Morton boss Jim Duffy made the decision not to give former Hibs and Dundee wideman Jamie a new contract at the end of the title-winning campaign. However, forward Stefan did re-sign with the Ton after he was offered terms, which he revealed older sibling Jamie encouraged him to accept despite his own disappointment.

He told the Tele: “Jamie’s going over to America. My pal, Gary Crooks, works with FirstPoint USA and he’s arranging it for him.

“Gary has sent videos to different teams and a few have made contact to get him over, so he’s just waiting to see which one he wants to go to and what they are offering. Did Jamie’s release ever affect my thinking on signing a new contract? No, no. I was always wanting to play in the Championship.

“He [Jamie] said to me that I would get offered something [because] my goals were influential.

“I think I was the second top scorer with seven and the goals came in handy for us at the time.

“He told me I should sign and take my chance to play in this league. I came from the juniors, have gone through League Two and League One and now have the chance to play in the Championship.

“You are playing against boys who are right good players, and I’ve always wanted to test myself at that level.” The 24-year-old, who scored the winning goal in the recent friendly against Brora Rangers, says his personal pre-season preparations have gone well and he is raring to go for the campaign ahead.

He added: “I was [on holiday] in Dubai, I was in Portugal, but I was probably training more than most of the boys in this league.

“I’ve been training hard. We have been doing double sessions most days in pre-season, and I’m feeling sharp. The friendlies have been important in building fitness and getting the game time in.” McCluskey jetted off abroad shortly after last season ended and had not yet spoken about his delight at winning the League One title with the Ton.

He beamed: “It was unbelievable, probably the best feeling I’ve ever had in football. I don’t think it will come again — but I hope it does.

“Peaso [Peter MacDonald] has played until the age of 34, and he had only won two leagues before last season, so it’ll take another good season to match last year.

“The Peterhead game itself was brilliant and panned out the way we wanted it to. When we went 1-0 down I thought that was it; that it could only get worse.

“But Dec [McManus] has gone through and the boy has pulled him down and got the red card. That got us back in it and changed it. We were all over them after that — attacking while they were falling further back — and ended up getting the goals.

“In some games we weren’t the best, but if you look at the whole season we were the best attacking team, looked fitter than most teams and I think we deserved it over the year.”