Sons' sorrow

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Is anyone able to find out what the Kristoffersens actual background is in football? What experience they have and/or what players they have worked with in the past? Do they have any prior involvement with Scottish football or even English football? If they have a decent CV then fair enough, but as it stands it’s a couple of random Norweigans who are getting involved in football matters and without knowing what their background and experience is, that absolutely terrifies me. Do these folk know the sort of standard required for our lower leagues? I could honestly fill a book with questions and until they are answered I’ll remain fully sceptical.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is what if the manager (whoever that may be) doesn’t want Kristoffersen’s random foreign players and wants to sign his own players? Will he be forced to play random foreign youngsters? Does that mean our next manager will just be a yes man who will do as he’s told? 

I really am getting severe Claude Anelka vibes off this whole thing.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Bring Back Paddy Flannery

[Howlin' Wilf]

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. 

I also wonder about the context. It’s absolutely grim watching the matches on a stream anyway. The same game would be a bit different if viewed live instead of a frequently buffering single camera view which does nothing but follow the ball. It has been rotten but many of the one goal defeats have been pretty close. We have lacked goal threat big time.

[Jan Vojáček]

6 minutes ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

I also wonder about the context. It’s absolutely grim watching the matches on a stream anyway. The same game would be a bit different if viewed live instead of a frequently buffering single camera view which does nothing but follow the ball. It has been rotten but many of the one goal defeats have been pretty close. We have lacked goal threat big time.

As someone who has been at almost every game live, I can confirm that I share many of the views about the quality of football expressed further up this thread.

Normally in a bad squad I have players I actively dislike. But that isn't the case in this team. There's no doubting the effort or the desire. Every player has put in a shift this season, and guys like McGeever, Neill, Rico, Carsy and even Wilson would chuck themselves at anything for the cause.

Our biggest issue has been a lack of ability and a lack of consistency from the players with ability. Technically Forbes and Frizzell are our two best players; but we've only seen flashes of their matchwinning quality all year. Whether that's down to them, the tactics, or both is up for debate.

Others have played probably at close to the maximum of their ability - but that doesn't make them effective League One players. As brutally harsh as I know that sounds.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Jan Vojáček

[the snudge]

15 minutes ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

I also wonder about the context. It’s absolutely grim watching the matches on a stream anyway. The same game would be a bit different if viewed live instead of a frequently buffering single camera view which does nothing but follow the ball. It has been rotten but many of the one goal defeats have been pretty close. We have lacked goal threat big time.

I've not experienced frequent buffering issues. I've been quite pleased with the streaming service, it's not perfect but it's far superior than my expectations. The Commentary team have been an added bonus. It's far better than having to solely rely on twitter updates. 

 

[lorenzo71]

24 minutes ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

I also wonder about the context. It’s absolutely grim watching the matches on a stream anyway. The same game would be a bit different if viewed live instead of a frequently buffering single camera view which does nothing but follow the ball. It has been rotten but many of the one goal defeats have been pretty close. We have lacked goal threat big time.

I REALLY BELIEVE JD  built a decent squad..Frizzel,Carsy,Nat,JW,PJ,NEILL,MCGEEVER,QUITONGO,LAYNE,FORBES ETC are good players at this level.There has just been a great inability this season to make them click.They have showed grit and determination and you see what it means to them when we have scored late winning goals.

But too often we seem to have a solid defence that cannpot link with the midfield or strikers nor midfield with strikers therefore we have been picking up scraps.Who is to blame?Predominantly the management team I would say but on occasion you get good players in a team but they do not have the X factor, the chemistry that makes a team work.Last season we had a weaker team but we did wonders with a genuine bunch of jobbers.This year we have more quality but show very little.

Time for a change at the helm for sure but we all know off the field issues have far more importance right now and ultimately they will impact on what we have on the pitch next season.

[sarti pooh]

47 minutes ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

I also wonder about the context. It’s absolutely grim watching the matches on a stream anyway. The same game would be a bit different if viewed live instead of a frequently buffering single camera view which does nothing but follow the ball. It has been rotten but many of the one goal defeats have been pretty close. We have lacked goal threat big time.

A camera following the ball at a game of football?

I'll need to have a word with the club about that.

[Gordon EF]

5 hours ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

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.

