The Arbroath Thread

[microdave]

Congrats to the Lichties. I'm especially chuffed for Prunts getting his first medal. Such a nice guy and my favourite ever player!

[Big lichtie]

good column by bill leckie in the sun today regarding dc and pink good cop bad cop and how to get the best out of players. well they have for certain done that this season

[EssexExile]

Well done to Arbroath. Hope to see you all again at Links Park next season! Still lots of work to do first but chuffed we made the play offs... at the right end for a change!

[Clydeontheup]

Well done Arbroath. the 5-0 cup game seems a very distant memory!

[Leicesterlichtie]

2 minutes ago, Clydeontheup said:

Well done Arbroath. the 5-0 cup game seems a very distant memory!

That still gives me nightmares!

 

Thanks to other clubs supporters who have put congratulatory messages on here, cheers.

[1320Lichtie]

So.... who does everyone think/hope our glorious leader has been tapping u... erm speaking too then?

Said it before but ToB and Denholm would be magic Denholm been superb this season and left footed. Barely seems to waste a cross and scored a load too. ToB speaks for himself.

A pacey striker that will chip in with 15 goals would also be ideal.

[Lichtie78]

Depends who we keep. We're looking at signing at least 2 forwards as it stands, because Hester will most likely be away and Skelly/McCallum have both went back to their clubs. Then it depends whether we keep Jimmy Scott or not as to whether we sign another one. I personally would get rid of Scott, I'd imagine he's on a decent wage and we could probably get someone who's more suited to playing up top with Doris than he is.

[1320Lichtie]

Love Jimmy but him and Doris are quite similar, both hold it up and in the midfield Whatley and McCord are perfect for each other. If he's not on a massive wage and happy to play a role in the squad I'd keep him about like but depends on what DC thinks be an interesting one.

[BB_Bino]

I thought our support on Saturday was absolutely superb. I personally heard no negativity towards the players and a group of us sang for the entire game. Impeccably behaved as well according to the Stirling Albion chairman.

Thought your support was fantastic, especially considering there must have been a fair few bandwagon jumpers in there. As Jake said, the delayed reaction to the Annan score was funny. How great would Scottish football be if we could all get crowds like that on a weekly basis.

Was delighted for Doris on Saturday. I've said it more than once in here but he's some player at this level, when he is up for it and used correctly. After his (alleged) frustrations of the last few years, he deserved his reward.

[WHM]

I could see Dale Hilson being on Dick s Radar.Released by Queen of the South.

[m4d]

Loads of the squad deserve massive credit for the season but Skelly deserves a mention too. His goals early in the season won us some vital points before Stevie D and Ryan McCord got going. All the best Josh.

[WT Figo]

Just wondering about the medal allocation to the League Champions. Big Rab got one on Saturday despite not playing a single competitive minute. So surely Robbie Mutch should get one as he played for the first part of the season before he got taken out at Edinburgh. 

Just wondering if anyone knows who is and who isn't eligible for a medal. 

[1320Lichtie]

Anyone is. Clubs dish them out as they see fit. Rab might not have played a minute but he'll have had a big influence behind the scenes I'm sure.

If Forfar won the league I think Robbie Mutch would be more entitled to a medal tbh.

[WT Figo]

I am not suggesting that Rab isn't entitled to a medal, just curious about the eligibility criteria. I seem to recall in the past players needed to games a percentage of games to qualify.

Ironically, on Saturday in the first half, at 1-0 up, Rab was doing a very rigorous warm up and then stood by the bench, bib off as if about to come on. I heard someone say that Dick was going to bring him on so he could get a medal, though that obviously didn't happen. When we went onto the pitch at the end I spoke to Rab and asked if was going to get a medal and he said he didn't know or care as he was just happy for the boys.

So I am curious about whether Mutch will get one and if so, how that could/would be presented to him.

[Aidan]

I am not suggesting that Rab isn't entitled to a medal, just curious about the eligibility criteria. I seem to recall in the past players needed to games a percentage of games to qualify.
Ironically, on Saturday in the first half, at 1-0 up, Rab was doing a very rigorous warm up and then stood by the bench, bib off as if about to come on. I heard someone say that Dick was going to bring him on so he could get a medal, though that obviously didn't happen. When we went onto the pitch at the end I spoke to Rab and asked if was going to get a medal and he said he didn't know or care as he was just happy for the boys.
So I am curious about whether Mutch will get one and if so, how that could/would be presented to him.

