 Broadfoot was brought up in the Ayrshire village of Drongan.He played at boys club level for Coyle Thistle, Ayr Valspar, Auchinleck Talbot and Queen of the South.Broadfoot initially signed for Scottish Premier League side Hibernian as a sixteen-year-old apprentice, but he was released and signed for St Mirren on 1 July 2002.