JOHN SUTTON is set to come out of retirement after agreeing to join David Hopkin’s side as a player for next 
season.

The 35-year-old decided to hang up his boots at the end of the 2017-18 campaign when his contract ended with St Mirren.

Sutton turned down several offers to remain as a player to become the Ton’s head of development squad last season.

But the club’s chief executive Dave MacKinnon says he and Hopkin convinced the striker to be part of Ton’s first team squad after agreeing a one-year playing deal.

MacKinnon, who himself decided to retire in 1991 after finishing with Kilmarnock before resuming his playing career with Forfar Athletic a few months later, says he had his own regrets about hanging up his boots too soon.

The Ton chief insisted he didn’t want Sutton to have the same feelings he did.

He told the Tele: “When I gave it up at Kilmarnock a bit after we had won promotion, I was 35 and after a couple of weeks I knew it was the wrong decision. 

“I decided to come out of retirement and play for a season at Forfar.

“It was absolutely brilliant as it put all the things to rest. I didn’t say ‘I should have played for another year’, it was great and I really enjoyed it.

“The manager has said the same thing to John, ‘Imagine scoring 10 goals again John, I reckon you could get 10 goals for me’, all that sort of thing.

“He will score goals for us, I have no doubt about it.”

Sutton is currently out with the development squad training in Portugal at the prestigious Rio Maior facility, which the Portuguese national team also use.

MacKinnon says the forward will combine the roles of coaching and playing next season.

The Ton chief says Sutton is keen to be a part of what Hopkin is trying to build at Morton.

He added: “He went to Portugal with the youth squad and he phoned the manager. 

“He said he had been thinking about what David and I had been saying and if the offer was still there then he’d like to sign.

“The reason why he’s done that is because he’s seen the training, he’s done the training and he likes the way the manager has set things out.

“He likes what we ‘re doing with the facilities here and he’s basically said to the two of us that he wants to be a part of it.

“So he’s signed for a year, and he will combine his coaching role with playing.”