Sons' sorrow

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I'm not going to get too carried away just yet, but last night we looked much more flexible and expansive then last season.  The first half hour in particular was excellent, with only a succession of poor final balls letting us down - Div Wilson was particularly guilty but once he found his touch what a peach of a cross for the second goal.

The squad looks stronger and I'm looking forward to seeing Young, Hilton and Ruth after some decent game time.  Ryan Wallace and Chucky look fitter too and that can only be good.  I'd like to see Finlay Gray stay, but only if he is a happy camper.

As for playing ringers in this Cup, I don't agree.  We have some rest time between the Dundee game and the opening league fixture and I'd rather everyone possible has had a run out than wrap folk in cotton wool.  It's a contact sport but we look to have a decent squad with adequate positional cover.

East Fife, Forfar and Stenny have upgraded and we have Peterhead and Clyde to consider.  Each deserves respect but I'm not feeling fear.  Time will tell.

 

[Jan Vojáček]

Aye, I know the defending ranges from lazy to down right rubbish. But these are two excellent goals. I know as soon as Wallace killed the ball with his first touch where it was ending up. Beautiful technique. And the move for the second was lovely stuff. I've watched both back about 50 times already today.

 

[ScottishD81]

Yeah hopefully see second goal replicated often should get overloads 

[Deputy Keeper]

On 18/07/2023 at 09:44, The Moonster said:

@O'Kelly Isley III do you know what number the current Trust membership is at? 

Currently 241.  Renewal notices for 2023/24 going out soon.  Rarely been a more important time to be a Trust member.  If you have any Sons supporting friends who are not members or perhaps lapsed members, please encourage them to join.

[PWL]

15 hours ago, Deputy Keeper said:

Currently 241.  Renewal notices for 2023/24 going out soon.  Rarely been a more important time to be a Trust member.  If you have any Sons supporting friends who are not members or perhaps lapsed members, please encourage them to join.

Not wishing to teach you to suck eggs but don't think putting a wee link to the form on here when renewals start would do any harm. 

[BallochSonsFan]

43 minutes ago, PWL said:

Not wishing to teach you to suck eggs but don't think putting a wee link to the form on here when renewals start would do any harm. 

The best option would be for anybody who hasn't already done so to sign up to renewal by direct debit. Taken in August. Once a year payment. It makes it easy, particularly for trust members who may not attend every game.

[Sons Fan]

16 hours ago, Deputy Keeper said:

Currently 241.  Renewal notices for 2023/24 going out soon.  Rarely been a more important time to be a Trust member.  If you have any Sons supporting friends who are not members or perhaps lapsed members, please encourage them to join.

I would have thought membership would be a lot higher... How does that compare to previous years?

[The Moonster]

2 minutes ago, Sons Fan said:

I would have thought membership would be a lot higher... How does that compare to previous years?

We only sell about 300 season tickets, so 241 probably isn't a bad number. Could really do with more though. 

[Sons Fan]

3 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

We only sell about 300 season tickets, so 241 probably isn't a bad number. Could really do with more though. 

Why would season tickets numbers = trust numbers? Considering trust membership is £10 I would have thought/hoped for a lot more people.

[Jan Vojáček]

I think we have a lot of match going fans who go on a Saturday, enjoy/endure their 90 minutes. And that's the extent of their interaction and relationship with the club until the following weekend.

All of us on here, by virtue of the fact that we've taken the time to make account and spend our free time writing about DFC, are probably in the diehard category. But there are a huge number of our supporters - many of whom are really loyal when it comes to going to games - who are clueless about the ownership situation. That's not intended as a dig in any way to those people either. It's just where we are.

The amount of times I've heard people saying 'well the owners are just going to have to find more money' when we're talking about signings or sacking Faz is scary. Folk don't realise how bleak the situation is and, I guess, that falls on all of us - be that the Trust reps, interested observers or me and Jack at the local papers to try and get word out.

I did a Terrace pod with @Francesc Fabregas a few months back where we really dug deep into the ownership mess. And I hope that reached some extra ears. FF is as switched on as it gets to lower league football, but I think even he was pretty taken aback at the grim reality of things at DFC.

Get talking to your pals, see what they know. Fill in the gaps and get them signing up to the Trust for this season.

[The Moonster]

30 minutes ago, Sons Fan said:

Why would season tickets numbers = trust numbers? Considering trust membership is £10 I would have thought/hoped for a lot more people.

