Elgin City manager Gavin Price feels he has retained arguably Scotland’s best part-time player after midfielder Brian Cameron committed his future to Borough Briggs until 2024.
Cameron signed a new three-year deal earlier this week, which will prolong his 13-year service as a first team player with his hometown club.
The 29-year-old is an integral part of the Black and Whites’ side, making more than 400 appearances and netting 76 goals.
Price, who initially came to Elgin as Jim Weir’s assistant in 2014 before becoming manager three years later, feels Cameron has shown himself to be one of the best performers in the lower leagues.
Price said: “Brian would play a key role in any sort of system. He’s such an all-round player, which gives us that flexibility in how we use him.
“I have used him in deeper positions at times this season because he is so comfortable on the ball, he’s good in the tackle, but he’s also such a threat going the other way.
“We can play him almost as a striker sometimes. He can play a variety of positions, but his best position is obviously central midfield.
“If we want to tweak it between going away from home and playing at home, he fits into that like a glove.
“It’s a no-brainer. I have said for long enough, and Jim Weir said the same. In my opinion he’s one of the best players in part-time football, and certainly the best if you’re looking over a seven or eight-year period.”
Although the League Two season is on hold at present due to the national lockdown, Elgin have enjoyed a strong campaign so far and sit second in the table.
With the Black and Whites looking to fulfil their long-held ambition of winning promotion to League One, Price is thrilled Cameron has committed to the cause.
Price added: “It shows fantastic commitment from Brian himself to have played so many games at the club.
“It’s very rare you will see a one-club person. I’m not saying it will see him out to the end of his career, but it’s a contract that will see him towards that sort of time, into his thirties.
“It’s great we have got him for that period. It shows fantastic loyalty, he’s an Elgin boy and I’m sure it will boost the supporters as much as it boosts me personally.”
Cameron was handed his Elgin debut as a 16-year-old by Robbie Williamson, coming on as a substitute in a final day 5-1 loss to Stenhousemuir in April 2008.
Having made the successful breakthrough from the club’s youth system, Price feels Cameron’s success makes him a key role model for some of the prospects within Elgin’s academy at present.
Price added: “Along with the success of Brian, we have had Darryl McHardy, while Aidan Sopel is now breaking into the team on a regular basis, and David Wilson has played over 50 games.
“There is a real opportunity through our academy. I’m quite excited about some of the talent that’s coming through.
“There are the likes of Fin Allen and Matt Jamieson, while Owen Loveland came in and made an impact as a 16-year-old.
“I’m really excited about the future of the club and the way it’s developing, with plans behind the scenes to work with our academy.
“Hopefully we will see a massive bonus if we can get players coming through the system.
“I’m quite optimistic one or two might break through, like Aidan has done this season.”