JIM McAlister says he takes pride in the fact Morton have been a huge part of his career and that he’s only played for four different clubs.

The Ton midfielder signed on for his ninth season earlier this month at Cappielow, penning a one-year contract extension.

After leaving Morton in his first spell in 2010 McAlister went on to play for Hamilton Accies, Dundee and Blackpool.

He returned to Cappielow last season, being made the club captain on his return to the Greenock outfit. The 33-year-old admits it’s been great to return to Scotland and he is only one year away from a testimonial.

He told the Tele: “My nine years have been over two different spells.

“To be at a club for that length of time — I’ve been playing about 16 years in football — and to have only played for four clubs, I take pride in that.

“Morton have been a huge part of that and going into my ninth year this year, hopefully it can be a good one.”

The midfielder says he loved his time in England with Blackpool, playing in English League One and Two during his three-year spell at Bloomfield Road.

But he was adamant with a young family to look after that his future lay in Scotland, and wanted to come home last year.

Even last season he didn’t speak to any other clubs as he wanted to remain on with the Ton.

He added: “I loved my time playing down south, but it was time for my family to come back up to Scotland.

“Thankfully the opportunity came up with Morton.

“I’ve always been of the mindset that happiness comes before money anyway.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice but I would rather my kids were around their families and they could see them growing up and I’m certainly very happy where I am.

“Once you get past 30 in football you want to settle down at a club.

“You don’t want to be a player that gets a year here or a year there, jumping from club to club every season.

“Fortunately I’ve been given the opportunity to come back up to Morton last year and I’ve been lucky enough to get a second year as well, and hopefully things go well this year and I can stay here for a year afterwards.

“I don’t work with an agent, and I’m not the sort of person to phone up managers.

“My mindset is I was happy here and settled here, it’s 20 minutes down the road from where I live, it was a good dressing room so there was no reason for me to go down and chase something else.

“When you’re happy and confident in where you are I don’t think there’s any need for that.”