COLLAR FITS FOR ACCIES
Hamilton snap-up ex-brighton & Hove Albion player
Hamilton Accies this week announced the signing of defensive midfielder Will Collar.
The 22-year-old joins after 12 years at Brighton & Hove Albion, coming through the Seagulls’ youth system before making his first-team debut in August 2018.
Accies coach Brian Rice was delighted to be able to bring the player up north and said: “I’ve seen a fair bit of Will in my travels during the year. I’ve been impressed with what I saw.”
Collar became Rice’s sixth new signing of the pre-season following on from the arrival of Welshman Owain Fôn Williams from Inverness Caledonian Thistle as well as Blair Alston, Ciaran Mckenna, the return of Brian Easton and Norwegian Markus Fjortoft all agreeing terms.
Meanwhile, Accies this week handed four youth players the chance to step up to professional football from their youth academy. Ciaran Mcandrew, Jack Garrad, Liam Harris and Marley Redfern are all part of the 2019/20 development squad at the Scottish Premiership outfit.
They follow in the footsteps of current first-team players such as Scott Mcmann, Shaun Want and Lewis Smith, who have all graduated from the academy set-up and performed well for the first-team.
Academy director George Cairns said: “I’m delighted to see the boys earn the opportunity to come in full-time and develop themselves into professional football players.
“They have all worked extremely hard to get to where they are and now must prove they’re good enough to play for Hamilton.
“I would like to thank the board of directors and Brian Rice for showing faith in my judgement in these four players.”
Elsewhere, the Scottish Football Association last week published the league fixtures for the season ahead with Accies heading to Dingwall on opening day, Saturday, August 3, to face winners of the Championship, Ross County.
The club will then host Kilmarnock on Saturday, August 10, before turning their attention to Lanarkshire rivals Motherwell on Saturday, August 24.
Next up is Hearts at Tynecastle before the arrival of champions Celtic on Saturday, September 14.
Prior to league action starting, Accies will host Stirling Albion in a pre-season friendly on Monday, July 8 with a 7.45pm kick off at the Fountain of Youth Stadium.