Rangers and Celtic are our rivals but Hamilton Accies kids have won two titles, so we are doing well, say Academy coaches

George Cairns and Shaun Fagan hope to keep inspiring the next generation of young talent at Hamilton Accies, despite seemingly being up against pretty big odds.

The New Douglas Park club has the smallest budget of all the ‘elite’ clubs in Scotland, and have to battle against parents wanting to send kids to ‘bigger’ clubs like Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell.

That the under-18s have won the elite league twice in five years, earning UEFA Youth League participation, suggests they’re doing well, and Academy director Cairns says seeing former youth players scattered across the country shows Accies are on the right path.

Cairns said: “If you take into account our budget, it’s probably the lowest in the elite system, so we do reasonably well with what we do, and we’ve won two national titles in five years.

“We’re pitting our wits against Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, but we’ve won two national titles at under-18 level, and nobody can take that away from the kids.

“They’re the best in the country at under-18 level. They’ve competed with the best players in the country, so they will always have the prestige of that.

“They’ve played in Europe, that’s the highest level of competition they can play in, so hats off to the kids.

“But budget-wise, we’re the underdogs.

“You try to use this to inspire kids. It’s there if they want it. Football is a cruel sport, you either make it or you don’t, but what we do is try to give our kids the best opportunity.

“Not every kid will make it, not everybody will like what we do, but all we can try and do is make that enjoyable.”

Cairns added: “It’s a success story in its own right. Our job is to develop young kids in Scotland, which I think we do really well.

“I want to sit down with