Higgy at home in Dunfermline

Since I walked in the door I have been greeted with open arms and hopefully I can give a bit back.

Kallum Higginbotham claimed that he was "absolutely delighted" to sign a new contract at Dunfermline, he told the website:-

"The gaffer spoke to me towards the end of the season but I just wanted to get the season out of the way. I have sat down and thought about the options that I had but I have always stated that I wanted to stay here.

"The biggest thing for me was having the gaffer, Sandy and John believe in me throughout the season. It is a massive part of the game and I took that into my thoughts and I was only going to sign here. It is done and dusted now and I will look forward to next season.

"In the past I have probably moved to clubs thinking the grass is always going to be greener. I look back at my Thistle days and moving on to Kilmarnock where it didn`t quite work out.

"Looking back on my career, when I have been playing well I should probably have stayed at clubs. Those were the kind of factors that I was thinking through. I really enjoyed my time here last season and that is why I am happy to stay here.

"I think the club is definitely moving in the right direction and next season we can have a real push at promotion. What better place is there? Since I walked in the door I have been greeted with open arms and hopefully I can give a bit back.

"I thought I had a good season last year and I will be looking to better that this season."

Kallum who made 43 appearances for the Pars last season, drew on his experience to conclude what he feels a younger player might not do:-

"When you are younger you don`t really faze much - you think that you can walk into any team and take it by storm. If you are not playing well you don`t really have that connection with the manager. If you have one bad game you are out of the team but I think the gaffer believes in me and that is a massive part of football.

"I have been playing week in week out and that is all you want to do. You don`t want to be sat on the bench. The gaffer knows what I can do here and I think I showed that last season. Hopefully I can come back pre season firing and ready to go again.

"I`d like to do better than I did last season, score more goals, more assists and hopefully push us up that league. I don`t really set targets for myself, I just take each game as it comes but I realise what I did last year goals-wise and assists-wise and you know what, I definitely want to better that. I don`t set targets, I just take each game as it comes."

Kallum will be celebrating his 28th birthday on the day that the squad come back for pre season training on 15th June. Without Hibs, Raith Rovers and possibly Dundee United or Falkirk, Kallum felt that he was not doing the league a disservice by saying that it is going to be very different next season.

"Given the squad that we have got and that the gaffer is trying to build, there is no reason why we can`t set the target as definitely finishing in the top four if not automatic promotion."

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