DEVELOPMENT squad defender Nicky Jamieson has decided to leave Morton in order to take up an apprenticeship with accountancy firm Ernst and Young.

Childhood Ton fan Jamieson, a former First Touch and Gourock YAC player, signed a one-year full-time deal with the club last summer after a successful season with the Under-17s.

The tall centre-half was a regular fixture at the heart of David Hopkin’s reserve squad this term as they finished third in the Reserve League and reached the Reserve League Cup semi-finals.

In his one full season as a professional at Cappielow, Jamieson was an unused sub for the first-team in the 1-1 draw with Queen of the South in January. He also started a Renfrewshire Cup semi-final win against Viewfield Rovers and made a substitute appearance in a pre-season friendly against Rotherham United last July.

But the 17-year-old, who the Tele understands is on the radar of junior side Largs Thistle, did not quite manage to make the breakthrough and has now elected to pursue a different career path.

Hopkin said: “Nicky has been a pleasure to work with.

“Everyone at the club would like to wish him the very best for the future in his new career.” Meanwhile, it is expected that the remaining development squad players and the club’s over age Under-17s will learn their fate this week.

The futures of the older trio of David McNeil, Aidan Fulton, and David Verlaque will, like the rest of the first-team squad, lie in the hands of new manager Jim Duffy.