Parratt ready for return to SPL

May 8 2008 By Andy McGilvray

TOM Parratt can’t wait to get cracking in the SPL — and prove to himself he can cut it at the highest level.

The Scots-born defender, who was raised in Iowa, USA, spent an unhappy year in the top flight with Inverness Caledonian Thistle, but failed to make a league appearance and negotiated his release before arriving at New Douglas Park in 2006.

That experience has left the 26-year-old desperate to make the most of his chance with Accies, and it’s one he intends to take.

He said: “I don’t have anything to prove to Inverness, but I do have something to prove to myself.

“I was disappointed at not getting the chance to play, but hopefully I’ll get that chance now and hopefully that’s where we’ll stay for a few years.

“When I was at Inverness I was watching SPL football every week and I’m confident that myself and everybody in that changing room can play at that level.

“Looking back at the cup games against Kilmarnock and Aberdeen, we know we can play at that level.”

Parratt is confident Hamilton can do well in the SPL, and insists belief is the key.

He said: “It hasn’t sunk in yet that we’re in the SPL, but I think it will once we get the fixtures for next year and see Celtic at Celtic Park and Rangers at Ibrox on that list.

“Last week felt like a normal week — preparing for the Dundee game, but now and then you think, ‘oh — we’ll be in the Premier League next year’, so slowly but surely it’s starting to sink in.

“I think we’re going to do well. I think everybody’s confident, given that we have played well against Kilmarnock and Aberdeen this season.

“We beat Kilmarnock in the CIS Cup and and gave a good showing up at Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup, and if we can do well against teams like that, I think we’re definitely going to stay up next season.

“You say it’s going to be hard, but I remember having an interview with the Advertiser at the start of the season and I was saying we had potential to win the league, and this is the same sort of thing.

“You just have to have that kind of belief that you can do well, and if everybody believes that we have got a good chance, then we will go out and win.

“That mentality transferred through to us winning the championship.”

While Parratt was delighted to get his hands on the Irn-Bru First Division trophy, he was gutted not to play in the 2-0 win over Clyde.

It’s been a stop-start season for the defender since he broke a metatarsal bone in his foot during the emphatic 5-0 win over Dunfermline at East End Park on October 20.

However, the talented right-back is proud to have played his part this season.

He said: “Personally I was a bit disappointed, because I’ve had injury troubles and what-not, and I had a really good start to the season.

“Picking up that injury against Dunfermline slowed me down, and it kind of killed me, not being stripped on the Saturday.

“But I understood that everybody plays their part in the season, and I know I have been a big part of that.

“I’ve played over half the games and contributed to our sterling defensive record, so I’m delighted with that, and hopefully I can continue to help out here.”

Parratt can’t wait to lock horns with the best that the SPL has to offer, and hopes to be doing so for some time yet.

He said: “You’ve got to be looking forward to the big games, and just the fact that every week you’re playing in the top league in Scotland, which is where everybody wants to play.

“We’re going from playing in front of a couple of thousand fans a week to potentially being in front of 50,000 or 60,000 people.

“That’s what I always wanted to do when I started playing football, and I can’t wait until we play our first game of the season.”