Brummo

This Arbroath love in has to stop now. I couldn't give a monkey's about the demographics. I want my team to be doing better than their local rivals. Supporting a football team isn't about keeping the heid: it's about passion and unreasonable expectations and getting one over the opposition. This may be the season of peace and good will to all but believe me, from a football perspective at least, nothing would give me more pleasure than seeing the Mo give the Smokies a right good doing in a New Year derby league game. I live in hope that I won't have to wait too long to see it.

As far as I am aware there is nothing "dodgy" about a manager investing financially in the club he manages. Would I trade Arbroath's league position with Montrose's? Unhesitatingly, yes but that is the end of story. I only mentioned Arbroath because Angus of the Mo brought it up in a post and I only did so in order to stress my preference for Stewart Petrie as a manager. I honestly never expected any Smokie interest in this thread, so apologies for any offence caused through any perceived disrespect shown for DC's leadership. While you are here though, did think he was bang out of order for his mockery of his former player, Gary Fraser in the "Sacked in the morning" podcast. That was unprofessional I.m.o. even if it was just banter.

There is never a day goes by when I am not thankful for that. E.t.a. Not talking strictly about football. Just delighted to have been born between the South and North Esk rivers in the pearl of the Angus Riviera.

Points well made but at the risk of allowing you to gloat even more, how did DC get Arbroath in this enviable position in the first place? I think his ability to sign players back in L2 and L1 was not entirely down to his management skills. I could be wrong but I would be very surprised if he hadn't invested any of his own cash. DC is more experienced than Petrie, I will concede that but time will tell if he is better overall. He has done really well at Arbroath: probably at his best in the twilight of a long career with its share of ups and downs. Petrie just gets better and better. There's more to come from this era at Montrose. I can't say the same for Arbroath because I don't support them but as neighbours and rivals, as long as Montrose are winning and growing stronger, I am happy for Arbroath to enjoy their seasons in the sun.

Er, no it isn't that simple and if you honestly expect any Mo fan to agree with you, you have another think coming. Thanks for clarifying the situation, even if it is very obviously from the perspective of your maroon-tinted glasses. As I said I look forward to the Mo competing successfully with Arbroath in the league again one day in the not too distant future, hopefully in the Championship, if you're not out of reach in the top tier by the time we get there.

I have said this before but when Stewart Petrie came to the Mo and Dick Campbell went to Arbroath, I thought we had the better manager, as "the bunnet" was old school, thinking he would be limited like Paul Hegarty had been in getting the best out of players, particularly younger ones, who didn't respond well to Heggy's Jim McLean style management. He certainly seems to have thrived at Arbroath. I do wonder however if an ingredient of the success Arbroath are enjoying is partly a consequence of Dick Campbell's own financial investment. As emerged in the "Sacked in the morning" podcast, he has three businesses, which seem to be successful, along with his football management. While not taking away from his achievements, I think Arbroath's progress in the Championship, while Montrose are still some way off that pace, is clearly down to more than just Campbell's astute management. I haven't paid much attention to Arbroath but Dick Campbell seems pretty cocksure about having the best squad of part-time players available. He claims that no other part-time players in Scotland would be good enough to make his team. If that is the case I am pretty sure it isn't just down to their Dick's personality and coaching skills. Arbroath fans seem to think Petrie is a racing certainty to take over at Castle Gayskull, when the bunnet retires. If that happens without Petrie and Campbell having teams competing against each other in the Championship, I will be sorely disappointed. I like to think that with equivalent budgets, Petrie's team would more than hold their own against Campbell's. The idea that we are just a feeder team for Arbroath or only good enough for their cast-offs is something no Mo fan could stomach, surely? Is Campbell's bubble going to pop any time soon? Is his squad ageing well or on the verge of past it? What is the secret of Dick's success? Is their manager better, or just more smug and annoying? .

Actually, although the conditions in the first half were murder, once the blizzard had passed, things got much better and there was some pretty watchable football, all things considered. Well done to the players and kudos to any traveling fans. Hope you had safe journeys home.

The only ball tonight will be Barraball. Do the bookies have odds for the game being abandoned?

Shall I simply it for you then? I am not impressed with the lack of progress that the pyramid system has so far brought about. I was not comparing Kelty to Gretna. I don't know anything about Kelty, other than the fact that they are from a small town, close to Cowdenbeath. For all I know Kelty might be a fantastic club that does amazing things in the local community as well as having successful teams on the park at different levels - like Montrose FC.

Great news. Fabulous that the parallel universe that is junior football is being dismantled, isn't it? Refreshing that big city teams are making it while dead wood goes to the wall, isn't it? Delighted to hear Brora are being pumped up with a fresh infusion of cash to challenge Fraserburgh: isn't it refreshing? Such good news for Fife football that Kelty are thriving while Cowdenbeath are toiling, isn't it? It's your zero sum game, I am not saying the Pyramid is a bad idea. It just doesn't work nearly as well in a sparsely populated country like much of Scotland, outside of the central belt.

