Clachnacuddin defender plays on after scooping player of the year award
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GARY Warren is determined to keep playing as long as he can after winning Clach’s player of the year award in his first Highland League season.
The Caley Thistle legend’s impact at Grant Street Park has been huge since returning to Scotland last summer after four years with Yeovil, Exeter City, Torquay United and Tiverton Town.
Now 39, Warren admits recovery between competitive matches is a challenge these days, despite Nairn County’s Ross Tokely ripping up the rulebook at 44.
But the veteran of the great Caley Jags’ Scottish Cup-winning side is loving life with the Merkinch club, a role he blends with an educational and coaching post within Ross County’s academy set-up.
“Ross has done brilliantly, but in terms of recovery I do find it harder now,” Warren confessed
“The thing with me is I still think I’m 25 or 26! I do know, realistically, I haven’t got long left, but I’m still performing to a level I’m happy with.
“If I begin to feel I’m letting people down, I’ll step aside. I’ll know instinctively when that time comes.”
Had Warren, who has extended his contract to summer 2024, chosen a leading Highland club he might have found matches less demanding than with the Merkinch minnows.
“I’ve always gone to clubs with a little bit of that underdog mentality. That suits me, in terms of my character – a little bit of siege mentality,” he explained.
“I enjoy trying to step up to the plate to help improve a club or take it to the next level. As long as I’m contributing and enjoying it as well, I’ll be happy and I’ll play on.
“Do you know what? There are so many good people at Clach. When you have that nucleus of good people at the heart of a club, the club will do well, as long as those people keep buying into it all.
“They have a good plan in terms of developing youngsters, a good young side – the youngest on average in the league. As long as they stick together on that and go with the plan, keep trying to build from youth, I think they will do well.
“It is a real family-orientated club that has made me and my family feel really welcome.
“It is also a real community club, which we see in the fans who turn out – again, a lot of good people. It is a club going in the right direction.”
