Hamilton Accies: Guide to 2015-16 season

By Adam Higgins
Jul 19, 2015
4 min read

A profile of Hamilton Academical as part of a comprehensive guide to the 12 top-flight teams ahead of the 2015-16 Scottish Premiership season.

Similar to a soap opera that keeps you glued to your TV screens, Hamilton's recent abyss cannot be faulted for providing a dramatic element at every turn.

Following their promotion on penalties at Easter Road after the most stirring of comebacks, their surprise charge to the top of the Scottish Premiership via an historic Celtic Park triumph sent shockwaves around Scottish football and had people noticing them.

Player-boss Alex Neil was working wonders with a tight-knit group, mainly keeping faith with those who had inspired their first top-flight return since 2011.

But - after his talents were spotted by Norwich City in January, triggering the swift departures of top scorer Tony Andreu and fellow striker Mikael Antoine-Curier - New Douglas Park wasn't entirely the happy hunting ground it was previously.

In the end, it was the proverbial season of two halves - lifted by some memorable moments - for the north Lanarkshire club with defender Martin Canning thrown into his first managerial experience post-Neil as the seemingly inevitable top-six finish slid away by virtue of a 13-game winless run.

As the new campaign approaches, and with many predicting their downfall already, the Accies will be desperate to avoid being a victim of so-called 'second season syndrome'.

LADBROKES SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP TEAMS FOR THIS SEASON:

Aberdeen

Celtic

Dundee

Dundee United

HAMILTON ACADEMICAL

Heart of Midlothian

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Kilmarnock

Motherwell

Partick Thistle

Ross County

St Johnstone

HAMILTON ACADEMICAL

Tough baptism: Centre-back Canning, 33, won just three of his 18 games in charge last season but is unlikely to play much football in 2015-16 (Picture from Sky Sports)

Player-Manager: Martin Canning Assistant Manager: Guillaume Beuzelin Captain: Michael McGovern (Goalkeeper) Chairman: Les Gray Star Player: Ali Crawford (Midfielder) 2014-15 player of the season: Ali Crawford (Midfielder)

Stadium: New Douglas Park Capacity: 6,108 2014-15 Average Attendance: 2,353 This is the smallest stadium currently in the Scottish Premiership

Last season's league finish: 7th (Won 15, Drawn 8, Lost 15 - 53 points) Last season's goals for/against: 50/53

Neil left Hamilton level on points with Celtic in third place in January but will be managing in the English Premier League in 2015-16 with Norwich (Picture from Sky Sports)

Discipline record in league (2014-15): 82 yellow cards, 8 red cards Last season's disciplinarian (2014-15): Dougie Imrie (6 yellows, 2 reds)

First three fixtures (2015-16): Saturday 1 August v Partick Thistle (H), Saturday 8 August v Ross County (A), Wednesday 12 August v Aberdeen (A)

Unusual: Hamilton finished seventh last term having accrued more points (53) than sixth- placed Dundee (46) while Accies won just as many games as they lost in the league (15) (Picture from Sky Sports)

Other key fixtures (2015-16): 29 August v Hearts (H), 19 September v Motherwell (H), 4 October v Celtic (H), 24 October v Partick Thistle (A), 7 November v Hearts (A), 5 December v Celtic (A), 26 December v Kilmarnock (H), 30 December v Inverness CT (H), 2 January v Motherwell (A), 27 February v Celtic (H), 2 March v Motherwell (H), 19 March v Partick Thistle (H)

Live TV games (confirmed): 4 October v Celtic (H), 12:30pm, BT Sport 2

Solid form: Hamilton lost just one of their final seven home matches on the artificial turf at New Douglas Park last term (Picture from Sky Sports)

Biggest league win of last season: 1 January 2015 - 5-0 win v Motherwell (H) Biggest league defeat of last season: 21 January 2015 - 5-0 defeat v Partick Thistle (A)

Best moment (2014-15): First Celtic Park win in 79 years to go top & three league wins over rivals 'Well Worst moment (2014-15): 13-game winless run between January and April to slip into bottom six

Departed: Andreu was Hamilton's top scorer last term despite leaving in January, left-back Hendrie signed a pre-contract agreement with West Ham while striker Scotland has been released

Top league goalscorer (2014-15): Tony Andreu - 12 goals Top overall goalscorer (2014-15): Tony Andreu - 13 goals

Most league assists (2014-15): Ali Crawford - 10 assists Most league appearances last season: Ali Crawford (37 starts, 1 sub app)

Pick of the bunch: The 23-year-old midfielder notched more assists than any other player in the Scottish Premiership last term (Picture from Sky Sports)

Best signing (summer 2015): Christian Nade (from Raith Rovers, free transfer) Key player for 2015-16: Michael McGovern Record signing: Tomas Cerny (£180,000 buy from Sigma Olomouc in July 2009)

Last season's Scottish Communities League Cup finish: Quarter-final (lost 1-0 to Aberdeen at Pittodrie) Last season's William Hill Scottish Cup finish: Fourth round (lost 2-0 to Partick Thistle at Firhill)

Squad list: 1 Michael McGovern (GK), 2 Ziggy Gordon (RB), 4 Michael Devlin (CB), 5 Martin Canning (CB), 6 Grant Gillespie (RB/CM), 7 Dougie Imrie (RW), 11 Ali Crawford (RW/LW), 12 Darren Lyon (CM), 15 Kieran MacDonald (LB/LM), 16 Craig Watson (CM), 17 Louis Longridge (LW/CF), 18 Darian MacKinnon (CAM/ST), 20 Eamonn Brophy (ST), 21 Greg Docherty (CM), 24 Jesus Garcia Tena (CB), 28 Danny Redmond (CM), 29 Darren Hill (GK), 32 Andy Ryan (FW), 44 Lucas Tagliapietra (CB), Alan Martin (GK), Chris Turner (CM), Carlton Morris (ST), Christian Nade (ST), Antons Karakins (LB), Gramoz Kurtaj (CAM), Salva Chamorro (ST).

Strongest line-up:

Players out:

Stephen Hendrie (to West Ham United, compensation fee) Lee Lynch (to Limerick, free transfer) Nico Sumsky (to Airdrieonians, six-month loan) Nigel Hasselbaink (to Excelsior, free transfer) Jon Routledge (to Dumbarton, free transfer) Jason Scotland (released)

Transfers in:

Christian Nade (from Raith Rovers, free transfer) Antons Kurakins (from Ventspils, free transfer) Gramoz Kurtaj (from Banik Most, free transfer) Carlton Morris (from Norwich City, season-long loan) Salva Chamorro (from Lleida Esportiu, season-long loan) Chris Turner (from Dumbarton, free transfer) Alan Martin (from Clyde, free transfer)