Peterhead’s Simon Ferry admits turning down the chance to join Kelty Hearts was arguably the biggest decision of his career.
Kelty’s new manager Kevin Thomson had hoped his former Dundee team-mate would join him as a player-coach at the newly-promoted Fife outfit.
It was an opportunity that Blue Toon midfielder and coach Ferry seriously considered.
The 33-year-old said: “It’s probably been the biggest decision of my career purely because of the respect I have for Kevin.
“I like the way he talks about football, the way he thinks about football and he’s a great guy.
“I think he’s going to be very successful. So the chance to get to work for him in his backroom team and also to play for him, which I think would suit my style, meant it was a massive decision to make.
“When he phoned me and asked me to and work with him I was very flattered that somebody like Kevin would trust me enough to go and work with him.
“His brother-in-law Kevin McDonald is there as well and he’s a great guy.
“I get on well with both of them and it meant it was a very tough decision.”
The factors which kept him at Peterhead
However, the squad Peterhead are building and getting the chance 18 months ago to become a coach at Balmoor were important factors in Ferry’s decision to stay.
He added: “But I’ve been in this role with Peterhead for 18 months now. Jim McInally has allowed me to coach and work with him which I’ve enjoyed.
“I think we’re in a really good place in terms of the players we’ve got, the team we’ve built and the type of football we want to play.
“That was what kept me at Peterhead. I’ve spoken to players like Hamish Ritchie and others about what we want to do at Peterhead.
“After having those chats and selling the vision I didn’t think it would be right for me to jump ship after speaking about how much belief I have in what we’re doing.
“I had a chat with Jim and he was very understanding about it. Any other manager would probably have said ‘no you’re not going.’
“But Jim told me to have a think about it and he gave me his thoughts on it.
“After thinking about it, speaking to Jim and speaking to the chairman (Rodger Morrison) I decided it would be best to stay with Peterhead.”
Future ambitions
Ferry has ambitions to be a manager in the future.
But at the moment he is still focused on combining playing and coaching and he hopes to help Peterhead challenge for the promotion play-offs next season.
He said: “We had a decent run in the second half of the season and I’m optimistic for next season.
“I think with the players we’ve got we can’t be finishing seventh in League One next season.
“We need to be challenging for the play-offs.
“I want to be a manager in the future. Football has been my life since I was 15.
“I had a wee period where I worked in other jobs, but when you play the game and love that, get into coaching and love that I think the next step is to be a manager.
“I’ve got strong beliefs in how I want to play and the football I want to play.
“Learning off Jim and seeing how he does it has been massive for me as well and it’s definitely something I’d be looking to do.
“But I still want to play and still feel fit. If I didn’t feel fit or didn’t feel like I could offer something then I’d chuck it because I wouldn’t want to be a liability to the team.
“I want to play as long as I can because once you’re retired there’s plenty of time for coaching and management.”