Tattie36

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.

You get a bit of the stand plus the section of terracing from the flag pole end of the stand to the corner flag.

It’s in our hands - 3 wins and we’re champs, 2 wins and a draw and it’s still possible as long as we beat Killie. Incredible. Queens are no pushovers as we’ve seen already this season. 100% from the off and if it’s not working - early subs.

Sensible segregation tomorrow. We’re getting the entire terrace apart from the small section beside the flagpole up to the corner flag and a section of the main stand. I can’t imagine Queens will have more than 50-80 so makes sense.

Obviously hoping for an ICT win tonight but a draw would be a great result for us too - keeps Kilmarnock within striking distance and almost guarantees us second. A win tomorrow would then give us second and within two victories of the title.

Good idea although I think we should take it further - The Steven Doris pie hut, Charlie Adam Bar, Joe Savage concourse, Joe Prince-Wright toilets etc etc

100% prefer watching from the Pleasureland end as 1. It's our traditional home end 2. it provides more shelter from the prevailing wind 3. you're not looking into the sun.

Just had a wee look at the plans as I'm obviously as sad as you Looks good although there seems to be a bit of ambiguity as to what is the home/away end. I was hoping that we were back in the Pleasureland end permanently but I have a feeling, and going by the Hibs game, that we'll be shunted back to the Harbour end, especially if we go up. I don't understand this at all. Fans from visiting clubs arrive at the ground from all directions depending on their mode of transport and their pre-match plans - fans arriving by train would generally approach the ground more towards the Harbour end or if they'd been to a few pubs then that would be the most common direction too. Also they may park behind the Harbour goal. Surely the club should be able to decide what the home and away ends are? Is it primarily because most visiting teams fans enter the town from the west/south? That makes no sense either though as Aberdeen and Montrose both get the Pleasureland end and they would generally arrive from the north. I can't think of any other ground where the home/away ends are decided like this. It would maybe make a wee bit of sense if every single visiting fan was on a suppoters bus, conveniently dropped off outside the ground and picked up straight after the game but that's not how it works.

Pay on the day has to be an option but it won't be/can't really be a traditional cash gate as the new turnstyles will use barcode scanning technology and won't be manned by someone with a stack of change. I can't see the club investing in a cash only gate as that kind of defeats the purpose of changing the set-up in the first place. A ticket office or window is the only solution - as happens at every other ground that has dispensed with traditional cash turnstyles.

Agree that cash gates are a thing of the past… however we should definitely have a ticket office/window at the ground.

It certainly was. My girlfriend at the time’s brother lived in Dingwall so I was up for the weekend. The day was slightly ruined though as I developed a horrific headache after the game which put paid to my planned celebratory beers and Chinese takeaway

There is no doubt that all the games being midweek puts us at a big disadvantage over Kilmarnock, ICT and Partick but to suggest it’s an intentional ploy by the powers that be to keep us out of the Premiership is stretching it.

Can’t believe I’m saying this… but I agree with you. Don’t understand why some people seem to think there’s a conspiracy to keep us out of the top division. The publicity, increase in profile and novelty value this would bring to the Scottish game would be a breath of fresh air in what is an otherwise stale and predictable setup.

He should even if we don’t go up but I don’t think he will. It’ll probably be Postecoglou or even Van Bronckhorst if Rangers win the Europa League or even get to the final. I would have Campbell, Hartley and Thomson above those two but you know what Scottish fitba’s like.

Oh well, it worked today - twat

We've played like that in almost every game since we went top - low risk, basic, route 1 fitba, hoping to steal a goal and nick the points. Today is a must win, especially with the other results going the way they are, but it's all just too predictable. ICT are flying at the moment and I really can't see us staying second unless we start playing as we were earlier in the season.

I’m old enough to remember those days too… just. My first clear football memory was watching the highlights of Arbroath beating Rangers at Ibrox in February 1974. However, football in Scotland was a very different beast back then, two divisions, two up two down, many more part time players even at the bigger teams and not nearly so money driven/dependent as it is now. If we somehow make it to the premier then that would far and away eclipse any of our previous stints in the top division. Because of that I would argue that what we’ve done this season is very, very close to our best season ever.

It really is incredible. We will look back on this season in the years and decades to come as an amazing experience and achievement. To go head to head against sides like Kilmarnock, Partick, ICT etc and not just compete but expect to win is so far away from how it’s “meant” to be as an Arbroath fan. Obviously we all hope for similar or greater success in future but to comfortably achieve a top four place, and hopefully a lot more, in our third consecutive season in the championship is some achievement.

Imagine how many goals he would have scored in that game if he was fully fit.

Raith could barely put a team on the pitch last Saturday and we scraped a draw at home. 3 weeks ago, ICT hadn’t won in something like 12 games and they pumped us. Today will be close - 50/50 chance for either team imo.

Obviously success has played a big part but the club works very hard off the park to engage with the town - kids in particular. When I was a kid going to Gayfield, you could count the kids in the low dozens - I was only one of two in my school class that went to games - whereas it’s now in the hundreds. Great to see. There seemed to be a real change after we won our first league title in 2011, with the league trophy being taken around local schools and businesses etc. each success since seems to have really added to this pride in the team and the town. Hopefully it’s here to stay and it would be great for Scottish fitba if every team and town could be the same.

Be gobsmacked if he went back to FT tbh. PT at Arbroath seems to be working really well for him. Even with being PT he’s still missed about 50% of our games this season through injury. A full-time team would be insane to go for him. Amazing player but being half human/half marshmallow isn’t a good combination for a sportsman.

I have zero issue with Kilmarnock fans being on this thread and agree with your reasons. I do however have a problem with sad, attention seeking wind-up merchants like Fide who only come on to claim that Arbroath are not part-time, even though we have exactly the same set-up as Cowdenbeath, Dumbarton, Montrose and all the other part-time clubs in the pyramid. A part-time squad with a greater or lesser number of on loan full-timers from clubs generally higher up the food chain. They are not club employees and don't train with our coaching team on a full-time basis. The fact that, due to our relative recent success, we can attract better part-time players, or better full-timers on loan, is neither here nor there. We are as much a hybrid set-up as Albion Rovers or Auchinleck Talbot - i.e. we're not.

The part-time/full-time thing has nothing to do with fitness and not a great deal to do with the footballing ability of individual players at this level… but how can anyone not see that it’s a big advantage for a management team being able to work with their players on a daily basis in regard to tactics, set-piece drills and just general squad bonding etc as opposed to a couple of hours two evenings a week? My 11 year old son’s team train together almost as much as Arbroath do. Full time teams have a big advantage in that regard. I know it’s a windup but to call us “hybrid” is ridiculous. “Our” three full-time players only spend limited time with the rest of the squad so their full-time status makes no big difference.