A former north football star caught with heroin hidden in his underpants has admitted he fears his career could be in ruins.
Adam Strachan, an ex-Ross County, Partick Thistle and Clydebank player, revealed yesterday he was concerned that delivering the drug for £50 to a friend’s flat could prevent him from returning to the football pitch.
The 27-year-old was caught by police when he went to a friend’s flat as officers were searching it.
He was searched, and officers found a 28g bag of heroin, worth £2,000, in his boxer shorts.
Yesterday Strachan – who committed the offence just weeks after he had an electronic tag removed following a previous conviction for carrying knives – vowed to get back on the straight and narrow.
He feared he would be jailed after admitting being in possession of the Class A drug last week, but was instead put under supervision and told to do 240 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order.
He said yesterday: “I’m just relieved to get a chance to redeem my stupid actions. I genuinely thought I was going to be handed a custodial sentence, but now this is a chance for me to put things right.”
He added that he was pinning his hopes on his young daughter to help him turn his life around and now wants to become a social worker while he gets his football career back on track.
Strachan insisted he does not use drugs and said he had agreed to drop off the heroin at friend Steven Dunn’s flat in Maryhill, Glasgow, last March because he was desperate for money. He said he expected to get “about £50” for transporting the drug.
The former midfielder said: “It could ruin my career – if I’ve even got a career to ruin now.”
His co-accused, Dunn, is due to be sentenced next month after admitting being concerned in the supply of the drug.
Strachan was released by Clydebank following his last conviction in December 2012, but claimed several big clubs were interested in him.
In 2009, the footballer vowed to turn his life around after assaulting his girlfriend while playing for County and living in Inverness.
He butted his girlfriend Laura McDermott, 20, during a row and was ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work.