Graeme Shinnie can speak modestly about the promise he has shown this season.
The Inverness Caledonian Thistle full-back has grown into a reliable and assured player during a season which has afforded his club a similar stature; the Highland side sitting in third place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League ahead of the visit of Dundee today.
It is a campaign which has brought Shinnie a short spell as captain, a call-up to the Scotland under-21s and has even led to him being sized up for a move down to England. Yet he can still remember when he was restricted to a hospital gown; a serious bowel disorder just two years ago leaving him strapped to a bed and in a frail condition. Inverness stood by their player as he fought back to health and Shinnie will not be so easily swayed by the grandeur of English football. His club put an arm around him when he needed it and Shinnie is comfortable in the embrace.
He is also quite content as a prominent part of the back four. Regular football has given Shinnie an opportunity to show off his ability and has prompted positive discussions on a new contract that would run until 2015.
"We're close," he said. "The club has helped me greatly since I was a youngster and stuck by me through the illness. The club have done a lot for me and I'm thankful for that. It will be a two-year deal, probably, and it gives me good stability. It can let me enjoy my football and not have that worry for the next two seasons. Hopefully, we can keep doing well and I'll just focus on the football."
His views are refreshing, but also quite pertinent given that young Scots such as Chris Maguire and David Goodwillie swopped regular football in Scotland only to become lost in the lower leagues in England. "People can go to England or bigger clubs and be forgotten about," said Shinnie. "If you are in the SPL playing regularly, you have that good level of competition and career development."
Any sense of development at Dens Park relates only to fostering the sort of form which will allow Dundee to stage a dramatic survival bid. The Tayside club succumbed to a late equaliser against Ross County last weekend but their performance has emboldened the squad ahead of their latest trip north.
"We can take a lot of heart from the County game going into this one," said Barry Smith, the Dundee manager. "I think it will be a similar type of match, in terms of the opposition and how tough it will be, so the Inverness game should stand us in good stead. We acquitted ourselves really well and we'll need to do the same again [today]."
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