Kirk: I want to play every week
Latest St Mirren signing Kirk Broadfoot insists he isn’t at the club to make up the numbers.
In fact, he’d rather quit the game than contemplate playing a bit part role.
The 35- year- old defender has rejoined the Buddies this week on a twoyear deal after leaving the club in 2007.
He joined Rangers after making 174 appearances in the black and white including the 2005/06 first division and Challenge Cup double winning side.
He has credited his then manager Gus MacPherson – now the club’s technical director – for helping him return to the Saints.
“Gus being here was huge,” Broadfoot said.
“Luckily enough he had my number to get in touch. I also spoke to the Jim Goodwin and I liked the way he was thinking. There would have been no point me coming here if I didn’t get on with him. I’m looking forward to working with him.
“I’m here to play every week. I’m not here to be a squad player.
“If I was coming here to be a squad player I would have quit football. I’ll bide my time if need be but I’m here to play every week.”
The versatile defender says he always had an inkling he might one day return to Paisley and he is looking forward to helping the club’s younger stars with his experience.
After leaving the Buddies, Kirk joined Rangers, and played in the 2008 UEFA Cup final and won three league titles, before also featuring for Blackpool, Rotherham United and, most recently, Kilmarnock.
“I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that I’d like to come back and finish my career where I started,” Broadfoot added.
“I know the club and it’s great to be back. I feel as fit I did when I was 25. I’ve looked after myself. I still go to the gym every day.
“So who knows where that will take me?
“I’m probably a wee bit wiser in the head in terms of positional sense. So I try not to get in some races and help the younger ones. I want to push everyone along and help St Mirren get up the league.”
Capped four times by Scotland, and having played down south for five years, Broadfoot, who grew up in Drongan, was keen not to move his Ayrshirebased family, giving the Buddies the trump card when it came to securing his signature.
The defender admitted: “I had other options but I came back to Scotland two years ago because my wife wanted to come home.
“So I wasn’t going to uproot my family again after moving home from a big contract in England. The whole point was to stay local.”
The centre- back will have to wait for his second St Mirren debut as it’s the international break. The next Scottish Premiership fixture is a week on Saturday at Ross County.
Broadfoot finished: “It would maybe have been nice to have had a game this weekend but I’ve now got a couple of weeks to get to know the boys so that gives me a wee settling-in period.”