Arbroath are gearing up for another season in the Championship – but can they repeat their monumental effort from last season?
The Lichties were the surprise package in Scottish football, taking the league by storm until the penultimate game of the campaign.
While the Gayfield management team will be looking to downplay any thoughts of another blockbuster season, the squad is still strong, albeit lacking a few bodies.
Dick Campbell, and brother Ian, have been hard at work over the short preseason, bringing in five new players.
On the field, the side have looked impressive, winning all four of their competitive clashes in the Premier Sports Cup.
Courier Sport takes a look at how the preseason break has gone for the Angus club.
Ins and outs
Summer saw the departure of five permanent players (Gavin Swankie, Liam Henderson, Calum Antell, Sam Ford and Michael Bakare) and three loan stars (Chris Hamilton, Jack Hamilton and Craig Wighton).
The Arbroath boss has, so far, brought in six new men in Cammy Gill, Keaghan Jacobs, Daniel Fosu, Kieran Shanks and Mason Hancock, bringing the squad number to 20.
This time last season, the Lichties had 21 players on the books.
Campbell has spoken of his desire to surpass that number again but will likely have to kick off the season without a full complement of players.
Looking at the new additions, it’s too soon to give a fair assessment of their performances but the early signs are promising.
Jacobs looks to be a battler in the defensive midfield position and a decent replacement for the rock-steady Chris Hamilton.
Shanks up top will now compete four divisions higher than last season with Inverurie Locos. The forward has bagged one goal so far but has put himself about and troubled defences.
Fosu looks to be a wildcard, plucked from non-league in England. He scored a screamer against Montrose in a friendly and could be a powerful attacking option.
Meanwhile, back-up keeper Gill will look to challenge Derek Gaston for the starting spot.
He has made three appearances – two in the friendlies with Montrose and AFC Fylde – and kept a clean sheet against Cowdenbeath.
Brand new addition Hancock could get his debut as the campaign kicks off.
Takeaways from early games
Ignoring the friendlies, which can never be a good barometer for success regardless of results, Arbroath’s early Premier Sports games could be sending out early signals of what’s to come.
Ian Campbell has reiterated his dislike of the competition and said the early games would be treated as a warm-up for his players to get them match fit, with just a handful of training sessions since returning from their break.
It was Dylan Paterson who popped up at the back post in injury time to net the winner, showing great technique to score his first ever senior professional goal ⚽️🔥 pic.twitter.com/qhtnqRD3u4
— Arbroath FC (@ArbroathFC) July 10, 2022
That being the case, they topped their group with maximum points, scoring 10 and conceding just the one goal – which was likely down to an injury to Ricky Little at the time.
They stunned Premiership side St Mirren with a typically solid defensive display, nicking the winner right at the last minute – whilst also playing some good football.
They came from behind to topple FC Edinburgh and the 3-0 wins over Cowdenbeath and Airdrieonians all proved to be routine.
One player who has impressed the most is Bobby Linn. At the age of 36, the veteran winger will be giving Dick Campbell a headache over whether to start him or not.
Linn has caused havoc amongst defences so far – scoring three breathtaking goals already.
Aims for the season
Dick Campbell has made it clear his focus for the league already; to stay in it.
There is no talk of anything other than that for now.
Arbroath remain the only part-time team in the league with new additions Cove Rangers and Queens Park adopting the hybrid approach.
So it is understandable that the Lichties boss is having a cautious outlook.
However, the side still have the bulk of the squad which turned defied the odds last season, including the ever-reliable back four of Jason Thomson, Tam O’Brien, Ricky Little and Colin Hamilton.
They still have the Championship Player of the Year and top scorer in Michael McKenna in the middle of the park and Nicky Low is showing early signs of creativity.
Dick Campbell just needs to find a few more pieces of the puzzle, likely in the loan market, before they are the complete package.
Prediction – 4th place
On paper, Dundee should be runaway winners with their depth of squad and players at their disposal. However, the same could be said about Kilmarnock last season and we all know what happened there.
Inverness and Partick have strengthened well over the summer while a rejuvenated Raith Rovers could cause problems.
The Angus side do still have enough about them to put themselves in the mix for the play-offs, though.
With the right additions over the coming weeks, they could well leave their full-time rivals red-faced once more.
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