No split family loyalties for Hamilton defender Stubbs

| 13 September 2019

No split family loyalties for Hamilton defender Stubbs

The 20-year-old is the son of Alan Stubbs, who won two league titles and three cups during his five-year spell at Celtic.

Hamilton defender Sam Stubbs insists his family will not have split loyalties when Celtic visit New Douglas Park.

The on-loan Middlesbrough man is the son of Alan Stubbs, who won two league titles and three cups during his five-year spell at Parkhead, which ended in 2001.

The 20-year-old, who has played four times in all competitions for Accies since heading north in August, thinks his father will be cheering on Hamilton rather than their opponents.

He said: "I think he'll be in the Hamilton camp.

"He's going to come up so I think he and the family will be supporting Hamilton."

When asked whether he had received any advice about facing Celtic from his dad, the 20-year-old added: "I've asked him a few bits about them but in terms of handling the occasion and advice, not really.

"I'd like to think hopefully I can do that on my own."

Stubbs is well aware of the threat posed by leaders Celtic, who have won each of their opening four league matches, but feels Hamilton can cause them problems as well.

He said: "Obviously the champions are coming and we want to get a good result.

"I think there is no point in us playing if there wasn't that belief.

"It's obviously going to be tough and we're not naive enough to think it's going to be easy but we've got stuff to work on and we've got things that we think we can implement that will cause them problems.

"There will be parts of the game where we will have to be resilient, compact and lucky. But we're relatively confident.

"At the moment it doesn't get bigger than Celtic in Scotland.

"Obviously they've got a lot of quality."