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52 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Ryan Wallace played a full 90 minutes six times in his 58 appearances for us based on my maths. But not since April 1 last year in a 2-1 defeat to Stenny.

His other 90 minutes were on his debut against Stirling Albion in July 2022. A 0-0 draw with Forfar in October 2022. In the 1-1 at Bonnyrigg in December 2022. The 2-1 loss to Forfar in January last year. In back-to-back games against East Fife and Elgin (both defeats) last February. 

Thanks Jan, so marginally over 10% of his total, there can't be many ex-players with over 50 appearances anywhere with that sort of record - it just seemed an odd one.

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1 hour ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

This is one for @microdave or @Jan Vojáček.  

I'm wondering if Ryan Wallace may have created some sort of record - did he ever play a full ninety minutes for us ?

 

1 hour ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Ryan Wallace played a full 90 minutes six times in his 58 appearances for us based on my maths. But not since April 1 last year in a 2-1 defeat to Stenny.

His other 90 minutes were on his debut against Stirling Albion in July 2022. A 0-0 draw with Forfar in October 2022. In the 1-1 at Bonnyrigg in December 2022. The 2-1 loss to Forfar in January last year. In back-to-back games against East Fife and Elgin (both defeats) last February. 

You might want to count that again😉

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39 minutes ago, pleslie99 said:

Just wondering what time of bombs are allowed if only some are not? 

IMG_6010.jpeg

Why does it seem that the club are struggling to do the basics correctly? Does it hurt to proof read something before publishing it? 

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On 21/02/2024 at 22:05, BallochSonsFan said:

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.

this is a long read and i feel sorry for sons fans at what is happening to your club. its fair what you have said and reasonable. it doesnt need to be that way at a club. i hope it can all be fixed. you might need a new board as it sounds like a mess at the moment. we dont have problems like that at stenny so it is possible but it needs proper fans running the club and honest people. good luck hope yous can fix it

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I'm fine with that one, aside from it only furthering the board's commitment to having Faz here next season. Not sure why he's been dropping Wallace lately. He's our main goal threat and I'd have him starting.

Edited by FifeSons
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Tony has been good for us this season, an unconventional wide player but pops up with goals at the back post and tucks away penalties, also never leaves us exposed at the back. No surprise that Farrell has tried to fix the only part of the team that didn't need fixing by bringing in some powder puff wingers and dropping our top scorer.

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