BiggestPieInGlasgow

Another saturday, another dismal result.

Those of you who know me by posts on here know I'm very much not a 'insert manager name here out' kind of fan, BUT; does a change need to be made in the coaches dugout? even at this early stage of the season.

Paterson's appointment was not exactly the rousing appointment we all hoped, especially given his CV; Burton fighting a relegation battle and barely escaping by the skin of their teeth.

But the question is, Who is to blame for this?

on one side, you have the brothers. who have been excellent owners for us, and have very much built our club. But it worked better when they were relatively hands off, this new committee and their increased scrutiny of results has caused more issues than its fixed.

another side, the Director of Football; is he to blame? or is he merely the figurehead?

and finally, the manager. He's still trying things; line-ups, formations, new players, but unlike with Stuart, the players aren't playing for him, and despite some glimmers of positivity i've been thoroughly unimpressed.

So the second question; how do we fix it?

do we sack the manager and try our luck despite the unemployed gaffer market being relatively dry?

do we stay the course; get a raft of new strikers including a marquee signing and give the manager time with an attacking threat?

or finally, do we accept the committee **** hasn't worked and just go back to the old ways, of letting the coach manage the club?

11 minutes ago, Fan of Big Tone said:

There’s a delay to the kick off because of a medical emergency, two air ambulances have landed on the pitch. Very worrying, I hope everyone stays safe and a full recovery is made. 🙏

Poor supporter, scary for family too. Hope they make a full recovery.

@allardyces tash,THIS is the way.

@themightymagpies,I get ya, and agree re; Notts' poor rewards for loyalty, but to counter, I; like many, live outwith Nottingham, I'm definitely a fan, and get to a game when I can; but I wouldn't qualify for that, nor would I stand a hope of, considering it can cost upwards of 100 quid for a ticket down south at times.

I think for Kit, DEFINITELY put a restriction on how many can be purchased; especially for high-demand items (Adult medium for instance) and maybe a 'club reward system' points based, and a certain amount of points equals a level; for example:

Season ticket holder: 100 points

Multiple year season ticket holder: 250 points

Audio Pass holder (piesplayer): 50 points

Per shop purchase: 5 points per 10£ spent.

then levels up with rewards:

50 points = 10% discount in shop

100 points = 1 free video pass for a match not on Sky

etc.

If something like that is implemented, a rewards based system for purchase, they can easily control the demand for things like limited edition shirts, by releasing it in the tiers, so top tier gets access 2 weeks before, mid tier gets access 1 week before, then general release. it also will encourage sign-ups to mailing lists etc meaning they can sell more ad space.

I tell you, get me in front of the Notts Marketing team and we'll be buying Prem Players in no time! ;)

3 minutes ago, BridgyPie said:

Lynn Lawson in the shop. Did you enter the ballot they did at the end of the season as they had extra purple shirts that didn’t get used. There could still be some available.

Yeah I entered, Didn't win but got the email last week about another limited amount available for purchase. I'll drop her an email, not confident though unfortunately, Adult medium shirts are like rocking horse shite it seems!

Just now, BridgyPie said:

I managed to get a purple shirt a few weeks ago in that ballot thing. I’d email Lynn or ring the club shop to see if they have any left. I’ve always found the website isn’t the best when it says things are sold out but you can purchase in the shop

Lynn? I tried emailing the Fan Liasion manager a while back and he basically said no chance :(

Just now, liampie said:

the club and the online store does not always work perfectly when the demand is there for products, i had to fetch my home shirt from last season from the club shop because the site said they had sold out. what is more annoying is people buying more than they should, then sticking them on ebay for silly fees.

one hundred percent, last time they released some they were on ebay in a adult small for 130£! shocking effort.

I fear I have missed out on my chance at a purple shirt, 3 times this season its been in my basket, ready to checkout and the time its taken for me to type my Debit Card details, shirt out of stock.

The latest offing, email received at 1629 'In stock, Medium' i was on the shop page at 1633, tried to purchase 2, got a 'not enough stock' dropped it to 1, checked out at 1635. wallet grabbed, debit card typed in and BOOM, out of stock by 1638. tried to do it on the computer in case it was my phone being shite and already gone. So genuinely: Do we have the fastest fingered fans in the EFL? or is Notts on a personal mission to prevent me getting a purple shirt? is this Notts' way of telling me purple just isn't my colour?

Seperately, if anyone has bought 1 too many medium purple shirts; I'll be willing to discuss a purchase! bonus if you bought two so I can sort out my marge too but every man for himself in this purple shirt wasteland.

And finally, IF anyone who is in charge of Procurement and Purchasing at the club shop is reading this, if you're gonna run a limited edition next season. I AM BEGGING you, please please ensure supply matches demand...

RIP Purple third kit, gone but not forgotten (at least for this 'pie)

Welcome Piedestrian!

I could never get on the Crowley train (as i'm sure you're all bored of reading by now!) 

For me he had flashes of pure brilliance, but against Walsall in particular we were lucky not to concede after he gave the ball away in some truly favourable areas, it seems every game listening to Stall all you heard was "ball to Crowley" then you had to hold your breath for ten seconds before the inevitable "and given away to [insert team name here] and now they're on the counter!"

