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I thought he was pretty poor today, had some really shitey moments but so did others. Would’ve had him off before McKenna.

One very bad overhit cross/ball when we were on the break, a few shitey corners and gave the ball away very poorly a few times, but Linn did the former and Swanks did the latter in that game too.

Despite that he still put in a lot of decent balls and looked like our biggest goal threat, 2 really good efforts and 1 decent effort.

If the long range one came off it would’ve been a screamer. Tough game for him and Swankie today, a lot of long balls against a team that was sitting in. Kept plugging away and never afraid to show for it.

Everyone sees it differently and I think when fans have an opinion of a guy it’s hard to change that, he got 17 league goals this season I think. That’s really good, see what like after a good pre season, hopefully wins everyone over.


Almost every one of Wallace's corners or free kicks failed to meet an Arbroath player or get anywhere near the target.

And that was just a repeat from Wednesday night. (Apart from the free kick for Linn's header)

Out of probably close to 20 set pieces he screwed up almost all of them. Fucking hopeless.


Its hard for him to win headers if he spends most of his time looking at the other players and backing into them rather than junping up for the ball. Time and again he would drop a shoulder into a dumbarton player, clearly not attempting to go for the ball.

But alas in Dicks eyes he can do no wrong.

So cant wait for Doris to return.
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Well what a season it’s been. Many more highs than lows and we should all be incredibly proud of the team. Losing Steven Doris so early into the campaign was an absolute sickener and I genuinely believe with him we would have finished 3rd and a lot closer to the top 2 than we did. The new formation was widely disliked but it’s been effective and for that I congratulate Dick and Pink. I was skeptical of McKenna but I can clearly see we have a talented lad on our books that gives you 110% every single week. Wallace has a lot to do to change my opinion of him but hopefully he has a great summer and comes back to prove me wrong. There is clearly a good player there but he needs to cut out the diving nonsense. Gav started slowly but from around January was probably the most creative player in our side. Looks like that was 8K well spent. Thomas O’Brien was far and away our top performer this season and in my opinion is the best CB in the league. If we revert back to a 4-4-2 I’m confident with TOB and Ricky at the heart of the defence we will be hard to beat. Bobby showed glimpses towards the end of the season to give me hope he can be a constant threat in the next campaign. Unfortunately this has been a poor campaign for Pongo and I’m sure we won’t see the ginger prince in an Arbroath shirt again. I also expect Hutton, Gomes and Kadar to be away. Scott Martin was a fantastic piece of business and I’m sure we all hope he can break into the Hibs team next season.
Some really great memories from the season include skelping Forfar 5-0 at Station Park to get Bollan the boot, putting 7 past Airdrie at Gayfield and our early season battering of Montrose. I would have obviously much preferred to go up but next season will be a fun one with the 12 local derbies. On a personal note I now get to look ahead to my wedding and a few weeks away but I genuinely can’t wait to be back at Gayfield or travelling the country with some of the great supporters we have who have become fantastic friends in the process. Enjoy your summer Lichties

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Almost every one of Wallace's corners or free kicks failed to meet an Arbroath player or get anywhere near the target.

 

And that was just a repeat from Wednesday night. (Apart from the free kick for Linn's header)

 

Out of probably close to 20 set pieces he screwed up almost all of them. Fucking hopeless.

 

 

Its hard for him to win headers if he spends most of his time looking at the other players and backing into them rather than junping up for the ball. Time and again he would drop a shoulder into a dumbarton player, clearly not attempting to go for the ball.

 

But alas in Dicks eyes he can do no wrong.

 

So cant wait for Doris to return.

 

Thought he made a mess of a couple but not that many. Put some cracking balls in on Wednesday alongside his shite ones, one on a plate for Hamilton that really should’ve been a goal, the goal, the one that would’ve been on a plate for ToB if he wasn’t fouled/dived, the one that lead to the 3 shots off the line..

 

And when your opponent is half a foot taller than you coming into the back of you you’re surely better trying to do that instead of jumping for it sometime? Cause you’re never winning it by just jumping for it.

 

I thought he played really well on Wednesday but was pretty poor yesterday, definitely gets singled out more than any other player we have.

 

Look at Swankie a few month ago, every week it was what a waste of money, one of our best players now id say. If he’s got as good a goal scoring record as he does it’s no fluke.

 

I also cannot wait for Stevie D to return [emoji4]

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WP_20170506_17_26_12_Pro.thumb.jpg.723070da50aeca5af600cc6e1410d3c8.jpg

So 12 months on from our glorious day in the sun at Stirling.

This season has been full of ups & downs with some great results/performances & at other times rather poor. Think most of us can be happy to have reached the playoffs in 1st season back at this level, next season another step up required.

As for the squad, plenty signed up already. A new keeper, a couple of full backs, a hard b*****d of a defensive midfielder & possibly another option up top to be brought in.

Main target for next season, being top of the Angus tree.

 

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WP_20170506_17_26_12_Pro.thumb.jpg.723070da50aeca5af600cc6e1410d3c8.jpg
So 12 months on from our glorious day in the sun at Stirling.
This season has been full of ups & downs with some great results/performances & at other times rather poor. Think most of us can be happy to have reached the playoffs in 1st season back at this level, next season another step up required.
As for the squad, plenty signed up already. A new keeper, a couple of full backs, a hard b*****d of a defensive midfielder & possibly another option up top to be brought in.
Main target for next season, being top of the Angus tree.
 

