Sons' sorrow

[FifeSons]

3 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

That Thistle game was the one they finished 4th and got into the playoffs and were promoted. Had they not won, they'd have finished 5th and stayed down, Falkirk style.

I could be wrong, but I think they’d actually already secured 4th going into that game, so had nothing to play for. Which made chucking away the lead even worse!

Edited May 5, 2021 by FifeSons

[Sweet Pete]

39 minutes ago, Gordon EF said:

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

My memory may be playing tricks, but was it not Sons 8th, Shire 9th and Forfar 10th?

[Sweet Pete]

1 minute ago, FifeSons said:

I think they’d actually already secured 4th going into that game, so had nothing to play for. Which made chucking away the lead even worse!

I could be wrong (it's happened at least twice before), but I thought they had to win that day.

[super-son]

4 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

Punting Duffy now would be lunacy with the playoffs starting on Saturday, absolutely not a chance that is happening.

My mistake, I never thought that through properly. I agree it would be mental to bin Duffy before the playoffs.

[Gordon EF]

1 minute ago, Sweet Pete said:

My memory may be playing tricks, but was it not Sons 8th, Shire 9th and Forfar 10th?

Aye. You're right. I thought I had some memory of Dumbarton finishing bottom but I think what my brain has done has mix up two things - a team finishing bottom who you wouldn't expect to and Dumbarton being pish and it's just come out with 'Dumbarton finishing bottom'. 

[sons exile]

2 minutes ago, Sweet Pete said:

My memory may be playing tricks, but was it not Sons 8th, Shire 9th and Forfar 10th?

Season 1997-98 was the league 'wooden spoon' year.

[Sweet Pete]

2 minutes ago, Gordon EF said:

Aye. You're right. I thought I had some memory of Dumbarton finishing bottom but I think what my brain has done has mix up two things - a team finishing bottom who you wouldn't expect to and Dumbarton being pish and it's just come out with 'Dumbarton finishing bottom'. 

 

1 minute ago, sons exile said:

Season 1997-98 was the league 'wooden spoon' year.

That was the one. Craig Brittain's first season I believe.

[sons exile]

Just now, Sweet Pete said:

 

That was the one. Craig Brittain's first season I believe.

Actually it was Ian Wallace's first full season in charge.

[Sweet Pete]

3 minutes ago, Gordon EF said:

Aye. You're right. I thought I had some memory of Dumbarton finishing bottom but I think what my brain has done has mix up two things - a team finishing bottom who you wouldn't expect to and Dumbarton being pish and it's just come out with 'Dumbarton finishing bottom'. 

I had gone to Berwick away early that season in hope that this was going to be a title challenging season. The long trip home after a hopeless display and 3-0 defeat gave plenty of time to reflect that it may be a long stay in the bottom league. Didn't put a decent team together until about 08.

[sons exile]

Just now, sons exile said:

Actually it was Ian Wallace's first full season in charge.

And yes it was Craig Brittain' s first season as a player - signed from Ashfield.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Finally had a chance to digest the statememt regarding the takeover on the OS. I am massively sceptical about it I’ll be honest, for a number of reasons...

1. The transition to a full-time squad and creating a stable Championship club

I’ve seen a few comments saying there is no reason we can’t succeed with this, and whilst it’s not impossible, where the hell are these new fans coming from to sustain such a move? We had 6 solid seasons in the Championship recently and couldn’t come close to sustaining full-time football, if anything we’re now seeing a knock effect of struggling to afford a part-time Chamionship standard squad. At the end of the day the be all and end all at our level is bums on seats and, IMO, we will never have enough of them to sustain the above. The local population simply don’t care. This is a move that could end very badly and we should be treading carefully on this one.

2. Using Hennings contacts to build links with international clubs and players

Hennings contacts? Who or what are Hennings contacts? Are we going to be signing the next Halaand or are we going to be filling our Scottish lower league squad with young X Factor type trialists who are told if you invest x amount into your career now (a bit like yon Edusport) and come over to play in Scotland you’ll end up with a move to Man Utd?  Who knows but I’m not exactly excited about this one. I’d rather see us sign and develop young Scottish talent and I’m not remotely convinced we’ll be making megabucks by punting young Norweigans to Dunfermline and Dundee. 

