Sons' sorrow

[O'Kelly Isley III]

4 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

Is Henning completely out of the fold now, or is it just totally unclear? I know he resigned as a director, but not sure what his involvement with Cognitive is beyond that.

He appears to be but who really knows ?

ETA - I believe he is not currently a DFC Director, but CH has perhaps not been made aware.

Edited August 8, 2023 by O'Kelly Isley III

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

It looks like someone has jumped the gun organising the supporters bus for the Challenge Cup on the Tuesday night. It’s on the Wednesday!

[FifeSons]

29 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

He appears to be but who really knows ?

ETA - I believe he is not currently a DFC Director, but CH has perhaps not been made aware.

That wouldn't be surprising. They can barely file the accounts!

[Dawnda62859]

2 hours ago, Urban Spaceman said:

as a slight aside, but in relation to the need for artificial pitch for both the club and the community, between 6pm and 9pm last night there were 6 teams (that I counted) trying to use the 2 grass pitches on The Common last night. Two of which were the actual Dumbarton Youth Teams at U18s and U20s. Now that's probably, partly due to it being summer and still light that the teams are trying to save funds by not booking the astros that are available. But the lack of facilities in the area is a shocking and a new community pitch in the stadium would benefit the development of kids in the area and also increase the likelihood of attracting talent from out with the area - which has always been a bigger challenge for development football in the area.

 

 

Imagine the number of team with multiple ages groups trying to find astro parks during the winter months for training on.  Guaranteed bookings 6-9 every night of the week (if wanted)

[Greenmachine]

44 minutes ago, Dawnda62859 said:

Imagine the number of team with multiple ages groups trying to find astro parks during the winter months for training on.  Guaranteed bookings 6-9 every night of the week (if wanted)

Holm Park is booked solid.

[Boghead ranter]

1 hour ago, Greenmachine said:

Holm Park is booked solid.

[rockson]

7 hours ago, Paul Mc said:

What's in it for me? Nothing financial, I can say that for sure. I love football and it has always been my dream to be involved. I guess I always thought when I sold my finance company I would buy a club, but when this opportunity came along I thought it makes a lot of sense for me to get involved at a smaller level and learn the intricacies first hand. Why specifically Dumbarton? Well the opportunity and introduction was there. I had good conversations and got a good feeling about what I could add to the situation. I saw some pretty clear process gaps that I know I could fill and the connection to Scotland is big for me too.

Sorry to be negative as you are making conciliatory and somewhat encouraging noises but that sounds to me a bit like if a better opportunity came along you'd be off sharpish.

[Rock Bottom]

@Paul Mc Thank you for engaging with the fans, as others have said this shouldn't be taken for granted after the last few years. Even where fans and board may disagree on certain topics.

With this in mind, would you be open to hosting a Q&A with supporters? We've plenty home games in the diary in the not too distant future and spending an hour before or after a match would go a long way towards open and constructive dialogue. Especially if all parties are present and all topics are up for discussion.

[Turnberry Fields Forever]

8 minutes ago, Rock Bottom said:

@Paul Mc Thank you for engaging with the fans, as others have said this shouldn't be taken for granted after the last few years. Even where fans and board may disagree on certain topics.

With this in mind, would you be open to hosting a Q&A with supporters? We've plenty home games in the diary in the not too distant future and spending an hour before or after a match would go a long way towards open and constructive dialogue. Especially if all parties are present and all topics are up for discussion.

If you believe a poster above all parties won't be present, so you have a problem.

[pleslie99]

8 hours ago, Urban Spaceman said:

as a slight aside, but in relation to the need for artificial pitch for both the club and the community, between 6pm and 9pm last night there were 6 teams (that I counted) trying to use the 2 grass pitches on The Common last night. Two of which were the actual Dumbarton Youth Teams at U18s and U20s. Now that's probably, partly due to it being summer and still light that the teams are trying to save funds by not booking the astros that are available. But the lack of facilities in the area is a shocking and a new community pitch in the stadium would benefit the development of kids in the area and also increase the likelihood of attracting talent from out with the area - which has always been a bigger challenge for development football in the area.

 

 

It’s 100% down to cost and not down to availability. We are going to be charging for the use of our park I assume so if teams can get free use of grass they will. 
There isn’t a ‘lack’ of facilities in the area but the cost is the biggest factor. There isn’t teams struggling to get use of the pitches we already have….

[Sons Fan]

15 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

It’s 100% down to cost and not down to availability. We are going to be charging for the use of our park I assume so if teams can get free use of grass they will. 
There isn’t a ‘lack’ of facilities in the area but the cost is the biggest factor. There isn’t teams struggling to get use of the pitches we already have….

I am not so sure about that. Maybe I am missing something but where are the 4g/5g pitches in Dumbarton? 
 

Even if we aren’t renting it out every hour of the day it means we have a training facility for all our teams + Broomhill. Games won’t be getting postponed as much, we won’t have the groundsman debate. We can rent it out safe in the knowledge the pitch isn’t going to get destroyed.

I am not saying we would do it but we could also rent the stadium for events and cover the pitch so there is a lot of flexibility.

[pleslie99]

1 hour ago, Sons Fan said:

I am not so sure about that. Maybe I am missing something but where are the 4g/5g pitches in Dumbarton? 
 

Even if we aren’t renting it out every hour of the day it means we have a training facility for all our teams + Broomhill. Games won’t be getting postponed as much, we won’t have the groundsman debate. We can rent it out safe in the knowledge the pitch isn’t going to get destroyed.

