Manager on Thursday
Thursday, 29th Aug 201929/08/19: SC:- “We feel that we could have taken more points out of games. We have not and that is the thing that we have got to address and not be worried too much about the opposition.
The prospect of Dunfermline travelling to meet Arbroath at Gayfield brings a smile to the face of both managers but Stevie Crawford is hoping that his is the happiest on Saturday after the league game against his old boss. Stevie said:-
“Dick Campbell has got experience and he has an experienced coaching staff up there but in the main he has stuck with the players that have brought him success over the last few years. They will have a good team sprit and also keen to come up into this league and show what they are all about.
“They are not just up here to enjoy the experience of it. They went away to Alloa last week and won. We managed to watch them in the Queen of the South game, in their first game of the season, they came away from that game with a point as well. So it is going to be a hard place to go. We understand that, as are all the away fixtures, and we have to look at ourselves.
“There is disappointment at our performance from the weekend, rightly so, but I don’t want us to dwell on that and carry that into the Arbroath game. We have got to be up for it and be sure that we match them for their energy and enthusiasm. Then on the day hopefully we can bring some bits of quality that wins the game.”
Dick Campbell appears content that his team has been tipped to go straight back into League One. Stevie knows fine well just how much Dick is happy to play on that:-
“He is happy to accept that angle but I’m sure his management styles and methods have changed over the years. His experience is invaluable to a club like Arbroath.
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Dick. When I went to Forfar as a player towards the end of my career and in the early stages of my coaching he was very open on how he dealt with part time players. It was very insightful.
“He is probably one of the most successful managers that has dealt with a part time squad and got success for them. I know that he will be enjoying this season but equally he will want to win games of football and his challenge will be wanting to put one over on Dunfermline. For as much as he loves the club and the feeling that he has got for us he is very much trying to put one over us on Saturday.”
This was a fixture that Dick Campbell would be looking for when the fixtures first came out. No doubt there were some at East End Park who felt the same way but the Pars gaffer was more guarded:-
“I know this year that they are all going to be challenging fixtures. It was competitive last year, it is competitive this year and what I will say when we looked at the fixtures - Dundee, Queen of the South then Dundee United - the first three were going to be a difficult start.
“I have already said and the players would say if you spoke to them, I am not speaking on behalf of the players, we feel that we could have taken more points out of those games. We have not and that is the thing that we have got to address and not be worried too much about the opposition.
“It is making sure that we are working at stuff that we are good at and applying ourselves properly to give ourselves a chance to win games of football.
“They have boys in their squad who have played full time football and probably taken that step down that they have other full time jobs now but still enjoy their football and they are dedicated to it.
“I worked with Bobby Linn at East Fife when I was the player/manager along there and Bobby is a decent talent. He has maybe never played at full time level but he is as good a player as you’d get part time. He will be enjoying the challenge and he has already scored a couple of goals this season. He will be one to watch.
“Dick, as I have been preaching as well, is very much that it’s about the team. I am not surprised that he has not broken up the squad that has brought him success over the last couple of years.
“He has added a few additions and has brought a couple of on loan boys in but he has not upset the squad that much. That togetherness will be one of the challenges that we have to come up against.”
Asked to give an update on his injured players, the gaffer reported:-
“Euan Murray (pictured above) had a week or two off but he is back on the training field doing a bit of ball work with Joe Thomson. Non contact stuff but that is still going to be all that it is with Euan until he is checked and scanned.
“We are looking at a scan for Euan in six weeks time to give us the green light. He can do his conditioning work, it is just non contact that is ruled out.
“Joe Thomson is continuing to make progress day to day. It is good for Joe personally to be back running, even just being back amongst some of the other injured players is good for his morale and we have not heard of anything untoward to put him behind schedule. We don’t want to be putting a timescale on him at the moment given the seriousness of what that injury was.”
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