THAT PERENNIAL STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IS ACADEMICAL FOR RICE
IT has become something of a Scottish football tradition at this time of year to tip Hamilton to be relegated from the top flight at the end of the new season. Then ten months later those words are regurgitated by angry Accies players, cited as fuel for the latest great escape carried out by a team operating with one of the lowest budgets in the division. Predictions are, of course, a mug’s game. Nobody this time last year could have guessed that the season would be ended early due to a deadly global pandemic. Or that big-spending Hearts would have been bottom of the table at the time the season was called prematurely with eight games still left to play. However, despite the evidence of
Hamilton’s impressive ability to survive against all the odds, there does seem strong grounds for suggesting they could again find themselves in and around the drop zone this season. Another tough campaign lies ahead for Brian Rice’s side, who finished second bottom last season but were spared a relegation play-off place due to Covid-19. Rice has been limited in his summer recruitment, bringing in new faces in the form of Ross Callachan from St Johnstone,
Inverness Caley Thistle’s Charlie Trafford and Callum Smith, who was released by Dunfermline after scoring six times out on loan at Airdrie last season. And yesterday he added striker Tunde Owolabi from English non-league side FC United of Manchester. But Accies, like many, will be operating with a vastly reduced number of players and there will be a reliance on youth. Yet while many clubs will be forced to promote from within, Accies have a head start in that respect, given that is the way the club has long been run. An impressive commitment to producing stars stretches right back to future English Premier League players James McCarthy and James McArthur.
Last season, Lewis Smith and Jamie Hamilton were the latest kids to step up to the first team. Smith, in particular, already looks a pivotal player at the tender age of 20. And the fact Accies youngsters were crowned Reserve League champions in 2019-20 is evidence of fresh talent to call upon for the new campaign. One of the new kids on the block for next season include highly-rated 18-year-old winger Kyle Munro. ‘The academy here means everything to this club. We have got a good name for producing players and we hope to continue that,’ said Rice. ‘But it’s quite easy to throw a 17-year-old in and say: “Oh we played a 17-year-old”. ‘He has got to be good enough and prove to me that he can handle it.’ When Accies kick off the new campaign at the home of champions Celtic on Sunday, it will be a chance for them to assess life after Alex Gogic. The hugely-under-rated Cypriot is now a Hibs player and he will be a huge miss for Hamilton. As may striker George Oakley, who has joined Bulgarian side Pirin Blagoevgrad. Oakley was capable of a big goal for Accies, like his Marco van Basten-esque strike at Aberdeen in March 2019 that went a long way to the team’s survival that season. Rice will also have to cope at the start of the season with the absence of his two most experienced players in captain Brian Easton and winger David Templeton, who are both injured. But the optimistic Rice is hoping that setback is a chance for other players to step forward as Hamilton aim to keep their tradition going of beating the odds while confounding their critics. ‘We have got a new team and a new squad,’ said Rice. ‘It’s probably the youngest squad we have ever had but the situation with coronavirus has dictated that as we lost a lot of players. ‘The aim for the season? First and foremost it is to stay up. Obviously we want to try, if we can, to not be in a dogfight as we normally are.’