Ryan Dow felt the pressure when Dundee United were in the Premiership.
So, the Arbroath star knows that the weight of expectation will hang heavy on the Tangerines as they bid to escape the Championship.
The Lichties host United in a mouth-watering Championship showdown on Friday night, with Scotland’s top part-time club aiming to give the title favourites a bloodied nose in the televised curtain-raiser.
“All the pressure will be on Dundee United for every game this season,” Dow, who made 113 appearances for the Tannadice outfit, told Courier Sport. “I think they will know that.
“There is pressure playing for United in the Premiership, let alone the Championship!
“They’ll have that weight of expectation to carry over the course of the season, and it’s up to them to deal with that. If we can frustrate that big crowd coming through, then it means we are doing something right. That will only be a positive.
“But, ultimately, our focus is on Arbroath and finding a way we want to approach the game and cause United problems.”
5 in a row
Arbroath are embarking upon their fifth successive campaign as a Championship club; a remarkable feat given their part-time status and modest resources.
And while some personnel has changed — nine new signings have arrived at Gayfield this summer — Dow says the philosophies of hard work, organisation and (perhaps under-appreciated, externally) quality will persist.
“Since I have been here — and every time I played against Arbroath — they have been a hard-working team with good players throughout the squad,” he continued.
“I don’t think there is any secret to the success. It is well-documented; people will always comment on how hard we are to play against. And we take pride in that.
“But we also have a lot of good players in the dressing room — and maybe it’s a positive for us that people sometimes underestimate the quality we have in the squad, because we are able to grind out results.”
He added: “We are quietly confident and will go about our business, but we are under no illusions about the challenge.”
Eyeing improvement
Nevertheless, Arbroath — who survived by three points last season following a major improvement in the second half of the campaign — are among the bookies’ favourites for the drop, tipped to toil along with newly-promoted Airdrieonians.
Silencing the naysayers will again be the target.
“The first priority has to be staying in the division but, after that point, you are never just happy with that,” continued Dow. “You always want to improve.
“With us being the only part-time team in the division, I’m sure everyone will expect us to have a tough season but we’ll be focused on improving on last season and, if we do that, then it’ll be a good season.”