Well the folk who buy season tickets are the most likely to become trust members because they are there every week and invested in the club. Folk who go to the odd game with their kids or friends will only take an interest in what happens on the pitch, sure they might throw money in a bucket to save the club if it comes to that but they probably don't see any value in a Trust membership when they go to 5 games a season. 

It would be great if the casual fan signed up and if we do what Jan says above and spread the word of how precarious the club is right now we might get some traction, but I do feel right now there isn't really a message for fans to get behind. We all want to save the club but right now it doesn't seem clear to me how we do that. There will come a point where the Trust needs to go public with all the info and starts some sort of campaign, I hope at that point folk will get behind it (or preferably before that point if at all possible!).

[O'Kelly Isley III]

Supporters are understandably animated primarily by balls being kicked on the pitch and that's absolutely fine.  The problem we currently have at Dumbarton is that the owner is the polar opposite, he is only interested in profiting from developing land at the Castle Road site.

Stopping this and coincidentally protecting the best interests of DFC has become the Trust's mission in recent times.  If anyone is looking for a 'campaign' then I would suggest current Planning Application ref DC22/238/FUL as a good example, details of which including a site plan have already been posted on this thread.  Put bluntly, if this  development ever materialises in its proposed form then DFC will be hugely impacted, and not in a good way.

The Trust is a broad group of people with a common aim, and the Trust Board reflects that.  There are about four or five individuals in the organisation who are 'political' and are actively engaged.  Be under no illusions, we are dealing with heavy shit here, it can be tiring and time-consuming and very often it is confidential in nature; whilst we would love to give a running commentary it is just not possible.  And we know that these threads are closely watched.

So there is a balance to be struck, and I honestly think we are achieving that.  

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

3 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

I think we have a lot of match going fans who go on a Saturday, enjoy/endure their 90 minutes. And that's the extent of their interaction and relationship with the club until the following weekend.

All of us on here, by virtue of the fact that we've taken the time to make account and spend our free time writing about DFC, are probably in the diehard category. But there are a huge number of our supporters - many of whom are really loyal when it comes to going to games - who are clueless about the ownership situation. That's not intended as a dig in any way to those people either. It's just where we are.

The amount of times I've heard people saying 'well the owners are just going to have to find more money' when we're talking about signings or sacking Faz is scary. Folk don't realise how bleak the situation is and, I guess, that falls on all of us - be that the Trust reps, interested observers or me and Jack at the local papers to try and get word out.

I did a Terrace pod with @Francesc Fabregas a few months back where we really dug deep into the ownership mess. And I hope that reached some extra ears. FF is as switched on as it gets to lower league football, but I think even he was pretty taken aback at the grim reality of things at DFC.

Get talking to your pals, see what they know. Fill in the gaps and get them signing up to the Trust for this season.

Absolutely this. I work with a couple of Sons fans who are completely blind to most of the ownership stuff. They know the general jist of it being far from ideal but they don’t know the half of it, despite my best attempts at informing them. I get the impression they think I may be over exaggerating things as they have never really seen anything “official” or from a more trusted source than some random disgruntled punter like myself. These guys aren’t just fairweather fans either, they go to every game they can.

I reckon the majority of supporters outwith this forum are in exactly the same position. Even the dumplins who regularly post on the daft Facebook group, some of whom attend every game home and away, don’t come across as being remotely clued up on the inner goings on at the club.

[The Moonster]

50 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Supporters are understandably animated primarily by balls being kicked on the pitch and that's absolutely fine.  The problem we currently have at Dumbarton is that the owner is the polar opposite, he is only interested in profiting from developing land at the Castle Road site.

Stopping this and coincidentally protecting the best interests of DFC has become the Trust's mission in recent times.  If anyone is looking for a 'campaign' then I would suggest current Planning Application ref DC22/238/FUL as a good example, details of which including a site plan have already been posted on this thread.  Put bluntly, if this  development ever materialises in its proposed form then DFC will be hugely impacted, and not in a good way.

The Trust is a broad group of people with a common aim, and the Trust Board reflects that.  There are about four or five individuals in the organisation who are 'political' and are actively engaged.  Be under no illusions, we are dealing with heavy shit here, it can be tiring and time-consuming and very often it is confidential in nature; whilst we would love to give a running commentary it is just not possible.  And we know that these threads are closely watched.

