Hamilton Accies must stay full-time if relegated, says owner ahead of fundraising meeting to help with '£2m costs'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Hamilton Academical owner Colin McGowan says the community needs to come together to protect the club should they suffer relegation from the Scottish Championship on Friday night.And the New Douglas Park outfit will host a fundraising meeting tomorrow afternoon to help garner financial backing for the £2million required to operate next season.Bottom of the table Accies face a do-or-die clash at Arbroath on Friday, where they can avoid automatic relegation if they pick up a win or a draw, as long as ninth-place Cove Rangers don’t take anything from their game with Morton.That would see them finish in the relegation play-off spot and there is even a scenario where Accies could avoid danger altogether with an unlikely 7-0 win over Arbroath, coupled with Cove failing to win, putting them in eighth on goals scored.With a second relegation in three seasons a very real prospect for Accies, McGowan, who is also the commercial director, says the club are determined to remain full-time and keep its highly-regarded youth academy afloat, should that be their fate.But he says that will only be possible if valued sponsors and community groups continue to back them.

He told Lanarkshire Live Sport : “Hamilton Accies, going forward, need as much support as they can get. “This club can’t go part-time and everybody needs to get behind the club to ensure that doesn’t happen.“An elite youth academy needs people in full-time positions.

There’s exactly 200 people attached to the youth academy, so it is a big beast to feed.“And the youth academy alone needs well over £300,000 each season, but the fact we are still here tells you we are meeting that.“We must protect full-time football to protect the youth academy and that’s why every single