Stuart Taylor admits he could unleash young talent in Hamilton's final two games of the season - as he branded 16-year-old defender Sam Nicolson 'as strong as Hercules'.
And the Accies boss insists he'd be keen to hand more kids chances like club legend and current Celtic star James McCarthy managed at the age of 15, but current rules prevent him from doing so.
The New Douglas Park side are famed for giving youngsters a chance and a fresh-faced McCarthy made his Hamilton first-team bow in 2006.
Regulations have long since changed but Taylor is of the firm belief that if you are good enough you are old enough.
Accies secured their Championship status last week with a 1-0 win at Morton, but can no longer reach the promotion play-offs as the campaign enters the final straight.
With that in mind, it will give Accies the opportunity to turn to their conveyor belt of young talent and Taylor says there are plenty of talented teens who could come into contention for Saturday's clash at home to promotion-chasing Raith Rovers.
One in particular is Nicolson, who has been an unused substitute on a number of occasions this term.
Taylor says the academy product has all the attributes to handle first team football and there are others like him, but he can't involve them all because they are deemed too young.
Taylor said: "We've got a 16-year-old in big Sam who is like Hercules.
"Physically, he's ready and I think he has been ready since the day he was born, by the looks of him.
"He's really strong and he'd be able to go and deal with adult football at an earlier age than others.
"It's about the maturity of the body.
"A perfect example is that young James McCarthy played in the first team - and he was 15.
"Young kids would have played earlier in the season, but we couldn't do that.
"Big Sam has been on the bench a few times. We played Chris McGinn (16) earlier in the season and Adam McGowan (17), Ellis Brown (19) as well.
"I'd have played lads like Gabe Forsyth and Lewis Latona, but you are not allowed to play 15 years olds.
"I get the reasons behind it of making sure they are ready to play and protecting them, but that's for the coach to look at.
"We will look at the young kids for the next two games, but we've got to respect the lads that have been fighting all season.
"Sam has done well in under-18 games, as have many other lads.
"We have to bring up the ones that are of age and ones that we need in certain positions."
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