1320Lichtie

Hammy definitely being away is my guess?

Hamilton would still be absolutely fine in L1 but his best days well behind him and ToB would be a good player in L1 too, he’s been peppered with niggling injuries for a long time now but still a really good player when he’s at it, not seen much of that for a while though - but I’m just guessing they’ll both want to work with DC again and we’ve got to prepare for that. Atleast we would get a fee for ToB. Hammy definitely be away. ToB I think it’s 50/50 and it’ll depend on how he feels about the club and McIntyre and boys that will be here next season.

Bird is only 22 and stays up here with Norey. Pretty sure he’s not got any family up here. Also we should make Scott Stewart a great offer he’s exactly the kind of guy we need. He will be close with the assistant manager Jimmy Boyle too I’m sure, him and his dad Sandy are close. Fancy McKenna to stay another year here he loves it and so does his family, he’s a big fans favourite and will probably be pissed off at missing so much time this year. Again I’d offer a great 2 year deal to him. Gold will stay he’s due his testimonial. Not sure why Lyon would be likely to be released the man has been solid and shown his value playing all over the park. Sure we’d be very interested in keeping him about. Likes of Delaney will be looking for a full time move. He’s an Irish lad and can’t see him having a proper job away from football. Pretty sure Slater will have signed more than a one year deal in the summer.

Hammy a stick on to EF for me. It would suit him down to the ground seeing his career out there. Whatever happens we are going to have to build a new core of players, we are going to be in a completely different place next season. Signings we make in the summer will be massive. Have to get a lot of them right. If we go down I don’t see a big bounce back I think we will have to take a season to find our feet, hopefully sign the right guys, build a bit of an identity with them and then hopefully season after we can be in and around the play offs. Pretty hopeful of keeping Stewart, McKenna and Gold to be honest. Steele, Slater, McIntosh, Stowe, Murray on top of that is a good start, ToB too if he stays. Would love to get Lyon signed up a couple of years. Next season is going to be a big season and a tough job for the manager, it’ll be a fresh start. Dropping down a division should provide a bit of relief however and we should still be absolutely fine. I don’t quite understand. What does that look like? I think he looks like he cares?

Don’t think it would come across too well if he was like that in an interview on the clubs YouTube. They things tend to go viral, I can think of several occasions like that most noticeably Billy Brown at EF and John Hughes at well a few places. Stewart, McKenna, Gold and Lyon have to be an absolute priority right now in terms of getting them signed up for a length of time. Steele, Stowe, Slater, Murray and McIntosh are already on deals. That would be a good core to build from, next targets have got to be established PT players who can build up the squad. Don’t have to be guys who are too flashy or stand out on paper either. But this rebuild has got to be done correctly. I’d like ToB, Hamilton Gaston to stay but not sure what they’ll be looking for.

Only side we see to McIntyre is the ‘professional’ stuff too. Me and a couple of my mates bumped into him in a pub in Glasgow after we got beat 2 zip from Partick Thistle this time last year and he was absolutely brand new and was happy to talk and have a laugh and tell us some stories for 10-15 minutes. I mean I get it that’s how football is now and everyone wants change and success so fair enough but just don’t see how it’s a fair shot at the job if we were to get rid in the summer personally

Bird and Norey are definitely one and done they’d have to permanently move into the town or up to Scotland and find work if they wanted to stay at Arbroath. In regards to McIntyre, no manager anywhere can be a success if they’ve not been given a chance to build up their own team. He inherited an absolute shit show and the shit show become even worse with the crazy injury situation he’s had to contend with and trying to sign players in January is extremely tough. The squads been bigger on numbers in recent weeks but it’s still players back then out again and it’s all a bit of a mess still there is no chance of any consistency. We have just got a whole new staff in I do not see what the point would be in getting rid and starting all that again. McIntyre is the manager but there are a whole load of people involved with the players behind the scenes he’s not got to be some charismatic patter merchant he’s just got to make signing’s and pick the team and how it sets up. Would surely need to give him a chance to do that otherwise we’re back to square one

Tam definitely really started to struggle a bit more this and last year with form and injuries, seems permanently peppered with niggling injuries. Not as much as Hammy though who looks to have lost a fair bit of pace when he wasn’t very quick in the first instance. Which is understandable as they’ve gotten older and Hammy has had a serious injury to deal with. Would never ever ever question the commitment of either of them though I think they’ve just got to the stage in their careers where they are passed their peak, this happens to every player. Look at Jason Thomson last year, exactly the same thing. I think Hammy will definitely move on to L2 with EF next season and I have a feeling ToB might end up there too. They’ve been absolutely brilliant players here and will both go down as club legends but we are definitely starting to see and in a way have been in the process of the beginning of the end for a lot of the old core and the time is coming for attempting to build a new core of guys. Which will be a really hard job.

