Fan demos, homeless & deduction points but I still of feel lucky I'm at Accies after seeing the poverty and turmoil when I played in Brazil

Ranks' character was shaped in Sao Paulo slums for toughest test

- BY FRASER WILSON

MADE homeless after being booted out the ground they'd inhabited for quarter of a century.

Forced to shop in the freebie market after being struck by a transfer ban.

Demos and disharmony among the locals towards those in charge after a season of administrative turmoil brought a 15-point deduction and ultimately relegation.

Hamilton haven't had their troubles to seek in the last four months.

But don't expect manager John Rankin to seek sympathy.

Not when he has seen real destitution first hand as a 17-year-old kid sent 6000 miles across the Atlantic to Brazil by Sir Alex Ferguson.

That short loan in Sao Paulo with Corinthians was an eye-opener to a world Rankin never knew existed when he was learning his trade as a young pro at Manchester United.

He cut it short after a matter of weeks. But he'll never forget the sight of kids as young as four begging, people living in wooden huts and surrounded by hardship.

It's a chapter of the former Dundee United, Hibs and Ross County midfielder's career that few know anything about. But it's one he insists helped give him the resilience to forge a career at the top of the game.

MailSport caught up with the 42-year-old last week to find out just what it's like managing a full-time club against such a backdrop of turmoil.

And asked if that spell in Sao Paulo in June 2001 still helps keep things in perspective, Rankin said: "It was the biggest eye-opener.