Old hand: Dick Campbell has plenty experience of taking teams through the divisions in the Scottish Football League. Pic: ©SNS Group
The season may only be weeks old but Forfar Athletic have made the sort of start that will have those who tipped them for relegation revising their predictions for the months ahead. Dick Campbell's men finished a distant 15 points behind Livingston last season before winning promotion through the play-offs. But four wins in all competitions in as many weeks has seen them climb to the top of the Second Division, while they retain an interest in both cup competitions.
Having arranged a challenging pre-season fixture list, which included matches against Everton, Motherwell and St. Johnstone, Forfar lost all six of their summer friendlies, including one to Highland League side Buckie Thistle.
The side's toil seems to have been worth it however after they kicked off their competitive fixtures with a narrow win at Forthbank against First Division Stirling Albion in the Co-operative Insurance Cup, before demolishing Dumbarton 4-1 in their opening league match.
Wins against Queens Park in the ALBA Challenge Cup and an impressive win at Peterhead in the league on Saturday, both achieved with just 10 men, means that the Station Park side sit two points clear at the top of the Second Division, as well as having challenging cup ties against Ross County and Queen of the South in the coming weeks.
Forfar's start is made even more remarkable by the fact that 10 players who made the squad for the weekend's match at Peterhead were involved against Arbroath in the play-off final in May. Campbell has made only subtle changes to his squad, a move that, at this early stage at least, appears to have paid off.
One reason for this might be that Forfar have a number of players who have experience of playing at this level, including defenders Stephen Tulloch and Andy Tod, midfielders Darren Brady and Mark and Kevin Fotheringham and forward Chris Templeman.
One of Campbell's select summer signings Michael Bolochoweckyj spent three years with Alloa and Bryan Deasley was on the books at Dundee before his release in the summer. Having lost just one of their last 14 league games at the end of last season, Campbell's decision to rely on the bulk of the promotion winning squad looks to have paid off after The Loon's stunning start.
It is almost 20 years since Forfar were a First Division club, last competing in Scotland's second tier in 1991/92 under the stewardship of Paul Hegarty. Since then the club have flitted between the Second and Third Division, while going through a staggering nine managers.
When Dick Campbell took over in 2008, the club had just finished bottom of the Third Division. But the former Dunfermline manager guided them to a mid-table finish in his first season in charge before last season's play-off success. Although Campbell has experienced players throughout his side, he himself brought almost 25 years of service as a coach and manager to the table when he took over the reigns from Jim Moffat.
His five year spell at Brechin best shows why Forfar were keen to appoint him. He took the Glebe Park side from the Third to the First Division despite their part-time status, something he will be hoping to replicate with his current club. He also won promotion from the Second Division with Partick Thistle and his Ross County team were top of the same league when he was sacked in 2007, allegedly for playing overly defensive football. If he can achieve promotion with Forfar, be it this season or in the future, it will surely rank up with his greatest success stories.
