HE helped bring a cool £25million into his club by finding young stars.
So George Cairns was bemused when he didn’t even get an interview for the role of SFA academy chief.
George Cairns became synonymous with Hamilton’s successful youth policy[/caption]
Campbell Money left his role with the SFA – and tipped George Cairns to go for it[/caption]
But Hampden bigwigs looked elsewhere[/caption]
The 55-year-old was recommended for the Club Academy Scotland Programme Manager post — overseeing clubs’ academy systems — by the man who vacated it, Campbell Money.
But the SFA appointed David Sheldon to the post instead.
Now Cairns, whose time at Hamilton Accies saw future stars like Lewis Ferguson, James McArthur and James McCarthy graduate to international football, is moving to a job in mental health support.
He revealed: “I left Hamilton about six months ago, when the new board took over.
“I had been part of Ronnie MacDonald’s team and I felt loyal to them.
“Good luck to the new owner, Seref Zengin. He asked me a few times to stay, but I thought it was the right time to make a break.
“It was a tough decision because I’d been 19 years at Hamilton and it was seven days a week and 16-hour days.
“But over the years I estimated we helped bring in between £20m and £25m to the club.
“I have to admit I was a bit surprised I didn’t even get an interview for the SFA job when Campbell Money left.
“Campbell did a fantastic job and told me to apply. But the SFA went for someone else.
“It wasn’t just me. Bill Hendry at Dunfermline didn’t get an interview either. Between us we had 55 years on the academy side.
“At any academy, you’re judged on the players that come through and I think we did OK on that front.
“For Hamilton Accies to have produced a player, Lewis Ferguson, who’s not only playing in Serie A but has been voted the best midfielder in that division and captained his side to the Champions League for the first time, is a phenomenal feat.
“Immediately before I left, we moved on four players — Josh McDonald to Leeds, Cormac Daly to Nottingham Forest, Gabe Forsyth to Norwich City and Ryan One to Sheffield United.”
Cairns knows the stat showing that the Premiership’s top three clubs — Celtic, Aberdeen and Rangers — hadn’t given a single minute to a Scot under 21 this season is a damning one.
National team manager Steve Clarke admits clubs must find a way to give young players opportunities.
And Cairns said: “If they’re good enough, they should play.
Stats life
% of minutes given to Scottish under-21s in the league so far – 2024/25
- Aberdeen – 0%
- Celtic – 0%
- Dundee – 1%
- Dundee United – 3%
- Hearts – 2%
- Hibs – 2%
- Kilmarnock – 7%
- Motherwell – 18%
- Rangers – 0%
- Ross County – 4%
- St Johnstone – 3%
- St Mirren 1%
“At Hamilton, we played them in the Premiership. In 2017, the CIES Football Observatory did a survey of the top 100 clubs who had academy graduates playing first-team football.
“Hamilton were the only British club in it, ahead of Barcelona and Bayern Munich. That was an enormous vindication of what we did.
“But we could only do that because it was what Ronnie, Allan Maitland and Les Gray supported us in doing.”
Cairns is about to start working for counselling body Liber8 and launch his own company.
He said: “Can I help kids if they have problems? Can I educate the parents and tell them the pitfalls? It’s something I’ve always been interested in. Mental health is so important.”
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