SimonLichtie

In my opinion, and the stats back it up, we literally couldn't sign a better part time striker within Scotland at the moment. A really, really positive signing in a position we've struggled for years to get a proper part time player in for. A proven quality L1 striker on a 2 year deal I think as a support we need to accept Jim McIntyre is the manager, and will continue to be until at least September/ October. There's no point in moaning about nonsensical things the man does or just making up bollocks ('we've not offered anyone contracts', 'McIntyre clearly doesn't want to be here', 'He's obviously lost the dressing room' etc). Clearly there are a couple of players at the club who have been here long term but won't be next season for various reasons, we need to accept that and look forward. These new deals and the beginning of signings from outwith the club show just a small amount of the groundwork that goes into preparing for the summer/ a new season. As I said before, if you get rid of a manager at this stage you chuck so much of that in the bin that you'll never catch up properly for the following campaign, the new manager struggles in these circumstances and the merry-go-round of managers continues..... While I'm hardly enthused about Jim McIntyre being in charge next season, there are positives to it as has been shown so far. I kind of zoned out entirely from expecting any sort of performances/ results this season 3 or 4 weeks ago as it's utterly irrelevant and the prep for the upcoming campaign is far, far more important than dead games at the end of a shit season.

I think the only reasonable punishment is that I be banned from Gayfield for a year and be made to sit on the old Ladyloan Primary School wall to watch games, as the other trouble makers have been made to do before me (I hope that at least a few people get the reference!!)

f**k off, you're a nobody who couldn't even be bothered to attend todays game. I very rarely post on here from my phone - I've done so twice this year from what I can remember. One time while working in Fife and I came out of a meeting to find I'd kicked off World War 3 with the social media team, and this time where I came out the game to find I'd accidently offended a load of our fanbase Think I'll stick to the laptop from now on...... Totally understand your reply earlier, totally justified considering the wording of my initial post

As I said - if this is what you want to believe you're welcome to do so If given the binary choice of looking like an arsehole or admitting to something I didn't do to save face - I'd choose to look like an arsehole every time. If that's what's happened here, then it is how it is. However, just to clarify, my poorly worded post was me 'doing' something, and that something was trying to make myself look/ saying I am superior to most other Arbroath fans? Half time of a game down at Ayr and I've thought to myself 'f**k this, I'm gonna get on Pie and Bovril and make sure everyone knows how superior I am to them due to the fact I'm here watching this shit and they're not'? As opposed to 'f**k sake, everytime I log onto Pie and Bovril at half time of a game to see other peoples view of the game it's full of people telling me how shit our players are/ have been when they're not watching it, I find it really frustrating'? I don't think there's much point me saying anything further on this really..... At this point, despite me being the one who worded things badly initially and people like exiledlichtie/tattie rightly jumping on it (and others, no disrespect to anyone!), you're the one basically putting words in my mouth so.....

If that's what you want to believe, you're entitled to do so, and my own fault for jumping in two footed while pissed off at half time in a game we were already beaten. However, it is utter bollocks. I have absolutely no reason whatever to think I am 'better' than anyone, regardless of football. I consider myself extremely lucky and priviledged in many ways in life, including football wise where I'm in a position to go and watch us every week. Frankly I'd say I'm the luckiest Arbroath fan that's ever lived - born in a time we've won three titles and able to attend all the games in the seasons we did so? An absolute privilege. My comment was regarding people commenting on players performances etc during games they're not watching. It just doesnt make any sense to me personally. Obviously we're all entitled to our opinions but I don't understand how someone can form an opinion on a game/ what's going on in a game they're not seeing. My personal view of it/ opinion. A lot of people disagree, entirely understandable, a big part of how my opinion is formed is probably because I'm lucky enough to never not see us play, so I don't really know anything else. Anyway, there's a good chance you were simply looking for me to rise to your comment, which I have done so well played if so

I thought today was absolutely what we've come to know and expect this calendar year. We simply cannot put in a full 90 minute performance due to a lack of fitness, lack of cohesion, lack of confidence and ultimately a lack of quality. We're able to play relatively well in 10/ 15 minute spells but two decent 10 minute spells in a 90 minute game leaves 70 minutes where you're chasing the ball about and picking it out the net every so often. Our back line is incredibly weak as it has been for months with the back line being individuals as opposed to a unit due to lack of game time together and we have nobody in midfield with any physicality. We definitely have at 10 players in the squad who are proven league 1 quality and are keepable, but we have to add the right type of players to what we have. 'positives' from today would be another good performance from innes Murray as he gets fitter, Aaron Steele returning and getting some minutes before the end of the season and boruc making 3/4 superb saves.

Seems my previous comment was rather poorly put across... I'm beginning to make a habit of it.... What I'm trying to get at is I find it bizarre coming on here to find out how were playing/ who's playing well/ badly, comments on tactics etc. from people who aren't at the game and can't possibly know these things. Having a go at boruc etc. For example when he's actually playing really well, but we've conceded several goals so the assumption is made he's been dreadful. I am absolutely not, and would never mean to have a go at anyone for not being able to attend a football match due to finances or family commitments. I assumed that as a given, which I shouldn't have. . Also previous post wasn't aimed at any individual, no offense meant to anyone. Maybe I just made a needless comment about a mild annoyance of mine when we were, yet again, being easily beaten as frustration got the better of me....