Of course it's possible to do a Queen's Park and just go FT because money's been pumped into the club but assuming that's not going to be the case here, I really don't see how or why a club with a steady fan base of less than at least 1000 would go full time. It's unlikely to be financially viable and what kind of quality of full time players would you be attracting at that level of possible wages? East Fife's ill-fated attempt to move to a hybrid model in the early 2010's saw us relegated from L1 because the FT players we were able to attract (many through "foreign contacts") were no better than the standard of part-time players we could attract at L1 level except we were paying more for them and it put the club in a financially perilous position that it took years to recover from.

Hope for Dumbarton's sake this isn't going to end up a similar way.

[Howlin' Wilf]

A camera following the ball at a game of football?
I'll need to have a word with the club about that.

Well....aye but my point is that is not the same as being at the game and being able to see the whole pitch.

[Howlin' Wilf]

I've not experienced frequent buffering issues. I've been quite pleased with the streaming service, it's not perfect but it's far superior than my expectations. The Commentary team have been an added bonus. It's far better than having to solely rely on twitter updates. 
 

The buffering has been terrible here. I had to log out and in again about a dozen times last night because the picture had frozen. I appreciate this is almost certainly the fault of my broadband connection even though I have fibre.

[the snudge]

56 minutes ago, Howlin' Wilf said:

Well....aye but my point is that is not the same as being at the game and being able to see the whole pitch.

I'll sit at your front door with a drum if you want to recreate the in person experience?

[Howlin' Wilf]

I'll sit at your front door with a drum if you want to recreate the in person experience?

You can do that, but you’ll find I’ve moved on. I can recommend it.

[Bogheidman]

So as we prepare to bite our fingernails and frantically refresh LiveScore tonight in the hope that East Fife can do the business against Clyde, I was just coming on to say that while the product produced on the park has been less than braw, the commentary and production of our matches and highlights has been first class as far as I’m concerned.

The two lads doing the commentary @Jan Vojáček and the other chap have been excellent. They are informed, unbiased and a genuine pleasure to listen to (even if as I say the product isn’t a pleasure to watch most of the time!). They clearly work hard on their research before games and they’ve been absolutely excellent every time we’ve played as far as I’m concerned.

And whoever produces the live-streams and the highlights etc, they deserve tremendous kudos too. The footage has been A1 on a regular basis and that too must be down to a lot of hard work.

So a huge well done and thank you, it’s certainly made not being able to get to the games in person far easier to stomach with the streaming and the excellent commentary, so now let’s hope that we can end this awful season on a high with East Fife getting a result tonight at Broadwood. Mon the Fife!

[The Moonster]

I would echo those sentiments, a big well done to Jan and Chris who were excellent all season, topped off by Chris' lovely VAMOS DUMBARTON shout the other night  A special note to @sarti pooh as well for his work in the background, but all the media guys have been great in trying to keep some engagement with fans going this season. 

I assume with fans back in grounds that live streams won't be available for us here in Scotland, but will you guys be kept on next season to do the overseas streams?

Edited May 6, 2021 by The Moonster

[Jan Vojáček]

1 hour ago, Bogheidman said:

So as we prepare to bite our fingernails and frantically refresh LiveScore tonight in the hope that East Fife can do the business against Clyde, I was just coming on to say that while the product produced on the park has been less than braw, the commentary and production of our matches and highlights has been first class as far as I’m concerned.

The two lads doing the commentary @Jan Vojáček and the other chap have been excellent. They are informed, unbiased and a genuine pleasure to listen to (even if as I say the product isn’t a pleasure to watch most of the time!). They clearly work hard on their research before games and they’ve been absolutely excellent every time we’ve played as far as I’m concerned.

And whoever produces the live-streams and the highlights etc, they deserve tremendous kudos too. The footage has been A1 on a regular basis and that too must be down to a lot of hard work.

So a huge well done and thank you, it’s certainly made not being able to get to the games in person far easier to stomach with the streaming and the excellent commentary, so now let’s hope that we can end this awful season on a high with East Fife getting a result tonight at Broadwood. Mon the Fife!

 

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

I would echo those sentiments, a big well done to Jan and Chris who were excellent all season, topped off by Chris' lovely VAMOS DUMBARTON shout the other night  A special note to @sarti pooh as well for his work in the background, but all the media guys have been great in trying to keep some engagement with fans going this season. 

I assume with fans back in grounds that live streams won't be available for us here in Scotland, but will you guys be kept on next season to do the overseas streams?

Thanks very much guys. That does mean a lot. I'm glad you've enjoyed (if that's the right word...) the streams. We were in a really privileged position of being able to get into matches, so the last thing I would've wanted would be for people to not think we were taking things seriously.