If Raith go part time and Alloa don’t go up I can’t see any reason we aren’t challenging for the title
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4 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

 

Thought he made a mess of a couple but not that many. Put some cracking balls in on Wednesday alongside his shite ones, one on a plate for Hamilton that really should’ve been a goal, the goal, the one that would’ve been on a plate for ToB if he wasn’t fouled/dived, the one that lead to the 3 shots off the line..

 

And when your opponent is half a foot taller than you coming into the back of you you’re surely better trying to do that instead of jumping for it sometime? Cause you’re never winning it by just jumping for it.

 

I thought he played really well on Wednesday but was pretty poor yesterday, definitely gets singled out more than any other player we have.

 

Look at Swankie a few month ago, every week it was what a waste of money, one of our best players now id say. If he’s got as good a goal scoring record as he does it’s no fluke.

 

I also cannot wait for Stevie D to return emoji4.png

Wallace  had a very tough shift yesterday against a big, physical defence. He backs in to win the ball as he is never going to win it in the air. He had at least a couple of good efforts on target and linked play pretty well. He is never going to have Stephen Doris's physical presence, but that could still be months away so I think the boy needs our encouragement.

Martin was immense again. What a player. Sadly, that could be the last time we see him in an Arbroath shirt.

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Wallace  had a very tough shift yesterday against a big, physical defence. He backs in to win the ball as he is never going to win it in the air. He had at least a couple of good efforts on target and linked play pretty well. He is never going to have Stephen Doris's physical presence, but that could still be months away so I think the boy needs our encouragement.
Martin was immense again. What a player. Sadly, that could be the last time we see him in an Arbroath shirt.


The Scott Martin interview was brilliant. Absolutely loved him. Gave his absolute all and always buzzing about getting stuck in. After his mistake at the end which never even lead to anything yesterday he started punching the post, sums up how much he cares.

Hopefully he can push on and go make himself a good career and a lot of money out of the game and then come back here to finish his career off. [emoji1360]
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lets not forget doris is only 5’10 not really that tall for a number 9 but has a great leap on him and an arse like a roundabout. but it is the heart in the guy takes so much physical abuse from center halves etc gets up and bullies them and puts them on there arses . hurry back sir stevie of the doris

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lets not forget doris is only 5’10 not really that tall for a number 9 but has a great leap on him and an arse like a roundabout. but it is the heart in the guy takes so much physical abuse from center halves etc gets up and bullies them and puts them on there arses . hurry back sir stevie of the doris


Eh love your son mate

God bless Stevie D
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Can't say that I'm much bothered about losing the play-off, it was always going to be a big ask after losing the first leg. Still it's been a successful season, making the play-offs was the aim at the start of the season and that was achieved. I don't think we were quite ready for the step up to the championship. It will be a hard league again next season so we should be aiming for the play-offs again and maybe a bit more.

I think we really missed McCord's skill and craft during the last part of the season. We didn't have anyone else who could see the pass that could open up a defence, hope he gets fit and gets his place in the team come August. Also hope that Steven Doris will make it back for the start of the season, keep doing the physio work Steven.

Congratulations to the players and management for finishing 4th and commiserations to them for not making the play-off final. 

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What a season, eh! Finishing in the play-off spots and giving it a bloody good go against a team in the league above us over two legs is a perfectly acceptable way to end our season, one where we started with the aim of making the play offs and ultimately delivered what we set out to do. With the squad we have and the resources at our disposal I don’t think anyone can say we over achieved at all; we achieved what we should have done and therefore I consider it a successful season.

I will now do what I do best, make an overly long winded post which could have been summarised in about a tenth of the words, which will come across as slightly arrogant and condescending in parts, but hey, that’s the Simon we all know and love begrudgingly tolerate. ;)

First up, our squad for the season and how they fared….

KEEPERS

I think the fact we have 14 players signed up for next year and none of them are a keeper probably speaks volumes. I suspect Dick feels this is one of several positions we need to improve in. My opinion is that both of them are fairly average League 1 keepers over the piece, but I do just about prefer Ricky Gomes overall. Both of them have similar traits, both good at shot stopping and reflex saves but both really struggle to control their box, David Hutton especially. I would consider Hutton one of the best shot stoppers in the league, but one of the worst when it comes to crosses and commanding the defence. Ricky was in and out the team a couple of times in the season, obviously there was a long period where he struggled to be 100% to play and there were also rumours of falling outs with the club/ manager etc. but I’m not quite sure what is/ isn’t true on that front. David Hutton has had some great games for us, but made some absolute howlers and he can seem a bit bombscare ish at times. If we want to improve on this year and challenge up the top, we can definitely improve our first choice keeper.

DEFENCE

First things first, Tam O’Brien is fucking outstanding. He is, in my opinion, one of the best players I’ve ever seen play for the club in my 18ish years of watching us. Having a central defender who has a wee bit of creativity and who can pick a pass is such a huge asset to have at this level where the majority of central defenders idea of creativity is heading the ball as far as they can up the park. I genuinely believe he could easily be playing for a lower Premiership team with the ability he has. The one player in our squad who absolutely no-one could argue has the ability to step up to the next level no problem at all.

