Hamilton Accies may fly 16-year-old starlet over from Northern Ireland for Montrose opener amid squad struggles

Daily Record

6 days ago

A transfer embargo has hit Hamilton hard and boss John Rankin admits he is in a quadary with Accies U17s going well at the SuperCupNI
Hamilton Accies boss John Rankin admits the club may have to fly 16-year-old midfielder Josh Carson back from Northern Ireland in time to face Montrose in Saturday's League One opener because their squad is so stretched.
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Having been hit with a transfer embargo last week, Accies are unable to strengthen their squad unless they bring in under-19 players or amateurs and that has left them with just 19 players to choose from.
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However, midfielder Barry Maguire and Kyle MacDonald are set to miss the clash through injury and Rankin is considering flying academy talent Carson back to Scotland for Saturday's clash at Broadwood.
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Carson - who made his Accies debut in last week's Premier Sports Cup defeat to Dumbarton - is currently overseas with Accies' under-17 in the SuperCupNI, and the team features in the semi-finals tonight against Southampton.
Victory there could see Accies face Manchester United tomorrow in the final and that has left Rankin in a quandary.
He told Lanarkshire Live Sport: "Right now, Josh is playing for the under-17s in the Super Cup over in Northern Ireland and the boys are in the semi-final tonight.
"For me, I need to wait and see how the boys get on before maybe having to fly him back on Friday night or Saturday morning for the game at the weekend.
"But, at the same time, these experiences may stand him in good stead later on in the season or his career.
"We need him to experience as much high quality football as he can. The boys could play Man Utd in the final tomorrow if they get through, so I need to consider what is best for him.
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"That's the situation we find ourselves in just now when we are relying on our young players.
"But our senior pros also need to stand up and shoulder the responsibility to let the young kids go and learn for their careers."
Carson played alongside fellow 16-year-old debutant Aaron Eadie against Dumbarton and Rankin revealed he waited until the last possible moment to tell them the news.
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He added: "Over the course of my coaching career, I have never sat young players down and built it up for them.
"For instance, at the weekend there we knew Josh Carson was going to play, but if we'd told him on the Friday, he probably wouldn't have slept.
"We never told him until Saturday that he was going to play.
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"We did the same thing when Ryan One was here. Sometimes if you give kids too much time to think about it, they spend too much time worrying about the opportunity and lose focus on what is in front of them.
"So the most important thing is to let them go and enjoy their football.
"We are talking about Josh and Aaron Eadie as two 16-year-olds and there are not many players their age ready to go and play men's first team football.
"But what this does for them is give them an idea of where they are and what they need to improve on."