under absolutely no pressure, when the title was gone and we were guaranteed playoffs. That said, it's all meaningless; make the playoffs/don't make the playoffs, we'll still be in L2 next season managed by Stevie Farrell.)

Nobody really knows for sure because the board has never made a statement about the aims for the club.

February 17

Its disappointing if things are becoming personal. For 2 reasons.

1. Stevie Farrell is a decent man. Regardless of how he's managing us and how the team are performing, Stevie Farrell strikes me as a fundamentally decent person. He doesnt deserve personal abuse or abuse directed at his family.

2. Making it personal gives the club a very easy out. it's easy to write off personal abuse. Easy to ignore it. It takes away from any genuine criticisms that can be made of Farrell's management of the team and the board's management of the club. Don't give them that easy out. Don't give then an option of attacking the messenger instead of focusing on the message.

Hopefully it's a minority of daft youngsters. As a support we need to be very careful.

February 17

2 wins in 11 games.

Continued uncertainty around our ownership and their plans for the club.

Problems attracting sponsors.

Problems attracting fans.

We are a club in crisis. Performances and results on the pitch are in free fall. The performance of the club board is equally unacceptable. There appears to be absolutely no leadership from the boardroom. A chairman who only becomes visible and animated when he perceives personal criticism in a newspaper article. A chairman who will never engage with the wider fanbase. Never put himself out there to address the very real concerns of the Dumbarton support. A chairman with a fantasy vision for the club that is divorced from the reality of Dumbarton FC right now.

Crisis club is a very well earned label for Dumbarton right now. A shambles on the pitch and absolutely no indication of leadership off it.

This can''t continue.

February 17

We've played 10 league games since the start of December. Today is the 11th. We've won twice.

2 wins in 10 games. 4 draws. 4 losses.

Any other club and the manager would be hauled into the boardroom and either given the dreaded vote of confidence or told to empty his office. I'm not convinced that the Dumbarton board will do either, and that's worse. At least if they gave Farrell a public vote of confidence then you'd have expected that they did consider punting him. That they were concerned by results and had demanded that things improved. Set some kind of target for improvement.

2 wins in 10 games. Realistic chance that becomes 2 in 11 since the start of December. Stranraer next week could make it 2 wins in 3 months if things don't go our way today or next Saturday.

Stevie Farrell is an absolute gent. I will never criticise Farrell the person. When you see how he treats people then it's clear why folk are happy to work with him and why he convinces people that he's capable. He has incredible belief in himself, but he still remains a fundamentally decent and personable guy. It's absolutely not personal.

But Dumbarton are a club in crisis on the park.

Lead by a board who have shown absolutely no indication that they are capable of making the difficult decisions, or even that they're holding the manager to any kind of standard.

If it wasn't for our early season form, we'd be properly involved in a relegation play-off battle. We'd be fighting for the club's League Two future.

February 17

6 minutes ago, Grumpysonoftherock said:

I’d agree we can’t give anyone a game. Double edged sword, you need the quality to entice more quality.

but, atleast there’s some people in there behind the scenes who are looking to get some kind of quality in through the door rather than just giving anyone who turns up to training a game.

however, at under 20s, most “top quality” players are already snapped up. But there is still quality in there in particular players who’ve maybe been released by the bigger clubs and looking for another chance to establish themselves.

We've got one such player warming the bench today. Because Farrell is doing Farrell things.

February 13

Spartans came to frustrate us, and they were certain;y successful in their endeavours. The game lacked any kind of consistent flow and was frequently interrupted by soft fouls and shameful time wasting, We did manage to force an acrobatic save from the visiting keeper and had the best of the chances, but a lack of ruthlessness was again on display. Ruth chased down lost causes but found service to be limited and support to be slow to join him. We never really looked like winning tonight and that's just not good enough. Absolutely no disrespect to Spartans, but we need to win our home games. We never really looked like doing so.

Poor game. The big concern is that we're now won just 1 league game from 7 in 2024. There's still time to try and put together a run of form before the end of the season, but winning and losing are both difficult habits to break. We need to try and build some kind of momentum between now and the end of the season.

February 13

1 minute ago, Victor mcdade said:

We are clutching at straws if this is what we are resorting to sticking a boot in for.

Park outside the stadium in the surrounding streets and save yourself the £3. Just don't park infront of anyones driveway on castle road. Simple.

Not really the point. Parking itself isnt really the issue. The issue is why the club originally said that there would be no parking and what the reason for that no parking was.

For a long time now we've been looking for answers to some pretty serious matters from the club. Radio silence. We know that the owners are still dead set on developing the land around the ground. The first time the club breaks it's silence is to challenge assertions made in the local press. We then have fans unable to park at the club - except that now we're able to again.

If this change is going to happen as a way of progressing a property development that's deeply unpopular with the fans then the club needs to be far more open and transparent and far more willing to engage with the support. If we're going to be prevented from parking at the club because the owners need to do some ground work for their development? The club might not want to explicitly state that, but they do owe the fans that much.

Which should form part of a far wider state of the nation address by our club board. Communication with fans on important club matters has been absolutely non-existent for far too long.

February 13

1 minute ago, Silverton End said:

Nothing would surprise me.

The Council haven't approved any development yet though?

Previous applications were dependent partly on satisfactory soil samples and ground investigative work being carried out.

February 13

22 minutes ago, Silverton End said:

I've seen it suggested that it's because there will be some ground work being carried out in relation to soil samples/bore holes relating to the proposed property development.

If thats the case then the club needs to come out and say that.

February 13

40 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Aye I'm not sure it's anything to get worked up about, looks a simple error.

That said, MACKAY OUT.

Its not really a simple error Moonster. A simple error is a typo charging fans £30 to park instead of £3.

If we were always going to be able to park at the ground tonight then why is there a version of the matchday info that stated that we can't?

February 13

Another example of the shambolic nature of DFC right now.

Matchday info post goes live on the website about 45 minutes ago advising that there will be limited disabled parking only on the stadium footprint and warning fans that cars causing an obstruction to the residents would be removed. 30 minutes later and they've changed it to parking available on site for £3.

This is probably a minor complaint if things were otherwise running well, but it points to a complete lack of professionalism from the club, It's not a typo. It's not parking £30 instead of £3. It's not the club twitter praising a player for taking a hard shit from outside the box that the keeper lets slip through his hands. When the info was posted initially? There was no on site parking for fans. Now? £3 as it was on Saturday.

So what changed? Why did we go from parking on Saturday to no parking tonight? And then back to parking tonight?

It's not a typo. So what is it?

February 13

They have. They've edited the statement.

Absolute shambles of a club. They can't even get something simple like a matdhday info post right.

February 13

Lets see how much liaising our new SLO wants to do with the supporters.

Get your questions in folks.

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