Beside him, Colin Hamilton has had a fairly solid season, although for periods he has really struggled. I think he suffers a wee bit in the formation we play, but he has definitely struggled for consistently this season and has had some very poor games. His distribution at times can become dreadful, and positionally he seems to have been a bit all over the shop in some games, but as I say I don’t know how much the formation/ the player in front of him at wing-back/ winger affects that. He’s proven he is a good League 1 player, and has spent several years playing at Championship level also; we would struggle to do much better than Hammy at the level we’re currently at and I’m happy he’s signed up for next year. Also, ‘the Hammy’ is an absolute joy to behold and I’ve cheered it more than a lot of the goals we’ve scored this season.

Ricky Little has had a fairly solid season in my opinion, however out of our 3 centre backs he’s the one I’d worry about when it comes to stepping up another level. Again, due to the formation we’ve been playing it’s hard to judge in a sense, as obviously he’s played as a right sided centre back which no full back outside him and covering the winger which is very different to being a right sided centre back in a 4 with a man to your left and right and the winger being covered by someone else. There’s not a massive amount I can say about Ricky, he is what he is and usually gets the job done and I’m happy to have all 3 of our centre backs signed up for next year. One thing I would say is that Ricky Little should NEVER play as a right back, EVER. It negates his strengths in terms of his positioning in relation to the opposition strikers and aerial strength, while making him do a lot more with the ball which is a weakness. Ricky is a good defender, but he is not a ball playing defender; that’s ToB’s job. Thankfully we’ve not had many games this season where Ricky has been playing as some sort of overlapping full back, as it’s just ridiculous when we do that.

Other players who have filled in at the back include Blair Yule, David Gold and Scott Martin occasionally dropping very deep. I haven’t been impressed by David Gold filling in at left/ right back in the past few months at all, he’s really struggled and it’s obviously a stop gap at this level as opposed to a realistic option to play week in week out at the top end of this division. Blair Yule has done a job, but he’s no-where near physical enough to play more than the odd game at centre back. Scott Martin is obviously outstanding and he has done very, very well in every role we’ve asked of him.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD

Our central midfield this season has obviously consisted of 3 of Scott Martin, Mark Whatley, Gavin Swankie, Ryan McCord and Blair Yule playing in the middle for the majority of the season.

Scott Martin has been absolutely outstanding, and he will be a huge loss to us for next year. There has been a notable difference since he came to the club. I’m not wanting to have a go at Mark Whatley, but I’m firmly of the belief that Scott Martin basically plays the Whatley role, but far better than Whatley himself can play it. He’s stronger in the challenge, he has more pace to recover/ chase back and he plays some nice creative passes up the park where Whatley keeps things very simple and a lot of the time will simply play a 10 yard pass to his left or right. However, Scott Martin will not be at the club next year and Mark Whatley will. Whatley is a good, solid, middle of the road League 1 player in my opinion who will again do a job for us next season. However, similar to what I said about Ricky Little, if we’re looking to step things up, he is a player who we could definitely improve on. Whatley has been left out on 3 occasions this season I think, a superb 4-1 down at Stranraer where we absolutely strolled it in the middle of the park and created loads of chances, an excellent 2-2 draw away against Raith where we more than matched a full time team above us in the league in the centre of the park, and on Wednesday at home to Dumbarton where yet again we matched a team in the league above us in the middle of the park. I always think you know what a player brings to the team more when he’s not there (like when we stopped creating chances when we bizarrely dropped our leading assist makers) and looking at those 3 games I don’t feel we actually missed Whatley in any of them, and certainly in the Stranraer game I felt we created a lot more than if he’d played. I think he’s a good player, I’m happy he’s signed up for next year, but food for thought when it comes to looking at what he brings to the team that other players don’t….

Blair Yule has had a very good first season stepping up to this level in my opinion. He’s had a lot of game time, showed how useful his versatility can be at times and I think he’ll only get better the more he plays for us. Right now he’s a very good squad player, but if he continues to develop I can see him definitely turning into one of our leading players, the potential is definitely there.

Ryan McCord has obviously struggled for fitness, and while I do believe him to be a superb football player and potentially the best player we have technically, we can’t afford any passengers at this level. For the game time he’s had, Pongo has a great goals/ assists record this season, but where do we play him in our starting 11? For me, our central midfield can only fit in one of Swankie or McCord, and over the course of this season Gav has proved that the position is his. I like Pongo, I loved his contribution last season and it’s a shame things have ended (I know he has another year deal, but I would be absolutely astounded if he is here next season) the way they have. Goodbye Ginger Prince.

