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Photo by Smokie_Bacon_Crisps capturing Simon Murray celebrating goal at gayfield and SimonLichtie acting like a superfan won Colours of our Scarves passion competition. He is going to have a new lens this season!

It's a massive blow losing Kevin, especially to Forfar, but he signed an 18 month deal when he arrived, and was constantly one of our better players when he played and a real fan favourite. Sad he has gone, but that is sadly football. Surely it now has to be "Ricky Little Baby" It's been no secret that Forfar are the Man City of Angus. They have invested heavily and with the rumours that they pay during the off season have been able to lure and build a strong team. There maybe some who argue they bring in more finances through their pitch etc, but with a small home attendances surely there is some other money being injected in. Mr Campbell was in the courier today saying they already have 20 players signed up (21 now with Kevin) and are still looking for more! I guess we can dream that the winner of £93 million is a Lichtie! We have 14 players and with Todd saying they are still searching and have lots of names coming in for pre-season we hopefully have some excitement to look forward too. Only 25 days until this annoying thing called summer is over and we can get back to it. Ironically probably facing up to Murray and McCallum.

The courier reports that Michael McKenna from Livingston had agreed to join us and had given his word to Todd and Steven, but couldn't sign as he was going on a stag party, but that was last weekend and they still haven't been able to track him down. Another reason signings aren't officially announced until all the paperwork and registration has gone through. I think someone on this thread said we were after Darren Miller from Queen's Park but he has now signed for Dumbarton. It is encouraging though that we now have 15 on board already. If we can add a few more it looks like there is competition for places already.

He has been offered. Just be patient.

Simon Murray wasn't deemed good enough for Links park either...................... Ex Lichtie Colin Hamilton signed for Alloa Athletic today. Good to see him getting up into the Championship.

Jonathan Page released from Dunfermline along with 17 other players. I thought he was immense for East Fife when they played us at Gayfield. Would certainly love to see him signed up.

Initial thoughts - Why? Second thoughts - Why a 2 year deal? Third thought - Why is the only word from an STV journo on Twitter.

Paul Sheerin signed him from Spartans very early in the pre-season where I believe he had been voted junior player of the season. Definitely one of our best players, adaptable and a total footballer. Maybe one of the fittest players too. Started 28 out of 29 games for us this season and played the full game in each one. Would be a massive blow for us to lose him, but would be delighted for him if he got a full time move.

McGeever is (or at least was) an emergency loan deal on Jan 8th and probably only has one or two games left

He only recently turned 20, which the development league being an under 20 league I am sure he is still eligible and counts as a Development Loan.

Hello! Some snaps from the Development game tonight at Gayfield - https://www.flickr.com/photos/scotsman_in_hawaii/sets/72157650503015692/ Letheren did play and looked good. I was really impressed by the young Dee's tonight. Celtic physically were a lot taller, but the Dundee players were full of energy and didn't give them a chance to really play. Some really good young players on show.

His second appearance which was his second last game he was awarded man of the match after coming on half way through the first half as a substitute. Did that not merit a starting appearance next game? The way things are going we will be lucky if we have 11 players to start on Saturday.

Due to our game being off against Albion Rover he only made 3 appearances in his month's emergency loan. He came on as a sub against East Fife and did well setting up a goal with a great pass, then his second game he came on again as a sub against Montrose and ripped them apart. He won a penalty kick but also got his legs kicked to bits by their defenders. He started against Queen's Park and had a quiet match, but then the whole team did. Good signing for you I think as he wants to get forward and take on defenders.

I think Stewart is being asked / told to play more defensively and play in that area to protect his defenders. I think Hunter naturally is far more attacking and every game I think he has played so far has had a shot or shots from outside the box. He made the difference last weekend when he came on. He gets stuck in and wins the ball in midfield and only tries to get it forward. We could be struggling to fill the bench - Buchan, McWalter, Birse, Lindsay, Morrison, ...............Wallace if fit, Lowdon if fit, then Smith still out.

Maybe work? Looks like we may get to see Little and Travis getting a chance and Hunter in for Carreiro. A draw on the day and we would go to Links park next Saturday meaning the Annan game would be pushed back to another date.

Some photographs from the Dundee development league game at Gayfield tonight which finished 5-1 to the Dee. https://www.flickr.com/photos/scotsman_in_hawaii/sets/72157648228485275/ County went 1 nil up after about 2 minutes when your keeper tried to be clever but got caught but Peter McDonald looped a clever header over from a Wighton cross a few minutes later, before Wighton scored his first from just outside the box as the keeper ran out. He scored his second which was an amazing volley from about 20 yards out before Clarkson scored from about 18 yards. In the second half Wighton completed his hat trick with an powerful volley at the back post. I was really impressed by Wighton and I think it was Black? at right back. Good game although Wighton was the star man by a country mile!

