Hamilton chairman Les Gray has given manager Martin Canning his full backing in a statement on the club’s website following the humiliating 8-1 defeat at Celtic Park.

The shambolic defensive showing from Accies was far from a one-off, with their alarming slide down the table punctuated by the concession of 27 goals in just their last eight matches.

While eight of those goals were to the champions on Tuesday night, they also conceded four to League Two Annan in a Scottish Cup exit that prompted sections of the travelling support to call for the manager’s head.

Gray has moved however to quell speculation over Canning’s future.

The statement read: “Obviously recent results have been very disappointing but we have been here before in previous seasons and we believe that our players and management team will come through this difficult period with our support.”

“We will continue our policy of developing our own young players which has proven to be very successful and we will continue to search for the players that can augment what we do within our budget, which can prove very difficult.

“We have had positive results against the vast majority of Premiership teams this season and it was only around six weeks ago that we were sitting 5th in the table, therefore demonstrating that things can change very quickly.

“We would ask that our fans get behind the Manager and the players during this difficult run of results.

“Together we all hurt when things are not going as we would wish, but fans, community, players, staff, management and directors in alignment are what makes our Club what it is.

“Together we can make the difference, divided we’ll fail, so on behalf of all of us with a love for our club, let’s keep the faith and collectively support our team positively and with passion to get things back on track.”

Canning has also received support from Hamilton legend and former teammate Mark McLaughlin, who backed his friend to turn things around.

McLaughlin played alongside Canning for many years in Hamilton’s backline, and he says that Accies can turn around their form just as his current team Clyde did after a shock Scottish Cup exit earlier this season.

“Martin’s a strong character and he’s a winner, I’m sure he’ll come through this and emerge even stronger for the experience,” he said.

“We went through something similar to what he’s experiencing when we were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Formartine. We took stick and a lot of people thought that we were finished, but we turned it around and I’m sure Martin can do the same.

“The cup exit to Annan will have hurt him, as will the Celtic result, but no one will be working harder to put that right than Martin.

“I’m sure he’ll be taking advice from those closest to him in the game, the likes of Alex Neil who I know he speaks to regularly.

“That will be invaluable because it’s easy to forget that Martin has been thrown in at the deep end a bit following what Alex did at the club.

“Maybe expectations need to be tempered a bit because let’s not forget the constraints he is working under.

“The Hamilton fans are great, but it’s not like there’s 10,000 of them turning up every week, and he will no doubt have the smallest budget in the division.

“I know a lot of the Hamilton players well and they’re a determined bunch who I know will come out fighting for their manager.”