FUNDRAISING RACENIGHT – TONIGHT!

 

Fundraising Racenight - 6th Nov 2009 at SHS

 

OUR first fundraising social function of the season is just around the corner – this Friday in fact. Forget any notion of attending outdated fireworks displays, come along to SHS for an evening of fun and laughter. And don’t forget that EVERY penny you/we raise directly benefits Dumbarton Football Club – a perfect night out for any Sons fan.

Tickets, costing just £2 will be available on the night, so no excuses for not coming along. Remember, it’s  YOUR Trust and Club!!

Doors open at 7pm.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE

OUR good friend Dr John Beech has again came up trumps with another thought provoking article on his excellent football management blog.

See for yourself (link below), and of course, comments are welcome!

http://footballmanagement.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/parallel-realities-and-worcester-city/

TRUST TRAVEL NEWS

BOOKINGS are now being taken for the Trust Travel bus(es) for Sons next three away games including the Scottish Cup tie at Cappielow on 28th November.

To confirm your seat, please leave a comment in this post, or contact Tommy on 07710 771 341.

Up and coming matches : Stenny (7/11), Cowden (14/11) and Morton (28/11)

TRUST INVEST IN YOUTH

  

Trust handover cheque.

  

THE Sonstrust handed over a cheque for £1750 to Dumbarton FC before last Saturday’s first home win of the season against Arbroath.

Whilst Scott Chaplain’s first half goal captured 3 points for the team, DFC Chairman was equally delighted with the donation which will be  ringfenced for youth development at the Club!

The money was raised as a result of over 60 Trust members and the Chairman himself trekking all the way from Lomond Shores (in Balloch) to SHS in April’s in ‘Walk to the Rock 2″.

Trust Board member Andy Galloway who was the prime organiser of the event is pictured above with Mr Jardine, our own director Alan Findlay and of course Pellie (who can’t resist a photo opportunity).

Well done to Andy and everyone who took part in the Walk.

TRUSTS ‘MUST KEEP THE FAITH’

BBC scribe Matt Slater writes an excellent piece following Supporters Direct annual conference earlier this month.

To read, use the following link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mattslater/2009/10/footballs_trusts_must_keep_the.html

RANGERS IN FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY

TODAY’S press reports stating that Rangers are now being administered financially by its bank comes as no real surprise.

HBOS have moved to secure their ‘investment’ in the Ibrox club by appointing their own man to the Ranger Board, something they can do as a major creditor.

And in a further knife twisting episode, the Ibrox club have been told that HBOS will now call the shots in terms of how money is to be spent.

Should we gloat at this situation, especially as it is clubs like Rangers who continually carp on about having single benefactors are owners of clubs? Or should we sympathise?

A bit of both is the right answer.  The financial reality of  the mad world of professional football in these recessionary times is now hitting home at the top level. Fantasy ideas built on foundations of sand, mostly by people who see football clubs as a plaything, are fast becoming exposed for what they really are.

Rangers have for so long relied on one person to keep them alive and in that period steadfastly ignored their fans who could see what was coming. Dogma won, or lost, if today’s reporting is any judge.

In recent weeks both Rangers and Celtic have been flying the kite of leaving Scottish football ; fans outwith their own and beemn waiting for the backdoor to slap them on the behind as they toodle off.

Today’s news may just be reality check.

TRUST AGM

THE Sonstrust AGM for 2009 will take place on Sat 19th December 2009 at Strathclyde Homes Stadium kicking-off at 11am.

Members who have given a valid e-mail address will have received their letter, agenda and election form. Those members who have not given a valid e-mail address will have their notices sent by post this week.

Please note that due to the impending strike action by the postmen and women, some letters may be delayed.

DFC ON TWITTER!

 

Follow DFC on Twitter

FANS can now follow DFC on Twitter and get score updates from ALL Sons matches in season 2009/2010.

To follow, here’s the link – www.twitter.com/Dumbartonfc

Happy Tweeting!

TRUST TRAVEL TO STENHOUSEMUIR

BOOKINGS are now being taken for the Trust Travel bus to Ochilview on 7th November.

Please leave your name and contact details in the comments section of this post.

If at all possible, payment should be made to Tommy at either of the next two home matches – v Arbroath, 24th Oct and v Brechin City, 31st Oct.

Cost is £5 for members and £8 for non-members.

TRUSTS v BENEFACTORS

Continuing our series of good governance articles, Dr John Beech again commits some though provoking stuff to the blogosphere. Read on, and as ever, comments are welcome.

There is an interesting piece in today’s Guardian, welcome not least because it promotes the Supporters Direct Conference at the NEC this Friday. I’m attending and it would be great to meet up with any readers who are attending too (there’s a photo of me on the About tag for those who haven’t met me before).

But back to David’s article.  He is of course constrained on the length of article he is allowed to publish (fortunately no such constraint in the blogosphere, although I do try to police myself!) and offers an even-handed overview of the successes and the failures of the Supporters Trust model of ownership and governance.  To argue however that “This has not, on the face of it, been the best 12 months for the enlightened idea that football clubs should belong to their supporters” is, to me, a little misleading.

After all, it would be difficult to make the case that this has been the best twelve months for the unelightend view that clubs should belong to benefactors.  The clubs which have faced insolvency events in the last twelve months include Ringmer, Darlington, Stockport County, Gresley Rovers, Fisher Athletic, Darwen, Northwich Victoria, Chester City, AFC Hornchurch, Merthyr Tydfil, Farsley Celtic, Salisbury City and Halesowen Town.  These cases are populated much more by failed benefactors than they are populated by failed Supporters Trusts.  In the cases of Merthyr Tydfil and Halesowen Town, Supporters Trusts were not prepared to bolster failing benefactors even at the priceof the club entering Administration, sensible decisions in my view.

There are also the ‘nearly cases’.  At Accrington Stanley, a failing benefactor is trying to ’save the club’ when actually this means ’save the current board’.  He has rebuffed attempts by an alternative benefactor who has offered to back a supporters group to take over the club.  At Portsmouth we have seen in recent weeks the benefactor model at its worst, with a brief takeover by a wannabe benefactor who couldn’t actually produce the funds in time, a story which echoes through clubs all the way down the Pyramid.

As David points out, a major problem for a Supporters Trust is to compete financially, especially with clubs in the higher echelons.  I watch with interest nonetheless an ingenious scheme being proposed at Newcastle.  It involves unlocking a significant amount of your pension fund (2) – a high risk strategy for the fans who choose to do this – but then what are the bounds of committment?  News of developments will presumably appear on the Supporters Trust website.

The Supporters Trust model undoubtedly has a future, but I think we can expect to see more examples of a hybrid model – benefactor-backed Supporters Trusts.  Let’s hope they prove to be the best of both models rather than the worst of the two models.