Hamilton Academical F.C.
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| Full name | Hamilton Academical Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Accies | ||
| Founded | 1874 | ||
| Ground | New Douglas Park, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire | ||
| Capacity | 5,510[1] | ||
| Chairman | Les Gray | ||
| Manager | Martin Canning | ||
| League | Scottish Premiership | ||
| 2016–17 | Scottish Premiership, 11th | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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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 Hamilton Academy. 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.[2]
In the 1970s, Hamilton briefly resigned from the league due to mounting debts.[3] In 1994 the club sold its home ground, Douglas Park, to Sainsbury's supermarket, and subsequently ground-shared in Coatbridge and Glasgow for seven years.[3] During this period the club went through financial hardships and unpaid players went on strike.[3] 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.[3] The club moved into its New Douglas Park stadium in 2001.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5] 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 English club Wigan Athletic in the 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.[6] Neil left the club in January 2015, to take up a position at English club Norwich.[7][8]
Hamilton found themselves in another playoff at the end of 2016–17, this time as the Premiership incumbents. A close tie against Championship representatives Dundee United ended in a 1–0 aggregate victory, with Accies youth graduate Greg Docherty scoring the only goal.[9]
Stadium
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 Rugby Park (Kilmarnock). The stadium has an overall capacity of 6,018 and is composed of two permanent and one temporary stand.
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
- Scottish First Division
- 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
Transfer records
- Biggest transfer purchase: Tomas Cerny from Sigma Olomouc (July 2009; £180,000)[13]
- Biggest transfer sale: James McCarthy to Wigan Athletic (July 2009; £1,200,000)[13]
Players
Current squad
- As of 4 August 2017[14]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Player of the Year
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2004 |  Brian McPhee[15] |
| 2009 |  Tomáš Černý[16] |
| 2013 | Ziggy Gordon[17] |
Captains
The following is a list of the officially-appointed captains of the Hamilton Academical first-team.
| Name | Nation | Years | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Neil | Scotland | 2005–2014 | Finished captaincy to become player-manager | [18] |
| Martin Canning | Scotland | 2014–2015 | Finished captaincy to become player-manager | [19] |
| Michael McGovern |  Northern Ireland | 2015–2016 | [20] | |
| Michael Devlin | Scotland | 2016– | [20] |
Former players
Coaching staff
- As of 30 June 2017[21]
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager | Martin Canning |
| Assistant Manager |  Guillaume Beuzelin |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Brian Potter |
| Head of Youth Academy | George Cairns |
| Equipment Manager | Danny Cunning |
| Physiotherapist | Megan Finlayson |
| Performance Analyst | Dominic Stewart |
| Sports Scientist | Kevin Symon |
Managers
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References
- ↑ "Hamilton Academical Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ↑ "Accies News". Hamilton Academical F.C. 26 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Alex Anderson (3 April 2014). "Hamilton Academical prospering with frugal ethos". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
- ↑ http://www.acciesfc.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=523&Itemid=173
- ↑ Bradley, Paul (10 May 2011). "St Johnstone 1–0 Hamilton". BBC News.
- ↑ Lindsay, Clive. "Hamilton Academical ended their three-year absence from Scotland's top flight after a dramatic penalty shootout that consigned Hibernian to relegation.". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- ↑ "Alex Neil: Norwich City appoint Hamilton player-manager as boss". 9 January 2015 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
- ↑ http://acciesfc.co.uk/index.php/news/328-update-on-managerial-position
- ↑ "Hamilton 1–0 Dundee United". BBC Sport. 28 May 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
- ↑ "Hamilton Accies 2–0 Clyde". www.news.bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
- ↑ Kenny Crawford (3 May 2014). "Hamilton 10 – 2 Morton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- ↑ "Accies 10 (Ten) Morton 2". Hamilton Academical F.C. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- 1 2 "Club History". Hamilton Academical F.C. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
- ↑ "Squad and Squad Number Update". Hamilton Academical F.C. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
- ↑ Hamilton Academical official website – Forfar 0 Accies 4 15/05/04
- ↑ Hamilton Academical official website – UCD 1 Accies 2
- ↑ "@acciesfc Twitter Player of the Year". Hamilton Academical F.C. 6 May 2013.
- ↑ Ben Mouncer (9 January 2015). "PROFILE: NEW CANARIES BOSS ALEX NEIL". Norwich City F.C. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
- ↑ "Hamilton captain Martin Canning tells club's youngsters to use Premiership season as a springboard". Daily Record. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
- 1 2 "Michael Devlin: 'I'm ready for captaincy at Hamilton Accies'". BBC Sport. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
- ↑ "First Team « Hamilton Academical Football Club".
- ↑ "Hamilton Academical: Martin Canning becomes new manager". 23 January 2015 – via www.bbc.co.uk.