WT Figo

Brilliant result but tense at the end. Official figure of 1175 Arbroath fans there

Winning the league is the biggest motivation that the players need. But almost as inspiring must be the threat of a mid week game in Annan on Wednesday if we don't take the title today. No one wants that!

True, but it would surely be unprecedented for 1 club to have 6 players in the team if the year. The other not so good bit, is Smith the Stirling keeper is in the team. Hope he has an off day tomorrow!!

I can't believe how excited I am getting about the game tomorrow!! I think all the tweets and Facebook messages from the Club are increasing this excitement. It is going to be a long night tonight and I can feel the tension getting bigger every hour. C'mon Lichties!!!

Totally agree. The Gayfield pitch has been looking good right through the season. If I recall correctly it had 3 games in a month in the summer and February, so testament to Booner and his crew for looking after it so well. I think that wise use of the covers at a crucial time also helped significantly. But, my main point is to thank Booner and everyone else who has worked on the pitch, throughout the year as I don't think that they get enough recognition for what they do.

I was watching a replay of Sunday's el Classico and thought I could hear something familiar being chanted by the Madrid fans. So by tweaking the volume on my smart tv and then with the power of Google Translate, I realised that they are singing this: "We've got Zidane, Zinedin Zidane, I don't think you understand. He comes from abroad, he's better than McCord. We've got Zinedin Zidane"

I wonder if Pongo is happy to be referred to as a 'fat ginger man'?? ;-0) Probably doesn't mind the Zidane part of the chant, but the ginger part will be a bit hard to take!

Sorry this was not the full post. I accidentally posted before i had finished typing. I hope that you agree with me once you read the full post.

There was a conversation on the Cowdenbeath V Arbroath thread about home fans at Gayfield abusing Lichties players. I have an opinion on this, but thought that it would be more appropriate to share it on this thread. i also believe that the home form has been affected by the attitude of some home fans, which creates a nervousness amongst some of the players. I have been amazed at how hostile the atmosphere can be at times, towards certain players specifically, but also towards the whole team/squad occasionally. This is not all the time clearly. In the games where we have gone ahead early, or been in control of a game, it has been generally positive. But those edgy, tense games where it has been 0-0 late into the second half, you can really feel a horrible nasty atmosphere building. Now this is not widespread across the ground, but there are quite a few vociferous, outspoken fans who seem to enjoy slagging off the team and individual players. Whilst it is normal and human nature to let out a collective disappointed sigh when a player misses a glorious chance, or misplaces a pass, it is something else to verbally abuse your own players from the kick off, or as soon as they come on. No players seem to be excluded from some form of vitriol, depending on how they are performing, but some just seem to be targets no matter what they do. Sukar for instance, just cannot seem to do any right in some fan's view, as he gets blasted for 90 minutes for not getting forward;getting too far forward; not passing to Linn or for playing the ball to Linn too often instead of crossing. Fearns is probably a child murderer and Tory Prime Minister all in one, for the hatred he seems to have generated as soon as he arrived. Coming off of the bench is like walking into the gladiators arena for him, when the home fans are booing him before he is on the pitch. Hamilton also has seemed to have wound some fans up so much that he cannot do right for doing wrong. Hodge has had it; Gomes has had it and so have Prunty & Scott. On the Cowdenbeath thread it was stated that the moaners are older fans, but not all of them. There is a little group of older guys who I hear often slagging off players, usually without justification or rationale. But I do wonder if they are possibly pissed or overdoing their medication with some of the shite they shout. I have listened in disbelief when an Arbroath player has been fouled, the ref has given us a free kick and booked the other player, but these old timers still swear at the ref and tell him he doesn't know what he is doing!! One of this group on Saturday complained when Bobby Linn's name was read out before kick off and said he would be better spending his Saturday in the clothes shop. But, there are also a few younger fans who are not averse to making their feelings known about certain players. Not so much the 'young boys' who go home and away, but there is one guy, who we will all have heard as he has such a loud voice, who is quite happy to tell Dick Campbell that' he has made a mistake by 'bringing on this c**t" before the player has even got onto the pitch. That guy thinks that he is quite funny and likes to perform for his little entourage, by swearing and shouting very loud, but I cannot for the life of me understand why he bothers going to games and claiming to be a supporter, when he seems to have such hatred for some Lichties players. In my view, if they are wearing an Arbroath shirt and playing for the club, they deserve our support whilst on the pitch. Slag them off on Pie and Bovril etc but not whilst they are trying to get 3 points for AFC. A bit of a long-winded rant, but it is something that I have seen and been amazed by. In some other recent seasons I can understand the depression and frustrations, but after all this season has been pretty good. Three games to go, guaranteed Play Offs and a damn good chance of winning the league, but still some Lichties fans feel the need to verbally abuse their own players. Without the negative attitude of some home fans we could have won some some of the 0-0's or not given away stupid late goals to lose games, we could be quite a few points clear at the top of the league. Anyway, onwards and upwards. Three points tomorrow and a defeat for Forfar meaning we will have the opportunity to have the fate of the title in our own hands.