From what I remember, the clubs get given 25 medals to hand out as they see fit, and then they're given the option to buy any additional ones. It won't be any sort of eligibility that decides whether or not Mutch gets one it'll be the club.

[Smokie_Bacon_crisps]

Did anyone else see the ghost of speedo Thomas Brolin and Louis Theroux on Saturday? Spooky! but great to see them back celebrating!

[Lichtie78]

Bryan Prunty on STV2 just now-Give that man a lifetime contract. Hope everybody will be learning the lyrics to The Gambler for next season.

 

[Leicesterlichtie]

Season appearances & goals (league, cup, total)

KEEPERS

Ricky Gomes 28(1) 0, 3 0, 31(1) 0

Robbie Mutch 8 0, 5(1) 0, 13(1) 0

Rab Douglas 0 appearances 1 yellow card

DEFENDERS

Colin Hamilton 36 1, 8 3, 44 4 (all 4,020 minutes played)

Ricky Little 34 2, 6 1, 40 3

David Gold 28(4) 1, 4(2) 0, 32(6) 1

Jassem Sukar 23(3) 0, 2 0, 25(3) 0

Bryan Hodge 14 0, 0 0, 14 0

Gary Phillips 7(1) 0, 6(1) 0, 13(2) 0

Matthew Smyth 4(4) 1, 0 0, 4(4) 1

Michael Dunlop 3(3) 0, 2(2) 0 5(5) 0

Jason Brown 3(1) 0, 0 0, 3(1) 0

Josh Thomson 0 0, 2(2) 0, 2(2) 0

MIDFIELDERS

Bobby Linn 36 5, 7(1) 1, 43(1) 6

Mark Whatley 35 2, 8 0, 43 2

Ryan McCord 30(1) 13, 6(1) 0, 36(2) 13

Jimmy Scott 22(4) 9, 6 1, 28(4) 10

Omar Kader 20(13) 5, 7 1, 27(13) 6

Gavin Malin 3(12) 2, (2) 0, 3(14) 2

Eddie Ferns 5(6) 1, 0 0, 5(6) 1

Liam Callaghan 2(4) 0, 2(5) 0, 4(9) 0

STRIKERS

Stevie Doris 30(6) 12, 8 1, 38(6) 13

Bryan Prunty 11(17) 2, 5(1) 0, 16(18) 2

Josh Skelly 13(10) 5, (2) 0, 13(12) 5

Kane Hester 1(7) 1, 1(3) 0, 2(10) 1

Donald McCallum (5) 0, 0 0, (5) 0

AVE ATTENDANCE

League 13,078 (726)

Cup 4,292 (1,073)

Total 17,370 (789)

[1320Lichtie]

Prunts on the STV2 show well worth a watch good ten minutes talking about the season, DC and the spirit in the dressing room.

 

The Kenny Rodgers The Gambler song story is a belter too. The mental image in my head of DC telling Prunty to get up and sing at 2.50pm and the whole squad jumping about singing it as the linesman walks in to tell them they have to go out is brilliant.

 

[SimonLichtie]

Some difficult decisions for Dick in the coming weeks regarding who stays goes (well, I say the coming weeks, I suspect most if not all have been decided).

Who would everyone like to stay? I think it's quite hard to say with certain players, as there are some I'd want us to keep but on reduced terms considering their involvement over the season. For example, I like Jimmy Scott as a player and would like us to keep him, but I suspect he'd cost us more to keep than someone like Omar who I'm happy to keep as a squad player. Therefore, depending on the finances, it may be that I'd be happier to keep Omar than Jimmy, despite preferring Jimmy as a player, simply because we need to keep enough in the budget past this month to add other quality players who will come at a cost.

In terms of potential regular starters, I'd be happy to keep:

Ricky Gomes

David Gold

Ricky Little

Colin Hamilton

Mark Whatley

Ryan McCord

Bobby Linn

Stevie Doris

Jimmy Scott (if he can get fully fit and have a good pre season I think there is a lot of potential there as I think there is a quality player in him)

 

On top of those 9, I would also keep Omar as I think he is an excellent option to have off the bench, and I wouldn't be opposed to keeping Prunts, Hodge or Malin as backup as long as they were on modest wages to reflect their squad status.

I feel one of our problems may be that out of the 9 mentioned I expect 7/8 of them are the top end earners, which wouldn't leave us a huge amount in the budget to add additional quality around them. I think if we could add a quality CB/ LB (depending on what is done with Hammy positionally), another quality winger and a quality striker and get some other good cover/ squad players we could be looking at making a real push for the top 4. If we added more than that, we could be looking to make an impact right up the top of the division.