2008–09 Motherwell F.C. season

The 2008–09 season was Motherwell's 11th season in the Scottish Premier League, and their 24th consecutive season in the top division of Scottish football. As well as the SPL, the club competed in the Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup, and the UEFA Cup for the first time in 13 years.

Motherwell

2008–09 season
Chairman	John Boyle
Manager	Mark McGhee
Premier League	7th
Scottish Cup	Fifth Round
League Cup	Third Round
UEFA Cup	First Round
Top goalscorer	David Clarkson (13)
Highest home attendance	11,318 vs Nancy (2 October 2008)
Lowest home attendance	2,818 vs Inverness (13 May 2009)
Average home league attendance	5,351
Home colours Away colours
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

Season review

On 10 July, Bob Malcolm signed a new one-year contract with the club.^[1]

On 8 August, Motherwell announced the signing of Jim O'Brien to a two-year contract from Celtic, and the six-month loan signing of Gunnar Nielsen from Blackburn Rovers.^[2]

On 19 August, Motherwell signed John Sutton to a three-year contract from Wycombe Wanderers.^[3]

On 1 September, Motherwell signed Maroš Klimpl on loan from Midtjylland for five-months.^[4]

On 2 January, Artur Krysiak joined Motherwell on loan from Birmingham City until the end of the season, whilst Maroš Klimpl extended his loan stay from Midtjylland until the summer.^[5]

On 24 January, Ross Forbes joined Dumbarton for the remainder of the season.^[6]

On 2 February, Cillian Sheridan joined Motherwell on loan from Celtic for the remainder of the season, whilst Semih Aydilek joined from Birmingham City on a similar deal.^[7] The following day, 3 February, Chris Porter left the club, signing for Derby County for an undisclosed fee of around £400,000^[8]

On 12 June 2009, Mark McGhee left the club to become manager of Aberdeen with Assistant Scott Leitch and goalkeeping coach Colin Meldrum also leaving for the Pittodrie outfit.^[9]

Squad

Updated 5 December 2010^[10]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SCO Graeme Smith 2 DF  SCO Paul Quinn 3 DF  SCO Steven Hammell 4 DF  SCO Mark Reynolds 5 DF  NIR Stephen Craigan (captain) 6 DF  NIR Brian McLean 7 MF  SCO Stephen Hughes 8 MF  SCO Bob Malcolm 9 FW  IRL Cillian Sheridan (on loan from Celtic) 10 FW  SCO David Clarkson 11 FW  ENG John Sutton 12 MF  SCO Darren Smith 13 DF  SVK Maroš Klimpl (on loan from Midtjylland) 14 MF  SCO Keith Lasley

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 FW  SCO Jamie Murphy 16 MF  SCO Marc Fitzpatrick 17 MF  SCO Jim O'Brien 18 MF  SCO Steven McGarry 19 GK  POL Artur Krysiak (on loan from Birmingham City) 22 MF  GER Semih Aydilek (on loan from Birmingham City) 23 FW  SCO Mark Archdeacon 26 MF  SCO Kenny Connolly 29 MF  SCO Ross Forbes 35 FW  SCO Bob McHugh 37 DF  ENG Shaun Hutchinson 43 DF  SCO Steven Saunders 45 FW  SCO Paul Slane

Transfers

Main article: List of Scottish football transfers 2008–09

In

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref
8 August 2008	MF		Jim O'Brien	Celtic	Undisclosed	[2]
19 August 2008	FW		John Sutton	Wycombe Wanderers	Undisclosed	[3]

Loans in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Date to	Ref.
8 August 2008	GK		Gunnar Nielsen	Blackburn Rovers	30 December 2008	[2]
1 September 2008	DF		Maroš Klimpl	Midtjylland	End of season	[4][5]
2 January 2009	GK		Artur Krysiak	Birmingham City	End of season	[5]
2 February 2009	FW		Semih Aydilek	Birmingham City	End of season	[7]
2 February 2009	FW		Cillian Sheridan	Celtic	End of season	[7]

Out

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
3 February 2009	FW		Chris Porter	Derby County	Undisclosed	[8]

Loans out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Date to	Ref.
24 January 2009	MF		Ross Forbes	Dumbarton	End of season	[6]

Released

Date	Position	Nationality	Name	Joined	Date	Ref.
31 December 2008	MF		Kenny Connolly	Ayr United	17 January 2009	[11]

Trial

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	Last club	Date to	Ref.
January 2009	DF		Byron Webster	Baník Most		[5]
January 2009	MF		Simon Elliott	Fulham		[5]

