Cammy Bowden hass his sights on an “ambitious” new club after his departure from Turriff United.
The skipper called time on 11 years at The Haughs earlier this month, citing their downturn in fortunes in recent seasons.
As he has turned 30, Bowden wants to make the most of what time in football he has left and has already held discussions with a number of clubs.
With the Highland League not yet having a confirmed return date, Bowden is in no rush to make a decision. However, he hopes to spend the remaining days of his career challenging for trophies.
He said: “I’ve spoke to a few folk, teams in the Highland League and a couple of teams in the juniors. At the moment with the uncertainty of when football is going to come back, there’s a bit of time to take a spell out and see what offers come in. Then I can pick which club is right for me.
“I don’t think there’s any rush. I’ve got some good options on the table just now so I’m taking the time to work out what’s best for me.
“I want to be at a team that’s challenging, a team that’s winning trophies. I spoke to clubs who are really ambitious and that’s exactly the kind of attitude I share. A team like that would be perfect.
“I’ve still got a good few years left in me. Thirty is a decent age for a centre-half – I’ve got great experience playing at Turriff and picking up a couple of trophies along the way.”
He expresses regret at leaving Turriff and has a lot of time for the volunteers keeping the club running.
But finishing fourth-bottom in each of the last two seasons told Bowden it was going to take a while to turn the team into a force again.
He added: “The last couple of years we’ve slipped down the table and it’s been a bit disappointing. You can see how it’s happened, with a lot of the good players moving on, and them going down the route of developing young players. It’s probably going to be that way for a couple of seasons until the teams develops.
“I’ve just turned 30 so I need to make the most of the time I’ve got left playing football. That’s probably the main reason for me moving on. I’ve loved my time at Turriff but I’ve got to look after myself and see what opportunities are out there now.
“There’s a lot of really nice people I’ve met there and a really good bunch behind-the-scenes running the club. It was really difficult leaving and it wasn’t something I wanted to do – I wanted to spend my whole career there.
“But the way things have gone the last couple of seasons forced that decision on me. I’m looking forward to a new challenge.”
The 2014-15 season, in which Turriff finished second and won the Aberdeenshire Shield, stands out as one of Bowden’s proudest moments.
He said: “Considering Brora were such a strong team, to be up there challenging with them was brilliant. We won the Aberdeenshire Shield as well, so that was probably one of the highlights.”