3. The stadium move

It’s more of the same. How do they plan on funding it? Does it involve selling up first then building? Does it involve building on the carpark, keeping the stadium in place then building on Youngs Farm? I thought previously we had to build the houses at Youngs Farm in order to make the thing affordable, how come it’s all of sudden a viable option without the residential element? Was it really just the residential element that led to the council not approving it?

I appreciate Brabco were shite, I appreciate we were heading in one direction but what I’ve heard from the new owners doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. I have way more questions than answers and I’m still baffled as to why any of these people would want to be involved with a Scottish lower league club unless it came with a hefty profit in their own back pocket. Will these people remotely care what happens to the club when it comes to lining their own pockets? They may well be good guys but it’s going to take a lot of convincing for me personally that random Norweigans and English arcitechts are here for the good of DFC. Just because the last guys were bad doesn’t mean the new guys will be better. We also now have the added element of them meddling in the on the park affairs. Maybe once restrictions lift a bit more a meet the owners session would be a good way for them to answer our questions.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Bring Back Paddy Flannery

[microdave]

Re the stadium move, wasn't there an agreement between Brabco and the landowner for a set price for the land? Will that still be in place now that Brabco have left the scene?

See, more questions.

[BallochSonsFan]

6 minutes ago, microdave said:

Re the stadium move, wasn't there an agreement between Brabco and the landowner for a set price for the land? Will that still be in place now that Brabco have left the scene?

See, more questions.

As far as I'm aware it was a deal brokered by Gilbert that was secured for a fixed period of time. It was conditional on the land being used in part to build a football stadium. I'd expect that deal to remain on the table for the new owners as the conditions are essentially the same.

[CoveRangers1922]

Just seen that cross from Forbes. Spectacular and just when it was required

[Nowhereman]

2 hours ago, sons exile said:

Season 1997-98 was the league 'wooden spoon' year.

Surprised no-one has mentioned that season before now. For me that and the Jim George era are worse than now. Even the strip was worse in the Jim George era

[The Moonster]

No team containing Martin Mooney can be worse than this shit.

[George Parr]

I think Ian Wallace and Jimmy Brown’s groups from 1997-1999 were poorer than this season’s squad. Some of the performances from that era were eye-bleedingly awful. 

[microdave]

95/96 was similar to this season, in that, if we lost the first goal, you instantly knew we'd lose. But the players in that team were far superior to the current lot and some had achieved two promotions with the club. That was down to a complete lack of confidence imo. 

This lot are the worst I've seen and I'd get rid of every single one of them. It's time for a complete reboot.

[Sweet Pete]

26 minutes ago, microdave said:

95/96 was similar to this season, in that, if we lost the first goal, you instantly knew we'd lose. But the players in that team were far superior to the current lot and some had achieved two promotions with the club. That was down to a complete lack of confidence imo. 

This lot are the worst I've seen and I'd get rid of every single one of them. It's time for a complete reboot.

Agreed. Not a good idea to carry this losing culture into a fresh season. Clean slate required.

[The Moonster]

In the madness of last night I missed John Steele's interview, reading it now it's clear that John and the board don't see the Kristoffersens as charlatans. I would hope that judgement turns out to be sound but fans will always be worry of new things, especially new things that promise perhaps unrealistic goals. It's mentioned a top priority is for them to engage the fans and the Trust, that can only be seen as a good thing and should be arranged as soon as possible - I feel a huge reason Brabco failed to gain support for their proposals was down to their inability to engage. Brabco clearly thought they could just sit back and make a quick buck without much fuss from fans but I don't think they envisaged 400 people determining they were a bunch of c***s within 5 minutes and it led to that horrible PR push where they tried to manufacture support in the local community for the stadium move. 

Really, I want to know that these folk are serious about the football side. I really hope it's not some poundland Norwegian agent that is going to plough a bunch of Uni students into the squad and there is an actual thought out process with targets being brought in. First job though will be appointing a new gaffer and it will probably be quite telling how much the Kristoffersens can influence that side.