IF there was an award for the PFA Scotland player of the decade Arbroath’s Bobby Linn would probably be in the running for it. Because it is easier to pick out the years this formidable little footballer hasn’t been nominated by his peers for the annual award for whatever division he is playing in at the time than the ones in which he has.
Nominated for the award in the colours of Peterhead, East Fife and now Arbroath, Linn may only have taken the prize on one occasion – for League Two in 2014-15 – but one of a select list of Scotland’s lower league legends and by everyone’s best guess this is the tenth time he has made it onto the shortlists. Now 33, he has added maturity to that pace, trickery and eye for a goal which he first showcased at Dundee. It will be interesting to see how he fares, along with his gaffer Dick Campbell, back up in the Championship next season.
“It is funny, I have been here a few times now,” said Linn at the PFA Scotland nominations announcement in Glasgow. “It is something I am used to. I counted it and that is ten years I have been up for it. I won the League Two player of the year and that was four years ago. So to be up for it again is nice and to win it again would be unbelievable.
“When I was younger at Dundee there were a few issues,” he added. “You learn from that, you mature. There are regrets in the game from the younger years but I think now I am reaping the rewards. I have maybe not at the level that I should have played at, but at the same time it is better late than never. I turn 34 this year and I would probably say the last three years have been the fittest I have been and the most consistent. I could have done more in my career. But this is the award from the ones from the guys who I have played with and against so there is more satisfaction from that.”
If Linn deserves the nod in the players’ player category, a word too for his gaffer Dick Campbell, another hardy perennial of the Scottish lower division game. Promoted now no fewer than six times, Linn reckons ‘the Bunnet’ more than deserves a doff of the cap in the managerial ranks. Arbroath’s triumph in League One this year has been a victory for experience over youth, and shows the fire that remains in the 65-year-old’s belly.
I have seen his name pop up and I never really thought about it at first but why not?” said Linn. “When he came in we were second bottom of League Two, he consolidated and the next season we won the league. We got playoffs last year and we have kicked on again so the progression has been first class.
He got sacked by Forfar and he had the fire in his belly – even at his age – to go and succeed. We are now in the Championship because of him.
“He never changes for anyone,” added the striker, who has 62 goals in 201 appearances for the Red Lichties, for whom one of the perils of playing is being buffeted by waves off the North Sea as you prepare to take a corner. “He is the way he is and he believes in his staff. He keeps the nucleus of a team and the boys who aren’t playing he manages to keep them happy. We have only brought in two players this season – Darren Jamieson and Jason Thomson- he looks for personality in a player and brings them in, it isn’t just ability. We would go through a wall for him – that is just the way it is.
“He is still flying the flag for the old guard, isn’t he? A lot of people talk now about the fitness side of things, nutrition, well Dick is stuck in his ways and it is working for us. We have got an experienced side, I think the youngest is maybe 26. He likes to keep the boys together but he works you hard when you need to and if you are not doing it he will tell you.
“I played in the championship before with Morton for a season, was in and out, didn’t play as much as I would have liked. But I have every confidence I could go in that league and do well. That goes for us as a team too - but we have to be realistic. Alloa are the right example for us to look at, we have definitely got players who can go up and cope with it.
“Of course Dick would love to defy all the odds too. He will be letting us know about that. We will go and enjoy our summer, we have a few things planned – then the hard work will start.”
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