Corcoran can't wait to resume Accies career

Jun 26 2008 by Andrew McGilvray

RETURNING Hamilton winger Mark Corcoran can’t wait to stick the boot into St Mirren, but insists he has nothing to prove to his former club.

After having left Accies in 2005, Corcoran (27), spent three seasons at Love Street but knocked back a two-year extension to team up with boss Billy Reid under freedom of contract.

Mark says he felt under-appreciated by the Paisley club, and hopes the new challenge means Accies fans will see the best of him.

He said: “It’s nice to be wanted; Billy Reid tried hard to get me back to the club and I know the chairman Ronnie MacDonald from before. I had a good relationship with him, so it wasn’t a difficult decision to make.

“St Mirren offered me a two-year deal to stay but sometimes I just didn’t feel wanted enough on the playing side. I felt wanted at Hamilton, and I want to come and play.”

He added: “I can’t want for the first game against St Mirren, to be honest, but it isn’t just that one – I can’t wait for a lot of the games.

“I want to go out there and be better and stronger than I was last season. I want to play better than I did last year.

“I don’t think I’ve got much to prove, and I don’t really feel that I have anything to prove to St Mirren, but I just want to improve on myself.

“I just use it as personal motivation, because I feel that I should have played more, and I just want to go and prove to myself and other people that I can do well here. I feel so much more motivated this season than I have done for maybe the last couple of seasons.

“I’ve worked really hard before pre-season to come back in good shape, and I want to be as fit as I’ve ever been. I think the move is good for me, and hopefully Hamilton will see the benefits.”

Having been back at New Douglas Park for just over a week, Corcoran has been impressed by the new set-up.

He said: “When I left Hamilton had just got into the First Division and managed to keep themselves there that season, but they’ve come on so much since then.

“They’re very well organised, very professional, and while they were like that at the time, they’ve really come on. Everyone’s geared to being successful, I think the club’s got a good foundation, and it’s just exciting to be here.

“I’m delighted to be here. I had spoken to Billy and Ronnie about it and what they said made me want to come back.

“I really enjoyed my time here and that’s one of the reasons I came back. I have a few friends here, the way Hamilton play will hopefully suit me, and that was a big deciding factor.

“It was also an important factor that Hamilton are in the SPL; I kinda feel that I’ve established myself in the SPL and I want to play at the highest level.

“Hopefully I can help keep them in the SPL, and we go about it the right way, playing good football.

“If I can pass on any experience I will, but we’ve got a lot of hungry young boys here and sometimes it’s better when they’re going into games with no fears, and just want to prove themselves.

“That can give them more hunger than a few people who have been hanging about in the SPL for a while.

“I’ll try and play my part and hopefully my performances, rather than my experience, will help.

“It’s going to be hard, there are a lot of good teams in the SPL, but I think we’ll be able to match a lot of them.”