BiggestPieInGlasgow

@liampie short term? absolutely, it'll pay the staff wages and prevent further debt build-up, and subsequent point deductions which will cripple the club further. long term, probably not. I don't know the exact figure of their current debt but I fear if it was only 80k (current figure of the gofundme) there would be other avenues instead of administration. EDIT: adding gofundme here as it hasn't been posted yet, in case any Magpies are feeling generous: The fighting fund for Dumbarton FC - Save our Sons (SOS), organized by cameron watson WWW.GOFUNDME.COM Support the fighting fund to save our club. Update Th… cameron watson needs your support for The fighting fund for Dumbarton FC - Save our Sons (SOS)

@Robbie the club I support up here is a phoenix club; a very similar situation to the sad franchise F.C. of Dons. Now one plays in the Scottish Championship, the other (phoenix) plays in the WoSFL, very sad for everyone involved. agree with what you say re; true independence, hoping the fact its a civil service department should increase the chances of impartiality, lots of roadblocks i foresee already, one big one being the different challenges of governing the NIFL, SFL, EFL & CLs. And an additional relating to scottish independence, will they insist on devolved powers, which will basically make it toothless? Far too many hypotheticals but i'm optimistic that at least as far as Dumbarton are concerned, this too shall pass

my personal thoughts on clubs in administrations are: Point deductions REALLY don't help, they only punish fans, and dedicated staff who actually give a damn where they finish the season, that ties in with my personal thoughts on crowdfunding, as you've said there Robbie, it only really helps if the club falls into a "fan trust" which gives fans the power to actually manage their club. and this is a situation that highlights that, the dissenters in this particular situation in my eyes have a point, its a get out of jail free card for years of mismanagement. I know this is a controversial POV but i'm a keen supporter in the previous governments proposal to set up a new Football Regulator, i think reckless and malicious owners have for too long ran unchecked; even in our mutual beloved Magpies; we are extremely lucky to have the owners we have now. I think the Football Regulator, under the correct guidance and backed by legislation is the answer to prevent the wider issue of reckless and poor stewardship; in the short-term, for clubs like dumbarton, i think they should settle for no less than 100% ownership, fan trust, write this season off and come back next year stronger, payment plans to restructure debts and shed the wage dead weight.

largely similar to how it looks now, i think the layout is actually not terrible, its a bit regionalised early which is a bit of an issue but geographically i think HL/LL needs to remain, I would overhaul the promotion/relegation process. Feeder leagues would need reorganised but thats a long-term job. Promotion wise, I'd have one promotion slot each in HL/LL, & feeder leagues one playoff promotion slot in each. Relegation wise, bottom four, drop to their respective leagues [HL/LL] remaining promotion relegation would be okay. In terms of breaking the old firm domination, i think the only way is to change the co-efficient spots, its the european money that makes the old firm unreachable by the remaining teams in the prem, perhaps an exclusion from the scottish cup would be best for those two teams just until the scales are balanced. Once the european money begins to dry up/go to other teams (e.g. dundee, motherwell, st mirren) that gives them opportunities to challenge for the title. unfortunately its all academic unfortunately, in Glasgow youre either green or blue and ultimately that'll never change. but i think fixing the league system is an easier step change to create more competitiveness. EDIT: to answer your questions; a transfer cap, wage cap would, in my opinion, simply drive clubs into administration, The large Japanese contingent at Celtic for instance brings a lot of ticket sales and merchandise sales, in my opinion it would prevent obtaining these "celebrity" players etc.

There are licences, ground requirements etc yeah, even at the lower leagues, last years winner of the WoSFL could not advance due to licencing and ground restrictions. I'm unsure of any funding etc available for promotees but you seldom see many matches on tv that aren't rangers celtic if i'm honest, there's not a lot of money floating around at all, which in turn lowers the standard of football and in turn means the academy graduates prefer to go down south. its a vicious cycle!

Bold of you to think HL/LL leagues are televised In terms of tv money I don't believe we're talking a lot, happy to be corrected on that though!

@Robbie unfortunately with the rangers and celtic domination up here, *and aberdeen occassionally* the growth is really only limited to 3/4th place of the scot prem and even thats with considerable individual investment. hard to compete when the money's not there unfortunately. I often support a local side in the West of Scotland FL, and even though they're on a good run, ultimately the chance of leaving the league and moving up is hindered by the round robin promotion rules & relegation playoff. fix that and you fix scottish football in my humble opinion. Something similar to what we have in England is better, i know we all curse the national league and the two promo places, but it beats having to do relegation playoffs against established league 2 sides.

Chronic poor funding and a lack of FA support. The league stagnates as the promotion system is so hard to break into the Scottish league system, meaning no fresh blood in the divisions, and thus dwindling fan numbers and support. unless you're one of the big three. Very sad to see but until Scottish FA does an overhaul of the promotion system its one that will be repeated i fear.

Count me as one of those fans, ultimately failed to impress this season imo, Hopefully he gets the NL experience and comes back to us at a better level in his development, think he peaked in the NL unfortunately however.

Anyone else's PiesPlayer got loads of interference? keeps stuttering on me, any fixes?

Shame, at least Jatta took us to pennos; easier to swallow losing on them than throwing away a 2-0 lead through silly mistakes! FA cup this year though, you heard it here first; Notts -v- Man City at wembley

I personally was massively impressed with this Notts showing; for a start it was an absolute game-changer to be able to actually watch the game, missed stall's commentary but minus a few tech glitches for day 1 I was just thrilled to be able to watch on the big telly! in terms of the game; it was a rare novelty to actually relax when the ball entered our half, Bass for me was top notch, although the bar is set exceptionally low after Aidan Stones sending off in game one last season and a series of goalkeeper errors that resulted in goals conceded. Stuart has clearly made some massive improvements to our defensive shortcomings which were evident after Williams' departure, whilst still keeping a relatively strong attack, granted it could have been better up front but as I say, i'm just thrilled that we kept a clean sheet and no noticeable defensive errors were made, Jatta, Cedwyn & Didzy were good too, didzy on early would have got us 3 points I think but first game of the season showing positive steps on last season, thats all I can ask for. In Maynard we trust, COYPs!

Teething issues mate; in fairness a massive logistical undertaking to stream all EFL matches on opening day for the first time ever; Saving me as an expat fan 10£ per game for video coverage though so i'm all for it; hopefully it improves for next time!

I'd like to hope thats not the case, the brothers in particular and the wider NCFC team have been very open throughout; I also don't see much benefit with giving him the captaincy when they did if it was already a rubberstamp job. That said I hope the Championship clubs are done taking our club favourites for a while, must be difficult as a manager/chairman to try and block a transfer to a club 2 leagues up. Still not forgiven Luke Williams for leaving after every interview saying he was with us for the long haul so not sure my heart can take another loss! However, I'm optimistic that Jatta will come into his own now he's not in macca's "shadow", hard work proving yourself when you have the leagues top scorer to compete with, also optimistic Stuart can really come into his own this season, especially given the transfers made plugging Williams' defensive shortfalls. (Not a slight on Jatta last season by the way!)

Had me in the first half, not gonna lie!