Loyalty and honour, we are told, barely exist in football these days.
It is most refreshing then to hear former Dundee United and Rangers striker Jon Daly admit that he turned down an approach from a bigger club like Hibs to join Raith Rovers because he had given his word to Rovers’ manager Ray McKinnon.
“I spoke to Ray on Sunday and shook his hand to agree to come here,” he said.
“Then I got a phone call late on Sunday night to say Hibs were interested, but I had already spoken to Ray and said I would come here so I wasn’t going to go back on my word.
“I’m delighted I have, there’s a great bunch of boys at Raith and there’s a lot of young lads, and hopefully I’ll be able to come in and help them develop and progress over the season.
“A lot of my friends were saying that you’ve got to look after yourself, but the money didn’t come into it, it was all about getting games.
“When I spoke to Ray I wanted to come and play for him. He talks really well and you can see he has passion for the game.
“I was impressed by how well they had started the season as well, so it was a good opportunity to come in and work with Ray.
“I’ve known him for a while now and I was impressed by what he did at Brechin as well.”
Daly watched from the wings as Rangers’ season hit the buffers last term, failing to find any sort of regular game-time under Stuart McCall as the team struggled.
Five long months without competitive action were brought to an end on Tuesday night, as Daly made his Raith Rovers debut from the bench in their League Cup victory over Hamilton.
Scottish football tends to have a habit of throwing up little quirks in the fixture calendar, and as luck would have it, Raith Rovers' next assignment is a trip to Easter Road this Saturday, where Hibs will have a close-up look at what they have may have missed out on in Daly.
“Towards the end of last season it was frustrating,” he admitted.
“You’re trying your hardest every day and you’re fighting fit, the team isn’t firing, and you want to help but you aren’t getting the opportunity.
“It was frustrating looking on when the team wasn’t playing well and you’re on the sidelines not getting a look in.
“That’s football though. With managers you sometimes fall out of favour, and you just have to get on with it and work hard.
“I think March 17th was my last appearance, so it’s been a while coming.
“It’s been a frustrating few months that I haven’t played, so I’m delighted just to get back on the park and get a chance to play again.
“When you haven’t played for so long people sometimes maybe forget what you can do, so Ray’s given me a platform to come and play and try to get match sharpness.
“I also want to help Raith in the league and in the cup competitions until January, and then we’ll see where we go from there.
“I got 20 minutes under my belt against Hamilton and I felt quite good. I’m probably not too far away.
“I’m not exactly a channel runner anyway so I can more or less stand up front and try to hold the ball up!
“I’ll work hard in training over the next few days and we’ll see what happens at Hibs on Saturday.”
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