ALL roads lead to New Douglas Park this lunchtime for Hamilton Accies' Ladbrokes Premiership meeting with Celtic but Jesus Garcia Tena for one has learned that it is prudent to go early. The Spaniard left his home in Edinburgh a fortnight ago at his usual departure time of noon, only to find himself severely delayed amid gridlock on roadworks at a stretch of the M8 between Shotts and Newhouse. Consequently, he turned up at the ground just 20 minutes before kick-off and found himself relegated to the bench. As it was, Hamilton won that match against their Lanarkshire rivals 1-0 and now Scottish football waits and wonders if the Accies can repeat last year's heroics against Celtic, almost exactly a year on from their shock single-goal victory at Parkhead.
“I left Edinburgh at 12 o’clock to be here and I am usually the first one here," said Tena. "I am normally ten past, quarter past one. It takes maybe like an hour to arrive here. And that took me three hours. I was stopped at an exit six miles from here and did one mile in 45 minutes. The gaffer said to me 'try to arrive but if you can’t you’ll need to go on the bench'. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t press a button and change my car into a plane! This weekend I may need to stay overnight here!"
Much has changed in the year since Ali Crawford's 49th minute goal gave Alex Neil's Hamilton their first win in the East End of Glasgow since 1939, going top of the league in the process, but much has also stayed the same. After a difficult transition to head coach duties, Martin Canning now has his feet under the table, while the Parkhead side once again face a Sunday fixture shortly after a Europa League encounter. Last year, it was a 1-0 win against Dinamo Zagreb, this year it is Thursday night's home encounter with Fenerhahce. Tena, originally brought to Scottish football with Livingston alongside Tony Andreu by Celtic assistant manager John Collins, helped marshall the Lanarkshire side's defence that day and he doesn't see why the Accies can't do it all over again.
“I started that game at Celtic Park and those are great memories," said Tena. "We worked so hard, pressed them so hard and I don’t think they expected it, as Scott Brown said after the game. You don’t need to be scared of going up against Celtic. But you need to work really hard and hope it’s one of those days everything goes perfect. That’s what happened last year and we will try that again."
After nine months in post, Canning finally feels he is getting to grips with the dynamics of football management. While the board deserve credit for their patience as he went fully the first three of them without winning a match, he feels he has established an invisible line between himself and the dressing room. While he still participates in training and plays in Under-20 matches, for the moment the defender can't envisage returning to first-team action.
"I definitely have [crossed the divide]," said Canning. "They are still my mates, good boys and they do their jobs but I have crossed that invisible line now."
Thankfully, he can rely on the likes of veteran pros Dougie Imrie and Chris Turner to help police the dressing room, enforcing a series of fines and forfeits. "To be honest the boys manage their own changing room," he said. "They are a good bunch and they have their own fines list. It is Dougie and Chris Turner this year, last year it was Michael Devlin and Grant Gillespie. It is just the general stuff but big Christian [Nade] was complaining this morning because he feels Dougie is robbing him blind!
"As for nights out, the boys go and do their own thing," he added. "I don't get an invite! No, if we are doing something as a club then we will go and spend time together but if we are doing things apart they will get their own time. You need that, so the players can relax and be themselves - say what they want to say and do what they want to do. When the manager is kicking about it is never the same. That is speaking from experience!"
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