I don't think he was our best player, I think the clubs statement speaks volumes about what kind of influence he has or rather has not got in the dressing room "Whilst Dan has certainly been an influential figure for us, following the exciting additions of Will Jarvis and Charlie Whittaker, along with the return to fitness of Conor Grant and Curtis Edwards we have many strong options in his area of the pitch and we're very confident the squad can mount a strong challenge for promotion without him.", that's about as strongly worded as you can get from a club and one which, in my opinion, demonstrates the feelings about him.

Ultimately, he should know his worth, and he evidentally wasn't worth what he demanded during contract negotiations, cracking bit of business for the club, in my humble opinion his departure will cause the defenders to breathe a heavy sigh of relief, alex bass can stop practicing for when Crowleys pocket is picked and the strong options in midfield should put us altogether stronger.

He's MK's problem now

What a great signing. Class start to our January window. him, Jodi, Jatta up front with didzy support on occasion and we should *fingers crossed* start to regain some of our attacking threat which was massively missing with injuries.

3 minutes ago, Morten Johansen said:

Was that offiside!?!?

TIGHT call, i didn't think so watching the replay, but with no VAR guess i'll have to suck it up shame cause i think we deserved the draw

Very unpopular opinion, but i think Crowley needs selling. He absolutely has flashes of utter brilliance, but so far twice in ten minutes where he's given the ball away, it seems every game has "crowley.... crowley to...and its given away!" his position means he can't afford to make those mistakes in the favourable positions, i think personally Notts will be much better off without his free gimmie giveaways.

6 minutes ago, Robbie said:

Great piece of management by Stuart putting the same side out that failed miserably against Salford.

The players had very much to prove and they passed with flying colours today.

This could have been a hard match with the conditions today but the team responded to Stuart's rallying call and did him proud 

I think we have to give credit where credit's due to Stuart & his team who prepared the team to perform the way they did.

Crowley had his best game since returning from injury & I think he was the driving force today.

If Notts can play the way they did today they aren't going to lose many matches going forward, & with more players to return, things are looking good again.

The January window might be the icing on the cake if it is a good window for Notts.

could not agree more with all of this, I think its obvious the players play for Stu and the assistants. Hopefully this puts the Maynard out knobbers back in their box for a bit.

Can't feel more sorry for the guy losing 6/7 of his preferred starting 11 and then dealing with the maynard out crowd on the socials. hopefully January is a good time for late christmas presents ideally in midfield i think, although wouldn't say no to a Macca loan return

A good game, good to see Notts return to winning ways. i was nearly dancing round the gaff after the quick-fire triple.

@Robbie Stenhousemuir are top of the league so an expected defeat I'd say, in terms of immediate future they've had no shortage of offers according to the administrators.

The MSP is pushing for a supporter/community ownership which I hope will come to fruition. in short term however they appear to be largely stable; the club only has ~20 staff so 100k should ensure their job security at least until the end of the season. There does seem to be an expectation that they will drop this season however, being 6 points currently behind a team thats currently in a bit of form.

Question remains though as to whether a community trust can afford to pay the price that would be required.

Unclear times ahead, but hopefully they can reach a resolution soon.

*Puts on tin-foil hat*

I'm no conspiracy theorist, however, I have suspicions that a certain ex telecoms engineer now king of the lane may have done some nifty unscrewing last night for the extra break and hopefully extra recovery time... 

*takes off tin-foil hat* 

damned shame though, games in hand give me the fear!

I think with the injury situation it's definitely an oversight, but hindsight is 20/20 after all, I wonder how much of his leaving was by his request rather than the clubs; no evidence to back that statement mind but it did seem a bit out of left field (pardon the pun) that he went over to MK. 

Nice lad though so hoping he smashes it.

Welcome K9 - Good to have you!

@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

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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 

8 minutes ago, Robbie said:

@BiggestPieInGlasgow

Just wondered what people thought in Scotland about the crowdfunding to help Dumbarton.

Personally I think it is a good thing but I have seen some dissenters on social media.

I wonder if a solution would be for more 50%+1 fan owned clubs is the answer?

Crowd funding can only be a temporary measure.

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. 

21 minutes ago, Robbie said:

@BiggestPieInGlasgowSo how would you like the Scottish league pyramid to look like. Would you like to see less divisions with more teams in each league?

What about a cap on transfers, & a limit on players wages. How can the leagues be made more equal to reduce the dominance of the old firm?

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.

10 minutes ago, Piethagoram said:

@BiggestPieInGlasgow Ooops, not very well expressed by me

What I was trying to infer, was the bottom of the Scottish Leagues may get a distribution of tv monies but Highland/Lowland Leagues do not.

Also writing in terms of ignorance on whether there are ground stadium criteria for clubs from Highland / Lowland leagues that need to be met?

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! 

1 minute ago, Piethagoram said:

@BiggestPieInGlasgow Is there a difference in distribution of tv monies, between bottom division of Scottish Leagues and the Highland / Lowland League?

Countries like Argentina were structured with mathematical coefficients to help stop the "old school" clubs being relegated.

Bring back Third Lanark!

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!