Kerr McInroy admits he’s determined to turn his career into a success story – rather than a ‘what if’ one.
The midfielder was given a taste of first-team football at Celtic under Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon and he was on the cusp of breaking into the squad at just 18.
But a cruciate ligament injury as he was aiming to get into the team sidelined him for nearly a year – and then Covid struck as he recovered from the lay-off.
But rather than feel sorry for himself, the 21-year-old is desperate to bounce back from the disappointment.
He got minutes under his belt with loan spells at Dunfermline Athletic, Airdrieonians and Ayr United.
But now he’s no longer interested in temporary deals, he wants to find a permanent home – and he’s hoping Kilmarnock proves to be that after penning a two-year deal at Rugby Park.
He said: “When I was 18 I injured my cruciate and was out for nearly a year.
“I played a few pre-season games with Celtic’s first team and made the bench a couple of times, but then the injury happened which set me back for 10 months.
“It was in a reserve game, I bashed it and played on, but five minutes later it just went on me and I instantly knew it was something bad.
“Ideally it wouldn’t have happened at all, but if that’s going to be my only injury then I’d rather it was out of the way early.
“I still have plenty of time to get the body into the swing of things, my rehab was good.
“Then Covid happened, and things just didn’t work out for me, it was tough being so young and dealing with that.
“Some boys might start feeling sorry for themselves, but it is what it is, I came back and they didn’t see me in the plans.
“I wasn’t bothered to be honest, I just wanted to play games.
“I did pre-season with Brendan Rodgers and then went away with Neil Lennon too.
“It was good to learn from both of them, and I also did last season with the new manager, too (Ange Postecoglou).
“Brendan was really good with me, I learnt a lot from him and it was a good learning curve.
“It opened my eyes to the level I was playing at, being beside the likes of Scott Brown, Callum McGregor and Stuart Armstrong.
“They were good to learn from every day, it was good for me.”
He added: “My view was I had enough of the loans, I wanted to get settled and play football, and Celtic helped me with that by letting me go.
“I have done the loans, it’s good playing games but you need to be in somewhere and playing.
“It’s good to get settled somewhere, and it’s somewhere I’ll be for at least a couple of years, it’ll be good for me.
“It was kind of out of my hands a wee bit, but it’s definitely what I wanted, I wanted to get away and build my own reputation rather than, ‘he’s a loan player from Celtic’. I wanted to be a Killie player.”
McInroy admits it felt good that a manager with the calibre of Derek McInnes pinpointed him.
He said: “It felt good knowing he wanted to sign me.
“I met him for a coffee, as soon as I met him I had a good feeling, and I think he was the same with me.
“I was keen to come and get it signed, I want to work with him.
“It was a big draw looking at the players he’s worked with and what level he got them to.”
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