East Kilbride Thistle’s new signing Barry Russell insists it's nice to be again on the membership that launched his senior profession.
And now he hopes to see a return to the texture good issue on the Showpark underneath new boss Garry O’Hanlon.
The 33-year-old, who had a mortgage spell from Lowland League East Kilbride FC in 2018, has joined the membership for the third time in his profession and it comes 15 years after making his debut for his hometown group.
A lot has modified since his days underneath Colin Mitchell and Ian Penman that earned him a giant senior transfer to Albion Rovers in 2011, however he hopes to assist the membership be a pressure within the West of Scotland League Third Division subsequent time period.
He stated: “I’m completely buzzing to be again on the place the place it began.
“Hopefully I’ve obtained a couple of years left in me to remain right here and end my profession right here on a excessive. It was all the time in my thoughts to do that at one level.
“Issues had type of died a dying a bit across the membership for a couple of years, however lately it’s actually picked up and other people on the membership, like Kris MacKinnon [the club’s operations manager], have been on at me, making an attempt to get me to signal.
“I spoke to [assistant boss] Aaron Connolly and Garry and I wished to come back again to try to assist elevate issues on the Showpark once more, and get the supporters again in to look at the group.
“Hopefully, we will get the group again to the best way they had been enjoying after I was final right here underneath Mitch and Baggus (Ian Penman).”
Russell is a well-known face across the city after captaining rivals East Kilbride FC, successful two Lowland League titles with them and skippering the facet in opposition to his boyhood heroes within the Scottish Cup in 2016.
Nevertheless, he has spent the previous two season within the West of Scotland Soccer League with St Roch’s after he was let go by then Kilby boss Stevie Aitken.
And Russell admitted: “I did need to end my profession at EKFC, however the league was getting harder, I used to be getting a bit older, gamers had been getting sharper so issues by no means actually labored out, however I nonetheless completed on good phrases with everybody there.
“It’s an excellent membership however the supervisor thought there have been higher gamers than me there so it was proper to maneuver on and now I’m at EK Thistle, which is sensible.
“I do know issues are going properly at EKFC so there’s no purpose why they'll’t be go properly right here as properly.”
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