How did your move from St Mirren come about?

Well at the end of the season I had a look and decided I wanted to go part-time and play and get some education behind me.  So after I made that decision I looked about regarding part-time teams that had a bit of ambition this year and that’s obviously when Airdrie came in and I was interested.

When you say looking into education, what did you want to do?

I’m looking to go to university but because I’ve been out of education so long I had to do an Access to Higher Education course – which is at West Lothian College – and then I’ll hopefully progress onto university next year.

Because you’ve been out of education for so long, did you make quite an early move into football?

Yeah, I left school at 16 to go into professional football with Hibs and I’ve been in it ever since so I was at the point where I was looking at my future and made my decision on that.

So what were your experiences like at other clubs (e.g. Hibs, Falkirk, St Mirren)?

Very good, I think I had a very good grounding at Hibs, the way they bring the young boys through you get a good education.  Falkirk was also good and St Mirren were obviously at a very good start with their new manager.

I had John Hughes at Falkirk and quite a number of managers at Hibs, then obviously Danny Lennon last year.  I’d been playing with players with a lot of ability and experience and it was good to learn off them as well as the manager.

You also had a brief loan at St Johnstone, didn’t you?

I played one game, with the idea to get match fitness and break into the Hibs first team, but I done my Achilles in the first 15-20 minutes and that put me out for the rest of the season.  So it was a bit of a nightmare!

Do you wish you’d had more opportunities to go on loan to other clubs (like even Airdrie)?

When I think back to it, I probably should have made a decision when I was younger at Hibs rather than trying to fight my way into the first team competing with a lot of experienced players.  I probably should have gone away and not even learnt but got some game experience under my belt.  At the time I thought I was doing the right thing but in hindsight yes – I should have moved away on loan.  That was the idea at St Johnstone but it never worked out.

So now do you feel like you’ve made the right move coming to Airdrie?

Yeah, at my first training session I was extremely impressed with the manager, the coaching staff and the ability of the players they already had, it was extremely high.  That kind of opened my eyes to how good the quality was at Airdrie and how professional the club was run.  It’s perfect for me and I hope I can contribute in a big way to the club.

Well you have already – winning the Man of the Match award against Albion Rovers!  Do you think it’s made you a bit of a fan favourite?

I don’t know about that!  I feel I got a stupid injury in that artificial grass (in the pre-season friendly) at Alloa which was pretty frustrating for me and I’ve just tried to play through that.  The Rovers game on Saturday was the first time it felt okay and I’ve not had to take painkillers.

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I’m just looking to the next game and trying to help the manager and the team get to where we want to be this year and no matter how small my contribution is I’m willing to give it 100%.

How do you feel you performed in the last cup game, against Raith Rovers, given that you say only you’re now feeling okay?

As I say the manager’s been wanting me to play so I’m more than happy to play.  I felt it was a great team performance on that occasion against a very good team who were probably top of their league when we played them and we’ll be looking for a repeat of that against Dundee United.

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It’s a new team; we’re only five games into the league and a couple of cup games.  I think now that we know each other better; the manager knows everybody’s strengths and weaknesses, and we know our own teammates strengths and weaknesses.  I hope now that we’ve gelled enough to start kicking on and start showing what, personally, I think we can go onto achieve this year.

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The training is first class and of a high standard.  Different managers have different techniques.

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Interview by Douglas Barrie