Tattie36

This is more like the Arbroath FC I’ve been used to all these years. All this great football and superb feel good stuff just wasn’t normal. A return to shit football and shambolic off-field goings on feels just like putting on a nice old comfy pair o’ baffies. Anyone for a gin night?

Again, you’re completely confusing the SNP/current SG with an independent Scotland.

Ok, tell us all what the UK will look like - next week, in 6 months time, if and when Labour win an election. Could anyone have predicted the last 2 months? Why is it only the independence movement that must have all the answers to what’s happening in the near and distant future?

Win or bust. We all know how Accies play - try to snatch a goal then time waste and shit-fest the rest of the game. We cannot go a goal down. Please start with a striker or strikers and wingers. Gaston Oakley Little TOB Hamilton Stewart Bitsindou Tait Linn/Yasin Mckenna/Hilson Hilson/Shanks

BoJo coming back would be manna from heaven for the independence movement. Surely even the most died in the wool Tory would finally realise what a bunch of corrupt c***s they are.

Oh yes I agree with that 100%. What I hope for in an independent Scotland are proper left, right and centre parties. Nothing too far left or right though. Obviously the Labour Party in Scotland is dead (good) but there can be a new party with similar values to how they used to be or strived to be.

Our stewards are horrendous. The way they were eyeballing and intimidating the young kids in the second half was a joke. Bunch of 10-13 year old kids having a song song and a bit of fun at the fitba. How to encourage future fans. Worst I saw was last season when a few young lads ran on the pitch at the end to congratulate Nouble after a great win. A few minutes later I saw them being frog marched by the no.1 a-hole steward to the back of the stand and pushed up against the wall and shouted at. They were about 10-11 years old. If that had been one of my kids I would have rammed his specks down his fecking throat. I remember when I first started going to games, kids would often run on at the end for autographs etc. not saying it should be encouraged but what harm were they doing? Wasn’t like it was a full scale pitch invasion. It was 3 or 4 wee laddies wanting to speak to their hero. I wonder if they’ve been back?

She’s always loved a bit of Cos play.

Even though he’s a disgusting human being, BoJo again would be the best bet from an independence standpoint. Loads of Tories down south love him so they would cling on to power until they have to have a GE. Enough people, especially here, loathe him and would be disgusted by the fact he’s be back. On another note, the woman I’m working for just said “oh I see the PM has resigned, I didn’t really know anything about her, don’t think I even heard her speak” WTF do you live in a fecking wheelie bin?!?!?

So one person thinking Starmer is no better than Truss = we all hate Labour more than the Tories?!? As I said earlier, I’m probably a natural left leaning/Labour voter, just not THIS version of Labour. And by that I mean both Westminster and Hollyrood but mostly Holyrood.

When are the seats going in the Pleasureland end again? By the end of this month isn’t it?

No they don’t. Yes the SNP = “delivering” independence but they don’t define independence if/when it arrives. That’s up to all parties. I agree with your second point but that will only happen with independence.

The SNP doesn’t = independence and there are many things the SG do which I don’t agree with. An awful lot of people can’t seem to understand this and think we’ll somehow have an SNP dictatorship in perpetuity after a yes vote. I am definitely left leaning in my politics but will continue to vote for the SNP or whoever the likeliest party is to deliver independence. Then we’ll see who offers the best future. I think the majority of independence supporters feel the same way re future voting intentions. Imo a failure of the SG/SNP is not communicating this more but then they desperately want to stay in power. Like turkeys voting for Christmas.

Totally agree but never overestimate the intelligence of huge numbers of voters or, indeed underestimate their stupidity.

My worry about having a GE soon is that I feel quite a few traditional Labour voters in Scotland will switch back in order to get the Tories out. Their vote won’t make one iota of a difference of course but I could definitely see the SNP vote/seats go down and Labour pick up. This’ll just add to the anti Indy rhetoric from the media and opposition parties “disastrous night for the nats”, “a huge blow for indy” etc etc.

So you’re happy to accept relegation just because it’s Dick? And then let him decide if and when he goes? No one man is bigger than the club and I’ll always side with what’s best for Arbroath FC. It’s his flawed recruitment and retention policy that’s caused this so who else should accept the blame apart from him? He seems to be slopey-shouldering it onto the players and fans. The board must also be scratching their collective heads - Dick is identifying and signing players, putting them on the pay roll then not giving them a game. He needs to come out and admit his mistakes, eat a huge slice of humble pie and perhaps look for some help and guidance to get us out of this hole.

8-10 points adrift of what/who? Lose on Saturday and the best we will be is 5 behind Cove and 6 behind Hamilton a third of the way through the season. Everyone is picking up wins and scoring goals apart from us and on our current form we could be on as few as 10-12 points come January. Are we (any team) realistically going to suddenly go from relegation form to title winning form over night after signing this elusive striker/s? even if we had someone like Jack Hamilton, Dowds etc at their best, they ain’t going to score many the way we’re playing, can’t score out of thin air. You’re also banking on another team or teams having the opposite change in fortunes and they’ll all be looking to strengthen then too. Far too risky an approach. I would love Dick to turn this round more than anything but IMO sentiment has little place in competitive football. The money we have spent and are spending means we have to be playing Championship football next season, we all know what can happen to teams once losing and relegation become a habit. I would give him until the Cove home game and unless we pick up at least 5-6 points in those 4 games and see a marked improvement in form, then I think we have to seriously start thinking of a change. Hope it doesn’t come to that but when does every “must win” game literally become that?

