Hamilton Academical F.C.

"Hamilton F.C." redirects here. For the soccer club in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, see Hamilton FC.

Hamilton Academical

Full name	Hamilton Academical Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Accies
Founded	1874 (1874)
Ground	New Douglas Park, Hamilton
Ground Capacity	6,018
Chairman	Les Gray
Manager	Martin Canning
League	Scottish Premiership
2014–15	Scottish Premiership, 7th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, are a Scottish football club from Hamilton in South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Premiership, having been promoted from the 2013–14 Scottish Championship. They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilton Academy and remain the only professional club in British football to have originated from a school team. Hamilton have won the Scottish Challenge Cup twice and have finished runners-up in the Scottish Cup twice. The club currently play their home games at New Douglas Park.

Club history

Hamilton Academical F.C. was formed in late 1874 by the Rector and pupils of the local school. The club soon became members of the Scottish Football Association and initially began competing in the Scottish Cup and Qualifying Cup, before joining the Scottish Football League in November 1897 following the resignation of Renton.

In the 1970s, Hamilton briefly resigned from the league due to mounting debts. In 1994 the club sold its home ground, Douglas Park stadium, to Sainsbury's supermarket, and subsequently ground-shared in Coatbridge and Glasgow for seven years. During this period the club went through financial hardships and unpaid players went on strike. As a result, Hamilton was unable to fulfil its fixtures during the 1999–2000 season and was docked 15 points, the eventual result of which was relegation to the Third Division. The club moved into its New Douglas Park stadium in 2001.

In 2008, for the first time in 20 years, Accies gained promotion to the top division of Scottish football, the Scottish Premier League. In the 2009–10 season, a 3–0 victory against Kilmarnock on 17 April 2010 secured a third straight season in Scotland's top flight, with four games remaining.

The Accies' stay in the SPL ended in the 2010–11 season, when they were relegated after a 1–0 defeat away to St Johnstone. Despite their relegation, Hamilton's time in the top flight was most notable for their emphasis on youth including midfielders James McCarthy and James McArthur, both of whom went on to play for Wigan Athletic F.C. in the English Premier League before gaining international recognition.

Return to the Premiership

After a hard-fought campaign during the 2013–14 Scottish Championship season, Accies finished in second position on the final day of the season following a 10–2 home victory over Morton. Despite the disappointment of missing out on automatic promotion to Dundee, they went on to defeat Falkirk 2–1 on aggregate in the first stage of their Premiership play-off to face top-flight Hibernian over two legs for a place in the 2014–15 Scottish Premiership. Hamilton lost the first leg 2–0 at New Douglas Park, but two away goals in the return leg at Easter Road, including an injury time strike, forced the tie to extra time and penalty-kicks. Hamilton converted all of their spot-kicks and gained promotion back to the top flight. Neil left the club in January 2015, to take up a position at English club Norwich.

Stadium

Main article: New Douglas Park

The club play their fixtures at New Douglas Park, which was opened in 2001. The pitch is an artificial surface, one of two in the Scottish Premiership alongside Kilmarnock. The stadium has an overall capacity of 6,078 and is composed of two permanent and one temporary stand.

New Douglas Park, home of Hamilton Academical

The ground replaced Douglas Park, which was the home of Hamilton from 1888 to 1994. The ground was eventually sold to supermarket chain Sainsbury's in 1994, with the proceeds going towards the construction of the new stadium, which lies adjacent to the site of Douglas Park.

Between 1994 and 2001 the club had no home. They ground-shared at Cliftonhill and Firhill Stadium.

Honours

Chart of yearly table positions of The Accies in the Scottish league.