Gavin Swankie. Incredible. Up until January, my opinion is that he was absolute horseshit and didn’t deserve a place in our starting 11. Against Albion and Ayr at home, both 4-1 losses, his lack of effort and application playing upfront was genuinely disgraceful, and especially at the Ayr at home game I absolutely lost my shit with him. However, it seems obvious to me that his best position now is as a creative midfielder, and since he got a run in the team in that position he’s been superb. One of the best, if not the best, player for us since January. In fairness to him, I think he was struggling for fitness and also wasn’t helped by Dick playing him on the wing (an absolutely batshit mental idea which I’m glad has not resurfaced this calendar year) and since getting a run in the team has been excellent. Not only has he been using the quality we all know he has to create things and open other teams up, he’s been digging in, doing a power of running, winning 50/50s and tracking back consistently to help the defence out. Pongo doesn’t do any tracking back, and struggles to win any ball in the centre of the park. He’s a good luxury player, but Gav has proved himself over the past few months to be a better all round ‘luxury’ player, who since January actually hasn’t been a luxury at all considering the work he’s put in. If for the full season next year we have a fully fit and motivated Gavin Swankie in the centre of the park every week I’ll be delighted. It was incredible to me that we moved him out of that position after 4 months of excellent performances and put him back upfront in our biggest game of the season.

WINGERS

Bobby Linn, Danny Denholm, Omar Kader, David Gold.

For me, it is absolutely clear as day who are two best players on the wing are, and that they should be starting every week they’re fit to do so. Bobby Linn has had an up and down season, obviously struggling with injury until around early December, before regaining form and having a really good 6/8 week period before incredibly being dropped resulting in us creating f**k all in the majority of the games we played until we brought him back into the side. I don’t want to see us shitfest 0-0s and 1-0s, I want to see us try to score goals, win games and excite the fans. To do this, you need to play wingers who will take a man on, get the ball into the box and create chances. Only two of our wide men do this regularly; Bobby Linn and Danny Denholm.

While Danny Denholm’s form has dropped somewhat since he got injured, he is still easily one of our best wide options and he has contributed big time this season with goals and assists. He was outstanding up until his injury, and hopefully a bit of time off will do him the world of good. He’s also clearly a winger, and I’ve very little time for playing him upfront however I think Dick was simply doing that as a stop gap until we managed to get others (McIntosh, McKenna, Wallace) in to compensate for Doris’ injury.

I feel both Omar and Gold have, over the course of the season, proved themselves to be backup/ rotational options. I really hope we can get another winger in at the level of Bobby/ Denholm to really challenge them and to give us 3 quality wide options to allow us to rest/ rotate/ change things from the bench and offer a bit more of a threat every week out wide. I’ve nothing against Omar and David Gold, but I feel they’re struggled over the past few months (Gold has covered several positions so hard to really criticise based on 1 game at left back, an hour at right back, 30 minutes coming on the wing etc.) and Omar’s second half of the season has been awful. Up until the turn of the year he was offering us a good option out wide and creating some chances, but in 2018 I genuinely can’t remember him putting a proper cross into the box. He’s been doing the simple stuff, touch, control, pass it back/ sideways 10 yards but not offering a threat going forwards. At times it’s been like playing Mark Whatley on the wing. If he stays, he needs to get his early season form back or there’s no way he can be justified starting in games.

STRIKERS

Steven Doris :(  A huge loss over the season, less so in the last few months with Wallace/ McKenna coming in but no-one can hold the ball up like Steven Doris can using his large arse to hold players who are bigger than him off the ball. As everyone has said, presuming he’s at the club next year I can’t wait to see him back fit and in our first team.

Between the start of the season and when we brought Leighton McIntosh to the club, we obviously put Swankie/ Denholm up top for a number of games but I don’t consider either of them to be strikers and if we have a good squad with no injury issues for the start of next season I would hope neither of them feature in the front 2 next year.

Leighton McIntosh has come in and obviously proved he can score goals, but his overall game is not as good as Ryan Wallace or Michael McKenna in my opinion. It looks likely he won’t be with the club next year considering he’s not signed up yet but I feel he offered us a good option in the last 6 months and you can’t argue with his goal return for the minutes he’s played. It would be fair comment for him to feel himself unlucky not to get more starts for us considering the goals he’s got.

The signing of Michael McKenna wasn’t exactly inspiring at the time (rumour has it some fans were slaughtering him before he’d even played! ;):P ) but he has proved a very useful addition. He puts in a lot of running, holds the ball up well and has contributed well over the piece. He can play in a variety of positions, but I much prefer him up top to out wide, or potentially playing in behind the front 2 if we had a space for him there (I don’t think we do).

Ryan Wallace…… I think he will be a good player for us next season. He is obviously a striker with a strikers touch and eye for goal. He can hold the ball up, usually has good set pieces in my opinion (there are a couple of games he’s had a stinker in this regard) and if he can form a good partnership with Doris or someone else next year he’ll easily get double figures goal wise over the season. I can fully understand why he pisses people off, going down at every single opportunity and trying ridiculous fancy flicks when he would be far better doing the simple stuff is incredibly frustrating. However, over the past few weeks it looks to me like he’s cut a lot of that out on both counts and if he focuses on doing what he’s good at and cuts the pish out he’ll be a player for us next year I feel.

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Absolutely raging that I’d typed half of this out before that dick Simon posted his, btw.

Under contract-Little, O’Brien, Hamilton, Gold, Whatley, Yule, McCord, McKenna, Linn, Denholm, Swankie, Wallace, Hester

McCord will more than likely be away, which is a shame because he is unreal technically, but he’s so out of shape it’s a joke. Can see him ending up at Forfar or Montrose.

