Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Kyle Cameron: Losing Notts County captaincy played part in my exit, gaining it at St Johnstone is an honour

The new skipper wants to be a standard-setter at McDiarmid Park.

Kyle Cameron leading from the front at St Johnstone.
Kyle Cameron leading from the front at St Johnstone. Image: PPA.

Losing the captaincy helped bring about Kyle Cameron’s departure from Notts County.

And being offered it at St Johnstone has reinforced the centre-back’s conviction that he’s made the right move in coming to Scotland.

The fact that the 27-year-old is a loan player didn’t come into Craig Levein’s thinking when he was choosing an armband successor to Liam Gordon.

But it did mean it came as a (pleasant) shock to be told the news.

“It was a little bit of a surprising one,” the former Scotland under-21 international admitted.

“It’s not something I’d discussed with the manager until after I signed.

“It’s a huge privilege and honour to be captain of a Scottish Premiership club.

“Especially with me being on loan, it shows the faith the management team have in me.

“Now it’s about me repaying that faith and trying to earn the respect of the lads in the changing room and showing them what I can do.

“It can be tricky because you never know whether the lads in there are going to take it well or not.

Kyle Cameron challenges for a header at Arbroath in last weekend's pre-season friendly.
Kyle Cameron challenges for a header at Arbroath in last weekend’s pre-season friendly. Image: PPA.

“But all of them have been very helpful and spot on this week.

“We’ve got a great group of senior pros who are there to lean on if anyone needs anything.

“Even though I am captain, there are four or five lads who could be seen as captains without an armband.

“They are senior boys with a lot of experience, who know the league and can help out when needed.”

Undeserved change

Cameron led Notts County back into the EFL a couple of seasons ago but current manager, Stuart Maynard, took the decision to change the club captaincy last month.

“Without going into it too much, it was one of the reasons I wanted to leave,” he said.

“I felt like when you lose that responsibility without feeling you deserved to lose it, that sort of trust goes.

“You’re not sure where you stand on things.

Kyle Cameron helped get Notts County back into the EFL.
Kyle Cameron helped get Notts County back into the EFL. Image: Shutterstock.

“I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, test myself and take on a new challenge.

“When this presented itself it was something I was very excited about.

“This is a league I always wanted to give a go and I’m delighted the chance has come up now.”

Standard-setter

Saturday’s season-opener at Brechin City in the Premier Sports Cup is Cameron’s first opportunity to put down a leadership marker.

“A captain always tries to drive standards,” he explained. “To be a model pro, which I am hoping I can be here.

“I was vice-captain at Torquay learning from Asa Hall, then going to the captaincy at Notts was another step up.

“You learn as you go.

“You make mistakes but I feel I am ready to take that step up and be a captain here.

“And hopefully I put the things I learned into practice here and drive the lads forward as much as I can.

“I have ideas of what I want to try and implement.

“I’ll put my stamp on it where I can and try and lift the tempo and standards when I can.

“But we are in a really good position and are ready to attack these cup games right from the start.”

Conversation