Joao Balde has only been an Arbroath player for three weeks – but he is already bowled over by the support from the club’s dedicated fans.
Balde joined Lichties on an 18-month deal after his release from Scottish Premiership side Hibernian at the start of the January transfer window.
The midfielder has caught the eye since his arrival but he’s even more impressed by the spirited actions of the home crowd.
Around 60 volunteers helped lift the Gayfield covers at 8.30am on Saturday to allow the Motherwell Scottish Cup tie to go ahead.
That saw the game played out in front of 4,145 – Arbroath’s second biggest attendance in a DECADE – and left it’s mark on Balde.
🇱🇻 💪 Incredibly proud of my club @ArbroathFC & amazing community spirit in our town.
Terrific effort to get the game v @MotherwellFC ON.
If you haven’t got a ticket & fancy watching a game of fitba then get down to Gayfield to support the Lichties.
🎟️ https://t.co/UClu13bzaH pic.twitter.com/qrXIRDSjNe
— Ewan Smith (@ewansmithpr) January 21, 2023
“It’s very important to recognise the efforts the fans made for this game,” said Balde.
“I saw stuff on Twitter about it and I was really impressed.
“It’s great. You don’t want to wake up to find you don’t have a game on.
“You always want to play so I’m really grateful to the fans for what they did.
“The community spirit in Arbroath is very strong. Everyone is behind this club. They love the club and it’s a big club.
“Their support makes a really big impact on us. The fans turned up in their numbers again.
“We don’t take that for granted.
“Hopefully, we can start getting some wins to show we are grateful for what they do.
“We have shown in recent games that we are capable of taking teams on and getting results.
“If we can keep our performance levels up then I think we will stay up.”
Meanwhile, Balde believes Arbroath’s new signings have gelled quickly.
Balde is one of five new arrivals this month.
Ryan Dow, Sean Adarkwa, Steven Hetherington, Yasin Ben El-Mhanni have all joined Balde in signing for Lichties.
Balde performed admirably against Well but couldn’t prevent a 2-0 loss.
He added: “I keep hearing that it will take a while for us to gel as a team with all our new signings.
“But I think we are already gelling. Even in training the new boys are showing up well. It looks like we have been there for a long time.
“Everyone is friendly and welcoming. They have helped us all settle in.
“I want to stay here, get more experience and start adding more goals onto my game.”
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