Alloa new boy Burton O’Brien revealed that the draw of remaining in the SPFL Championship along with the chance to cut his teeth in coaching were the main reasons for his move to the Indodrill Stadium this summer.

The experienced midfielder admits he was impressed by new boss Danny Lennon’s plans for the club this season and he hopes to play a big part both on and off the field for the Wasps.

The former Livingston star is making the switch to part-time football for the first time, but he is hopeful it can help him to extend his illustrious playing career even longer.

O’Brien told Advertiser sport: “This is a fresh start for me after leaving Livingston and I had a lot of thinking to do over the summer in terms of my next move, but as soon as I spoke to the manager about his plans here for the team then I was really pleased to sign. I think one of the main draws as well to come to the club was the kind offer from the manager to cut my teeth on the coaching side of things.

“I had a number of full-time offers, but ideally I wanted to remain in the SPFL Championship on the playing side and also to get involved with my coaching badges in September so that aspect was a huge pull for me. I have spoken to a lot of people about going part-time and the general consensus seems to be that it will be a benefit to me. I am one of these guys who wants to play for as long as I can because I love playing and being part of the dressing room.

“I played a lot of games last season and missed very few games so hopefully I can continue that. I think maybe the switch to part-time can aid me with that in terms of more recovery time. I just cannot wait for the first game to come around now.” The Wasps squad is beginning to come together with the expected arrival of Forfar star Omar Kader in the coming week and despite being labelled as the relegation favourites, O’Brien says the club will have much loftier ambitions once the full squad is in place.

He said: “I think this season will be a huge task for us with only two part-time teams in the league. There is no doubt about that, but we certainly don’t intend to be involved in the relegation battle.

“We will be ambitious going into the season, but we certainly won’t get ahead of ourselves and obviously going through that with Livingston last season, I certainly don’t want to be involved down there again this time around.

“In terms of the squad, we are slowly but surely coming together. We have a lot of younger players, and we have some real quality already here, but I am sure the manager will be looking to get deals done in the coming weeks.” The 34-year-old believes the club must look to blood as many young players as they can in the coming season, but he believes it will be the spine of experienced players throughout the squad that will be important to help them achieve it.

O’Brien added: “I think for the way Scottish football is going at the moment, it is imperative that we get as many young players through the system as we can, but it is equally important to have that spine of experience throughout the team and I feel we have that with Andy [McNeil] in goal, Dougie [Hill] at the back as well as myself and Graeme Holmes in midfield.

“The manager may look to add one or two more as well, but that experience is vital for the team, not only on the pitch, but in the dressing room as well to guide the younger players through the tougher games and moments.”