Heard Hester and Campbell had a falling out on Saturday, I wouldn’t be surprised to see his contract ripped up if he can find a new club. Montrose will need to improve their strike force and could be a likely destination if SP fancies him.

Think both keepers will be away, which is a shame because Ricky Gomes leaving is something I’m not ready for :( We can definitely improve on him and Hutton though. I’m not sure whether we’ll go for a really good first choice GK with a youngster as back-up, or two similarly rated keepers providing competition for each other. IMO someone who can command their area is an absolute must.

Happy with all the other players signed up. They’ve all had decent seasons. TOB an absolute class act and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a few bids for him this summer, but unless it’s absolutely stupid money we’d be daft to sell him because I can’t see who we could bring in that’s equal to him. Little had another good season, I reckon top end League One is probably his limit but a good player to have. Will probably go over 200 Arbroath appearances next season as well. Don’t think the back 3 suits Hamilton but he’s a player I think we’d miss if he went away.

Whatley is alright, doesn’t do much wrong and has games where he’s really good, wish he had them more often though. Yule started the season well but in and out recently, has played a load of games though and maybe just suffering a bit of burnout. Swankie up until the New Year was very meh but really came onto a game around that time where we had 7 games in 21 days or whatever it was. Get a good pre-season behind him because he’ll be our main creative player in midfield. Should be aiming for double figures in goals IMO. Scott Martin really is a class act. So tenacious in midfield, I imagine he’s an absolute nightmare to play against. With McGinn and McGeouch both being linked away from Hibs could be a chance for him to get into the Hibs team.

Denholm is another player that’ll benefit from a break I think, should definitely be a first choice winger. David Gold overall has had a decent season, and is a good player to have in our squad given he’s fairly versatile. Really good to watch when he’s on his game as well, his close control is excellent. I’d be punting Omar. Has done a decent job for us but he can’t really take a man on anymore. Really intelligent player, gets into good positions but as a winger you want him beating his man and getting the ball into the box which he can’t really do. Delighted Bobby has signed on again, he’s a class player and is Gayf’d out his nut. Showed as recently as Wednesday night that when he’s on his game he’s unplayable. I’ve heard that Skelly is getting a new deal but can we rely on him staying fit next season?There’s a player in there but IMO he needs to go somewhere he’s going to play every week.

By all accounts Doris seems to be doing well with his rehabilitation, September is the target I believe. Get him back and punt him on loan to a L2/Junior side for a month to get him some game time then welcome him back. I think a fit Doris will help Wallace because Wallace can focus on becoming more of a penalty box striker, with Doris doing most of the hold and link play outside the box. McIntosh will be away, not sure if he’s going back to Iceland or what, if not he’d be a really good signing for a team lower down the league or at the top end of L2. Knows where the goal is but his overall game is a bit lacking. McKenna has all the makings of a cult hero. Runs himself into the ground, is an all action type player and has a good rapport with the fans.

Last Summer it was pretty widely known we were in for TOB and Denholm, and then the Swankie rumour was about for a while before it happened as well, but I’ve not heard any rumours yet. IMO we should be looking for a solid right back, a defensive midfielder, a winger to provide competition and a striker if Hester moves on. Been a class season with some really memorable results. Beating Ayr twice at Somerset, both away games against Stranraer and giving Forfar 5 at Station Park all class days. Our home record hopefully will improve next season. Hope Abdy has a good summer, probably only 7 weeks till the first pre-season friendly anyway [emoji12]

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32 minutes ago, Lichtie78 said:

Absolutely raging that I’d typed half of this out before that dick Simon posted his, btw.

Under contract-Little, O’Brien, Hamilton, Gold, Whatley, Yule, McCord, McKenna, Linn, Denholm, Swankie, Wallace, Hester

McCord will more than likely be away, which is a shame because he is unreal technically, but he’s so out of shape it’s a joke. Can see him ending up at Forfar or Montrose.

Heard Hester and Campbell had a falling out on Saturday, I wouldn’t be surprised to see his contract ripped up if he can find a new club. Montrose will need to improve their strike force and could be a likely destination if SP fancies him.

Think both keepers will be away, which is a shame because Ricky Gomes leaving is something I’m not ready for :( We can definitely improve on him and Hutton though. I’m not sure whether we’ll go for a really good first choice GK with a youngster as back-up, or two similarly rated keepers providing competition for each other. IMO someone who can command their area is an absolute must.

Happy with all the other players signed up. They’ve all had decent seasons. TOB an absolute class act and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a few bids for him this summer, but unless it’s absolutely stupid money we’d be daft to sell him because I can’t see who we could bring in that’s equal to him. Little had another good season, I reckon top end League One is probably his limit but a good player to have. Will probably go over 200 Arbroath appearances next season as well. Don’t think the back 3 suits Hamilton but he’s a player I think we’d miss if he went away.

