Raith Rovers summer signing Scott Brown used his six years as a
part-time player with Peterhead readying himself for his eventual return to full-time football.
The 27-year-old midfielder is a qualified financial adviser, something he was able to do on the side during his time at Balmoor.
Brown tells Courier Sport he considers himself “lucky” to have had a family business to fall back on.
But, much like his fight to get himself as “fit and strong” as he possibly can for his return to full-time, he was made to work for it.
This grounding and subsequent realisation that there is more to life than football has been as valuable as the “hard yards” put in at part-time level.
“It would have been easy for me to stay at Peterhead and work part-time [on the side],” says Brown.
A fine @brooniee_30 finish! ✨
The Blue Toon are up to 8th 📈#cinchL1 | @pfcofficial pic.twitter.com/Mj3nGoDqwc
— SPFL (@spfl) September 13, 2021
“But I believe in myself and want to play at the highest level I possibly can.
“I was very lucky, my dad has got his own company,” he adds.
“Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t silver-spoon stuff, where everything was handed to me.
“I went away and got fully qualified and made sure that once my dad wants to retire that the business is ready to be taken over.”
Getting ‘caught up’
Now he tries to pass on this wisdom to younger teammates, encouraging them to have something away from the game to help take their minds off it.
“When I was at St Johnstone I kind of got caught up in it a wee bit and let the bad days really get me,” adds Brown.
“Then you need to learn in football you are going to have bad days and you just need to brush them off and not take them too personally and too seriously.
“It was just one of those things as well, a wee bit of inexperience and, as they always say, experience always comes when it’s too late to learn.
“But hopefully I have learned from my mistakes.”
Manager tried to sign me a few times
Brown had options before and during the summer but couldn’t resist when he knew Raith was an option.
Manager Ian Murray “tried to sign me a few times”, adds Brown – not surprising after his best goalscoring season last time out with nine.
He was attracted to the way his new boss sets up his team – which he had plenty of evidence of from battles with Airdrie over the last few years.
It was also in evidenced in Raith’s final preseason-friendly win over Alloa on Saturday.
YESTERDAY'S GOALS | @Ethan10Ross, @GullanJamie (x2) and @dario_zanatta were the scorers in the pre-season behind closed doors friendly against Alloa Athletic. Looking forward to seeing you back at Stark's Park on Wednesday for the Premier Sports Cup match against Peterhead FC 💙 pic.twitter.com/56faMR6V6l
— RaithTV (@RaithTV) July 10, 2022
“I really liked the football that Airdrie played last season,” continues Brown.
“We played them four times – I think they beat us comprehensively three times, to be fair.
“Airdrie have been doing very well for years and the manager tried to sign me a few times, but for one reason or another it didn’t come off.
“It’s nice to be in a position where the manager really wants to sign you and he’s really interested in you.
“Once the interest from Raith came about, there was only one place I was going to go.”
Debut versus olf club
By some strange twist of fate, Brown’s competitive debut will come against his old side in the Premier Sports Cup on Wednesday.
Nominally a box-to-box midfielder, he has started the last two friendlies in central defence – the most recent of which may give the strongest hint yet of Murray’s preferred XI.
He has no qualms with playing in defence this season if needed.
His immediate thoughts are on making sure his new side gets off to a good start – even if that means getting on up over his old team.
“We’re going to take these games pretty seriously, but with it being against Peterhead it will be nice to see everyone,” says Brown.
“They’ve had a transitional summer – I’ve got a lot to thank them for.
“Hopefully they’re not too happy come Wednesday night.”
Raith begin their Premier Sports Cup campaign in Group A with a home match versus Peterhead on Wednesday night.
They then take on Stirling Albion at Stark’s Park before away fixtures versus Dumbarton and Aberdeen.
Conversation