Peterhead captain Scott Brown will think about his future after the Buchan outfit’s final game of the season.
Brown is out of contract in the summer and will weigh up his options when the campaign ends.
He has had the opportunity to move on in the past, with a move to Falkirk breaking down in 2020 and the midfielder turning down the chance to join Championship side Ayr United in January.
The former St Johnstone man has never made a secret of his desire to return to full-time football. He has a strong understanding with Peterhead and manager Jim McInally that if the opportunity comes, they will not stand in his way.
He does not know what the future holds and therefore cannot rule out staying with the Blue Toon next season.
“We’ll get this last game done then I’ll have a think about it,” said Brown. “Whatever happens, I have loved my time at Peterhead and if I come back next season, it’ll be a positive.
“The manager and chairman have been brilliant with me. It’s nice to know if I go away and have a think over the summer, there’s not pressure on me to tell them before I weigh up my options. I can’t thank them enough for that.
“It’s credit to the club that boys see this as a good place to come and play. I was in full-time football but this was the first place I have played regularly.
“Nothing is worse than training Monday to Friday and not playing on a Saturday. I’ve probably enjoyed it more playing part-time and travelling up with the boys.”
‘Only a matter of time before one of us moves back to full-time’
Brown sees great potential in this Peterhead side, with McInally and the club turning to youth this season to take the team in a different direction.
“You can go right through the team and see guys that are good enough to move up the league,” he said. “It’s great for the club to show if players do well, there’s the option to bounce back into full-time football.
“Someone like Grant Savoury has got a big future in the game. If he keeps going the way he’s going, he will get back into full-time football.
“If a young player came to me and said they’d fallen out of full-time football, I would say go to Peterhead, 100 per cent. It’s only a matter of time before one of us moves back to full-time after making ourselves better players in this league.”
One person definitely saying farewell to Peterhead after this weekend is Simon Ferry. Brown has played alongside him for the last six years and appreciates everything he has given to the club.
“I can’t speak highly enough of him,” said Brown. “As a person first and foremost, then a coach and player.
“He’s moving on to the next stage of his life and it’s up to the club to replace him. We missed him in the earlier stages of the season when he was struggling with injuries and you’ve seen our results pick up when he came back.”
‘Our form recently has been good’
Heading into the final day of the season, Peterhead can still finish in the top half of League One despite only securing their status in the division a fortnight ago.
Victory over the Diamonds – who are confirmed in second – and defeats for Alloa and Falkirk against Montrose and Queen’s Park respectively would see the Blue Toon jump into fifth place.
“It’s strange when you think about it as it was only a few weeks ago we managed to get ourselves safe,” said Brown. “But our form recently has been good.
“It’s probably come a wee bit too late but had we done this in the middle of January, then we might have been able to do something more.”