Dumbarton F C 2010/2011

Still not overly sure, but I never buy replica strips anyway so it doesn't matter a great deal.

 

Yeah, the home top is certainly nicer. I prefer our current away top though.

 

I like the new away kit as it quite resembles a recent Scotland away kit.

 

Superb result yesterday for the Black and Gold Barca in glorious sunshine.

I'm fairly confident that we can beat Airdrie United next and hope Forfar do us a favour by beating Stenny to give us a cushion in case we come unstuck against Livingston, Ayr and Forfar.

 

Safe!

Yesterday's point, coupled with other results, ensures that we can't finish in the relegation play-off spots.

Superb turn around as I had accepted relegation as inevitable as far back as early November last year.

Now the pressure's off for Saturday and the final game of the season, then the real work begins as Alan Adamson starts forming his own squad for what will be his first full season in charge.

On another note, the turn out from the Livingston fans and their general lack of enthusiasm and apathy for the fact that they had just won back to back league titles was shocking and disappointing to see. I don't care whether it's the Champions League or the Third Division, no trophy success should be taken for granted. Fans, if they can really be called that, who show no enthusiasm for their team when presented with the league trophy do not deserve a football team in my opinion.

 

What is there to be happy about? We should never have been dumped to the Third Division and we have already celebrated the second successive title. The rest of the season is simply a waste of time until we are back where we belong. You should be thankful that the pressure is off our players and they are simply going through the motions like the rest of the club.

 

You're clearly a very strange sort if you would have rather had 2 seasons of mid-table finishes in Division One with nothing to show for it than 2 seasons of visiting new grounds and winning back to back league titles. You may well have celebrated when you effectively wrapped up the title before Saturday, but you didn't actually receive the trophy until yesterday, so that's when the party should have been, believe me, I know having seen my team in that position in recent seasons.

As for your assertion that there was nothing to celebrate and that you should never have been in that position in the first place, I would question whether or not supporting a football team is really for you if that is how you feel. And re: being relegated to the Third Division, the SFL judges financial irregularity infringements on a case-by-case basis and their punishment for your repeated financial misdeeds was both fair and just, and has precedent from previous offences by other clubs.

If you'd rather watch a middling team win nothing and finish mid-table every season without anything to show for it then I would suggest that you have totally missed the point of competitive sport and should seek a new hobby.

A shocking attitude to have, but not one that surprises me given the outrageous lack of turn out or enthusiasm from the Livingston support yesterday. If your team packs up and heads to another town (again) then you will only have yourselves to blame for the lack of support shown.

 

I'll ignore the all too common ignorant ramble about Livingston and our 'fate'. As for the crowds it is a holiday and the title was already wrapped up. Use some common sense instead of trying to score points. Although judging by your initial whine I doubt your will be able to. There is nothing more boring than watching a professional team full of First Division (at worst) players waltz their way through two seasons against teams who, to be frank, had little to no chance. We have been to most of the grounds before when we made our way up last time. It is nothing new and nothing to savour when you have been dumped two divisions and your club is struggling to survive as a direct result. If you want to watch a team dominate each season then the bigot brothers are always recruiting. Your choice.

 

Dress it up and justify it however you like, no team should have to receive their second successive league title in front of 1500 bored locals because their fan base either didn't care that they'd won it or took it for granted to such an extent that the whole affair was de-valued. Thanks to the actions of the unscrupulous past owners at Livingston you are struggling to survive, the SFL cannot be held responsible for that, and the only way your club will thrive again is with the support of the local community. To be so blase as to say that no-one cared about seeing the team receive their hard earned league trophy because it was wrapped up 2 weeks prior and it was a bank holiday (possibly the daftest excuse for a poor crowd that I've ever heard, if anything the crowd should have been higher as a result) is a callous and wreckless attitude to have.

I have no axe to grind with Livingston FC and stayed behind long after the final whistle to cheer them for their efforts as worthy champions, however, in this day and age, and especially given the fact that Livingston are living proof of what can happen to badly run and / or poorly supported teams, I feel that no Scottish club can afford the luxury of an apathetic fan base.

I am not trying to score points, I, as a Dumbarton fan, see on a weekly basis the effect that local disinterest has on our support, but I also know that when we have some success, the lapsed fans and part-timers come back in droves and show their support for the club.

I hate to labour my point, but I was genuinely surprised by the lack of turn out and enthusiasm from the Livingston support, regardless of holiday weekends, grudges held against the SFL or the fact that the league was effectively won prior to last Saturday.

 

A double promotion was hardly an achievement worth celebrating. It was merely a two year training stint to get us back to where we should have been originally. I am frankly not surprised that the celebrations are low key.

 

What's not surprising at all is the continued bitterness of rival fans and clubs. You tried to force us out of business. You tried to maroon us in the Third Division. It failed. Accept it and move on.

 

It sounds to me as though you are the one with a complex here, rather than the other way about.

I have no feelings one way or another for Livingston, they are just another team as far as I am concerned, no different to Elgin City, Queen of the South, Albion Rovers, Stirling Albion or any other team of which I have absolutely no opinion. However, it does strike me as highly odd that such a young club would have such a prevalent number of fans with a "big club" attitude, when clearly Livingston are anything but. A curiosity and no mistake. A club that can only take figures in the single thousands to a cup final at Hampden, when they were at the height of their relative success, speaks volumes about the size of the club.

You will find no bitterness towards Livingston from my end, only bafflement that their fans seem to be equal parts arrogant and disinterested. Enjoy the First Division.