Competitions

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
					Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Premier League	9 August 2008	23 May 2009	Matchday 1	7th	38	13	9	16	46	51	−5	034.21
Scottish Cup	2 February 2009	19 February 2009	Fourth round	Fifth Round	3	1	1	1	4	2	+2	033.33
League Cup	24 September 2008	24 September 2008	Third round	Third round	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
UEFA Cup	18 September 2008	2 October 2008	First round	First round	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	000.00
Total					44	14	10	20	51	58	−7	031.82

Last updated: 23 May 2009
Source: Soccerway

Premier League

Main article: 2008–09 Scottish Premier League

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
5	Dundee United	38	13	14	11	47	50	−3	53
6	Hibernian	38	11	14	13	42	46	−4	47
7	Motherwell	38	13	9	16	46	51	−5	48	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[b]
8	Kilmarnock	38	12	8	18	38	48	−10	44
9	Hamilton Academical	38	12	5	21	30	53	−23	41

Source: Scottish Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

1. Teams played each other three times (33 matches), before the league split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) for the last five matches.
2. Scotland were awarded an additional Europa League place as the association finished in third place of the UEFA Fair Play ranking. Motherwell earned this place as winners of the Scottish Fair Play ranking.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	13	9	16	46	51	−5	48	7	6	6	24	27	−3	6	3	10	22	24	−2

Source: BBC Sport

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H
Result	L	L	D	W	L	L	W	W	L	W	W	L	D	L	L	L	L	L	W	D	W	W	D	D	W	D	W	L	D	D	L	L	L	L	W	D	W	L
Position	9	11	10	9	10	11	10	8	9	7	3	6	6	7	9	10	11	10	9	9	9	7	7	7	7	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7

Source: BBC Sport
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Results

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result[12]	Attendance	Motherwell Scorer(s)	Report
9 August 2008	Hearts	Tynecastle Stadium, Edinburgh (A)	2–3	14,219	Clarkson (2)
16 August 2008	Aberdeen	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	0–1	5,872		BBC Sport
23 August 2008	Dundee United	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	1–1	5,149	Sutton
30 August 2008	Hibernian	Easter Road, Edinburgh (A)	1–0	11,285	Sutton
13 September 2008	Celtic	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	2–4	5,872	Clarkson, Sutton	BBC Sport
21 September 2008	Rangers	Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow (A)	1–2	49,448		BBC Sport
27 September 2008	St Mirren	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	2–1	4,786	Malcolm, Sutton
5 October 2008	Falkirk	Fir Park, Motherwell(H)	3–2	4,509	Porter, Murphy, Sutton
18 October 2008	Kilmarnock	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock (A)	0–1	5,113
25 October 2008	Inverness CT	Caledonian Stadium, Inverness (A)	2–1	3,110	Malcolm (2)
1 November 2008	Hamilton	Fir Park, Motherwell(H)	2–0	6,205	Porter (2) Sutton
8 November 2008	Celtic	Celtic Park, Glasgow (A)	0–2	56,504		BBC Sport
12 November 2008	Rangers	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	0–0	9,600		BBC Sport
15 November 2008	Falkirk	Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk (A)	0–1	5,279
22 November 2008	Hibernian	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	1–4	4,957	Malcolm
29 November 2008	Aberdeen	Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen (A)	0–2	10,302		BBC Sport
15 December 2008	Kilmarnock	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	0–2	3,339
20 December 2008	Hamilton	New Douglas Park, Hamilton (A)	0–2	3,527
27 December 2008	Inverness	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	3–2	4,521	Porter (3)
3 January 2009	St Mirren	Love Street, Paisley (A)	0–0	10,189
7 January 2009	Hearts	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	1–0	4,928	Porter
17 January 2009	Dundee United	Tannadice, Dundee (A)	4–0	7,090	Klimpl, Porter, Clarkson, Fitzpatrick
24 January 2009	Falkirk	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	1–1	5,018	Clarkson
31 January 2009	Hibernian	Easter Road, Edinburgh (A)	1–1	10,903	Clarkson
14 February 2009	Hamilton	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	1–0	5,197	Clarkson
22 February 2009	Celtic	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	1–1	8,593	Quinn	BBC Sport
28 February 2009	Inverness CT	Caledonian Stadium, Inverness (A)	2–1	3,611	Sutton, Sheridan
4 March 2009	Hearts	Tynecastle, Edinburgh (A)	1–2	13,306	Hughes	BBC Sport
14 March 2009	Dundee United	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	2–1	4,798	Clarkson, Sutton	BBC Sport
21 March 2009	Kilmarnock	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock (A)	0–0	5,434		BBC Sport
4 April 2009	Aberdeen	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	1–1	4,686	O'Brien	BBC Sport
11 April 2009	Rangers	Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow (A)	1–3	50,080	Sutton	BBC Sport
18 April 2009	St Mirren	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	0–2	6,626		BBC Sport
2 May 2009	Falkirk	Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk (A)	1–2	4,937	Clarkson (pen.)	BBC Sport
9 May 2009	St Mirren	St Mirren Park, Paisley (A)	3–1	4,002	Murphy, Clarkson (2)	BBC Sport
13 May 2009	Inverness CT	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	2–2	2,818	McLean, Sutton	BBC Sport
16 May 2009	Hamilton	New Douglas Park, Hamilton (A)	3–0	3,383	Clarkson, Sheridan, Sutton	BBC Sport
23 May 2009	Kilmarnock	Fir Park, Motherwell (H)	1–2	4,186	McLean	BBC Sport

