WHEN Rab Douglas first pitched up at Gayfield back in 2016, he couldn’t have known what was to follow. At the time the Red Lichties were sitting in the fourth tier, and the goalkeeper saw it as the perfect venue to see out his career and take his first tentative steps into coaching alongside a man he has an immense respect for.

When Angus rivals Forfar handed Dick Campbell his jotters in 2015, Douglas quit the club in protest and followed him to Arbroath the following year. After hanging up his gloves a few years after that, he took on a role in the backroom department as the club’s goalkeeper coach. And the 49-year-old hasn’t looked back since.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “It’s a great club with brilliant people behind the scenes – from the kit woman all the way up to the chairman. They’re all going in the right direction.

“The gaffer is a legend to work with. I’m working with one of the most experienced managers in Scotland and he’ll pick your brains every now and again – what do you think, what would you do? – and he’s great that way.

“You don’t see many goalie coaches shout but I like to get out and shout. He’s given me free rein to go and coach and shout and encourage. He says it’s like him 20 years ago! He says I’m a young Dick Campbell.

“He’s brilliant and the boys love him. It’s not an easy place to go and play football. We’ll be the odds-on favourites to go down again – probably the biggest favourites ever because a full-time team is coming up – but we’ve got an unbelievable bunch of boys. There are no superstars, we just all get on with it.”

As a goalkeeper coach at Arbroath, Douglas’ role is different to most of his contemporaries. There will be others who have to instruct players how to play in blustery conditions but with Gayfield situated closer to the sea than any other ground in Britain – “the waves splash up the back of the f****** goals,” Campbell has previously pointed out – the environment at the Championship side is somewhat unique.

“I think the longer you’re there, the more you get used to it,” Douglas explained. “I’ve been very lucky with the goalkeepers I’ve worked with. DJ [Darren Jamieson] was a very good kicker of the ball. Big Gats [Derek Gaston] was as steady as anything for me – I think in 27 games this year he cost us one game. We got beat 1-0.

“For a goalie at Arbroath, I look at getting someone who might go six or seven games without making a mistake. He cost us one game and he’ll openly admit it but Gats has improved his kicking and his concentration levels at Arbroath.

“It’s not a given [that you can play at Gayfield] – if you think you’ve arrived and then you go up there, the wind can make a mockery of that.”

A healthy blend of youth and experience has been key to Arbroath’s rise up the SPFL ladder. Older heads like Kris Doolan, Bobby Linn and Gavin Swankie are on hand to dish out the odd pearl of wisdom and Campbell has recruited well in the loan market. Aberdeen’s Mirko Virtanen and Rangers’ Ben Williamson are just two youngsters to have made an impression in midfield during their respective loan spells, while centre-forward Jack Hamilton will return to the Tony Macaroni looking to break into the first team after a successful stint in Angus.

Douglas reckons that for the good times to continue, similar gems will have to be unearthed from top-flight development squads.

“That’s the way at Arbroath,” he says. “Jack Hamilton has come in and possibly forced himself into the Livingston team off the back of a great run here. Ben Williamson has been brilliant for us after coming in from Rangers – he just wanted to go and get the ball, play, tackle, harass. All the loan players come in and the boys make them feel welcome.

“That’s what you’ve got to do. We’re odds-on to go down every year and it will be the same again this season.”

That never-say-die attitude has served Arbroath well during Campbell’s tenure. The 67-year-old oversaw two promotions in three years and followed that up by establishing the part-timers as a Championship side, twice seeing off the threat of relegation to the third tier. Douglas knows that once again, his team are likely to be written off – but he believes that Arbroath thrive in their status as underdogs.

“Nobody will want to come to Arbroath,” he insisted. “And even away from home, people know they get a hard game from us. If our boys keep doing the same again, our boys will quite happily fly under the radar and keep doing what we’re doing at Arbroath because it’s working.”

Rab Douglas was speaking to promote Just Eat’s ‘Rolls for Goals’ initiative during Euro 2020, where customers will be offered a free sausage roll from Greggs for every match played on UK soil where there is at least one goal scored. The offer will be live the day after each match until 12th July for customers that place an order of at least £5 via Just Eat. Find out more at https://www.justeattakeaway.com/