Thatcham Town’s Daniel Fosu has headed North of the border to Cinch Scottish Championship side Arbroath.
The 23-year-old played 33 times for the Kingfishers in the Pitching In Isthmian League South Central Division One last season and was the clubs top goalscorer with 12.
Fosu – previously of North Leigh and Farnborough – has already made himself known to The Red Lichties fans with a stunning volley during a pre-season friendly at Montrose and has earned himself a six-month contract with the club.
He’s scored a few like that!
Speaking to Scottish website The Courier, Thatcham Town’s assistant manager Paul Ayres said: “He scored a couple of times like that from a distance, I remember him often having a go at it.
“It doesn’t surprise me Dan scored a goal like that. If he’s got an opportunity from that range he would bet on himself to score.”
When asked how Fosu would adapt to the second tier of Scottish Football, Ayres said: “I don’t think he will look out of place.
“On the opposite, he looked out of place at Thatcham. You could clearly see Daniel was the star within the team.
“We as a club are really looking forward to seeing him progress.”
Why Arbroath?
Perhaps not the first club you’d think of when it comes to Scottish Football, but Arbroath are certainly one of the most entertaining at the moment, led by cult Scottish boss Dick Campbell.
Football in Berkshire spoke to Adam Miller, the man behind the excellent OldFirmFacts podcast and Twitter account who simply replied with this tweet and said: “They’re managed by Dick Campbell, who’s a bit of a cult figure in Scottish football.”
Dig a little deeper into Arbroath’s recent history and you can absolutely see why Fosu fits the bill for the club based on the East Coast of Scotland near the famous Carnoustie Golf Club.
Arbroath are the only part-time club in the Scottish Championship, but last season came within a whisker of facing the likes of Celtic and Rangers in the Scottish Premiership. As Miller says: “They were beaten on penalties in the playoff semi-final by Inverness Caledonian Thistle. No one expected Arbroath to be challenging for promotion, so it would have been a huge story if they’d made it. Dick Campbell’s a huge personality.”
Campbell has guided Arbroath to the second tier from the fourth since taking over at Gayfield Park in 2016. Previously manager at the likes of Partick Thistle, Forfar Athletic and Brechin City, Campbell has built ‘the best part-time team in Scotland’ by focussing on recruitment.
The manager said in an interview with The Guardian ahead of last season’s play-offs: “We keep progressing every year because every player I sign is better than what I’ve got,” Campbell tells me. “That’s my philosophy – I’m not a rocket scientist.” Recruitment has played a key part in reaching a collective goal to be “the best part-time team in Scotland,” building on a core group of players who Campbell inherited, that he feels were unfairly written off.”
It certainly sounds like Fosu has already hit the ground running, and we’ll be keeping an eye on him and his progress at The Red Lichties.
