Shaun Byrne has revealed he has one eye on the future as he prepares to take his first steps in coaching with Raith Rovers.
The midfielder will join team-mate Dylan Easton this summer in delivering sessions via the club’s official charity, the Community Foundation.
The pair will oversee their first ‘camp’, for 12 to 16-year-olds, on July 31.
Byrne says he is relishing the opportunity to take himself out of his ‘comfort zone’.
And the 30-year-old, who penned a two-year deal with Raith last month, admits it will give him an insight into a possible future career once he hangs up his boots.
“When I signed this contract I did say that I probably do need to start looking forward to the future as well,” explained the ex-Dundee midfielder. “I’m not getting any younger.
“And I don’t want to finish playing football and then be thinking, ‘what am I going to be doing?’.
“Coaching could be an option. But I want to be doing something that I enjoy, that’ll be the main thing.
“This will be a chance to see if I enjoy it.
Byrne: ‘Good to give a bit back’
“You’ve got to take yourself out of your comfort zone sometimes in life as well.
“It’s something I’m looking forward to and hopefully it’ll be a good experience.
“Speaking to Potts [technical director John Potter] before I signed, he did say there could be chances for me to do some coaching with the community.
“Dylan Easton has been doing that for the last wee while and it was just something that kind of made sense for the both of us.
“It’s good to give a bit back to the club as well. We’ve got a lot of young fans come to the games.
“Hopefully it’ll be good and something to look forward to in the future as well.”
After an enjoyable loan at Raith from Dundee last season, Byrne had more financially-lucrative offers on the table from other clubs this summer.
But he opted to stick with what he knows best – for reasons both on and off the pitch.
“There were a load of factors for signing with Raith Rovers again,” he added ahead of the Premier Sports Cup clash with play-off final opponents Ross County.
“Family is probably one of the main ones. I’m somewhere I know and I really enjoyed.
Raith aiming to go ‘one step further’
“So I didn’t see the point of chasing something else that might not be as good.
“I look at the squad and I know we’ve got a lot of good, quality players.
“Hopefully we’ll be challenging again and hopefully we can go that one step further.”
Rovers finished runners-up to Dundee United in the Championship title race before losing to County in the play-offs as their Premiership dreams were dashed.
“It was a successful season last year,” continued Byrne.
“If you’d asked anyone here, the manager, players and fans, they would have ripped your hand off for the season we had.
“Now, it’s just about pushing on again and trying to get better at the things we were not as good at.
“You always want to improve, every season.
“I think we’re in a better position this year. But we’ll see what happens because it’s going to be a really tough season.
“There will be highs and lows as usual. But if we stick together we’ll give ourselves a chance of doing well.”