Way too much deference being shown to new money wannabes i.m.o. The pyramid in Scotland is not achieving much as far as building up the game goes. Who has benefitted so far? The big city teams and the rich men's playthings. What's to applaud about throwing a ton of money at a team and seeing it rocket up the leagues through buying success? Okay, twas ever thus and that's football but when after seeing Gretna do it then crash and burn, I can't see much merit in it to be honest.

So excited by this I didn't even bother to find out who our next opponents would have been. Don't really share Ivo's wistfulness about missing out on a tie with the Perth Saintees. The fact it would have been at home, scant advantage considering our lamentable record of easy defeats to them in too many unmemorable cup ties over the years. Sure it would bring in some money and we could do with it more than Kelty but for me the romance of the cup Is overrated. If Kelty beat St Johnston that will be some achievement. Good luck to them. And yes, losing to a team from a lower division grates, however good they are and how much they deserve it.

Oh well. Congratulations Kelty I suppose. The Cup is a needless distraction for us anyway.

Pleasing to see the ex-Mo. Boyler get his hat-trick yesterday at Hampden.

Considering we lost against them at Links Park, feels like a point gained to me.

The point I am making is that there needs to be a positive culture around the club which extends to wider community: e.g. football coaching by the community trust in primary schools - even as far afield as in the Mearns. Re. Stirling Albion Stirling County were and maybe still are a successful rugby club. There are parts of England, Wales and Scotland where egg chasing is more prominent than football. Maybe that is true for Stirling plus its proximity to bigger football clubs. You mentioned the predominance of shinty in Lochaber and other parts of the Highlands. I think that is also a factor in the relative weakness of football in these areas, allied to their low population densities. Montrose does not have these kinds of challenges. In the past in the lean years, Montrose struggled to attract players but we are in a much better place now, even if we aren't in or near a big town or city. As for Cove, I honestly don't see them being anything other than most Aberdonians' second team. They will get investment from businesses, who may be disaffected or frustrated by the Dons, as we did from Bryan Keith because his business rival Yule was involved at Aberdeen FC.

It is obviously not just down to population size or hinterland. Stirling Albion and even Fort William should be much more successful were that the case. I think promoting a positive community culture around the club in which health and well-being are priorities is one of the ways a club in a small town and its hinterland can be better supported. This has been happening at the Mo. I think it also happened with Ross County but there they have Roy MacGregor injecting cash to help the club grow. Before his backing, most of the school children in Invergordon and other places around Dingwall would have supported the OF and obviously some still do but Ross County are active in the communities and that has meant up and coming generations are more likely to identify with and support County than bigger clubs further away.

Arbroath has more than twice the population of Montrose but remember that is down at least in part to the addition of "Glasgow overspill", the offspring of whom could reasonably be expected to maintain their support of the big Glasgow teams, even moreso than is the case in Montrose. I don't know to what extent it adds to the potential support but there is probably a bigger hinterland up the coast who support Montrose.

Just listened to the bunnet on the "Sacked in the morning" podcast. It was entertaining for the most part. I remember saying years ago, I was happier to have Petrie as a manager than him. Despite what the latter has achieved with the Smokies, my opinion has not changed. With the income they're racking up in the Championship, it is hard to see how we can make up the ground necessary to fulfill Stewart Petrie's aim of making the Mo the best team in Angus but we live in hope that the long years of Gayfield gloating are numbered. E.T.A. i.m.o. felt that Campbell's ridiculing of Gary Fraser was out of order.

Take it you're nae wholeheartedly in agreement with Jim's assessment in the day's P&J then?

I know gamesmansip is thought of as being part of the game but i.m.o. if a player is being persistently verbally abusive, the referee should warn him and book him if he doesn't take a telling. Felt Montrose did OK today, considering the wind. Cove looked pretty solid at the back and were a threat up front but along with luck and poor finishing, the Mo defence, minus Dillon, stood up well to everything thrown at them. The wind did reduce the game to head tennis at times. On days like today I am just glad it didn't lead to us conceding some kind of freak goal.

That's a pity. No excuse but from what I had heard McLean had been on the wind up the whole game and Dillon had simply had enough. Ref's surely see and hear when this is going on. Why don't they take action against it as unsporting conduct and book players for being "mouthy"?

Just sayin'...

A pity we never took three points from this for obvious reasons. Balmoor is never an easy gig for the Mo. I.M. Jolly Jim was bigging us up in today's P&J, saying we were the best part-time team "outwith Arbroath". With the latter giving Dunfermline a doing today, no doubt we'll be hearing more about the bounty on SP's head from distraught Pars fans.

Really, really annoying to drop two points today. We were the better side, even though we seriously rode our luck at times. Our defense, other than for the second goal was as amazing as Falkirk claim their side was poor. Falkirk's defence was kamikaze at times and for stretches of the game, Falkirk weren't at the races. As for the ref. - from a Montrose perspective, he was lacking in generosity towards us, contrasting markedly with his disposition to the visitors. Overall good shift by the Mo. Only hope the frustration of today will spur them on next Saturday and we can get a more satisfying result.