Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Higgins relishing double challenge
New signing takes on playing and coaching
It’s come full circle for Sean Higgins as he prepares to make his competitive Albion Rovers debut after being part of the Cliftonhill boys club.
The striker lives just five minutes away from the Excel Group Stadium and started off his playing career in the Rovers youth ranks.
However, he was snapped up by Hamilton Accies, and went on to play across Scotland for the likes of Dundee, Ross County and Cowdenbeath.
Having moved from Clyde this summer, the 32-year-old is keen to get off to a good start in the Betfred Cup against Stenhousemuir in front of his hometown crowd.
“I just want to get off to a good start,” he told the Advertiser. “A cup run could mean a lot for the club financially. “There is an extra prize pot now, and that can make a huge difference to a team like Rovers if we got through the group stage.
“It’s important for the boys to build some confidence early on in the season.
“So far the boys have been great. Brian [Kerr] has been great and the training has been good. The more the games come the better it will get for us.
“It’s been hard work but Brian wants to change the style of play for the better.
“I didn’t play against the Rovers last season, but I played with Brian at Dundee and I know the kind of player he was and we want to reflect that on the park.”
Higgins was speaking at a Rovers football camp where he has been leading the programme.
Having gone to university and originally planning to go into teaching, the forward decided to put in 16 seasons in football and is now keen to get involved in the coaching side.
He has been working on programmes at Celtic and Clyde, and will now take on a major role in the community development at Cliftonhill. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this originally. “Obviously Brian brought me in as a player, first and foremost, and we got chatting about different things that he would like me to do and that I was interested in.
“He wanted to bring me in to do some coaching and help the strikers out when I can.
“I was just attracted to the playing side originally, [coaching] wasn’t in my mind, but the opportunity came up to not just coach it but to learn about the programmes.
“Now I want to go into schools and clubs and really help raise the profile of Rovers locally.”