Whatley is alright, doesn’t do much wrong and has games where he’s really good, wish he had them more often though. Yule started the season well but in and out recently, has played a load of games though and maybe just suffering a bit of burnout. Swankie up until the New Year was very meh but really came onto a game around that time where we had 7 games in 21 days or whatever it was. Get a good pre-season behind him because he’ll be our main creative player in midfield. Should be aiming for double figures in goals IMO. Scott Martin really is a class act. So tenacious in midfield, I imagine he’s an absolute nightmare to play against. With McGinn and McGeouch both being linked away from Hibs could be a chance for him to get into the Hibs team.

Denholm is another player that’ll benefit from a break I think, should definitely be a first choice winger. David Gold overall has had a decent season, and is a good player to have in our squad given he’s fairly versatile. Really good to watch when he’s on his game as well, his close control is excellent. I’d be punting Omar. Has done a decent job for us but he can’t really take a man on anymore. Really intelligent player, gets into good positions but as a winger you want him beating his man and getting the ball into the box which he can’t really do. Delighted Bobby has signed on again, he’s a class player and is Gayf’d out his nut. Showed as recently as Wednesday night that when he’s on his game he’s unplayable. I’ve heard that Skelly is getting a new deal but can we rely on him staying fit next season?There’s a player in there but IMO he needs to go somewhere he’s going to play every week.

By all accounts Doris seems to be doing well with his rehabilitation, September is the target I believe. Get him back and punt him on loan to a L2/Junior side for a month to get him some game time then welcome him back. I think a fit Doris will help Wallace because Wallace can focus on becoming more of a penalty box striker, with Doris doing most of the hold and link play outside the box. McIntosh will be away, not sure if he’s going back to Iceland or what, if not he’d be a really good signing for a team lower down the league or at the top end of L2. Knows where the goal is but his overall game is a bit lacking. McKenna has all the makings of a cult hero. Runs himself into the ground, is an all action type player and has a good rapport with the fans.

Last Summer it was pretty widely known we were in for TOB and Denholm, and then the Swankie rumour was about for a while before it happened as well, but I’ve not heard any rumours yet. IMO we should be looking for a solid right back, a defensive midfielder, a winger to provide competition and a striker if Hester moves on. Been a class season with some really memorable results. Beating Ayr twice at Somerset, both away games against Stranraer and giving Forfar 5 at Station Park all class days. Our home record hopefully will improve next season. Hope Abdy has a good summer, probably only 7 weeks till the first pre-season friendly anyway emoji12.png

Ridiculously long winded post - do you actually expect anyone to read through that whole thing?!* :blink: :rolleyes:

*after being bored to tears by my 3000 odd words of pish above it ;)

 

Not to worry you all, but I've not even begun to tackle our squad for next season, what we need to add, a solid critique of our formation and of course my 'management review' which will no doubt result in several meltdowns at the first sign of criticism towards our glorious leader :D

 

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Next up, to round off a well spent Bank Holiday at work, the games I thought were most/ least enjoyable. Not necessarily solely based on performance, other factors come into play with some of them……


Most enjoyable:
2-1 win away to Ayr in August, plus 2-1 win away to Ayr in January.
Two games in one but both of them were outstanding and both had to be mentioned. Going down there in August after an average start to the campaign and with Ayr flying everyone would have taken a point. We matched them all over the park, putting in a really good, solid performance with a superb winner courtesy of Mark Whatley.


The game in January was delightful. Again, we more than matched them but we knew after ToB got sent off that we would be lucky to hold on for a draw with Ayr’s scoring record this year. We didn’t just hold on, we managed to grab a late winner courtesy of Leighton McIntosh which saw some absolutely tremendous scenes in the away end. Ayr away is superb, a great bowling club for a few pre match pints and a quality wee enclosure for the away fans where with even 50 or so in there you can create an atmosphere and really get behind the team.


In the league away from home we’ve absolutely owned one of the top goal scoring teams in Scotland this year. Pleasing.


5-0 v Forfar followed up by 6-2 v Stranraer in September
In the space of a month, we had 3 away games. Have mentioned above what we did to Ayr, but the two other away performances going into September were also superb. Hammering Forfar 5-0 at their own ground, ToB getting a goal, David Gold spending the second half calling David Cox a ‘cutie’ and blowing kisses at him as he got angrier and angrier…… delightful.


Could it get much better than beating the team top of the league on their own ground, and then battering our rivals at theirs? Yes, yes it could. The 6-2 against Stranraer was superb with all of our attacking players on form, Danny Denholm firing in an absolute screamer and Pongo and Bobby running the show. I’m fairly certain we were 4 up after about 25 minutes which considering I’d spent 4.5 hours in a car shaking and sweating out the previous night’s lager on the way down made me feel somewhat better. Also worth mentioning Cammy Belford’s ‘banter’ with a few of our fans which was audibly caught on the Go-Pro behind the goal…… I’m very unsure why a keeper would start dishing our verbal’s at 5-1 down with a penalty just awarded against his team but I’m glad he did, because it was fucking hilarious.


7-1 at home to Airdrie in October
The most goals we’ve scored in a game since our 7-2 win at home to Shire about 10 years ago I think (Alan Brazil and Pat Clarke hat-tricks!). Airdrie were very poor on the day, we were miles on top and our creative players on form… not a huge amount to say on this really but had to be mentioned due to the score!


