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CLUB GUIDE
By Paul Marshall
March 20 2004
In 1886, a charity cup match was organised which would include a friendly between a team from Glasgow and a select side chosen from Motherwells' top two amateur teams, Alpha and Glencairn.





After this match there was suggestions that the two Motherwell sides should amalgamate and become one larger club, resulted in representatives of both clubs meeting on the 17th of May 1886 and forming Motherwell Football Club.


The club's greatest period came in the season of 1926-27 and for the next seven seasons they remained in the top three, winning the league title in 1932 for the very first time which stopped Rangers achieving nine titles in a row long before achieved it in the sixties.


That season brought further success with Willie McFadyen notching up a tally of 52 goals and deservedly gaining the Scottish league record which surely will never be broken.




1969 Squad




1978 Squad



When the premier league was created in 1975, Motherwell enjoyed a good first season, finishing fourth. High profile managers and coaches such as Jock Wallace, Craig Brown and Davie Hay came and went before Motherwell achieved a stability under ex-Rangers and Kilmarnock player Tommy McLean.




Wullie Pettigrew




Davie Cooper





1990 Isle of Man Trophy winners





1991 Squad


To this day, Tommy McLean is the last manager to lift a trophy for Motherwell when he guided them to the Scottish Cup in 1991 beating his brother Jim's Dundee United 4 - 3 which was one of the best Finals Hampden Park will ever see. Tommy's next big achievement at Motherwell was building a great side including Keeper Sieb Dykstra, defender's Brian Martin, Rab McKinnon, Midfielder Paul Lambert and star striker Tommy Coyne who went on to finish 3rd in the Premier League only 4 points behind eventual winners Rangers meaning they had qualified for Europe for only the second time in thier history.


Unfortunatly this was Tommy's last season at Fir Park when he moved onto Tynecastle after claiming the Fir Park directors didn't match his ambitions.


Alex McLiesh was next in the hotseat and was the first Motherwell manager to have a decent amount of money to spend on players. He brought in Mitchell Van Der Gaag from Dutch giants PSV on a record fee of £400,000 but his dream turned sour when his side always struggled to stay in the Premier League and left to manage Hibs.


After foreign flop Harri Kampmann's unsuccesful short reign as Motherwell Manager Billy Davies was appointed manager when the club's new owner John Boyle had a dream of making Motherwell a third force in Scottish Football. Like McLeish, Billy had a considerable amount of money to build his own side and brought in top names Don Goodman, Ged Brannan, Andy Goram, Sasa Curcic and record signing John Spencer who cost the club £600,000 from Premiership side Everton. Billy's side almost qualified for the UEFA Cup in season 99 / 00 but were pipped by a Hearts side on the last day after beating Rangers 2 - 0 which took the shine from a excellent result.


Billy struggled after the money dried up and left the club by mutual consent letting Eric Black take over with Terry Butcher as his Assistant.





Eric Black resigned from the club when John Boyle reluctantly put the club into administration in April 2002 after debts got out of control. Eric claimed he couldn't build a side he wanted without any money. He was replaced by Terry Butcher who has done reasonably well with the youngsters he has at the club beating both Celtic and Rangers plus reaching a Scottish Cup semi for the first time in 12 years all in his first full season in charge.







Manager Terry Butcher




Motherwell Football Club,
Fir Park Stadium,

Firpark Street,

Motherwell,

ML1 2QN

Tel : 01698 333333




Formed : 1886

League Championships : 1931-32

Scottish Cup Champions : 1952,1991

League Cup Champions : 1950

Most Capped Player : Tommy Coyne, Ireland

No.Caps : 13

Most League Points In A Season : 66, 1931-32

Record Attendance : 35,632 -v- Rangers, 1952

Record Victory : 12-1 -v- Dundee United, 1954

Record Defeat : 0-8 -v- Aberdeen, 1979

Record Buy : John Spencer, £600,000 Everton

Record Sale : Phil O'Donnell,£1,750,000 Celtic





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