I am not saying we would do it but we could also rent the stadium for events and cover the pitch so there is a lot of flexibility.

In Dumbarton and the vale there are 4 main ones, East End and Argyll are the 2 most used but also OLSP and VOL academy pitches which are not used as often as they could be and regularly sit empty. 
A 4G pitch is a good source of income but it won’t be used as often as folk think. 6-10 midweek for training lets is realistically all we would get minus what would be taken up by us/Broomhill! Saturdays would be taken up by us and Broomhill again. That’s going to take a long time to repay the initial outlay! It also has a lifespan dependent on how often it’s used, over use it and it gets very worn - see Kilmarnock/Hamilton for example. Iv seen some shockers over the years! 

[Urban Spaceman]

15 hours ago, pleslie99 said:

It’s 100% down to cost and not down to availability. We are going to be charging for the use of our park I assume so if teams can get free use of grass they will. 
There isn’t a ‘lack’ of facilities in the area but the cost is the biggest factor. There isn’t teams struggling to get use of the pitches we already have….

as others have alluded to there is a lack of facilities. I know for a fact teams cant get Astro pitches to play midweek games in the next few weeks as there are in the main blocked booked for training already. I am all for grass at this time of year but the two grass pitches available in Dumbarton are poor all year round. The surfaces are so uneven and I'm not even sure the goalposts are regulation height anymore!  But thats off topic for here.

[pleslie99]

25 minutes ago, Urban Spaceman said:

as others have alluded to there is a lack of facilities. I know for a fact teams cant get Astro pitches to play midweek games in the next few weeks as there are in the main blocked booked for training already. I am all for grass at this time of year but the two grass pitches available in Dumbarton are poor all year round. The surfaces are so uneven and I'm not even sure the goalposts are regulation height anymore!  But thats off topic for here.

It’s not a Dumbarton area problem that teams can’t get Astro for games midweek. It’s across every council area. They are block booked for training let’s which brings in more money than a full pitch let so it’s a no brainier for the owners of said pitches.

Are we naive enough to think building a plastic pitch at the rock is going to solve the availability problems? We will 100% prioritise midweek training lets over games too as it brings in more money!
it’s easy to say there is a lack of facilities, but it’s not as straightforward as it looks! I’m not against a plastic pitch, just playing devils advocate for the ‘easy’ excuses for us to lay one! 

[Elrow]

As a ST holder, is it possible to get a stream for one home game when abroad? 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

5 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

It’s not a Dumbarton area problem that teams can’t get Astro for games midweek. It’s across every council area. They are block booked for training let’s which brings in more money than a full pitch let so it’s a no brainier for the owners of said pitches.

Are we naive enough to think building a plastic pitch at the rock is going to solve the availability problems? We will 100% prioritise midweek training lets over games too as it brings in more money!
it’s easy to say there is a lack of facilities, but it’s not as straightforward as it looks! I’m not against a plastic pitch, just playing devils advocate for the ‘easy’ excuses for us to lay one! 

It certainly wont solve all of the areas problems but having another facility in the local area can only be a good thing. It will be unavailable every Tuesday night, Thursday night and Saturday’s between 1pm and 6pm and I’m sure our youth sides and Broomhill will also be given priority for training so I’d imagine our facility will be even less accessable than other local pitches and I’m not sure how much scope we’ll have for midweek block bookings but it’s still good to have another option in the area and it will ultimately lead to more free space elsewhere if teams book our pitch. 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

2 minutes ago, Elrow said:

As a ST holder, is it possible to get a stream for one home game when abroad? 

No, you need to buy some sort of package. We used to do a monthly one but I’m not even sure if that’s available anymore. I’ve only saw the yearly one being advertised.

[George Parr]

33 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

It’s not a Dumbarton area problem that teams can’t get Astro for games midweek. It’s across every council area. They are block booked for training let’s which brings in more money than a full pitch let so it’s a no brainier for the owners of said pitches.

Are we naive enough to think building a plastic pitch at the rock is going to solve the availability problems? We will 100% prioritise midweek training lets over games too as it brings in more money!
it’s easy to say there is a lack of facilities, but it’s not as straightforward as it looks! I’m not against a plastic pitch, just playing devils advocate for the ‘easy’ excuses for us to lay one! 

The most important thing about laying the plastic is removing the challenge of DFC having to perform on a sandy shit-heap every fortnight.

All the other stuff is secondary.

[The Moonster]

1 hour ago, George Parr said:

The most important thing about laying the plastic is removing the challenge of DFC having to perform on a sandy shit-heap every fortnight.

All the other stuff is secondary.

We don't have to lay astro to solve the problem of our sandy shit heap. We've seen what a dedicated groundsman can do to our pitch and if he had a bit of investment along the way I'm sure could've got it looking much better. I'm not really that arsed whetger we get astro or not, you can get most of the funding through grants these days anyway. 

Funnily enough you can also get funding to help fan groups buy a controlling stake in their club these days...

[FifeSons]

2 hours ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

No, you need to buy some sort of package. We used to do a monthly one but I’m not even sure if that’s available anymore. I’ve only saw the yearly one being advertised.

Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed they haven't announced a monthly package. Would surely make more sense all round, with away fans, too.

ETA I've emailed them to ask. Will report back.

Edited August 9, 2023 by FifeSons