Football Season Guide

Dumbarton avoided relegation via the playoffs last season but have undergone significant changes since then, with a change of ownership promising a new era for the club. Out has gone manager Jim Duffy, who grimly kept them afloat last season with a defensive but effective brand of football. In has come returning boss Stevie Farrell, whose two-year contract ensures that he should be given an extensive chance. In terms of the playing staff, there are only four players kept on from last season: goalkeeper Sam Ramsbottom, an average performer, strong centre-back Ryan McGeever, stalwart midfielder Stuart Carswell and unremarkable winger Conner Duthie. Dumbarton, then, are effectively building a team from scratch and results in the League Cup seemed to confirm this. Indeed, they lost all four games rather comfortably, including a 2-1 home reverse against League 2 side Stenhousemuir. In these four matches, they scored only two goals and conceded 12. Farrell must hope this is simply a bedding in process, though he has drawn his players from a variety of sources. Few of their summer additions should be seen as players very likely to succeed at this level, though midfielder Joe McKee, who has played for the club previously, and centre-back Gregor Buchanan should prove to be excellent pick ups. Experienced players, meanwhile, have been drafted from the lower reaches of the game, with Paddy Boyle, Paul Paton and Andy Geggan all making the step back up to league football after playing in the Lowland League last term. It will be tough for a collection of 34-year-olds to have the influence at this level they once ahead. Similarly, Dumbarton have signed bit-part players from other League 1 clubs, such as Clyde attacker Kristoffer Syvertsen, who has spent much of the last two years injured, and Eoghan Stokes, who rarely featured at Airdrie. This is a team with big question marks over it.