It was my twins’ birthday but I told them to leave me alone
HOURS after t he humiliation of losing eight goals to Celtic, Martin Canning lay sleepless. Haunted by the worst night of his Hamilton managerial career. Silver linings were hard to find, until a timely intervention in the midnight hour.
‘I lost my watch for a few weeks and couldn’t find it anywhere. But at 12 o’clock on Tuesday night I heard it beeping,’ he said. ‘Normally by that time I’m sound asleep.
‘Turns out my wife had hidden it under the bed because it always goes off at that time and keeps her awake, so at least by not sleeping I managed to find my watch.’
The black humour did nothing to ease doubts and insecurities over his job following a night of wretched, amateurish defending. The sleep — when it came — was short-lived.
‘ It was my kids’ birthday on Wednesday and i t’s my wife’s birthday today, it’s been a busy week for me,’ said Canning.
‘My twin boys Zach and Finn ran into my room yesterday shouting: “Daddy, we’re four…” But I just pulled my covers over my head, saying: “I don’t care if you’re four, leave me alone...”
‘It can be very unfair on your family. It really affects your life and it hurts so much when you get a bad result because you put so much into it and the whole club hurts.
‘We hurt, the fans hurt, I’m sure the board hurts — everybody hurts.
‘It’s difficult when your kids come in the next morning happy to be four and you’re telling them to go away and give you peace.’
Perspective was as hard to find as the party spirit. Accies have failed to win any of their last eight games since November 28, crashed out of the Scottish Cup to Annan and are now above the 11th- place relegation play-off spot in the Premiership on goal difference.
Canning has been through heartache before, having once received a red card in a 7-0 defeat to Rangers, but admitted: ‘As a manager, it’s a lot more difficult. Defeats hurt a lot more than they do as a player.
‘Wins don’t mean as much, either. When you’re a player and you win a game, you think you’re the best player in the world but as a manager, you’re thinking: “Thank God”. It’s a completely different mind-set.’
Hamilton chairman Les Gray i ssued a public statement of support for Canning on Wednesday. The gesture is a renowned death knell for managers, but Canning appreciated the sentiment.
‘They were getting a lot of phone calls about it, so instead of answering each individually and just saying the same thing, they decided to put a statement out,’ he said.
‘The club have been great in terms of backing me and I’ll continue to work as hard as I can to make sure we turn it around.
‘Up until five or six weeks ago, we were sitting fifth in the league and everybody was saying Hamilton are doing great.
‘Football can change so quickly, and now people are asking if I’m getting sacked. It’s only natural to think: “What can I do better here?” or “Where do we go from here?”.’
When the birthday celebrations — such as they were — ended, Canning lifted the phone to his best friend Alex Neil, former Hamilton pal and now boss at Norwich City.
‘If I need to be picked up or a bit of advice, then Alex is always there.
‘Other managers phone and text you as well offering advice, so I take it on board but I’m my own man and I’ll do what I think is right,’ he said. ‘ We just had one of those nights where nothing went for us a nd Celt i c had o ne where everything went for them.
‘Don’t get me wrong, though. The performance, especially defensively, was wholly unacceptable.’