It’s absolutely wild that you could think ToB isn’t committed. There’s no way he’s half arsing anything that’s not how footballers work they’ve far too much respect and commitment to themselves and their team mates to just half arse it or throw in the towel he quite simply couldn’t get away with that as captain and in that dressing room

Agree And ToB getting criticism… you realise how hard a game that would be to come in and play when you’ve been in and out with injury all season Next Saturday is massive. Airdrie away are a different prospect to Airdrie at home unfortunately but if Arbroath were to win that game you’re right back in the mix going into the following 3 home games. I have no confidence and no wonder with how things have been but really there should be no reason why we can’t - that line up on paper yesterday was decent enough We need big games from Bird, McKenna, Reilly and yes even ToB.

On Stowe I’ve noticed McIntyre say quite a bit about him and how he’s trying to get him to score more goals and get more assists and get his crosses into the box early etc. McIntyre will hopefully be able to help him improve in the areas he needs to because I think he’s got the raw attributes to be a really good player, maybe not right now in this league but if (and there’s a good chance) we drop into League 1 and he’s up against poorer defenders with less pace and physicality and add in the fact we should be one of the better teams in the league instead of being on the back foot or in a very toughly contested match most weeks I think he could be a player for us and in time could improve to the level required Bobby for example was absolutely immense but again he got better year on year and was with us when we were at a lower level and improved his game to become the player he ended up being Tough game today and can’t see us taking anything but the run of games after really do turn into cup finals especially the Gayfield ones

He’s just in the category of ‘a really good player to have around’ Can play in numerous positions and gives his absolute all. Very steady

I really think we have to try our very best to keep Darren Lyon I love the guy. Gaston definitely worth trying to get another year too. Think Ricky will be off for his own personal reasons and travelling which is ashame and assuming all the ‘FT’ players will be away but next years squad regardless of league you’ve got to try and keep Gaston Hamilton ToB Steele Lyon Gold Slater Stewart Stowe McKenna Murray McIntosh I am so torn over Ryan Dow. I kind of think he’d be a really good player in L1. Tremendous come back last night - if we’d held on v Inverness there’d only be 1 point in it Next week will more than likely be a defeat but the run of games after is decent. Hopefully get more players back up to full fitness for it

I find it hard to be too critical of the post because I’m finding the new WhatsApp thing very very very good and all you can ask for and they’ve obviously put a bit of effort into it but yeah need to double check and get things right before they post On the actual player himself - on paper he’s a cracking signing - I wish we’d managed to have just kept Hylton though. He was different class, hoping Reilly can have same impact

I enjoy the wee countdowns personally - gives it a wee bit of a build up and something for you to keep an eye on through your day

Well what was the point of even saying what you said, so every fanbase has delusional fans? When did Colin Hamilton say someone spat at Dick Campbell I missed it? If he did I take back every single thing I said. Spitting is absolutely disgusting. Every single person I know that was there and in the vicinity said he come over to talk to a fan because he was shouting abuse (also something that happens at the football when things go bad within every fanbase). Have a read back our thread from people who were there too. It’s widely believed that this whole spitting nonsense is a pile of shite. Dick lies for fun, every week he will bare face lie or exaggerate situations. Anyway this is all beside the point, if you’re an outsider looking in you don’t understand all the things that lead up and to Dick leaving Arbroath and none of they things involved Arbroath or the fanbase getting ideas above their station or not appreciating how excellent a job DC had done.

