GOALKEEPER Andy McNeil has put his family business on the backburner to restore football as his primary focus after reigniting his full-time career with Morton.

The former Hibs and Scotland Under-21 shot-stopper had spent the last three years of his career playing on a part-time basis and decided to turn his attentions to a working life outside the game.

He advanced his coaching qualifications and took on a more active role within his father’s gardening company.

However, a Cappielow goalkeeping crisis that initially saw him brought in on a short-term deal last term has now led to a one-year extension this summer.

McNeil always felt he had a lot more to offer as a keeper and saw the offer of another season with the Ton as the perfect opportunity for him to put playing the game back to the top of his list of priorities.

He told the Tele: “I signed a year extension just before pre-season started there at the end of May. I came to Morton in February and really enjoyed it. It was an ‘I need somebody to come in and do a job until the end of the season’ sort of thing; it wasn’t anything beyond that.

“Initially I signed a short-term deal and did enough to impress the gaffer enough to give me another year’s contract, which is a positive because it wasn’t something that was spoken about at the start.

"The opportunity to stay at Morton and hopefully be a part of something and having a successful year was really tempting.

“Morton was the best one for me even though I’m not guaranteed to play. One [reason], being at a big club, and the other, being in the Championship at a club that’s hopefully going to be top half. There was a mixture of offers, from being first-choice at clubs to combining playing with a coaching role.

“But I just thought that I’m 29 — if I was 39 I might have made a different decision — and at 29 I feel I’ve still got a lot to give and I thought this would be the best place to do that.

“With coming in to train last year I had others commitments and the manager understood that and it was suitable at the time. But going forward the manager was looking for more.

“I’m self-employed with coaching and my family business. A. McNeil Services is my dad’s gardening company and the plan is that when he retires I’ll probably take it over.

“I was at Livingston when I was 25 and they made quite big cutbacks, so a lot of the senior players were out looking for new clubs. Nothing really appealed to me in terms of part-time football – it wasn’t what I signed up for when I got started.

“I thought: ‘Well, chances are I’m not going to make millions from playing football now’ – never say never, but putting a sensible cap on …

“I thought: ‘What can I do? What can I invest in?’ My dad’s a gardener and when I was younger and during the off-season I would always help him. I took some qualifications and courses and got enough work to keep me ticking over, but it’s not too much work to be able to do both. I can come in and train more days.

"That’s why I took this opportunity with Morton — I wanted to put playing football back at the forefront. At 29 I could have carried on going the way I was going, focusing on other things outside football or I could really focus on playing and keep the other things ticking along in the background.

“I decided to make football my focus this year, to have a right good go at it and do the best that I can and therefore the best for the team.”

McNeil made just one appearance for Morton last term, deputising for Derek Gaston and keeping a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Dumbarton on February 13.

He still expects to start the season as back-up to the long-serving Cappielow No.1 but will be primed to seize any opportunity between the sticks that comes his way.

The seasoned custodian added: “When I came in I only played one game and Derek [Gaston] played in the rest and did well in them and deserved to keep his place.

“From my point of view I’ve come out of two years of part-time football and a spell playing semi-pro in New Zealand. So, coming in and doing a full-time pre-season will give me a better opportunity to do better, to play better and see where it takes me. If an opportunity comes up I’ll be ready for it.”

When asked if he thought there may be a window in the upcoming League Cup group section in which the Ton will play four matches in 14 days, he said:

“There hasn’t been any mention of it. As far as I’m aware Derek’s going to start and I’m going to be waiting in the wings for any opportunities that come my way.

“If that’s against Berwick Rangers at Cappielow in the League Cup or against Hibs in December then that’s what it is. We’ll see what happens and take it from there.”