So there is a balance to be struck, and I honestly think we are achieving that.  

I tip my hat to those in the Trust doing all they can to keep the club safe and I fully understand some things are confidential, but if we want fans to get mobilised they need to know what's going on. Again I fully understand the need for balance but in my eyes Hosie is weak right now, there's an opportunity to pressure the patsy that owns us in Alan Martin - it's surely a story of interest that a former goalkeeper has turned up from nowhere to legally "run" the club, it's a chance to get eyes on the clubs problems. As I've said previously if the Trust want folk to mobilise against the owners and eventually oust them, the Trust needs to put the cards on the table for them to see. 

In regards to the planning application, there's not much fans can do. The Trust has already raised objections on their behalf. Short of personally lobbying council officials I'm not sure what we can do. 

[TullyBascombe]

Apologies if this is a daft question but speaking as a fairly recent blow-in - how does one go about joining the Trust?

[Curler]

Just see one of the Trust members in the bar before the game. He will happily take your £10.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

I tip my hat to those in the Trust doing all they can to keep the club safe and I fully understand some things are confidential, but if we want fans to get mobilised they need to know what's going on. Again I fully understand the need for balance but in my eyes Hosie is weak right now, there's an opportunity to pressure the patsy that owns us in Alan Martin - it's surely a story of interest that a former goalkeeper has turned up from nowhere to legally "run" the club, it's a chance to get eyes on the clubs problems. As I've said previously if the Trust want folk to mobilise against the owners and eventually oust them, the Trust needs to put the cards on the table for them to see. 

In regards to the planning application, there's not much fans can do. The Trust has already raised objections on their behalf. Short of personally lobbying council officials I'm not sure what we can do. 

All we can ask is that the public gains increasing awareness of the situation - we can certainly provide some of background, and we do, but for something like Alan Martin's curious return to matters DFC then we really need the mainstream media to run with that.

For the Planning Application, at the very least I think folk should take a look at the site plan and consider the implications for the club, and yes, if they feel strongly then contact their councillor.

One day all of us will get back to just concentrating on the football

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 hour ago, TullyBascombe said:

Apologies if this is a daft question but speaking as a fairly recent blow-in - how does one go about joining the Trust?

As Curler says above, and ask for Tommy Hughes.

[The Moonster]

4 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

All we can ask is that the public gains increasing awareness of the situation - we can certainly provide some of background, and we do, but for something like Alan Martin's curious return to matters DFC then we really need the mainstream media to run with that.

For the Planning Application, at the very least I think folk should take a look at the site plan and consider the implications for the club, and yes, if they feel strongly then contact their councillor.

One day all of us will get back to just concentrating on the football

Absolutely we need the media to pick it up but we can help the story along the way by asking our own questions. Anything Alan Martin says or doesn't say can be spun whichever way you like it. Have the Trust reached out to him officially? 

More than happy to contact my councillor. 

This is a slightly unrelated issue and I stress it's not meant as a dig at anyone on the Trust right now but I think it needs acknowledged that we may need the power of social media to increase our voice. The Trust website hasn't had a post on it in 3 years (unless I'm looking at an old site) and we've been only slightly more active across other platforms. Appreciate these things need people to run them and you guys are all probably stretched but I do feel it will be important going forward. Perhaps I can discuss with you at a game about this.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

24 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Absolutely we need the media to pick it up but we can help the story along the way by asking our own questions. Anything Alan Martin says or doesn't say can be spun whichever way you like it. Have the Trust reached out to him officially? 

More than happy to contact my councillor. 

This is a slightly unrelated issue and I stress it's not meant as a dig at anyone on the Trust right now but I think it needs acknowledged that we may need the power of social media to increase our voice. The Trust website hasn't had a post on it in 3 years (unless I'm looking at an old site) and we've been only slightly more active across other platforms. Appreciate these things need people to run them and you guys are all probably stretched but I do feel it will be important going forward. Perhaps I can discuss with you at a game about this.

There has been no contact as yet with Alan Martin, but I expect it will be the same as Kristofferson - everything will be deferred to the Boss Man.  No matter, it's a valid point.

As is your one about social media.  After an interminable age we contracted someone to design a new website but that has now stalled due to an illness issue.  It's an absolute requirement and a glaring omission on all sorts of levels and I'll make sure it's on the agenda at Saturday's Board meeting.