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The Arbroath Thread


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Okay, so I have a few hours to kill at work with hee-haw to do prior to my usual Friday night drinking copious amounts of lager, so I shall use this time wisely to review our squad for next season….

Allan Fleming – Spent last year at East Fife, having previously also spent time in the juniors at Kelty and briefly in the seniors with Raith Rovers. Had a good performance against us last season, but I’m not entirely convinced by one good performance. Unfortunately for Fleming, there is almost no chance of him being up to the same standard as Marc McCallum (a Championship keeper at worst) so, without pre-judging Fleming, this position will be a step down quality wise on the majority of last season. To stay positive, I will say Fleming will be miles better than keepers who have previously played for us at a higher level – Craig White, Neil Inglis and Timmy Woodcock to name three.

Craig Wilson – Having never seen Wilson play, I simply can’t make any comment on his playing ability (always amuses me when someone says ‘great signing’ etc about a guy they’ve never seen play football). However, going by comments from Raith and Linlithgow fans regarding his good attributes and attitude, on the surface it looks like Wilson will be an excellent addition.

Graham Hay – Expected to be an excellent addition. Had an excellent few seasons at Brechin, whose fans speak highly of him, and has captained his previous teams. Although a different type of player to Kevin Nicoll, he will hopefully fill the void but in his own style.

Ricky Little – Far better at centre back than right back in my opinion, and hopefully it’ll be there that he gets the majority of his game time this season. A good, solid player in this division, although his distribution can be rather suspect at times.

Craig Johnstone – I like Stonie – a limited but very committed player who has developed a good understanding with Bridey over the last two years they’ve played together on the left hand side. Stonie would be my preferred choice as a starter at left back.

Scott McBride – A very good player technically and very good positioning, and I think if he had a yard (preferably three…) more pace he would never have dropped out of full time football. Out of our current options, Bridey would be my starter on the left of midfield.

Bobby Linn – Had a poor year last year IMO. Needs to step it up or he’ll find himself back in the juniors. Would have preferred us to keep Kevin Buchan to play on the right hand side of midfield, but I guess wee Boab will have to do……. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Mark Whatley – Excellent player, very versatile and very dependable. Although our best midfielder last year, Stewart/ Hunter were our best duo in the middle, but if Whatley can perform at the same level as last season and form a solid partnership in the middle of the park with Stewart or A.N Other we could be very strong in the middle of the park this year.

Jamie Reid – A player I have seen previously, but can’t remember much of. It will be interesting to see if we’ve brought him in to play on the wing, or through the middle where he has had the most success during his loan spells. Sounds like quite a confidence player (good job he’s not got Allan Moore as his gaffer!!) so hopefully he starts well and the fans get behind him from the start.

Kieran Stewart – When we initially signed Kieran, I was sceptical that he was any better than our other options in the middle of the park. As it is, I think he proved last season he is certainly up to playing week in week out in League 2, and I am glad he’s signed on again for next season.

Keiran McWalter – I know he fucked up in the play-off game, but Keiran is a player I really like. Despite his age, he gets stuck in and uses the ball well by keeping things simple. I certainly think he can and will improve as a player, and I hope he gets a decent amount of game time this coming season.

Jordan Lowdon – I wasn’t overly impressed with Lowdon’s contribution last season, however we’ll see how things go after a full pre-season. I expect he may be more backup to Bridey/ Stonie and a regular coming off the bench.

Lewis Coult – Never got going at all last season, with both injuries and poor form hampering him and he returned a paltry 1 goal. Hopefully he’s over his injuries, and a full pre-season can see him return to his previous form of Airdrie/ Cowdenbeath. I don’t expect him to score a stack, but his link up play could prove very useful and if he can get 10 over the season that’d be a good return for the type of player he is.

Martin Grehan – Had a poor year at Stenny, but they had a pitiful manager in place and Grehan also struggled for a while with an injury. Like Coult, we’ve got to hope we get the Grehan of past, and if he gets back to his Stranraer form we’ve got an excellent addition to the squad.

I think we need to add the following positions, to bring our squad up to 20 players (although we may need another few on top of this with the bench having 7 spaces on it now, and injuries/ suspensions guaranteed to hit us through the season):

Secondary keeper

Another DC

Another DR/DC

Another MC

Another SC

Another SC

I would also expect us to add loans to the squad, with maybe one or two development loans taken for the whole season and additional loans throughout the season when required.

Based on our current squad/ standard of signings, I would expect us to be around the top 4, with 3rd/ 4th our likely finish, however if we can add some more quality, use the loan system well and the our current squad find the form they’re capable of there is no reason we can’t be going for top spot again.

Edited by SimonLichtie
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Very good read Simon enjoyed that, agree with most of what you have said, apart from the Bobby Linn summary..... Was that sarcasm or? :P

New signing in 15 minutes according to Hissy on his twitter

Has played at an SPL club, never won the league though.... ;) from Edinburgh, good name for a song supposedly and going to beefa the morn

Not much to go on like :lol:

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We need a squad.....

Many of those appearances as sub. Gold was probably our most skilful individual - bit of pace too. In common with most others on here, I'd have kept him as he will only get better.

A bit lightweight, and could drift out of games but could be a good signing for you.

A young midfielder with plenty of games at this level and a decent write up seems like a good addition to it.

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