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Sons' sorrow


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Ian Murray, in true Ian Murray fashion, sticking to what he knows. But, Aggie's been a very good servant to us through some of our best times and he goes with a lot of thanks and good luck to him, except for when he's back here! I hope I'm wrong but I'm not sure that's a great move for him but time will tell to see how much of a part he plays.

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Fair play to him getting a deal at St Mirren, although I must admit I'm pretty shocked at them signing him. Been a stand out for us at times but would be surprised if he was anything more than a squad player with them.

All the best to him, seriously nice guy and been an excellent servant to us over the years. Hope he succeeds at St Mirren, although I do have my doubts.

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Explain what "stewarding" the owners have done? We've had admission from the chairmam that they don't invest and leave us to our own devices. Simply buying a club and letting the people who were already there run it isn't doing much in my view.

I agree with you though that if we can sustain this level or League 1 without building debt then I'm happy in the grand scheme of things. But, it can't be denied the club needs investment, whether you call that subsidy or not isn't really relevant, we need it. It's why we (mainly the Trust) look for sponsors every year, hold Comedy nights, quiz nights, Play for the Sons days, Walk to the Rock events, Raise the Rock days, the list goes on. I'm not saying any owner must cover those expenses but at least help in some way to relieve the pressure would be good. Without investment (or subsidy) sustaining this level isn't on the cards. We're doing well here, aye, only pointing out that we can still improve which is often deemed as being negative on here, bizarrely.

Points one by one.

I meant stewardship as in their care/ownership - nothing more. The person who was doing the day to day running of the club when they took over was the then chairman, Ian McFarlane. It is now Gilbert Lawrie who isn't a board member. The board is almost entirely different than it was under Neil Rankine. Gone are Ian MacFarlane, Stephen Lynch, Donnie McIntyre, Jim Innes, Sid Collumbine, John Benn and others. In have come Allan Jardine, John Kane, Alan Findlay, Les Hope and Ian Wilson. Comedy nights, sponsorship etc. create income not investment. As someone who owned a business in Dumbarton and sponsored the club in many ways over 28 years, I can confirm that neither my accountant, HMRC nor I ever regarded it as an investment. It was sponsorship aka a rather expensive way of advertising. FYI the last owner of DFC that DID seriously contribute to the club's coffers was Sir Hugh Fraser about 30 years ago. Unfortunately when he died it was discovered that for tax reasons he had 'invested' the £40,000 as a loan which his beneficiaries wanted paid back pronto.

Fortunately we managed to sell a player around that time for £100k (Steve McCahill) which paid them off.

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Ah well.

Just shows how fast things move in football now. Would think it unlikely that another Dumbarton player will win a testimonial year again, such is the nature of the game/contracts etc these days.

Here's The Dumbarton Terrace's tribute to Scott Agnew: https://thedumbartonterrace.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/scott-agnew-ability-and-personality/

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Points one by one.

I meant stewardship as in their care/ownership - nothing more. The person who was doing the day to day running of the club when they took over was the then chairman, Ian McFarlane. It is now Gilbert Lawrie who isn't a board member. The board is almost entirely different than it was under Neil Rankine. Gone are Ian MacFarlane, Stephen Lynch, Donnie McIntyre, Jim Innes, Sid Collumbine, John Benn and others. In have come Allan Jardine, John Kane, Alan Findlay, Les Hope and Ian Wilson. Comedy nights, sponsorship etc. create income not investment. As someone who owned a business in Dumbarton and sponsored the club in many ways over 28 years, I can confirm that neither my accountant, HMRC nor I ever regarded it as an investment. It was sponsorship aka a rather expensive way of advertising. FYI the last owner of DFC that DID seriously contribute to the club's coffers was Sir Hugh Fraser about 30 years ago. Unfortunately when he died it was discovered that for tax reasons he had 'invested' the £40,000 as a loan which his beneficiaries wanted paid back pronto.

Fortunately we managed to sell a player around that time for £100k (Steve McCahill) which paid them off.

I feel yourself Wilf, Moonster and others are 'investing' much more thought into this than Brabco have ever done. They are fast-buck merchants, only not overly good at it as their bucks may take a long time to materialise. Or not, if whoever is in charge begins to lose patience, sells the assets and moves on to the next wheeze.

And that IMO makes the present set-up dangerous to the interests of Dumbarton FC.

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Get real. That is not happening... he simply didn't rate him at Dumbarton. Never mind St Mirren.

I think your wrong, he hardly missed a game and he's quoted as saying that Fleming was our secret weapon, good luck to Aggy, he'll be sorely missed, and whoever replaces him has big boots to fill, maybe jk can make that spit his own.
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I think your wrong, he hardly missed a game and he's quoted as saying that Fleming was our secret weapon, good luck to Aggy, he'll be sorely missed, and whoever replaces him has big boots to fill, maybe jk can make that spit his own.

As much as I like Garry, if he went I wouldn't be that gutted. Just never felt that Murray rated Fleming. He would hardly have played if we had other options. He certainly won't sign as a striker for anyone. Aggy is miles ahead of Garry and I don't think he is good enough. For our players I'd rather we signed Kirkpatrick and Taggart before Garry.

Oh, and no I'm not saying I don't want Garry to sign for us. I like him and have praised him often enough on here.

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