I just watched his post match interview. He’s scared, you can tell in his eyes that he’s shitting it and doesn’t know what to do. He says he’s concerned that we never created anything tonight and haven’t for 5 games. I know it’s a wild idea but how about playing strikers up front for a change and having players in their actual positions? Oh, and don’t drop your in form forward to the bench and replace him with a midfielder.

I didn’t think we would see another performance as bad as v Cove but that was even worse. I wasn’t going to say anything in here tonight and I’m probably going to regret some of it (hopefully it comes back to bite me in the erse)… oh, and I’m scared that Lichtieeeeee might “call me out” again. All of this is my opinion and I’m sure others will disagree with some/lots/all of it. Mind boggling to start with a short arse winger and an off-form midfielder up front when we have 3 strikers on the bench in a MUST WIN GAME! With the wind at our backs. To then punt long, high balls to them was astonishing. McKenna was dreadful again, complete headless chicken stuff tonight and no where to be seen when balls were crossed or cut back. Bobby tried as usual but you can see that he’s always wanting to go wide, still, he looked (relatively) dangerous and I would have left him on. Yet again, no one willing to have a shot from distance with the wind at our backs. One half arsed attempt by Tait and Bobby’s weak free kick only. Raith had more long range efforts in the first 5 minutes of the second half than we had in 45. 3 attempts on target (1 decent one) in 90 minutes, at home, with the wind at our back for 45 of them is just not acceptable… again. Midfield is a shambles. No width or physicality, the amount of times Raith passed through and round us was scary. Yeah the ref was atrocious but it didn’t change the outcome. We were lucky it was only 0-1. WTF has happened to our defence? You could argue that we have strengthened with Oakley at RB (who I thought was ok) but the once formidable unit has crumbled. Is TOB injured? Does Hammy ever practice passing a ball? Do we miss C Hamilton playing just in front to break up play? Apart from the Morton game and the 0-0 draws we have had to chase every league game so far this season. It then becomes ever more desperate, panicky and unstructured as the game goes on. Lose on Saturday and v Ayr and I can’t see any way we’ll avoid the relegation playoff at the very best. Sounds very early to be so dramatic but the way we’re playing can anyone else see where goals, wins and points are coming from? If things don’t change, and quick, Is there a case for changing the management team? There has been far too much invested in turning us into a Championship team, on and off the park, to throw it all away so meekly. Last word for Derek Gaston, single handedly saved us from a scudding. Pish!

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

I’ve said this before - if fans of clubs turn into happy clappers and feel that they’ve lost the right or ability to criticise players and/or management, then that’s a sure fire way of sleep walking into failure. We have to play our part and voice our concerns, so long as they’re justified. Quite simply, this season has not been good enough and many players, not just new signings, have massively failed to deliver. I for one will continue to give my opinions, again as long as I feel it’s justified. We have a few on here, one in particular, who doesn’t think we have the right to criticise or complain about any of our players and, if we do, he resorts to personal attacks…. while at the same time ripping our management to shreds, the same management who are the main reason for our recent success All we needed was to consolidate after last season and aim for a safe mid table finish. Not one single fan would have been disappointed with that. A couple of solid midfielders and forward players and we would have been fine. There are green shoots of improvement but unless we get at least 6 points out of the next 3 games then serious questions have to be asked and answered.

Didn’t think Hamilton would win last night but they did and it’s really put the cat amongst the pigeons. Really need to take at least 6 points out of the next 3 home games or we’re likely to be cut adrift at the bottom. Saturday also marks 1/3 of the season gone and if we’re still sitting on 7 or 8 points then it’s going to be incredibly difficult to claw it back and reach the magical 42 points. The January window will likely cone too late. Conversely, we could win all 3 wins and suddenly be mid table and thinking about a playoff place. It’s far too early in the season for such stress.

Oh well, was nice to be off the bottom for a few short days. Also baffled by this new signing. Obviously we all hope he’s brilliant but looks like yet another left-field punt… and as is standard, NOT a striker.

What’s that Wayne Gretzky ice hockey quote? - “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. He scored loads of goals, partly because he was always willing to shoot from pretty much anywhere. We really need to shoot more from distance, not just Linn. The Cove game was a great example, we had the wind marginally in our favour in the second half but only one attempt from outside the box. I would rather we had 10 failed attempts from distance in a match than 0 failed attempts from distance.

Exactly and it’s why he needs to be on the pitch for every minute he’s able to be. He strikes fear into opposition defences, creates, shoots, scores and never gives less than 100%. I kind of understand why he’s subbed in games - to manage his gametime, and keep him fit and injury free but that only makes sense if we’re winning.