Really? Is this a new injury?

If I recall correctly it was when his loan ended during the Moore era, that our season went down the toilet. Brilliant first half of the season and shite second half. It can't have been a coincidence that his absence had something to do with that.

The food is good and there is also plenty of other good food choices very close by.

Ha ha!

Anyone else hearing the rumour that Kevin Nicol is back at Gayfield?

Really?? He was out in Dundee last night.

I heard today that Rab Douglas is quitting or has quit as reserve keeper. Stewart was on the bench again today.

I heard Hester only scored 6 as the last was given as an O.G.!!! That should help his confidence. Edited as I have now done some more research and it appears that Kane did score all 7.

Just been announced that Skelly's loan has been extended to the end of the season. Excellent news.

As the year end approaches we may have seen the last of Sukar in a Lichtie shirt as he will be suspended for next week The loan deals for him and Skelly are due to expire in January, as is the one for Mutch as well I think. I can't make out if this means the beginning or end of January, but presuming it is the beginning, we may only have 1 more match to see Skelly and I doubt that Mutch will get in ahead of Gomes next week, so his time is up. Of the 3 of them I think that Skelly is the one that the Club should go all out to extend his loan if possible. Robbie Mutch was ok, but prone to mistakes (I know he is young!) so I think that Gomes should be No1 with Big Rab as back up. Sukar has also shown some good potential, but think that Phillips is better going forward and linking up with Bobby Linn. I wouldn't be disappointed if his loan was extended, but equally I wouldn't miss him too much if he went back to Tannadice. What do others think?

I must have been at a different game last night as I heard no abuse shouted towards the manager. What I did witness was definitely the best performance I have seen by the Licthies this season. They did not deserve to get beaten as they more than matched EF and had the best of the possession and attacking chances. The one disappointment for me was Steven Doris' performance. Virtually every touch he had was clumsy and more often than not, meant his second touch was a tackle to try and get the ball back. At the beginning I thought that him and Hester looked like they were going to link up well, but Steve's inability to hold onto the ball meant that he could hardly pass to Kane. So apart from hitting the post late on he was pretty ineffective all game.

Fair point. Perhaps as has been suggested I'm reading too much into it.

But as I said in my reply to timlichtie, Mike is in the Gayfield office every day.

Yes but Dick's sons don't have access to inside information about the running of AFC. Mike is in the office at Gayfield every day, party to conversations between board members, such as possible transfers, who the manager is thinking of putting on the bench etc. I like Mike and am not suggesting for one moment that he would do anything untoward, but it just seems strange to me. I am not it is the 'modern game'. Can you imagine someone who works at Parkhead in the office all week, then going to Ibrox on Saturday to be part of the home team's matchday staff. Or Dens and Tannadice or Easter Road and Tynecastle.

What is your on with Mike Cargill now being Montrose goalie coach, but still working for and doing daily admin duties at Gayfield? Clearly Dick has his own views on who he wants to coach the keepers, and it obviously isn't Mike. So he goes off and gets the role at Links Park, which he is perfectly entitled to do. But surely it is a massive conflict of interests to be involved with the day to day running of AFC and then training with and spending matchdays as a Montrose member of staff. I can't get my head around how inappropriate that seems. I welcome other's views and would like to be enlightened on how it can be allowed to happen.

A tall defender absolutely. This has to be the smallest defence (what is left of it) in this league. Midgets everywhere.