Scotland Under-21 head coach won the Premier Division Championship, Scottish Cups and League Cups as a player with Aberdeen and Celtic but he was glad to be reacquainted with another competition when he carried out the Draw for the Quarter Final stage of The Ramsdens Cup.
Stark said: “I was a winner in this competition 20 years ago when I was a Player/Coach taking my first steps in management as assistant to Billy McLaren at Hamilton Accies. I was an unused substitute when we beat Ayr United 1-0 in the Cup Final and I look back on that success fondly.
“I was at Hamilton for one season and it was a memorable one as not only did we win The B&Q Cup, we were almost promoted to the Premier Division as well but Partick Thistle just pipped us.
The now 55-year-old added: “It was a good Hamilton side with guys like Jim Weir and Andy Millen, who have also go on to management, although I am sure Andy would still class himself as a player first! We had Paul McDonald, who was an excellent winger, Colin Harris and George McCluskey in the side as well so it was a really good mix.
“We were a bit unfortunate with that promotion but Accies went back out and won The B&Q Cup again the following season.”
With Scotland starting their World Cup campaign tomorrow, this has affected the smooth running of The Ramsdens Cup as Stark explained: “Scotland play Serbia on Saturday and Macedonia next Tuesday and with Andy Little and Dean Shiels involved in international duty with Northern Ireland, their tie against Queen of the South has been pushed back.
“Our Under-21 campaign has been a good one in a tough group and we enjoyed another good result last night when we beat Luxembourg 3-0 and to be unbeaten at this late stage says a lot.
"Now we play Austria on Monday and we have to stay focused. If Austria win in Holland this evening and we win on Monday, we win the group. You can't say if second spot will be enough because of other results.
"A very late Bulgarian goal means that we have to rely on other results but the boys deserve some luck after all the effort they have put in.”
Stark added: “We will go out and try and win against Austria and see where that takes us.”
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