Tattie36

I know, my post was in agreement and aimed at the OP.

Sshhh! Don’t let the secret out.

Every single fan of every single team in this league could give you multiple instances of horrific refereeing decisions going against their team - there is no conspiracy, the refs (and assistants) are just dreadful.

I know it was pretty much secured anyway but that's second place mathematically guaranteed now - thanks Queens.

Seriously, apart from fans of the teams involved and a few neutrals who might be going with pals or have a passing interest in one of the teams or be football geeks/bloggers etc - who the feck in their right mind is going to voluntarily pay £20 for a ticket + travel expenses, food etc to intentionally spend a Friday evening in Kilmarnock, especially as the game is live on TV? This talk of shit-loads of neutrals is guff imo. ps thanks Queen's that's us guaranteed second place.

Even though we don’t need to win both, it’s not that difficult to find out that Arbroath have indeed won 3 league games in a row this season - twice in fact and one of those was 4 in a row.

The site I’m looking at has RP with a reduced capacity of just over 15k but that and tv areas etc surely can’t account for a ground with 3k empty seats in the home end being called “sold out”. There are fewer than 9.5k tickets sold so far. I agree with what some others have said - split the away end down the middle, give half to Killie and let us sit where we want in the other half. We’ve sold about 1.6k so far and can see us shifting another 2-300 max so plenty of room. The more fans at this game the better, will just add to the occasion.

Not quite sure I understand how the ticketing is working for Killie fans. How can an 18k seat stadium with approx 9.4K tickets sold have sold out stands and no seats next to each other? I understand there are almost 3k empty seats in our end at the moment but where are all the others? I note that the site I’m looking at has the capacity at just over 15k but even then that leaves around 3k available for home fans.

I don’t think Arbroath fc and fans are under much pressure really - more anticipation, excitement and daring to believe we could do this. Pretty much every single Arbroath fan would have bitten your hand off for a comfortable 8th place finish this season so even a playoff is superb. Even though I’ll be disappointed initially if we lose on Friday and even ultimately fail to gain promotion, I’ll still be over the moon at the season we’ve had. Saturday’s game v Queens was probably the most relaxed I’ve been at an Arbroath game for years. We’ve already achieved more this season than we could have imagined. I’ve said this before but the pressure of this game is zero compared to 6 seasons ago when we were a couple of defeats away from possibly going into the Highland League. Cowdenbeath - now there’s real pressure.

Apologies in that case. Just fed up with the crap coming from some Killie fans who think about 75% of those in the away end on Friday are going to be neutrals or folk from Arbroath who actually really support the OF. Kind of ironic coming from them considering the (unwarranted imo) rubbish they have to put up with re being “you-know-whats without the bus fare”.

I assume that’s a number plucked from thin air with absolutely no evidence or research. I really can’t see hundreds of non Arbroath fans paying £20 a ticket + travel + food etc on a Friday night in Kilmarnock when the game is live on tv. I definitely think there will be some but probably dozens, not in the hundreds.

Yeah I appreciate that as I said. I certainly couldn't do it for the exact same reasons you've highlighted but for that reason I wouldn't volunteer. And again, it doesn't wash when folk are paying for the service. You really don't need two commentators anyway. The main guy is spot on and our commentator did it by himself and was arguably the best one in the division. Agree re two commentators and Fraser is excellent but I think, as they’re volunteers there’s probably a little bit of safety in numbers thinking going on. It’s not for me but I’m sure some viewers love it the way it is - the classic comedian and straight man double act. As someone said earlier, I also like it when we have a co-commentator from the opposition as it gives a completely different perspective.

Do you genuinely think there are loads of neutrals that have bought tickets in the Arbroath end? There’ll be some no doubt but a tiny percentage. Our core support is now comfortably 1500+ (we have almost that many season tickets and we’ve had over 2k home fans at a few games this season). I can see most of those plus some who go less often going to this - possibly the biggest game in our history to date. We took 1250+ to Stirling to win League 2 in 2016 and more to Brechin in 2019 so us taking decent numbers to big games is nothing new.

That’s us over 1400 tickets, mostly OF fans and neutrals of course

The thing is that the commentators are volunteers and are fans first and foremost. If it was me, the amount of utter one-eyed, opinionated drivel I would spout, and cheering at goals etc would probably get me chucked off after one game. Anyone putting themselves forward as a volunteer should be commended, must be incredibly difficult to try and remain even moderately impartial.

Our main commentator is Fraser Clyne, recently retired sports journalist and ex top international distance runner. He’s a big Arbroath fan and I’m sure he told me that his dad used to play for the club. He’s an excellent commentator but it must be difficult when the guy sitting next to you practically bursts your eardrums every time something exciting happens.

That’s us shifted 1200 tickets already. Still some absolute weirdo Kilmarnock fans insisting we’re a hybrid team. Are they so thick that they don’t understand that the vast majority of part-time clubs in the entire Scottish pyramid has a number of full-time players on loan from other clubs. If they’re adamant that Arbroath having 3 full-time players on loan makes us hybrid then so are Cowdenbeath, Annan, East Stirlingshire and Fort William. Maybe spending so long in the Premier does this to you. I know fans of Premier clubs who know literally nothing about Scottish fitba outside of their wee bubble.

Aye, but who’s your big team?

The irony.

You’d better not let Fud hear you say that.

Of course there will be a small number like that (at every club/game) but you guys actually think that a significant % of Arbroath/small team fans are actually just supporters of other clubs going along for a laugh while their “big team” play elsewhere? I’ve had many an argument here in Aberdeen with folk with that way of thinking including one guy who was adamant that Aberdeen winning a trophy/title was a bigger deal and more important than if Arbroath did the same - maybe it is for you mate but not for me.

Made the mistake of having a look at KillieKickback to see what Kilmarnock fans are saying about Fridays game - supposedly Arbroath fans are all “Basically plastic old firm fans clinging onto the glory of their home town team.” Why do some folk have to bring Rangers and Celtic into everything? Can’t they understand that it’s possible for supporters of smaller teams to not give a f*ck about them or any of the other “big” teams in Scotland. If I had a pound for every time I’ve been asked the dreaded “aye, but who’s you big team?” pish.

This will surely be one of our biggest ever travelling supports, certainly in modern times. The largest ones I can remember being part of are 1300 or so at Brechin, about 1250 at Stirling and 1000 at Celtic. A few around 1000 at Montrose games as well. We will have had more at games back in the day though in Dundee and Montrose etc and we must have had a few thousand up in Elgin for “that” Scottish Cup game.

Our recent competitive history has been great and it’s such a shame to see where Cowdenbeath are now. I, and I’m sure most others, will be cheering you on in the playoffs.

Scott Stewart was incredible today. Don’t know what the feck he has for breakfast but I’d love some.