Haveron keen to stay with Gers

The former Ballymena United man joined the Taylor’s Avenue club last summer and despite a largely frustrating campaign, littered with postponements and injuries to key players in the squad, Haveron says he wouldn’t have swapped the amber shirt for any other.

The 32-year-old, who has been used at centre-back and in a holding midfield role this year, says family and work commitments permitting, he would love another crack at helping Carrick win promotion.

“I’m at that age when I’m basically waiting to hear what the manager has to say,” Haveron told the Times. “I certainly feel I have contributed a lot this year. I have only missed four games and three of those were through suspension. The manager has picked me and he has played me and, despite having a few niggles here and there, I have remained injury-free.

“I think I will sit down with the people I need to talk... but certainly if everything weighs up off the pitch and if Michael is keen to keep me, then I don’t see me playing anywhere else. Really, if I don’t play for Carrick or Larne Tech Old Boys, I’ll not play for anyone; it will be one of those situations.

“I will have to sit down with the people who would advise me, and I’ll have to talk to the manager to see if he wants me to stay.

“All in, I wouldn’t have wanted to play for another club this year, regardless of promotion or not. It’s been fantastic playing for Michael; I’ve learned so much from his experience and everything that he brings to it.”

Haveron believes that if Hughes can hold on to the majority of the squad and make a few quality additions, Carrick will be more than capable of going all the way in the 2013-14 season.

“It’s been and extremely frustrating season because there is no doubt we now have the squad capable of winning the league. If you take our form since Christmas: in our last 10 league games we have kept eight clean sheets, with one defeat and one draw in that time. It’s just a pity that we had that big blip in the middle of the season when we just didn’t pick up enough points and we didn’t scrap enough to really grind out results.

“I know the table doesn’t lie, but certainly if we had this team at the start of the year, I think things would have been a lot different.

“Also, you can’t legislate for the amount of injuries we’ve had; it’s been ridiculous. At times we really have been stretched right to the limit.

“Some of the younger boys will have learned a lot from this season. We played quite a few games away from Taylor’s Avenue at the start of the season. If you look at our form at Taylor’s since the turn of the year, I don’t think we have lost a game there.

“There are lots of positives going into next season. The big issue Michael has on his hands is to make sure he holds on to the lion’s share of the squad that he wants to keep.”