He may be useless with an ipad, but Campbell ‘could manage a bigger club’
He may be of an age at which he is as familiar with bus passes as he is with back passes and his relationship with the technology which most modern coaches rely on is, to say the least, trouble .
Although he first entered management in 1987, he has never taken charge of a club in the top tier of Scottish football.
Even so, Arbroath manager Dick Campbell, right, should be a target for bigger clubs, says Bobby Linn, the striker who received PFA Scotland’s League 1 Player of the Year award on Sunday evening.
He argues that the eccentric 65-year-old would be a catch for any club after winning promotion for the sixth time when the Red Lichties clinched the title last month.
“The manager is a unique character – his team talks are like sportsman’s dinners,” claimed Linn. “He’s all over the shop but he’s brilliant; he’s got good patter.
“You feed off that as players. It makes it a good environment to play in. He makes it enjoyable and he’s flying the flag for the old guard, isn’t he?
“Since he’s come into the club, the success he’s brought is incredible, with two promotions in three seasons. He’s easy to work under and he’s a winner. He won’t accept us going up to the Championship with any fear. . “We’ve got experienced players who are capable of playing at that level. It’s going to be difficult but we just need to have belief. I don’t think there will be too much pressure on us next season.”
Linn is surprised that ambitious Championship clubs have not made approaches for Campbell.
“Who’s to say someone from one of the big clubs isn’t looking at him now?” he said.
“I certainly think he could step up. It would be a new challenge but what he’s done for our club is incredible. He would’ve deserved the Manager of the Year award if he’d won it considering where he’s taken us from.
“Football has changed. There’s a lot of sports science around clubs but the gaffer just sticks to his methods and it it works. He keeps it basic and, if you aren’t playing well, he’ll tell you in no uncertain terms. Maybe 20 years ago he’d have you by the throat, but he’s mellowed a bit.”
Linn, a bin man with Dundee City Council, claims Campbell’s unconventional approach amuses and inspires his charges. “I don’t know if he knows how to work a phone, let alone an ipad,” he said. “Honestly, you should see him on Whatsapp; we have a group and he sends photos of himself that he doesn’t even know he’s taken. He’s sitting in the hot tub in some of them and he’s sent it accidentally. The boys are all saying ‘He doesn’t know what he’s doing’ but he’s got something about him.”