One of the Highland League's leading personalities is set to turn his back on the game at the age of 28. Former Buckie Thistle, Nairn County and now Lossiemouth goalkeeper Mike "The Goalie" Rae has decided to hang up his gloves as his personal commitments continue to take their toll on his ability to play the game on a regular basis.

Talking exclusively to www.highlandleague.net last night Rae explained that it was a decision that he had come to over the course of the post season.

"I made the decision last week, but I have been thinking about it from the moment the season ended up until then. When I was making my mind up it was very much the case that one day I wanted to do it, to give it another year but the next I was not sure so last week I made the decision and that is that.

"I cant really commit enough to the game as I would like due to work and family commitments and I felt that I would be letting myself down and letting Lossiemouth down too. Jim Walker has always been very honest and up front with me so I felt that I had to be honest and up front with him in return.

"It has nothing at all to do with Lossiemouth, my 6 months there have seen me get back the enjoyment that I used to get from football. The players, managers and the boys behind the scenes have been honest and have been great to work with. I have enjoyed the banter but I work on Monday night, Tuesday night and Wednesday night as well as Thursday and Friday mornings and Sundays. I also coach on a Saturday mornings so I have no time for myself and making training is difficult.

"I wish the lads at Lossie all the best and there is no doubt that I will miss playing but hopefully I will be getting a game at the Fans Tourney in a couple of weeks so I can showcase my skills as a central midfielder."

Rae started his career with Glasgow Rangers in the early 1990's having joined the Ibrox club at the age of 16. Whilst attending Dingwall Academy he helped the school to Scottish Cup success and was a member of the Scottish Schoolboy sides. Despite being a Aberdeen fan the move to Ibrox seemed to be the perfect stepping stone however looking back he revealed that he may well have ended up heading for Liverpool had a phone call from Anfield arrived 24 hours earlier.

"I signed for Rangers in Elgin, they were playing a friendly against Elgin and when I was down at the game my mum got a phone call from Liverpool but it was too late by then but if I could turn back the clock I would probably do that instead.

His spell at Ibrox saw him rub shoulders with some major names in football and he still sees his time there as a huge footballing lesson,

"I used to train every week with the first team because of injuries to other goalkeepers. Brian Luadrup and Paul Gascoigne were different class and you were immediately aware of how they could control the game and they had the touch that allowed them to make a fool of some of the Scottish guys.

"Laudrup hadobviously played all over Europe and there was nothing more he could learn about the game but he was a great servant to Rangers and to a lot of the young boys he was a great role model watch and learn.

"I was also lucky enough to work with Alan Hodgkinson, the best goalkeeping coach around and he single handedly took Scotland's goalkeeping reputation from gutter to being one of the best in Europe. It was all technique based exercises, everything he wanted the ball caught in everything and because you always attempted to catch the ball you found that you would catch more than you believed you could. His model of coaching is what the SFA use for their goalkeeping diploma and he has the ability to take anyone on leaps and bounds."

Having returned north and trained with both Inverness Caley Thistle and Ross County he was snapped up by Buckie Thistle where he ousted Martin Dunbar and was the first choice there for three seasons, which was to him one long highlight.

"Buckie was a fantastic experience, I was stuck in limbo at that point so I was glad to be back playing and to be honest the highlight would have be the whole time I was at Buckie. I had three of the best years I have had in football there. The team spirit was the best I have ever experienced and the players, the managers and the fans were all superb.

Mike Rae was one of nine players to leave Buckie following the departure of Alan Scott and Billy Anderson joining Nairn County before making the move to Grant Park earlier this year.