Herron ‘let myself down’ with ‘biggest mistake’

New Ballymena United signing John Herron has said that he “let myself and a lot of other people down” when he was pictured at a concert wearing a T-shirt with a pro-IRA slogan while a player with Larne.

Herron had his contract with the Inver Park club “terminated by mutual agreement” in August 2022 after images of him wearing the t-shirt appeared on social media.

The Scottish midfielder was handed a 10-game suspension by the Irish Football Association [IFA] for bringing the game into disrepute and will now serve that ban, ruling him out of the start of the season with Ballymena.

The 30-year-old, who began his professional career with Celtic, also played for Glentoran in the Irish Premiership.

“I think anyone who knows me knows I wasn’t that type of character, I’m not that type of person, that’s not me at all,” Herron told Ballymena United’s in-house media channel.

“I’ve made mistakes. I held my hands up, I said I was sorry.

“I’m still sorry, it’s probably the biggest mistake I’ve made because not only did I let myself down and my family, but other people close to me, people who gave me a lot of things and put me in the right direction.”

‘I’ve matured more as a person’

Herron made 44 appearances for Larne during a three-year spell at the club and left the east Antrim outfit before they went on to win successive league titles in 2023 and 2024.

“I know when I left that we were within one or two signings of winning the league and doing some serious damage, I knew we were onto something really special,” he continued.

“The way it ended was very upsetting for myself and obviously the club because the club put a lot into me and invested a lot into me and I believe when I was there I invested a lot into the club as well and helped them to win trophies and get into Europe.

“I think now looking back I’ve matured more as a person. I stepped away from football, which I had to do for the first time in my life.”

Herron explains that the nature of his sudden departure from Larne left “a sour taste in my mouth because of the situation”.

“I lost potential league medals but I lost a lot of friends as well through silly, stupid actions.

“Looking back on my whole Northern Irish experience, in my opinion it’s a little bit of a letdown obviously because of what happened in the end. I let myself down, I let a lot of people down.

“It impacted negatively on my career as well because people now look at me as if I’m a certain type of person.”

‘There’s a stigma on me’

Herron most recently turned out for Gibraltar side Manchester 1962 but is now hoping to make a new start at Ballymena after signing a one-year contract.

“Whatever I’ve done in my career up to that point it’s obviously got a negative effect because there’s a label on me and a stigma towards me.

“I’m big enough to accept that, I’ve held my hands up.

“For now I’m trying my hardest to put those things aside. People make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes.

“It’s about getting that next opportunity and I’m just so fortunate to Jim [Ervin, Ballymena manager] for giving me that opportunity to show I have unfinished business here and I’m not the sort of person people maybe think that I am.”