Dunfermline forward Kallum Higginbotham is determined to make sure that the Pars’ young band of exciting youngsters do not make the same mistakes he did.
Scotland under-21 defender Ryan Williamson and under-19 pair Callum Smith and Stuart Morrison, who is on loan at Edinburgh City, were among a total of five players that the Fife club had away on international duty in the last fortnight.
Defender Callum Morris was also called up to the Northern Ireland squad, while Fraser Aird represented Canada.
Higginbotham’s career temporarily stalled when he joined Huddersfield from Falkirk in 2012 and the 28-year-old wants the best for his team-mates.
He said: “We’ve got great quality and I think that’s shown in the recognition with the call ups, we had five in total and it shows they’ll get called up if they’re doing well.
“Ryan Williamson, I’ve got a great partnership with him at the minute down the right, he can be whatever he wants to be.
“Stuart is out on loan but more so Callum Smith, he’s come in to the first team and shown what he’s about, especially for such a young age.
“I wouldn’t say I give Callum tips, I’m more likely to shout at him when he’s not doing it in training.
“It’s for the good of him, I’ve made mistake in my career and I don’t want him to make the same ones, he can be whatever he wants to be.
“He’s 17 years of age and he’s playing men’s football. He doesn’t look out of place when he is on the pitch.
“He is bossing centre halves about it, and if he keeps his head down then I believe he can go to the top.”
Higginbotham, who is hoping to get the Pars’ Championship promotion bid back on track at Queen of the South today following a recent defeat to Dundee United, concedes that his attitude let him down when he returned south of the border.
The Salford-born player added: “Looking back at my time at Falkirk, when I got my move I probably did take my eye off the ball a little bit and thought I could go down to England, go straight in the team and be playing.
“I needed to go down there and realise I had gone to a big club, bide my time and work hard.
“I ended up going on loan.
“If they do get a move, don’t expect to play at a bigger club.
“If you want to play football then you should stay here and I believe that’s the best for them at the minute.”
An under-strength Dunfermline side were defeated 2-0 by Falkirk in the Irn Bru Cup last weekend but Higginbotham reckons that result could be a blessing in disguise.
He added: “We were disappointed, Falkirk are classed as our main rivals, a derby game.
“It doesn’t matter what squad was out there, we still wanted to win the game and I thought we were strong enough but on the day we didn’t didn’t up. We’re looking to put that right this weekend.
“I’m never going to disrespect the cup but it’s one less competition we need to worry about and can have fresher legs going into the league games.
“It’s not a big disappointment but we’re still disappointed.”
