KELTY HEARTS skipper Tam O'Ware has revealed that he had interest in his services from elsewhere during the close season - but was committed to a club he has "a lot of gratitude" to.

The 31-year-old, who first joined the club three years ago, penned a contract extension in the summer to remain at New Central Park until the end of the current campaign.

Former Greenock Morton and Partick Thistle centre back O'Ware has played in each of Kelty's competitive matches so far this term, and has made 83 appearances for the club in total.

Last September, he sustained a serious ankle injury in a match with Queen of the South, departing in December to take up a coaching opportunity at Queen's Park.

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As well as working with the Spiders 'B' team, O'Ware had a short stint working with the first team, before he departed the Glasgow side in March after Callum Davidson took charge.

O'Ware, a League Two winner with the 'Maroon Machine' in 2022, then returned to Kelty for the remainder of last season, playing five times, before extending his stay to the end of the current campaign.

"What happened last year, I had an opportunity to go coaching full-time," he told Times Sport.

"Obviously the manager knows me well - we've been friends for a while - and it's something I couldn't say no to.

"I told him that I wanted to just wait a wee while over the summer. I gave him my word that I wasn't going to sign anywhere else so, in terms of joining another club, it was always going to be here.

"I had a few phone calls but, from my end, I never chased them up because I've got loyalties to the gaffer, and the club's been good to me.

"I think a lot of people forget it's the place I came and started playing football again after two years out with my back and my knee, so I'll always have a lot of gratitude to the club."