Will Haining

fans’ favourite during his two-year spell at St Mirren between 2007 and 2009 after being snapped up on a free transfer from Oldham.

He concedes that he was disappointed by the manner of his Saints departure, insisting that he was happy to stay at the Buddies but a deal just never came.

He added: “At St Mirren I was told I couldn’t be offered a deal because the Setanta television deal collapsed. You can’t argue with that at the time, but I later found out that the club had a couple of players lined up, so that left a bitter pill.”

However, it wasn’t until he went on the search for a new club that he cursed the game.

Training with Oldham and then Blackpool, an agreement to move to Bloomfield Park under Ian Holloway fell through at the last minute.

“He pulls me in, promises me a deal, we agree a contract and all the terms and he says he will get it all signed on the Thursday before the game. That’s fine,” he explains.

“Then it goes quiet.”

That was quickly followed up by a switch to Morecambe, under former Northern Ireland boss Sammy McIlroy – which left Haining really realising just how much he hated the game.

With no real intention of dropping down to League Two, Haining admits that he did so because there wasn’t really anything else on the table.

McIlroy had been on the phone all summer, but Haining had felt he could still cut it at a higher level – after all, Blackpool had been in the Championship.

I’ve had managers trying to stitch me up. I’ve had moves blocked by managers who blatantly reneged on agreements

Eventually, with the Seagulls no longer an option, Haining called him back and got it all sorted - on one premise.

He explained: “Sammy offered me the same terms Blackpool had, so there was no issue there.

“But he promised me that if a team in a higher league came in for me then he wouldn’t stand in my way, all the club would ask for in terms of a fee would simply to be to recoup the