It has been well-documented that Martin Canning assumed managerial duties at New Douglas Park in trying circumstances, and there was no greater handicap to the rookie boss than the loss of goal-scoring attacking midfielder Tony Andreu.
The Frenchman had notched twelve goals in just twenty-one games before a deadline day move to Norwich midway through last season, and ever since, the Accies’ faithful have been crying out for someone to come in and help ease the creative burden on Ali Crawford.
There is hope that with the signing of Gramoz Kurtaj from Czech side Banik Most, that they may well have got their man, but the 24-year-old is determined to do things his own way at Hamilton.
He said: "I watched some videos of Tony Andreu and I don't want to say that I am similar to him.
"I think I am a technical player like him and I want to get on the ball and shoot and score goals.
"Maybe I can be compared to Andreu but I am Gramoz Kurtaj and I want to do it and play the game my way.
"I am very glad and happy to be in Scotland.
"To come from the second division in the Czech Republic to the highest league in Scotland is a great opportunity for me.
"I was really impressed by the club and the people and the way they played football and I knew in this moment that I wanted to play here.
"This is a great chance for me and I will give 100 percent on the training field and in games.”
Kurtaj spent the formative part of his career playing in Germany for the likes of Hertha Berlin and Carl Zeiss Jena, and he admits to being pleasantly surprised by Hamilton’s approach to the game given the lowly reputation of Scottish football in mainland Europe.
On first impressions, he feels it is a reputation that is unjustified.
"I thought the standard of football in Scotland was long balls and kick-and-rush like in England many years ago,” he admitted.
"I have been pleasantly surprised by the standard and after the first training session I saw for myself that it was all pass, pass, pass and nice football.
"That is real football and it is the way I want to play.
"I know the big clubs in Scotland like Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen but not much more, but now I am here I will learn a lot more.
"My friend Tomas Cerny was here before and I saw the video of the game when Ali Crawford scored the winner against Celtic at Celtic Park.
"I watched lots of footage and I knew I wanted to come here.
"Every player dreams of scoring a winning goal against Celtic at Celtic Park and having such a moment.
"That is definitely something that I would love to do.”
Meanwhile, manager Martin Canning revealed he will be sticking to the principles that served Hamilton so well last season, as he looks forward to tomorrow’s curtain-raiser against Partick Thistle.
“I’m looking forward to getting going,” he said.
“Pre-season has been good, the team’s done well and we’re eager to start the season now.
“We’ve tweaked one or two wee things but not a lot. I think what we were doing was the right way to play and it’s the way I’d like us to go and play as well.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here