Michael Doyle had his head turned by a big move to Celtic as a kid, and is keen to stop other youngsters at Hamilton Accies from falling into the same trap.
The 31-year-old jokes that it took him 16 years to make his Accies debut earlier this season, but is serious about advice he can give to the current crop of youngsters at New Douglas Park.
And Doyle says they know he will be honest with them.
Doyle doesn’t regret taking his big chance with the Glasgow giants, but never broke through to their first team in his four years at Parkhead, and moved on to Kilmarnock in 2009.
A loan spell to Stirling, and moves to Alloa, St Johnstone, Morton, Queen of the South, Falkirk and Queen’s Park followed, before he ended up back at Accies this summer.
Doyle has no regrets on the path he took, but will try and stop other youngsters from jumping too soon.
He said: “Everybody knows how good a youth system Hamilton have, as in players coming through and getting opportunities.
“They’re really good for the kids.
“When I look back on it, when I was leaving to go to Celtic, who had bought me, people told me this youth set-up was one of the best, and I had the chance to play in the first-team here.
“If I could go back would I change it? Probably not, but I’d probably have had a harder decision.
“I know now, with experience, how good it is to get into the first team as quickly as possible.
“I’m here to pass on my experience up and down the leagues with the kids, and I think they appreciate that as well, because I’m honest with them, and they know that.
“I’m here to help as much as I can on both sides of the game.”
Doyle is likely to line up against his former club Queen’s Park in their Championship clash at New Douglas Park on Saturday.
Having left the Spiders this summer, Doyle wasn’t necessarily likely to sign for Accies, but trained with them as he wanted to keep himself in shape.
However, an affinity with the players and some stand-out performances in friendlies saw him become John Rankin’s second signing.
He said: “At first I came in just to do a bit of training. I spoke with John Rankin, who was assistant at the time, to come in and keep myself fit, just to see what was happening in football.
“When I was driving up to the stadium, when I was coming into training, I think it was the first time I had been in the Hamilton gear since those days.
“A lot of things have changed since I left 16 years ago, but it has been great since I’ve been back.
“I settled in really well, and I think that was one of the reasons that I got offered something.
“I’m not a shy or a quiet lad, it’s a really good changing room, and they’ve kept a lot of the boys from last season, so it has been a really good, tight-knit group.”
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