2-1 at home to Forfar in November
The last minute winner. The celebration on the park. The celebration off the park. The meltdown from the Forfar players. Everyone behind the goal running down the front to celebrate and everyone on the side running down the front to give the Forfar players pelters as they protested to the linesman a few yards in front of them. Had the added bonus of being in winter so dark/ floodlights on. Nothing beats a last minute winner on a cold day under floodlights (Annan away, Josh Skelly last minute winner last season as a reference ;) )


4-1 away to Stranraer in February
I loved this game. Similar to Forfar, although obviously midweek, a game under the floodlights where we scored goals which caused some excellent scenes of celebration. After a shaky start, Stranraer got a superb opener right in the top corner from 25+ yards out, before we deservedly equalised before half time with a penalty. Two minutes into the second half Michael McKenna nicely introduces himself to the fans by netting from 2 yards out before hugging the travelling fans, which seemed to really excite one of our younger fans who spent the rest of the game and a long car journey home slavering and salivating about the smell of Mikey's hair.

Least enjoyable:

4-1 at home to Albion in September

Stevie D gets carried off to hospital and before the players can blink we're 2-0 down and end up hammered 4-1 at home. By Albion. At Home. Albion.


3-1 defeat away to East Fife in October

This isn't performance related, but fan related. We were looking not too bad at all first half and seemed to be relatively in control at the start of the second half before the players completely collapsed and we concede 3 in 15 minutes or so. We'd gone over a year undefeated away from home before losing to top of the table Raith the previous away game. We'd dished out the aforementioned 5-0/ 6-2 hammerings of Forfar/ Stranraer the month prior and had started the season showing some very good stuff, albeit inconsistently. After our 15 minute disaster spell a good half a dozen or so of our fans decided to start screaming abuse at Dick about getting it changed/ being a useless c**t and telling him to f**k off! :blink: If we'd started the season poorly, Dick had the wrong team on the park and had fucked his subs I'd have understood it a bit more, but this was ridiculous..... Dick ended up dishing it back and offering several folk a square go in the car park and there was a lot of utter shite being shouted on all sides....... embarrassing all round. Don't really blame Dick much at all tbh, the stuff being shouted was absurd.... maybe our gaffer offering square go's to fans is a bit too Jim Weir though.

4-1 at home to Ayr in November

During the spell we went through where we would just collapse at random intervals (like the two games above) and McCall just put on a 3rd striker, went 4-3-3 and ran right through us at the back and got 4 in a 15/ 20 minute spell. McCall got it spot on and we didn't/ couldn't do anything to stop it.

East Fife 1-1 draw home December

We were on top, got ahead and going into the final 10 minutes we just had to keep going as we were and see the game out in their half. Bobby Linn is our main outlet, with everything going down that wing and ended up with the game being played in the East Fife half. In a half expected moment of madness we decide to take Bobby off and suddenly our defence are playing on the 18 yard box and we can't get out our half, inviting attack after attack before Davie Gold decides to rugby tackle someone in the box and give away a penalty in the last minute. We had way worse performances I've not mentioned, and way worse results but for some reason I'm still pissed off about this game.

0-0 v Airdrie. January

Dear God. The worst game of football we played in this season by a long, long way. The conditions were awful, both teams were awful, Omar was especially awful and it was painful that he got 90 minutes ahead of options we had on the bench. Every player will have a stinker, I think every player in our squad has had a minimum of one absolutely awful game this season but this stuck out as being exceptionally awful..... giving him the full 90 was almost cruel. This seemed to be the start of a real loss of form for him after a promising first half to the season.

3-0 loss to QP on last day

I know it didn't really mean much as we were already in the play offs but we had a superb away support of 200/ 250 and we didn't give them any sort of performance at all, Scott Martin a side. We were dreadful, it's only due to QP showing some footballing ability that this game was better than the Airdrie game.

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Next up, to round off a well spent Bank Holiday at work, the games I thought were most/ least enjoyable. Not necessarily solely based on performance, other factors come into play with some of them……

Most enjoyable:
2-1 win away to Ayr in August, plus 2-1 win away to Ayr in January.
Two games in one but both of them were outstanding and both had to be mentioned. Going down there in August after an average start to the campaign and with Ayr flying everyone would have taken a point. We matched them all over the park, putting in a really good, solid performance with a superb winner courtesy of Mark Whatley.

The game in January was delightful. Again, we more than matched them but we knew after ToB got sent off that we would be lucky to hold on for a draw with Ayr’s scoring record this year. We didn’t just hold on, we managed to grab a late winner courtesy of Leighton McIntosh which saw some absolutely tremendous scenes in the away end. Ayr away is superb, a great bowling club for a few pre match pints and a quality wee enclosure for the away fans where with even 50 or so in there you can create an atmosphere and really get behind the team.

In the league away from home we’ve absolutely owned one of the top goal scoring teams in Scotland this year. Pleasing.

5-0 v Forfar followed up by 6-2 v Stranraer in September
In the space of a month, we had 3 away games. Have mentioned above what we did to Ayr, but the two other away performances going into September were also superb. Hammering Forfar 5-0 at their own ground, ToB getting a goal, David Gold spending the second half calling David Cox a ‘cutie’ and blowing kisses at him as he got angrier and angrier…… delightful.

