DON COWIE admits he agonised over the decision to hang up his boots – but insists it was time to give his battered body a rest.

The 37-year-old retired from professional football this week to become first-team coach in Ross County’s revamped management structure.

The former Scotland star will work with boss Stuart Kettlewell and assistant Richie Brittain, with Steven Ferguson becoming chief executive. And given Cowie’s recent injury issues and the ongoing uncertainty around the Covid-19 crisis, Cowie says the chance to coach in a Premiership environment was too good to turn down.

Cowie said: “It was a tough decision, I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

“The thought of not playing football, which I’ve done full-time for the best part of 20 years, was difficult to think about. But when I weighed everything up I just felt this was the right step.

“When you look at the way football is, the way the world is, and at my age, it was time.

“It’s a magnificent opportunity to continue my coaching career in a first-team environment and I feel very privileged to go straight from playing into this role. It was too good to turn down in that regard.”

He said: “I’ve probably maxed my body out in terms of putting it through the wringer and now I can give it a rest!”

Cowie can proudly reflect on a career which saw him win 10 Scotland caps, line up against Liverpool in the 2012 League Cup final and star in the English Premier League.

He turned out for County, Inverness, Watford, Cardiff, Wigan and Hearts, making 615 appearances north and south of the border.

Not bad for a player who, by his own admission, wasn’t even the best player in County’s youth side. Cowie said: “I probably overachieved but that was due to hard work.

“I never pretended I was a world-beater with amazing natural talent but I dedicated myself to the game, looked after myself and used the qualities I did have.

“That allowed me to achieve more than other people in my age group – probably more talented players than me.

“I said to myself from day one: ‘whether it’s training or a game, I’ll treat it the same every day’. When you’re not the most talented player in the team, you’ve got to do that.

“You need a little luck along the way but I’d like to think I helped myself earn that.

“To just become a professional footballer will be a career-high for me. It was unheard-of for a boy from my area, so to then go down to England was massive.

“Having that platform to play for Cardiff in a national cup final at Wembley against Liverpool, win 10 Scotland caps and play in the Premier League down there was a dream come true.”

Cowie also cherished wearing the armband for a portion of his two-and-a-half-year spell at Hearts and, more poignantly, when he returned to his first club, Ross County, in the summer of 2018.

It seems appropriate that his coaching adventure would begin in Dingwall, where his playing career began 19 years ago. He added: “Ross County means a lot to me, not just as a footballer but as a person. It’s where I used to watch football as a wee boy with my dad and brothers and it’s where I achieved my dream of being a professional football player.”