Sons' sorrow

[The Moonster]

45 minutes ago, optimistic said:

Just thinking, what was brabcos statement when they first took ownership ?

Along similar lines?

I don't think Brabco even gave us a statement. There's no doubt this mob are more hands on and more professional than Brabco, the concern for us is how much they really care about a 150 year old football club and how much of this stuff they are just saying to get an easy ride. 

[Benidorm]

Dumbarton have some potential. Its a decent catchment to draw from if the ground is in the right area given there isn't a senior team in the Vale. I'd just tread a little carefully given some of the recent examples of kids on buttons full-time setups that haven't really worked out in recent years - East Fife and Airdrie are two I can think of, infact didn't East Fife actually get relegated? Then you have the Anelka experiment at Raith where he thought he could plug any old foreign diddies from the lower leagues abroad into the lower leagues here and achieve instant success. Its probably exciting and terrifiying in equal measure, but Dumbarton appear to be on a bit of a road to nowhere with the current owners so as a fan I'd be happy to take the risk, that statement is at least considerably more transparent than what the club initially put out.

[FairWeatherFan]

11 minutes ago, Benidorm said:

Dumbarton have some potential. Its a decent catchment to draw from if the ground is in the right area given there isn't a senior team in the Vale.

If we're talking Vale of Leven area, then Vale of Leven has gone senior by entering the WoSFL. It's a fair bit down the pyramid from Dumbarton but they're there now and seem to be working on getting getting an SFA licence as a goal. So might have to dig out the Dunbartonshire Cup. Same might be true of Helensburgh eventually.

Neither would greatly impact Dumbarton but might chip away at the next generation fan from nearby that look for lower league football.

[microdave]

Intriguing final sentence on the os statement from John Steele.

[The Moonster]

I think this might be the worst Sons side I've ever watched. 

[FifeSons]

4 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I think this might be the worst Sons side I've ever watched. 

The end of the McCabe era was pretty painful. We probably scored more goals then, though.

[jaggyness]

Intriguing final sentence on the os statement from John Steele.

Someone might want to tell him that Norway is part of Scandinavia too

[Sergeant Wilson]

1 minute ago, jaggyness said:

19 minutes ago, microdave said:

Intriguing final sentence on the os statement from John Steele.

Someone might want to tell him that Norway is part of Scandinavia too

...at the moment.

[rockson]

2 hours ago, FifeSons said:

The end of the McCabe era was pretty painful. We probably scored more goals then, though.

What about that whole year we went without winning? Well before McCabe's time.

[super-son]

I think this might be the worst Sons side I've ever watched. 

It's certainly the worst I can remember us playing in the last 20 years or so.

We might have had worse players but this current bunch just don't feel like a team at all. Everything from the defense up is an absolute shambles.

[super-son]

The club needs a total clear out with the exception of a few players I would keep regardless of our division.

I would personally punt everybody except;

Ramsbottom (We could do far worse)
McGeever
Neill (maybe, good partnership with McGeever)
Wardrop (maybe, he annoys me with giving away the ball too easily)
Wedderburn
Wallace (on loan so doesn't really count)

The rest can go.

[FifeSons]

10 hours ago, super-son said:

The club needs a total clear out with the exception of a few players I would keep regardless of our division.

I would personally punt everybody except;

Ramsbottom (We could do far worse)
McGeever
Neill (maybe, good partnership with McGeever)
Wardrop (maybe, he annoys me with giving away the ball too easily)
Wedderburn
Wallace (on loan so doesn't really count)

The rest can go.

I’d certainly add Quitongo to that list and McAllister has also looked decent.

Carsy is a bit of a legend, so I’d be sad to see him go, but he hasn’t been at his best for a while.

I think if Wilson had the service he could definitely score goals. He can certainly finish when given the chance.

Omar has looked decent at times too.

Edited May 5, 2021 by FifeSons

[super-son]

I’d certainly add Quitongo to that list and McAlister has also looked decent.
Carsy is a bit of a legend, so I’d be sad to see him go, but he hasn’t been at his best for a while.
I think if Wilson had the service he could definitely score goals. He can certainly finish when given the chance.
Omar has looked decent at times too.

I'm on the fence about quitongo. He just hoofs it way too often for me.

I forgot about McAlister actually and your right, I would definitely keep him.

Carsy hasn't been good enough for a while now. Admittedly he's been a good club representative for loads of things off the pitch, such as attending local schools etc. However, it's more important we have someone who can perform on the pitch. He just hasn't done that. He seems a second or 2 slower than everyone else and he's guaranteed a booking almost every game just for dissent which just isn't good enough.

Omar seems like he could maybe do a job but he has lost the ball in some dangerous positions for us which have cost us and I still don't know if Wilson is any good or not.

The trouble is, Apart from Jones who I am sure about, I don't know if any of our attacking players are any good because iof the way Duffy had us playing. It would be interesting to see those players with someone else in charge. Although I wouldn't be taking the risk to find out for most of them.

[FifeSons]

19 minutes ago, super-son said:

I'm on the fence about quitongo. He just hoofs it way too often for me.

I forgot about McAlister actually and your right, I would definitely keep him.

