Accies will not buckle in effort to help locals

HAMILTON chief executive Colin McGowan can handle football being shelved. What really hurts in the current crisis is seeing the club being unable to fill its role of helping the wider community.

McGowan has made that his mission ever since joining Accies in 2003. And it has led to a myriad of projects being based at the Fountain of Youth Stadium.

A focus on recovery from addiction to drugs and alcohol has always been central. McGowan has personal experience of both. Clean and sober for the past 36 years, helping others travel the same path is a constant source of motivation.

Some of those meetings are still taking place. For now at least. No one is quite certain what the next restricted measures will be in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Hamilton’s community work extends wider than addiction, though. They have helped charities for children and soldiers, offered spaces for people with disabilities and even created a shed where elderly locals can get together, keep busy and alleviate loneliness.

Many of these schemes have been impacted as society is reshaped by the health emergency. The financial devastation coronavirus is wreaking adds another layer of uncertainty, but McGowan is adamant Accies will not lose sight of their purpose at the other end.

‘The recovery meetings are still taking place,’ the 64-year-old told Sportsmail. ‘We have extra sanitation and different things in and people are asked to socially distance.

‘We have had to close a number of others, one with some of the disabled people who come up to a café on a Thursday. Others have been impacted by measures at the venues where we take people, including for the children’s charity Blameless (which helps families dealing with addiction issues).

‘The mens’ shed has been suspended for a couple of weeks. But they contacted me first to say they wanted to do that in the interests of their members, because they are all of a similar age to me.

‘There have been massive changes. Plus this virus has started to come closer to home, with people we know feeling affected by it.

‘It’s very difficult to keep these programmes going in the circumstances. It’s heartbreaking, really, because a lot of people are dependent on it. But we have to balance that with the protection of our staff and other people. ‘It will grow again. It will.’ Hamilton chairman Allan Maitland held a meeting of players and staff on Tuesday morning at which it was decided to suspend all training until further notice.

Next steps are awaited. The SFA last night confirmed £1.5million of emergency payments from Club Licensing and Club Academy Scotland to help alleviate some of the financial strain being felt within football.

McGowan believes everyone attached to the game has to play their part in coping with a situation that has no defined end in sight.

‘It is going to be very difficult, very difficult indeed,’ he said. ‘We need to rely and depend on our governing bodies.

‘Every single player and person here will be paid every single penny this month. There is no reason to believe they won’t get every penny next month, as long as the sponsors and others meet what they perceive to be their contractual demands.

‘It won’t be without difficulties. But you look at what past generations had to go through, now we are getting a wee taste of that.’

Hamilton are no strangers to strife. In October 2017, the club was targeted by a sophisticated bank fraud that cost £1m. Coping with that bred resilience, but this is something different.

‘When thieves stole a million pounds, no one died,’ added McGowan. ‘It’s all right for everyone to have a bit of fear just now. I think we will be dependent on a joint-effort, in and out of football.’