Ross County’s former Rangers and Dundee United midfielder leaves Highlands in loan deal for Championship Hamilton Accies
Charlie Telfer has left Ross County for a loan deal with Championship Hamilton Accies.
The former Rangers, Dundee United and Falkirk midfielder has struggled to gain first team favour in Dingwall since a summer move north from Airdrie.
After only one Premiership start, two League Cup starts and eight substitute appearances, the 29-year-old steps down a division with a view to gaining regular first team action.
County have strengthened their midfield greatly since last season with Connor Randall, Nohan Kenneh, Josh Nisbet, Noah Chilvers and Scott Allardice all ahead of Telfer in the pecking order.
Telfer came north with high hopes of resurrecting a top-flight career that had ended with release from the Tannadice club in 2017, before a move to Dutch outfit Almere.
Telfer only signed a one-year deal with County, so the loan move to his hometown team effectively brings his Highland sojourn to an end.
Manager Don Cowie, though, insists the door remains very much open for another loanee, left-back Josh Reid, to return to County in the summer.
Reid has joined Partick Thistle for the rest of the season after similarly finding first team action hard to come by.
But Cowie insists the County youth academy product, who was sold to and then recaptured from Coventry City, l still has a future at the Highland club.
He said: “I’ve been really open and honest with Josh, like I have with every player.
“He hasn’t had the game time he would like this year and I just feel it is an area of the pitch where we are well-covered.
“We’ve had Zac Ashworth come in, with George Harmon, Eli Campbell, George Robesten all able to play there.
“It was important to give Josh that option to go out and play regular football, at a very good level with Partick Thistle.
“He is still very much our player.
“He still has another year after this one with us, so what we want a Josh Reid who comes back in the summer, flying and ready to go.
“Josh trained really well and put a lot of effort in, but when he wasn’t really seeing that pathway in terms of getting in the team, that’s where the frustration comes in.
“At that point, it is important to give that option.”
Reid’s arrival at Firhill only just preceded the sacking of manager Kris Doolan and Cowie stressed: “For him to get 45 minutes for Partick in his first match is a good start and it then becomes 90 minutes as the weeks go on.
“(The Kris Doolan sacking) can always have an impact - that’s football. A new manager will come in with his own ideas.
“It is unfortunate timing for Josh within a week where the manager has changed, but again that can happen at any time in football.
“It is important Josh just concentrates on himself and gives the best version of himself in training every day, to catch the eye of whoever comes in.”
Young keeper Logan Ross has dropped to the Highland League with Clach, and Cowie added: “We felt it was important for Logan to go out and play.
“We would have liked to have got him into the SPFL to push and challenge him, but there was nothing that came forward.
“Clach was a very good option, close by, and a team that's doing extremely well this year.”
