DICK CAMPBELL insists that Arbroath will retain their part-time status in the event the Angus club are promoted to the Premiership.

The unlikely Championship contenders face a trip to Rugby Park on Friday evening for a do-or-die clash with Derek McInnes’ Kilmarnock, where a victory would leave Arbroath just one game away from the top flight.

As the only part-time team in the second tier, the fact that Campbell’s side have made it this far is a minor miracle all on its own. And although he accepts that the deck would be stacked against his team if they were to compete in the Premiership and they didn’t go full-time, he sees no reason to break with decades of tradition.

“Listen, half my life I've been part-time, and half my life I've been full-time,” Campbell told Go Radio. “But we're not going to go full-time, that's not going to happen.

“If you go back to the ’70s, Arbroath were in the First Division and they were part-time. They stood their ground.

“I would go into the Premiership and we'd be heavy, heavy favourites to go down because we're part-time.

“But I tell you what, it doesn't make the players any different. The players love a challenge.

“I'm not saying we wouldn't go down, we probably would go down and I'd probably get the sack because that's what happens in football now. You're scared to get promotion.”