Carsy hasn't been good enough for a while now. Admittedly he's been a good club representative for loads of things off the pitch, such as attending local schools etc. However, it's more important we have someone who can perform on the pitch. He just hasn't done that. He seems a second or 2 slower than everyone else and he's guaranteed a booking almost every game just for dissent which just isn't good enough.

Omar seems like he could maybe do a job but he has lost the ball in some dangerous positions for us which have cost us and I still don't know if Wilson is any good or not.

The trouble is, Apart from Jones who I am sure about, I don't know if any of our attacking players are any good because iof the way Duffy had us playing. It would be interesting to see those players with someone else in charge. Although I wouldn't be taking the risk to find out for most of them.

I’d be interested to see what happened if you stuck Wilson in a side that could create chances. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was among the top scorers at this level.

In terms of this season, those defeats to Forfar and Peterhead after the restart were just so damaging. Really gave ourselves an uphill battle after that.

Hopefully East Fife can do us a huge favour on Thursday, but I’m not expecting it at all. I imagine Clyde will rake in a few extra quid from Sons fans buying the stream. I certainly will, anyway.

[Howlin' Wilf]

I think this might be the worst Sons side I've ever watched. 

I’m certain some of the dross in our flatlining bottom league days were worse than this. The Jim George de facto juniors, the Jim Fallon side that dropped like a stone down a well and McCabe’s folly were certainly worse than this. This side’s not great but I don’t think it’s the worst. Most of the defeats have been by a single goal. I’m just thinking Moonster that a couple of the examples I’ve quoted are before your time.

[Sweet Pete]

1 hour ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

I’m certain some of the dross in our flatlining bottom league days were worse than this. The Jim George de facto juniors, the Jim Fallon side that dropped like a stone down a well and McCabe’s folly were certainly worse than this. This side’s not great but I don’t think it’s the worst. Most of the defeats have been by a single goal. I’m just thinking Moonster that a couple of the examples I’ve quoted are before your time.

I came on board at the Paul Martin relegation season, who was quickly followed by Gerry McCabe. This team is at least as bad as those, and still may yet be relegated.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 hour ago, Sweet Pete said:

I came on board at the Paul Martin relegation season, who was quickly followed by Gerry McCabe. This team is at least as bad as those, and still may yet be relegated.

Yes, I'd agree with this, I've watched every game this season and the continual feeling of resignation has been dispiriting in what has been a very mediocre division.  Last night's win was remarkable in that it went completely against the script and probably also smashed about four or five dubious statistics.  Proclaiming that many of the defeats were narrow ones is really damning with faint praise - in most we never deserved anything.  Obviously we hope East Fife turn up tomorrow night but we need wholesale change on the football side and the new owners may have arrived not a moment too soon.

[The Moonster]

4 hours ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

I’m certain some of the dross in our flatlining bottom league days were worse than this. The Jim George de facto juniors, the Jim Fallon side that dropped like a stone down a well and McCabe’s folly were certainly worse than this. This side’s not great but I don’t think it’s the worst. Most of the defeats have been by a single goal. I’m just thinking Moonster that a couple of the examples I’ve quoted are before your time.

Jim George was before my time and I was more interested in chasing my friends around the terraces when Fallon was doing his thing. The only team that comes close for me is McCabe's side, but if you look at the team McCabe had there we actually had a much better side than we have now. David Crawford, Brittso, Davie Craig, Andy Geggan, Mark Canning, Chris Boyle, John Dillon, Craig Winter and Brian McPhee would all absolutely waltz into this current side. If you look at the side McCabe had in 06-07, it was even better than that with the likes of Dobbie involved. I'd even go as far as saying we'd have done better with Tommy Coyne up front this season. 

[The Moonster]

9 hours ago, super-son said:

The club needs a total clear out with the exception of a few players I would keep regardless of our division.

I would personally punt everybody except;

Ramsbottom (We could do far worse)
McGeever
Neill (maybe, good partnership with McGeever)
Wardrop (maybe, he annoys me with giving away the ball too easily)
Wedderburn
Wallace (on loan so doesn't really count)

The rest can go.

We could do worse than Ramsbottom and he's been better than we feared he'd be, but Peterhead's second goal last night show me why I think we can do better. The goal cam shows just how bad it is - he actually goes over to hug his near post as the cross comes in then absolutely flaps at it, getting nowhere near it. And I know we could throw up a whole manner of "If only..." type scenarios, but if only he hadn't blootered the ball off McGeever's back we could be sitting with our feet right now. If he wants to stay and fight it out with another keeper for #1 then I'd be fine with that, but I would hope we don't go into the new season with him as basically our only option again. 

Of the others...

KEEP
Wardrop
McGeever
Neill
Quitongo (will someone please teach him how to defend the back post at crosses though!)

KEEP AS SQUAD PLAYERS
Wedderburn
Ramsbottom

KEEP IF PARENT CLUBS DON'T WANT THEM
Wallace 
McAllister

Normally I'd say "not fussed about the rest" but I want the rest gone tbh. 

[Gordon EF]

Didn't Dumbarton finish bottom of the whole SPFL under McCabe? Lunacy to say the current team is worse than that.