Hamilton boss John Rankin: Chairman stressing transfer patience but a signing by Saturday would be ideal

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Hamilton boss John Rankin revealed chairman Allan Maitland has stressed the club may have to wait until the last knockings of the window to bring players in.

Yesterday the club chief branded Hamilton's current form in the Scottish Championship "dreadful" in an interview with Lanarkshire Live Sport , but admitted the Accies manager had been "handicapped" by a host of injuries this season.

The duo are determined to turn Hamilton's fortunes around after a run of seven straight defeats and just two wins in 20 league outings this term.They took a step towards that by shoring up their defence and midfield with six-month loan deals for Dylan McGowan from Kilmarnock and Tom Sparrow from Stoke City last week.But Rankin admits his boss has warned they may need to wait until closer to the window slamming shut at midnight on January 31 to bolster further.Asked about the chairman's comments, Rankin said: "Allan has been very supportive.

He has identified what we are trying to change and he has been very proactive with it."He knows himself that we need to help the players on the pitch so it is a case of how quickly we can get it done."What he has stressed is that January is a long month."We are only in the middle of it - and it has felt like two months - so we are still trying to work as many targets as we can and get them over the line."We will continue to do so but it will be a case of being patient, and not getting too agitated about getting someone in right now."January is a tough month trying to get bodies in so I have been in constant conversation with Allan over the last six weeks."We needed to have lots of targets because trying to get your first one is not always the option [that works]."Last week we worked really hard to