Sunday League football often gets a bad rap for the various peculiarities that occur within it. But when it comes to seeing bizarre sights, Scottish Football remains undefeated.
On the latest edition of ‘What the hell’s going in Scottish Footy’, we’ll take a look at Arbroath FC. And more specifically, the strange antics of their first team coach on the sidelines.
Based out of Angus, Arbroath FC, or The Smokies as they’re affectionately called, are currently competing in the Cinch Championship, the second division of Scottish Football. And the semi-professional outfit hasn’t been faring so well as of late.
Coached by Dick Campbell, the side currently sits in the 8th spot, just 4 points clear of the relegation slots. The Smokies have secured just 6 wins in 30 games, with 11 of those being losses.
Given the dire state, Arbroath’s recent league encounter against promotion candidates Ayr United held a great deal of importance.
Despite the contrasting form of both sides, Arbroath managed to clinch a 2-0 victory at home, courtesy of goals from Dale Hilson and David Gold.
The victory gave them a much-need sigh of relief, and an image from the game even managed to do the rounds online,
The double goggles approach from Arbroath’s first team coach
The image in discussion is rather straightforward.
As seen below, it displays an elderly man sporting a tracksuit and looking rather flummoxed. Oh and he’s also wearing two pairs of glasses.
Perhaps for enhanced vision or increased magnification, the ‘quad-focals’ worn by him garnered plenty of attention online.
For a game that commanded focus and urgency, it was strange to see this bit of goofiness creep in, but maybe it was just a reflection of his commitment to the affair.
As for the man rocking the frames: he’s John Young, former St Mirren player and current first-team coach at Arbroath.
The 71-year-old made 45 appearances for the Smokies back in the eighties, he returned in a coaching role alongside Dick Campbell in 2016.
Young is a loved figure amongst the Arbroath faithful, and seeing his double goggles approach only increased their appreciation for him. Fans online even stated that Young can wear whatever he wants and get away with it, and frankly, we can’t help but agree.
For all, we know the double goggles provided some sort of competitive advantage, or maybe he could spot the empty spaces and free men with relative ease.
Nonetheless, the images he ended up providing are certainly going into the Scottish Championship archives.