Former Caley Thistle youngster Jack Brown hopes his move to Rothes can help him back to the SPFL.
Brown was disappointed to be let go by the Caley Jags in the summer and after a spell training with Cove Rangers, opted to sign one-year deal with the club he spent time on loan with last season.
He came through in the same age group as current first-team players Roddy MacGregor, Cameron Harper and Daniel MacKay, however his only senior appearance for the club came against Falkirk in January 2018.
The 19-year-old has been impressed working with Ross Jack, who has vowed to help develop his talents and push him back towards the senior ranks of Scottish football.
Brown said: “That’s the aim for me. I know I want to play higher and Ross Jack said to me a big aim for him is developing players. He said he’ll try help me and if anything came about in the future, he would be the first one to help.
“Both him and the chairman have been great with me. They both said they think I have the potential to play higher.
“It was hard to take (leaving Inverness) with the way it came about. It was a bit of a shock. I thought I did have a chance but they said because of Covid they couldn’t see it happening. It is what it is.
“But the boys here have been really good with me and there’s some really good players. I only played five games for them after January but I was really impressed with how they run the place.”
During lockdown, Brown had been working at his father Alan’s abattoir in Portlethen and could back to work there in the coming weeks.
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He has a flat in Aberdeen, which proved handy for training with Cove in pre-season, even if a permanent move did not materialise.
Brown added: “Unfortunately it didn’t work out. They wanted to sign me and loan me out to the Highland League. With the Highland League getting postponed I just didn’t think it would work out.
“My agent spoke to Paul Hartley, who said myself and Ross Gunn could train with them. I really enjoyed it – it’s a really high standard and I was kind of disappointed something didn’t come out of it.
“But who knows, maybe in the future.”
There is uncertainty over when the Highland League season may begin, with the original October 17 date pushed back to November 28 after the latest round of restrictions.
Rothes have a Highland League Cup semi-final against Formartine United to play this coming weekend but then no assurances over when their next game might be.
He said: “It depends if we get to the final or not. Ross said we will keep training and working hard. Everyone is in the same boat.”
Brown signed professional terms with Inverness in 2018, as part of a group of 10 highly-touted young players. Of that 10, five remain at the club – Harper, MacGregor, MacKay, Harry Nicolson and Ryan Fyffe – while Brown, Gabriel Hastings, Kieran Chalmers, Ross Gunn and Roddy Kennedy have all left the club.
He was also among the cluster of 11 Caley Thistle players who spent time on loan at Highland League side Fort William last season.
The midfielder added: “We were a really tight-knit group. We all hoped we’d come through and play for the first-team one day.
“I would put it down to bad luck. There was no reserve team or colts league. I don’t think it really worked out for any of us.
“I speak to Cammy, Dan and Roddy and they are really positive. I hope they get the chance to show what they can do as I think this is the season where they’ll get a bigger opportunity.”