It's so weird to me that people sit at home every week commenting on how were playing and talking about how annoyed/ angry they are.... Why not come along to the game?!

I am currently in a state of extremely high surprise at the meet the manager announcement, pencilled in for the week after our relegation will be confirmed My main hopes, as they always have been over the past few months, is that we keep a solid 10 or so of what we've got and build on that for next season. If McIntyre is staying, you have to presume the dressing room has been sounded out regarding this and the board are happy with the expected stayings/ goings of the current squad as well as the players McIntyre has been sounding out for next season from outwith the club. My main reason for sticking with McIntyre is continuity and not ended up building a squad from almost nothing this summer.... if we end up keeping McIntyre and that actually becomes the reason we have to rebuild, that would be a complete and utter shambles.

So...... another one down, only four to go until we can shut the door on this season.... I thought we were relatively good today in terms of our shape, but simply let down by the usual issues.... a lack of quality, a lack of team cohesion and a lack of sharpness. Boruc was excellent in my opinion, his shot stopping is superb but he obviously has huge deficiencies in commanding his box and his kicking at times (although again it was excellent today). McIntyre was entirely correct to drop Mikey, who continued to struggle today as he has done since his return to injury. Hopefully, like so many of our current squad, a good pre season can help him return to former form. A major issue is we really have nothing out wide, with Innes Murray lacking match fitness he can't take a man on properly yet and it means we keep trying to play through the middle and we don't have the pace to get in behind or the ability in midfield to play that killer pass right now. Leighton's goal was a really good strike after excellent work from Jay Bird, but a side from that we couldn't really put Inverness under any sort of real pressure barring a few balls into the box and a couple of brief spells in control in the middle of the park. A real lack of confidence on top of everything else right now, understandably.

I couldn't agree more, but it means nothing when it comes to contracts with an 'out' clause upon relegation

We are not mathematically relegated, and there is no chance of Jim McIntyre leaving the club prior to confirmation we're down. I fully expect he'll leave the club within 48 hours of our relegation being confirmed.

At this stage I think it's highly likely that after relegation has been mathematically confirmed there will be a parting of ways.... I'd be very surprised if this wasn't the case.

One thing no-one who has been demanding McIntyre out for weeks has actually properly answered is what happens next season? If we change manager at any point between now and the summer, the summer becomes a hugely difficult window for them with players being lined up by clubs/ managers over the past few months and a new man basically being months behind other clubs. The fans would absolutely have to give this man time to get things right. My expectations under McIntyre next season would be anything othe than top 4 is unacceptable. Under a new manager I'd simply be looking at a mid table finish and beginning to build their own team. What if we're in the bottom half of the table after 9 games next year? Do we just bin another manager, get someone else in, bin them off if we don't improve and we basically have a revolving door on the managers office?

I mean the majority of his post is simply stating facts that are true People can want McIntyre out, totally understandable, but just dismissing all of the difficulties he's been up against is a nonsense. People can re-write recent history all they want, but I've never seen another Arbroath manager come into a job in such difficult circumstances before. My opinion on McIntyre is, simply, that my own opinion is irrelevant. At this stage 80/ 90% + of the fan base want him to leave the club, and my individual opinion obviously doesn't change that. Once a manager has the vast majority of the fans wanting them to leave, it's virtually impossible to come back from that, the 'rights' and 'wrongs' don't really matter in that sort of situation. One thing I would say is that clearly the board should have been sounding out the players over the past few weeks and over the upcoming few weeks about the current 'feel' of things. If the feedback from the established players is negative and it looks like it's going to be a case of keep McIntyre vs keep our established players, there's only one winner there.

Incredibly until I got back home and popped on to this thread I wasn't overly fussed regarding our performance this evening and was even relatively pleased at points. However, 45 minutes later I'm proper pissed off on a whole variety of different levels. I think I'll do what Mikey should've done and take a step back and keep my opinion to myself

I like Mikey - but it's absolutely indefensible for a player to post on social media like he has done. Really, really poor stuff.

Yup,a fairy standard way to do a loan deal these days. Entirely up to a club loaning a player if they want to play them or not, in every case. A club has never been 'punished' for not playing a loanee. Next people will be arguing we didn't play Ali Adams and got rid because his appearance bonus was too high and we couldn't afford to play him... !

I thought we went through this with boruc last month No club signs loan players and have to play them. This cannot be enforced.

