Hamilton Academical F.C.

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Hamilton Academical
Image:Hamilton academical fc.gif
Full name Hamilton Academical Football Club
Nickname(s) The Accies, The Pride Of Lanarkshire
Founded 1874
Ground New Douglas Park, Hamilton
(Capacity 5,396)
Chairman Flag of Scotland Ronnie MacDonald
Manager Flag of Scotland Billy Reid
League Scottish Premier League
2007-08 Scottish First Division, 1st (promoted)
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

Hamilton Academical is a football club from Hamilton, Scotland. They were established in 1874 from Hamilton Academy. More commonly known as "Hamilton Accies" the team won promotion from SFL Division 2 to SFL Division 1 in the 2003-04 season. This was followed up by promotion to the Scottish Premier League in the 2007-08 season. The club have played at New Douglas Park from 2001, having previously played at Douglas Park.

Contents

[edit] Club History

Hamilton Academical FC were formed in late 1874 by the Rector and pupils of the local school, Hamilton Academy. Membership of the Scottish Football League came in November 1897 when Renton were forced to resign.

The club has reached the Scottish Cup Final twice in their history, losing to Celtic and Rangers in 1911 and 1935, respectively.

In 1971 Accies became the first football club in the United Kingdom to recruit players from behind the Iron Curtain when three Polish players were signed to the club amid great publicity.

Success came in the late 1980s when Hamilton was promoted to the Premier League twice (in 1986 and 1988), but both spells in the top division lasted for one season only. In 1991 and 1992 the club won the Scottish League Challenge Cup. In 1994 new ground regulations saw the club vacate Douglas Park, their home since 1888, and sell the land to make way for a retail park. The club shared a ground with Albion Rovers and Partick Thistle (2 spells) for the next seven years. Hamilton also endured a much publicised forced relegation to the Third at the end of the 1999-2000 season.

The club's fortunes have since turned: in the 2001-02 season the club finally returned to Hamilton to a stadium just yards from the old site, and also secured a place in Division One for the 2004-05 season. Hamilton remained in the Scottish First Division over the next few seasons and achieved a very respectable 4th place position in the 2006-2007 season. The 2007-08 season has seen the Accies gain promotion to the Scottish Premier League. On 19 April Hamilton secured the championship and promotion to the Scottish Premier League, for the first time since 1988.


[edit] Current squad

No. Position Player
Flag of the Czech Republic GK Tomáš Černý
Flag of Scotland GK Sean Murdoch
Flag of Scotland GK Brian Potter
Flag of Scotland DF Brian Easton
Flag of Ireland DF David Elebert
Flag of Scotland DF Grant Evans
Flag of Scotland DF James Gibson
Flag of Scotland DF Grant Gillespie
Flag of Scotland DF Alan Love
Flag of Scotland DF Mark McLaughlin
Flag of Scotland DF Tom Parratt
Flag of Scotland DF Tony Stevenson
Flag of England DF Chris Swailes
Flag of Scotland MF Mark Corcoran
No. Position Player
Flag of Scotland MF James McArthur
Flag of Ireland MF James McCarthy
Flag of Germany MF Simon Mensing
Flag of Scotland MF Alex Neil
Flag of Scotland MF Stuart Taylor
Flag of Scotland FW Gary Gow
Flag of Scotland FW James Grady
Flag of Scotland FW David Graham
Flag of Scotland FW Jordan Kirkpatrick
Flag of Scotland FW Derek Lyle
Flag of Scotland FW Paul McLeod
Flag of England FW Richard Offiong
Flag of Scotland FW Gary Twigg
Flag of Northern Ireland FW Andrew Waterworth

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club Records

[edit] Managers

 

[edit] Managerial stats since 1999

As of 27 April 2008.

Name From To Games Won Lost Drawn Win%
Dawson, AllyAlly Dawson 1999 2002 125 48 36 41 38.40
Hillcoat, ChrisChris Hillcoat 2002 2003 45 15 16 14 33.33
Maitland, AllanAllan Maitland 2003 2005 85 34 29 22 40.00
Reid, BillyBilly Reid 2005 Present 137 63 34 40 45.99

Further information can be found via this link.

Source: soccerbase.com

[edit] Famous players

[edit] Scottish Player of the Year Awards

[edit] Local Derbies

Below is a list of the club's main local rivals:

[edit] Famous Fans

[edit] Songs

Scarlet Ribbon

She Wore, She Wore, She Wore A Scarlet Ribbon,

She Wore A Scarlet Ribbon In The Merry Month Of May,

And When I Asked Her Why She Wore That Ribbon,

She Said It's For The Accies And We're Going To Win The League,

Win The League, Win The League,

Oh She Said It's For The Accies And We're Going To Win The League.

We Are Hamilton

We Are The Hamilton FC,

We Hate Motherwell And We Hate Airdrie,

Follow You Where You'll Be,

We Are The Boys Of The HAFC.

Accies Accies, Boing Boing

Accies Accies, Boing Boing.

We Shall Not Be Moved

We Shall Not, We Shall Not Be Moved,

We Shall Not, We Shall Not Be Moved,

Not By The Jags, The Dee Or The Bully Wee,

We Shall Not Be Moved.

Pride Of Lanarkshire

We Support Our Local Team,

For We're The Pride Of Lanarkshire,

We're The Pride Of, We're The Pride Of,

We're The Pride Of Lanarkshire,

We're The Pride Of Lanarkshire.

[edit] Books

  • Peter McLeish (1997). Hamilton Academical Who's Who: 1946/47-1996/97. Soccerdata. ISBN 1-899468-80-3. 

[edit] External links

Official

Unofficial

Other