Could it get much better than beating the team top of the league on their own ground, and then battering our rivals at theirs? Yes, yes it could. The 6-2 against Stranraer was superb with all of our attacking players on form, Danny Denholm firing in an absolute screamer and Pongo and Bobby running the show. I’m fairly certain we were 4 up after about 25 minutes which considering I’d spent 4.5 hours in a car shaking and sweating out the previous night’s lager on the way down made me feel somewhat better. Also worth mentioning Cammy Belford’s ‘banter’ with a few of our fans which was audibly caught on the Go-Pro behind the goal…… I’m very unsure why a keeper would start dishing our verbal’s at 5-1 down with a penalty just awarded against his team but I’m glad he did, because it was fucking hilarious.

7-1 at home to Airdrie in October
The most goals we’ve scored in a game since our 7-2 win at home to Shire about 10 years ago I think (Alan Brazil and Pat Clarke hat-tricks!). Airdrie were very poor on the day, we were miles on top and our creative players on form… not a huge amount to say on this really but had to be mentioned due to the score!

2-1 at home to Forfar in November
The last minute winner. The celebration on the park. The celebration off the park. The meltdown from the Forfar players. Everyone behind the goal running down the front to celebrate and everyone on the side running down the front to give the Forfar players pelters as they protested to the linesman a few yards in front of them. Had the added bonus of being in winter so dark/ floodlights on. Nothing beats a last minute winner on a cold day under floodlights (Annan away, Josh Skelly last minute winner last season as a reference [emoji6] )

4-1 away to Stranraer in February
I loved this game. Similar to Forfar, although obviously midweek, a game under the floodlights where we scored goals which caused some excellent scenes of celebration. After a shaky start, Stranraer got a superb opener right in the top corner from 25+ yards out, before we deservedly equalised before half time with a penalty. Two minutes into the second half Michael McKenna nicely introduces himself to the fans by netting from 2 yards out before hugging the travelling fans, which seemed to really excite one of our younger fans who spent the rest of the game and a long car journey home slavering and salivating about the smell of Mikey's hair.
Least enjoyable:
4-1 at home to Albion in September
Stevie D gets carried off to hospital and before the players can blink we're 2-0 down and end up hammered 4-1 at home. By Albion. At Home. Albion.

3-1 defeat away to East Fife in October
This isn't performance related, but fan related. We were looking not too bad at all first half and seemed to be relatively in control at the start of the second half before the players completely collapsed and we concede 3 in 15 minutes or so. We'd gone over a year undefeated away from home before losing to top of the table Raith the previous away game. We'd dished out the aforementioned 5-0/ 6-2 hammerings of Forfar/ Stranraer the month prior and had started the season showing some very good stuff, albeit inconsistently. After our 15 minute disaster spell a good half a dozen or so of our fans decided to start screaming abuse at Dick about getting it changed/ being a useless c**t and telling him to f**k off! :blink: If we'd started the season poorly, Dick had the wrong team on the park and had fucked his subs I'd have understood it a bit more, but this was ridiculous..... Dick ended up dishing it back and offering several folk a square go in the car park and there was a lot of utter shite being shouted on all sides....... embarrassing all round. Don't really blame Dick much at all tbh, the stuff being shouted was absurd.... maybe our gaffer offering square go's to fans is a bit too Jim Weir though.
4-1 at home to Ayr in November
During the spell we went through where we would just collapse at random intervals (like the two games above) and McCall just put on a 3rd striker, went 4-3-3 and ran right through us at the back and got 4 in a 15/ 20 minute spell. McCall got it spot on and we didn't/ couldn't do anything to stop it.
East Fife 1-1 draw home December
We were on top, got ahead and going into the final 10 minutes we just had to keep going as we were and see the game out in their half. Bobby Linn is our main outlet, with everything going down that wing and ended up with the game being played in the East Fife half. In a half expected moment of madness we decide to take Bobby off and suddenly our defence are playing on the 18 yard box and we can't get out our half, inviting attack after attack before Davie Gold decides to rugby tackle someone in the box and give away a penalty in the last minute. We had way worse performances I've not mentioned, and way worse results but for some reason I'm still pissed off about this game.
0-0 v Airdrie. January
Dear God. The worst game of football we played in this season by a long, long way. The conditions were awful, both teams were awful, Omar was especially awful and it was painful that he got 90 minutes ahead of options we had on the bench. Every player will have a stinker, I think every player in our squad has had a minimum of one absolutely awful game this season but this stuck out as being exceptionally awful..... giving him the full 90 was almost cruel. This seemed to be the start of a real loss of form for him after a promising first half to the season.
3-0 loss to QP on last day
I know it didn't really mean much as we were already in the play offs but we had a superb away support of 200/ 250 and we didn't give them any sort of performance at all, Scott Martin a side. We were dreadful, it's only due to QP showing some footballing ability that this game was better than the Airdrie game.

The Stranraer away in midweek was a fun one. You nearly being on a train before a phone call to say there was a space in the motor. You having to cancel your booked room with a guy you had the most magnificent stutter. The young fans hard on about McKennas hair. The driver nearly killing us going round the bends on road to Girvan.
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