Hamilton assistant's impact assessed as manager hails 'student of the game' appointment

Hamilton head coach Stuart Taylor says assistant John Rankin's impact at New Douglas Park is hard to ignore.

The former Dundee United midfielder joined the Scottish Championship club at the start of December last year after time coaching in Hearts' academy.

Since his incoming, the New Douglas Park club have lost just three of their 16 games and have one eye on an outside push for the promotion play-off spots.

Taking on Ayr United this Friday after a 1-0 win over Queen of the South on Saturday, Taylor says his assistant's appointment was shrewd after Guillaume Beuzelin's departure as number two.

He said: "John has been really important for us. We bring people in here to make us better and John has been fantastic since he came in.

"I worked with him at Ross County and I knew then what type of person he was. He was just a younger kid at the time, but I knew he was a student of the game.

"He reminded me of myself in a number of ways. So when it came to filling that position, he was my first point. I knew he would be excellent when he came in.

"He has lots and lots of enthusiasm surrounding the game. He just loves being on the grass and we are delighted with him."

Rankin's appointment is all part of making alterations to make Hamilton a better club in the long-term.

Taylor arrived last August and has gradually made improvements which he hopes will be of benefit further down the line.

The 47-year-old added: "We have spoken about how we can be better as a football club and a lot of things have changed.

"There's a lot of things we have improved. I knew this wasn't going to be a quick fix. When I came in, a lot of staff members had left or handed in notices.

"It was a case of changing the culture and along the way, we've slowly