On this day in 1883 Arbroath beat Aberdeen 7-0! There is a new website and twitter feed with statistics for Arbroath https://twitter.com/ArbroathFS and http://www.fitbastats.com/arbroath/

Nope, 2nd round of the Scottish Cup and there are some really tough teams we could face, and some really, really far away trips. We face someone from this list. Draw at 3.30pm Auchinleck Talbot Hurlford United Cove Rangers Culter Nairn County Edinburgh City Forres Mechanics Fraserburgh or Linlitgow Rose Dalbeatie Star Gretna 2008 Huntly Formartine United Turriff United East Kilbride Threave Rovers Banks O'Dee Bo'ness United Whitehill Welfare Brora Rangers (SHFL Winners) Inverurie Loco Works (SHFL Runners Up) Spartans (SLFL Winners) Stirling University (SLFL Runners Up) Albion Rovers Annan Athletic Berwick Rangers Clyde East Fife East Stirlingshire Elgin City Montrose Queen’s Park

You would then be in a pickle say if you used all 5 loan signings and say both keepers sustained serious injuries after transfer window closed. You would then be scrambling to see if any keeper was still not registered with a club. Does a season long loan not count as say 2 of those 5 spots? I thought when there was a chance of getting Lee Erwin back before his injury that would have used up another one of our allotted 5 spots? or perhaps that was because he returned and was then going to return. We had Erwin, Donaldson, Doris, McIntosh and McGeever last season as our 5 loans deals. I think McIntosh has been on trial with Brechin. We have a strong squad, and no doubt we will suffer injuries and suspensions as winter creeps in. As long as harmony is kept ( although I'm sure it must be frustrating for the younger players) within the squad and it keeps everyone on their toes knowing they can get dropped if they don't perform seems like a good formula for keeping the momentum we have and challenging when May comes around.

It looks like we have a huge squad but just going by the places we have visited and the teams that have come to Gayfield I don't think we have the largest. Queen's Park for one had a squad list on the team sheet that was larger than ours, and I think Clyde are about 20 with I know East Fife making another loan signing this week takes them up to about 24 if you go on the squad lists pinned at the top of this forum. Last year we used a total of 31 players over the season with a few other players who were on the bench but never made it onto the field. The squad this year from last had changed dramatically in age. Also with Shagger our second oldest player, yet it can be argued has the highest work rate off the ball then anyone else in the team. Can you imagine if everyone ran and chased as much as he did. He is such a good role model for the younger players. Also it seems withe warm up before the games Todd Lumsden seems to focus much more on the fitness side of things, and I think the way the games have been going so far when we have been scoring it already paying off if we can contain teams then really up the pressure as the final 15 minutes take their toll on the opposition. Connor Birse 19 Kevin Buchan 20 David Crawford 29 Aldin El-Zubaidi 19 Ross Fisher 21 Adam Hunter 21 Craig Johnstone 29 Johnny Lindsay 21 Bobby Linn 28 Ricky Little 25 Jordan Lowdon 22 Scott McBride 24 Paul McManus 31 Kieran McWalter 18 Scott Morrison 32 Simon Murray 22 Kevin Nicoll 28 Jack Smith 19 Kieran Stewart 20 Michael Travis 21 Michael Wallace 25 Mark Whatley 24

Allan Moore has won manager of the month for League 2 for August. With a perfect start and one of the few teams left in the UK with a 100% record it would have been a crime if he hadn't. According to the courier we are also in talks to sign attacking midfielder Dylan Carrerio on loan from Dundee. 19 and former Queen's Park Rangers player. Where would he play??

THERE is some good news for fans of The Red Lichties at Saturday’s home game against East Fife. Having previously expressed concerns about the future of the Matchday Programme, we are pleased to announce that this weekend’s edition will have an exciting new-look, what’s more it will be full-colour and glossy! There will be some great features, plenty of stats and top-quality photography – all for £2. “We were approached by a company called JJ Sports Promotions Ltd., who specialise in Matchday Programme production for clubs at all levels of the game,” said Club Secretary, Gary Callon. “They had heard about our plight and have offered us use of their professional service in order to ensure that we have a publication to be proud of. We are delighted by the results and are sure that our supporters will be too!” Copies of the Matchday Programme will be on sale from the usual outlets on Saturday. If you haven’t purchased a copy for a while, then please do so as you are in for a real treat. If any supporters have pictures of their Arbroath FC colours in weird and wonderful destinations are the world, please email them to andyppoole@aol.com for use in future editions of your new-look Matchday Programme.