Our Facebook comments are wild at times Main gripes seem to be taking Mikey off and that the players aren't playing for the manager..... I thought the second half showed the absolute opposite of that. If we'd come out second half and just accepted defeat and tossed it off then my position would certainly be moving towards McIntyre leaving, but we showed a tremendous amount of fight in the second half. I think McIntyre got the starting 11 and the subs pretty much spot on today to be honest. Ultimately we're simply not good enough, a team devoid of confidence and match fitness. Mikey and Tam, two of our long term players who are a real backbone of our team, have really struggled in the past few months. Tam hampered with what now seems like four different injuries this calendar year and Mikey obviously lacking fitness and match sharpness as his performance today showed. It absolutely sums our season up. Both of them are quality players, and with a good pre-season behind them they'll be top end L1 players next year.

Decided I could do a bit better than the above Below is what I posted on the Arbroath thread: Today's On This Day post is as follows: On This Day in 1925 we beat King's Park 2-1 a Second Division match at Gayfield with Bob McFarlane and Bob Black scoring our goals This was the last game played at 'Old Gayfield' with the pitch being moved and the entire ground rebuilt that summer. We played 560 competitive matches at the 'old' ground, and at least another 417 friendlies all of which are detailed in our archive! The main reason for posting this one is I don't think it's particuarly well known that we 'moved' ground in the summer of 1925, and even when it is many don't know why/ where the 'old' ground is in relation to the new one. Above is a picture taken during the aforementioned game - one of the only, and certainly by far and away the best, picture I have of the 'old' ground. The big hill behind the goal closest to camera is the 'Tatties Nook' end which was favoured by the home fans. Below is a picture showing the two grounds on one plan; the dotted line below being the 'old' ground and the ground we've all known in our lifetimes is the one on top, the shape is ever so recognisable 99 years later From here on in, the majority of this is from memory so I may be slightly off with certain bits... One side of the ground couldn't be used at all due to the proximity to the road and with the school also being right on the opposite side of the road this couldn't be changed. There are various mentions in reports of players being smashed into the wall with it being just a few feet from the edge of the pitch.... The main stand at the old ground, clearly shown in the picture, was taken to the 'new' ground and sat opposite the new main stand (the one we still use today). You can see part of the old main stand sitting where it did at the 'new' ground in the picture below, taken in 1950. Why did I use this picture to show that stand instead of the other ones that show it fully? The wall! I think, and this is my theory/ opinion as opposed to something I have factual evidence to confirm, that the wall closest to where the photo is taken above may be the only part of 'old' Gayfield that was kept and formed part of the 'new' ground. The photo from 1925 and the one from 1950 would be showing the same wall opposite Ladyloan School. The old main stand that was moved was demolished sometime in the 1950s IIRC (maybe 60s) and the wall was fully redeveloped just a few years ago. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to see more of this sort of stuff

I don't really post stuff here that I've posted on the Archive's socials as I don't want to be shoving the same content at people everywhere they go, but I'm making an exception today Today's On This Day post is as follows: On This Day in 1925 we beat King's Park 2-1 a Second Division match at Gayfield with Bob McFarlane and Bob Black scoring our goals This was the last game played at 'Old Gayfield' with the pitch being moved and the entire ground rebuilt that summer. We played 560 competitive matches at the 'old' ground, and at least another 417 friendlies all of which are detailed in our archive! The main reason for posting this one is I don't think it's particuarly well known that we 'moved' ground in the summer of 1925, and even when it is many don't know why/ where the 'old' ground is in relation to the new one. Above is a picture taken during the aforementioned game - one of the only, and certainly by far and away the best, picture I have of the 'old' ground. The big hill behind the goal closest to camera is the 'Tatties Nook' end which was favoured by the home fans. Below is a picture showing the two grounds on one plan; the dotted line below being the 'old' ground and the ground we've all known in our lifetimes is the one on top, the shape is ever so recognisable 99 years later From here on in, the majority of this is from memory so I may be slightly off with certain bits... One side of the ground couldn't be used at all due to the proximity to the road and with the school also being right on the opposite side of the road this couldn't be changed. There are various mentions in reports of players being smashed into the wall with it being just a few feet from the edge of the pitch.... The main stand at the old ground, clearly shown in the picture, was taken to the 'new' ground and sat opposite the new main stand (the one we still use today). You can see part of the old main stand sitting where it did at the 'new' ground in the picture below, taken in 1950. Why did I use this picture to show that stand instead of the other ones that show it fully? The wall! I think, and this is my theory/ opinion as opposed to something I have factual evidence to confirm, that the wall closest to where the photo is taken above may be the only part of 'old' Gayfield that was kept and formed part of the 'new' ground. The photo from 1925 and the one from 1950 would be showing the same wall opposite Ladyloan School. The old main stand that was moved was demolished sometime in the 1950s IIRC (maybe 60s) and the wall was fully redeveloped just a few years ago. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to see more of this sort of stuff If anyone has any questions ask away - I may fact check all the above stuff and post the other bits and pieces relating to it when on my own computer and not hiding the corner of my work office using my work laptop

Delighted you posted this - I completely forgot and would've just used a 'standard' game for our 'On This Day' social media stuff and missed the whole thing! Picture above was taken during the game. This shows the ground layouts of both 'Old' and 'New' Gayfield

No further comment on this required from myself I don't think....