Fkn hell? Delusional football fans? Definitely only Arbroath that have them… Nobody grobbed on anyone Dick is an absolute haver Dick is also a club legend who has achieved what no one else will and has helped and played a part in building our club up on and off the park to a point I could have only dreamed of when he took over That does not make him untouchable and his time was most definitely well and truly up

With all due respect you’re talking absolute shite and if you can be arsed reading this then you’ll see why - You have no idea - this was not about the support getting too big for their boots or ‘losing all sense of perspective’ or what other ridiculous things people have said since Dick left us It was extremely upsetting the night I’d heard he’d left us - a club legend - but it quite simply needed to happen and that was the overwhelming opinion of everyone involved

Without wanting to continually bang on about it and make excuses it’s hard to see with having had 14 injured players the last game we played. I have heard players will be back for this but a lot of the returning ones will be very rusty. I hope you’re correct though.

Can’t complain about the WhatsApp thing - seems like a brilliant idea and addresses absolutely everything I had said I thought had been poor this year Video with Mike great, the interview with new player, all that helps a lot and makes you feel more a part of it

This is really good. Things like this are so simple to do but very important for fans. Interesting to note that training is now split between Edinburgh and Dundee. Guessing it’s been because of how poor weathers been - outdoor at Perth can’t have been much use throughout the winter we’ve just had but chairman also mentioning that it’s also for the better facilities for the players.

Think he will be able to provide the funding for some players - heard there is something like that going on with the Scott Allan situation - might be miles off it but it wouldn’t surprise me. He has fell out with a fair few players in the last 18 month. Even Balde who you’ll know well made a bit of a weird comment when he was sacked on social media which I found telling. But there was numerous wee things that transpired. I feel like we hit our ceiling and it got to him a wee bit - we started to do things differently and I feel like he maybe got ideas above his station and become complacent which lead to the fallouts with players. Pretty sure Bobby Linn would’ve played another year if Dick wasn’t here and plenty of other players left on a bit of a sour note too. Right up until that point though Dick was brilliant and a breath of fresh air. You could see him getting older and you could hear the ‘schtick’ getting a bit more fantasy world and ridiculous year on year but when he was happy and enjoying being our manager he was spot on and brilliant I think when things started to turn and fans were getting a bit annoyed at what they were seeing happen on and off the park was when it all changed. It’s like he let it get to him so much and kind of couldn’t believe we all had the audacity to question the guy. Feels like he was getting more and more frustrated and was trying way too hard to dig himself out of the mess he had slowly created and the whole thing just turned into a total mess. When he openly stated that the fans were getting on his tits because the Bobby Linn song was being sung when he wasn’t playing that’s when I just had a horrible feeling that things were never going to improve I backed the guy to the hilt and even after how poor last season was I wanted him to stay, if we’d gone down I had said that I wanted him to stay as manager because he absolutely deserved it with all he’d achieved here. However I was at hospitality on the last day of the season when we stayed up against Hamilton and he come in after - what I heard really made me have serious doubts. A guy who always used to come into the room and light it up came in and had everyone looking at each other while he was talking thinking the same thing - wtf is this guy talking about. It was a very weird speech where he was very condescending towards the supporters and seemed to have his own wee delusional view of how the season had actually gone with plenty of little digs in at players and the fans. He’s a very stubborn guy who has been brilliant at what he does but I feel like when the good times are good they’re great and he’s great but when things aren’t quite going his way and his teams aren’t performing then he really does not like anyone questioning or criticising him It is maybe why he’s always done well starting out at a lower level and working his way up - I feel like if we didn’t have Bobby Linn then this whole process could’ve started a lot faster for us. Bobby near enough single handedly won us the L1 title and then was massive in us staying up in the first couple seasons. I have no doubt we will be in L1 next season - maybe won’t see EF then but could be the case that we share the same league the season after and if Dick is still there that will be a really interesting season.

It grates after a while but this latest thing has really annoyed me. Best of luck to East Fife though - hopefully you get the better side of Dick Campbell and enjoy the rollercoaster it’ll undoubtedly be. I absolutely love Ian Campbell and have heard Youngy is a top man too so hope they do well. I have a feeling Colin Hamilton may end up at East Fife - think it would be a good move for him at this stage and possibly ToB but I’m not overly sure what’ll happen there as he’s got a 5 year deal.

I agree - would also like to get to the bottom of this spitting thing there must be footage out there of him walking back to the tunnel. Saw videos the night it happened online Awww give it a rest You’re not interested in anything I’ve got to say and I’m not interested in anything you’ve got to say so what’s the point?