• Scottish First Division
  • Winners (4): 1903–04, 1985–86, 1987–88, 2007–08
  • Runners-up (4): 1904–05, 1952–53, 1964–65, 2013–14

• Scottish Second Division
  • Runners-up (2): 1996–97, 2003–04

• Scottish Third Division
  • Winners (1): 2000–01

• Scottish Cup
  • Runners-up (2): 1910–11, 1934–35

• Scottish Challenge Cup
  • Winners (2): 1991–92, 1992–93
  • Runners-up (2): 2005–06, 2011–12

Club records

Match records

• Record victory: 10–2 vs. Morton (May 2014)

Transfer records

• Biggest transfer purchase – Tomas Cerny from Sigma Olomouc (July 2009; £180,000)
• Biggest transfer sale – James McCarthy to Wigan Athletic (July 2009; £1,200,000)

Players

Current squad

As of 11 January 2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Michael McGovern 2 DF Ziggy Gordon 3 DF Antons Kurakins 4 DF Michael Devlin 5 DF Martin Canning (captain) 6 MF Grant Gillespie 7 MF Dougie Imrie 9 FW Alexandre D'Acol 10 MF Daniel Redmond 11 MF Ali Crawford 12 MF Gramoz Kurtaj 14 FW Carlton Morris (on loan from Norwich City) 15 DF Jamie Sendles-White 18 FW Darian MacKinnon 20 FW Eamonn Brophy 21 MF Greg Docherty 22 MF Darren Lyon

No. Position Player 23 DF Scott McMann 24 DF Jesús García 26 GK Alan Martin 27 FW Christian Nadé 28 MF Christopher Mandiangu 29 DF Jack Harrison 30 MF Steven Boyd 31 FW Victor Gutsul 33 MF Ronan Hughes 34 MF Ryan Tierney 35 MF Ross Cunningham 36 MF Jack Simpson 37 DF Colin Granger 41 DF Shaun Want 42 DF Ben Reilly 44 DF Lucas

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 16 MF Craig Watson (on loan to Arbroath) 17 MF Louis Longridge (on loan at Raith Rovers)

Player of the Year

Year	Winner
2004	Brian McPhee
2009	Tomáš Černý
2013	Ziggy Gordon

Former players

Main article: List of Hamilton Academical F.C. players

See also: Category:Hamilton Academical F.C. players

Staff

Current staff

As of 30 July 2015

Role	Name
Player-Manager	Martin Canning
Assistant Manager	Guillaume Beuzelin
Goalkeeping Coach	Brian Potter
Head of Youth Academy	George Cairns
Club Secretary	Scott Struthers
Equipment Manager	Danny Cunning
Physiotherapist	Victoria McIntyre
Sports Scientist	Colin Clancy
Performance Analyst	Dominic Stewart

Previous managers

Main article: List of Hamilton Academical F.C. managers

Alex Raisbeck, 1914–1922 David Buchanon, 1922–1923 Scott Duncan, 1923–1925 Willie McAndrew, 1925–1946 Jimmy McStay, 1946–1951 Andrew Wylie, 1951–1953 Jacky Cox, 1953–1956 John Lowe, 1956–1958 Andy Paton, 1959–1968 John Crines, 1968–1969 Billy Lamont, 1969 (Player/Manager) Tommy Ewing, 1969–1970 Bobby Shearer, 1970–1971 Ronnie Simpson, 1971–1972 Billy Lamont, 1972 (Caretaker) Eric Smith, 1972–1978 Davie McParland, 1978–1982 John Blackley, 1982–1983

Bertie Auld, 1983–1984 John Lambie, 1984–1988 Jim Dempsey, 1988–1989 George Miller, 1989 (Caretaker) John Lambie, 1989–1990 George Miller, 1990 (Caretaker) Billy McLaren, 1990–1992 Iain Munro, 1992–1996 Sandy Clark, 1996–1998 Colin Miller, 1998–1999 (Player/Manager) Ally Dawson, 1999–2002 Chris Hillcoat, 2002–2003 Allan Maitland, 2003–2005 Billy Reid 2005–2013 Alex Neil 2013 (Caretaker) Alex Neil 2013–2015 Martin Canning 2015 (Caretaker) Martin Canning 2015–present

External links

• Official website