Hamilton Accies return to Championship in better place than when we left it, says John Rankin

dailyrecord.co.uk:

John Rankin insists he will be leading Hamilton Accies into the Championship next season on much stronger footing than their previous campaign in the second tier two years ago.The New Douglas Park gaffer is celebrating after guiding the club to an immediate return to the division, with Saturday's 5-3 aggregate win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle atoning for the penalty shootout pain in last season's play-off final that saw them relegated by Lanarkshire rivals Airdrie.Rankin took the reins in June 2022 after Stuart Taylor's protracted exit from the hot-seat at the end of the 2021/22 campaign saw him appointed just a few weeks before the start of that season.

Ultimately, it left Accies playing catch-up and they never really competed as they just avoided automatic relegation by goal difference from Cove Rangers.However, Rankin believes that with a squad full of his own players and a new owner in Seref Zengin at the helm since that disaster, Accies approach next season in fine fettle.Rankin, whose side will be up against the likes of Falkirk, Livingston, Airdrie and Partick Thistle next term, said: "We are going back to the Championship in a better place than we left it.

And what I would also say is the players that are here now are our players. We built this squad. We can add to it, we can tweak it."Whereas the last time we were in the Championship, I didn't know I was getting the job until two weeks into pre-season and the players who were at my disposal at that time weren't my players.

We were trying to find our feet as we went."A lot has changed on and off the pitch now. This time, we know what we are good at and what we need to improve on and I know from speaking to Seref that we want to go up there and compete next