More to Lichties boss than some think, says Rab Douglas in his Number One column

It’s a huge weekend for Arbroath and Forfar.

One of the clubs will be crowned League Two champions, while the other will face the play-offs.

The boys at Arbroath deserve a lot of credit for the way they have hung in there and recovered from passing up a couple of chances to overtake Forfar in recent weeks.

It’s in our hands now for the final day of the season and it’s time for one final push.

Because Dick Campbell is a larger than life character and he’s been in the game for so long, maybe his skills as a football manger get overlooked a bit.

Trust me, there’s much more to him than a lot of people would think.

Yes, he’s a character, but he’s got a very serious side to him.

He’s mellowed a bit but you still see the hairdryer treatment now and again.

You can’t stay involved in the game as long as the gaffer has without being very good at what you do.

He knows how to treat part-time players and how to get the best out of them. It’s a fine line. Obviously, a club has to be run professionally but you only get the boys together twice a week. You have to remember that they’ve got other jobs to go to the next day.

Training has to be fun and one thing I would say about this Arbroath camp is that there’s a great spirit.

The gaffer would dearly love to get this league won and hopefully the players will finish the job off.

Messi has the edge

I never played against Ronaldo or Messi for Scotland or Celtic – the big star in my time was Ronaldinho.

The two main men just now are unbelievable talents. It’s definitely personal the way they keep trying to outdo each other.

Messi’s performance in El Classico was stunning and now Ronaldo has followed it up with his 47th hat-trick for Real in the Champions League semi-final. Who is the best then? It just comes down to what you look for in a footballer and, for me, Messi just edges it because he’s more of a team player.

Dark Blues’ response

Saturday’s win at Motherwell was massive for Dundee.

A lot of people might be thinking, ‘why couldn’t the players have done that for Paul Hartley?’ But sometimes that’s how it works. It has been shown time and time again that a new manager can get things out of a team that his predecessor hasn’t managed to.

It’s just one of the facts of football life.

Big game for United

This weekend is a very significant one for Dundee United.

If they end up having to play six games to get back to the Premiership that will be a tall order.

Getting past Morton will be hard enough in itself given the fact that Jim Duffy has known for a while that they haven’t been able to get higher than fourth, and could rest players.

That could be a big factor in a league as competitive, week in and week out, as the Championship.

United don’t seem to have been able to build any momentum since Christmas.

Now would be the ideal time for them to change that.

… maybe his skills as a football manger get overlooked a bit

Dick Campbell: a real character, but with a serious side too.