Management must learn from mistakes But chairman Les Gray backs them to get it right
Les Gray has backed Hamilton’s management team to get it right next season – but warned they must learn from their mistakes.
The New Douglas Park chairman says there were errors and bad decisions during a rollercoaster season for Accies but said, overall, he’s pleased that they stayed in the SPFL Premiership with two games to spare.
To say there were ups and downs during the campaign would be something of an under-statement, with an embarrassing Scottish Cup exit at the hands of Annan Athletic and heavy defeats against Celtic and Aberdeen.
However, Hamilton also took a point from each of the league’s top three of Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts and achieved some impressive results on their way to achieving safety with a bit to spare.
Gray says he’s not blindly backing Martin Canning and his management team of Guillaume Beuzelin and Bryan Potter but has faith in their ability to achieve a record result for the club.
Hamilton’s previous best top-flight stay is three seasons and Gray hopes they can better that at the end of the forthcoming campaign.
He said: “You can never predict what is going to happen in a season.
“Our objective is to stay in this league for the longest period we’ve ever managed – we’re looking to avoid the bottom two.
“If we achieve that we can then start to look towards the top six but you never know what is going to happen.
“We were sitting fifth at one stage last season and then went on a bad run but ultimately got out of the league.
“We want to do well while playing attractive, attacking football and using our young players to the best of our advantage – the management team knows that.
“I think our objective last season was always to stay in the league. We started well then hit a dip but we it and stayed in finished reasonably strongly. There’s an element that it’s still a work in progress, but overall I’m pleased that we stayed in the league.
“And I think our management team have learned a lot from last season.
“For the management team it was their first full season and they know exactly what is in front of them next season.
“When Alex Neil moved on to Norwich it took some time for them to adapt but they did that fantastically well to stay in the league.
“This season our home form could have been better and there were some bad decisions but it was a tough league.
“It’s important for them to learn from that and they will be better placed next season.”