On next season, I have no idea what the plans are. At the moment we get a wee row at the back of the stand to ourselves where we have a music stand holding up our notes. I'm guessing that wouldn't be possible if fans were back in hospitality - and if they were then they'd have to listen to our chat all game! If there is a need or demand then I'm sure we could make it work; but I guess we won't know if there is until we get to July.

I've also just seen the playoff final dates are Monday May 17 and Thursday May 20. I deliberately booked a few days away from the Wednesday because the playoff final was meant to be the Tuesday. So cheers for that, SPFL. If we end up in the playoff final then I won't be there...

Edit: Got sidetracked by the playoffs there. The real star of the show is @sarti pooh by the way. Without him it would just be me and Chris talking into microphones that weren't turned on. He makes sure you can hear us and see the game, and deals with the problems people send in. And having heard some of the issues/comments he's had to put up with from folk I'm not quite sure how he hasn't battered someone yet!

Edited May 6, 2021 by Jan Vojáček

[FifeSons]

1 hour ago, Bogheidman said:

So as we prepare to bite our fingernails and frantically refresh LiveScore tonight in the hope that East Fife can do the business against Clyde

I’ve paid Clyde £12 like the idiot I am to watch it.

[DFCdownsouth]

So as we prepare to bite our fingernails and frantically refresh LiveScore tonight in the hope that East Fife can do the business against Clyde, I was just coming on to say that while the product produced on the park has been less than braw, the commentary and production of our matches and highlights has been first class as far as I’m concerned.
The two lads doing the commentary [mention=33799]Jan Vojáček[/mention] and the other chap have been excellent. They are informed, unbiased and a genuine pleasure to listen to (even if as I say the product isn’t a pleasure to watch most of the time!). They clearly work hard on their research before games and they’ve been absolutely excellent every time we’ve played as far as I’m concerned.
And whoever produces the live-streams and the highlights etc, they deserve tremendous kudos too. The footage has been A1 on a regular basis and that too must be down to a lot of hard work.
So a huge well done and thank you, it’s certainly made not being able to get to the games in person far easier to stomach with the streaming and the excellent commentary, so now let’s hope that we can end this awful season on a high with East Fife getting a result tonight at Broadwood. Mon the Fife!

Agree with this - coverage and commentary has been great. Really hoping there is some form of streaming going into the future for folk who live far away, though I realise that it's unlikely.

Also, any problems I've had (barely any) have all been dealt with promptly by the club.

Thanks guys!

[East of the Rock]

Really impressed with the coverage and commentary. I actually wondered if the club could charge a premium for seats near Jan and Chris when we're allowed back in. I'd pay extra for the running commentary! 

 

[Jan Vojáček]

2 minutes ago, East of the Rock said:

Really impressed with the coverage and commentary. I actually wondered if the club could charge a premium for seats near Jan and Chris when we're allowed back in. I'd pay extra for the running commentary! 

 You're too kind. I'm sure the chairman would happily switch seats with you after having to put up with us for 15 odd games or whatever it's been this season!

[lionel wickson]

1 hour ago, Jan Vojáček said:

 

Thanks very much guys. That does mean a lot. I'm glad you've enjoyed (if that's the right word...) the streams. We were in a really privileged position of being able to get into matches, so the last thing I would've wanted would be for people to not think we were taking things seriously.

On next season, I have no idea what the plans are. At the moment we get a wee row at the back of the stand to ourselves where we have a music stand holding up our notes. I'm guessing that wouldn't be possible if fans were back in hospitality - and if they were then they'd have to listen to our chat all game! If there is a need or demand then I'm sure we could make it work; but I guess we won't know if there is until we get to July.

I've also just seen the playoff final dates are Monday May 17 and Thursday May 20. I deliberately booked a few days away from the Wednesday because the playoff final was meant to be the Tuesday. So cheers for that, SPFL. If we end up in the playoff final then I won't be there...

Edit: Got sidetracked by the playoffs there. The real star of the show is @sarti pooh by the way. Without him it would just be me and Chris talking into microphones that weren't turned on. He makes sure you can hear us and see the game, and deals with the problems people send in. And having heard some of the issues/comments he's had to put up with from folk I'm not quite sure how he hasn't battered someone yet!

Does that raise the prospect of having a limited number of fans at the games? I thad a feeling that the guidelines were being relaxed from around that date.

[microdave]

2 hours ago, FifeSons said:

I’ve paid Clyde £12 like the idiot I am to watch it.

I thought about that but I've settled  for full notifications on the Sky scores app. What settled it was that if fans were allowed, I wouldn't have actually gone to the game.