Hamilton boss John Rankin: Chance to thrive instead of watching Soccer Saturday brought Jamie Hamilton back

John Rankin says he is delighted Accies defender Jamie Hamilton will be back on the pitch instead of sitting at home watching Soccer Saturday every weekend.

The New Douglas Park head coach managed to convince the 20-year-old to put pen to paper on a new deal earlier this week, following protracted talks which started towards the end of last season when Stuart Taylor was still at the helm.

However, Hamilton has missed their entire pre-season campaign and it will still be a number of weeks before he is fit enough to pull on an Accies jersey again.

And Rankin has revealed the youngster decided to extend his stay at Accies after coming to his senses, following a summer on the sidelines and having to settle for Saturdays watching Jeff Stelling on Sky Sports.

He said: "I think it is quite important that Jamie is back on the football pitch on a Saturday rather than sitting in his living room watching Jeff and the boys.

"We want to get Jamie back doing what he does best, rather than watching results on a Saturday or watching the game from the sidelines.

"I think it is important that he's in his happy place and developing. He's not doing anything sitting in the house.

"And what we can provide for him is a platform for him to play, in an environment to make him hungry to kick on.

"Doing what he was doing wasn't improving him and he realised that.

"And he was quite quick to say to us I want to come back, I want to learn and improve.

"I'm delighted to have Jamie back and he will be a big part of what we are trying to do.

"Although he is young, he is very experienced in terms of the number of games he has played so it's now a case of adding the next part on to that.

"Look at what his weaknesses are and can we improve them so he