Levein and Dick ‘pals for decades’

Craig Levein has revealed the first time he met good friend Dick Campbell as he prepared to welcome the Arbroath boss to Glebe Park today.

Brechin City will host the Lichties in the first preseason friendly of the summer.

The pair will host a special pre-match hospitality function in the town before playing out a unique penalty shoot-out at half-time.

Club adviser Levein said their relationship goes back decades to when he was just a youngster with Cowdenbeath in the early 1980s.

“Arbroath had an absolutely fantastic season last season and I’m sure Dick will look upon that as one to improve on,” Levein told Courier Sport.

“I get on really well with Dick. He’s a good friend of mine and it will be good to see him. Believe it or not, Dick coached at Cowdenbeath for a few weeks back in the early 1980s. That would have been my first experience of him. That’s how long I’ve known him but our paths have crossed various times.

“I did one of my coaching licences down at Largs and he was my tutor at the time.”

Meanwhile, Levein says today’s clash will be a good opportunity for fans to see their new-look Brechin side in action for the first time.

The club have made five new additions to the squad as they look to win the Highland League title at the second time of asking. One signing who definitely won’t make it is Nathan Cooney. The former Dundee United kid will sit out the game as he recovers from injury.

Arbroath fans can expect to see almost all of the available players get some game time, including a couple of players looking to earn a deal with the club.

“We will maybe be putting two teams out,” said assistant boss Ian Campbell, who featured nearly 300 times over a seven-year spell at Glebe Park and remains the club’s record scorer with 131 goals.

“There will be a lot of players getting a game and we’ll have a couple of trialists. We’ve got one or two players missing.

Michael Mckenna and Tam O’brien are missing, they aren’t back from holidays.

“We’ll still have a very good team and a great pool of players and everyone available will get to play.”

Campbell says the opportunity is a good one to get some minutes into his Arbroath players after a few weeks off.

“We love the club to bits; we’re looking forward to it,” he said.

“Dick and I have got great friends there. It’s a club that is close to our hearts.

“More importantly, it’s our first game back and we’re in the midst of our pre-season programme.”

Fans are reminded that the game kicks off at 2pm and cash-only turnstiles are in operation.