Hamilton Accies conveyor belt keeps rolling
The head of Hamilton Accies’ Academy reckons there has never been a better time to be a young footballer looking to bounce back after being cut by a big club.
After much wrangling, Celtic beat last Monday night’s transfer deadline when paying Kilmarnock £2.2 million for one-time Rangers’ reject, Greg Taylor.
That in a week when Andy Robertson, notoriously let go by the Hoops as a kid, skippered Scotland in their pursuit of a Euro 2020 place.
And, closer to home for Hamilton’s head of youth, George Cairns, one of the Lanarkshire club’s graduates, Lewis Ferguson, ran out for the Under-21s.
Ferguson, son of former Rangers midfielder, Derek, and the 20-year-old nephew of former Light Blues and Scotland captain, Barry, was released by the Glasgow giants, yet bounced back in dramatic style first with Hamilton, and now Aberdeen.
“Lewis’s rise might not be as wellknown as that of Andy, but it is a great story nevertheless,” said Cairns.
“Everybody knows who his dad and uncle are. That has been the case from the start for him and, as a result, there was maybe a bit of extra pressure on him.
“Rangers didn’t keep him on, it is true. But that is just someone’s opinion.
“When someone says you have failed or did something in life, I don’t look at it as being failure. I just look at it as being feedback.
“The important thing was that Lewis retained his belief that he was a good player.
“He also had the support of his dad, Derek, who was fantastic with him in terms of what happened next.
“Lewis came out of Rangers and into our set up.
“We held him back a year to try to develop him, he kicked on and – bump – before you knew it, he was in our reserve squad, then the first-team squad itself.
“There is being involved, and doing the things you need to do to stay involved. They are two different things.
“Lewis was able to step into that environment, and had no fear of it. He stayed in it, which is a great credit to him.”
Cairns has helped bring through a veritable procession of talent in his 13 years at Accies, including the likes James McArthur, James McCarthy, Michael Devlin and Greg Docherty.
They are proof that you don’t have to start with the Old Firm to have any chance of succeeding in the game.
Cairns continued: “I always tell my kids that with your Rangers, your Celtics and your Aberdeens, they all have a lot of talented kids, and they have a lot of big calls to make again and again.
“But they are not the only places to achieve your goals.
“I like to think if you approached anyone locally, and asked: ‘What are your thoughts on Hamilton Accies’ youth academy?’, nine times out 10 they would say: ‘Great. It gets kids through to the first team’.
“We create a pathway to the first-team. That is the job of the Academies.
“Kids have got to be able to believe that if they are good enough, and get through the system, they will play in the first-team.
“Here, we have a board who really buy into that.
“Colin McGowan, Ronnie MacDonald, and Allan Maitland, these guys believe in the philosophy on trying to bring kids through – and work really hard at it as well.
“Lewis Ferguson is one product of that effort. Lewis Smith – a young player in our first-team now who has the world at his feet – is another.
“Then you have the likes of Jamie Hamilton, George Stanger and Andy Winter.
“There really are so many talented kids in this country. We just need to bring them through.”