League Cup

Main article: 2008–09 Scottish League Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	H/A	Score[12]	Motherwell Scorer(s)[13]	Attendance	Report
24 September 2008	3rd Round	Hamilton	H	1–2	Jamie Murphy	5,590	BBC Sport

UEFA Cup

Main article: 2008–09 UEFA Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	H/A	Score[12]	Motherwell Scorer(s)[13]	Attendance	Report
18 September 2008	1st Round	AS Nancy	A	0–1		16,094	BBC Sport
2 October 2008	1st Round	AS Nancy	H	0–2		11,318	BBC Sport

Scottish Cup

Main article: 2008–09 Scottish Cup

Date	Round	Opponent	H/A	Score[12]	Motherwell Scorer(s)[13]	Attendance	Report
2 February 2009	4th Round	Inverurie	A	3–0	John Sutton (2, 69), David Clarkson (57)	2,500	BBC Sport
7 February 2009	5th Round	St Mirren	H	1–1	Stephen Hughes (65)	5,695	BBC Sport
19 February 2009	5th Round Replay	St Mirren	A	0–1		4,555	BBC Sport

Squad statistics

Appearances

As of match played 23 May 2009'^[14][15]

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Premier League		UEFA Cup		Scottish Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	SCO	Graeme Smith	43	0	37	0	2	0	3	0	1	0
2	DF	SCO	Paul Quinn	40	0	33+1	0	2	0	3	0	1	0
3	DF	SCO	Steven Hammell	43	0	37	0	2	0	3	0	1	0
4	DF	SCO	Mark Reynolds	42	0	36	0	2	0	3	0	1	0
5	DF	NIR	Stephen Craigan	28	0	22	0	2	0	3	0	1	0
6	DF	NIR	Brian McLean	12	2	12	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	MF	SCO	Stephen Hughes	40	2	35	1	2	0	2	1	1	0
8	MF	SCO	Bob Malcolm	16	2	11+2	2	2	0	0	0	1	0
9	FW	IRL	Cillian Sheridan	15	2	9+4	2	0	0	1+1	0	0	0
10	FW	SCO	David Clarkson	39	14	30+3	13	2	0	3	1	1	0
11	FW	ENG	John Sutton	33	12	26+2	10	1+1	0	1+1	2	0+1	0
12	MF	SCO	Darren Smith	22	0	1+15	0	0+2	0	0+3	0	0+1	0
13	DF	SVK	Maroš Klimpl	24	1	20+1	1	0	0	3	0	0	0
14	MF	SCO	Keith Lasley	33	0	24+4	0	2	0	2	0	1	0
15	FW	SCO	Jamie Murphy	34	3	11+19	2	0+2	0	0+1	0	1	1
16	MF	SCO	Marc Fitzpatrick	28	1	14+9	1	1	0	3	0	0+1	0
17	MF	SCO	Jim O'Brien	33	1	19+10	1	0	0	3	0	1	0
19	MF	SCO	Steven McGarry	25	0	16+7	0	1	0	0+1	0	0	0
21	GK	POL	Artur Krysiak	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
35	FW	SCO	Bob McHugh	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	DF	ENG	Shaun Hutchinson	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
43	DF	SCO	Steven Saunders	3	0	2+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
45	MF	SCO	Paul Slane	1	0	0+1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players away from the club on loan:
Players who left Motherwell during the season:
9	FW	ENG	Chris Porter	25	9	21+1	9	1+1	0	0	0	1	0

Goal scorers

As of match played 23 May 2009

Ranking	Nation	Position	Number	Name	Premier League	Scottish Cup	League Cup	UEFA Cup	Total
1	FW		10	David Clarkson	13	1	0	0	14
2	FW		11	John Sutton	10	2	0	0	12
3	FW		9	Chris Porter	9	0	0	0	9
4	MF		8	Bob Malcolm	3	0	0	0	3
	FW		15	Jamie Murphy	2	0	1	0	3
6	DF		28	Brian McLean	2	0	0	0	2
	FW		9	Cillian Sheridan	2	0	0	0	2
	MF		7	Stephen Hughes	1	1	0	0	2
9	DF		16	Marc Fitzpatrick	1	0	0	0	1
	DF		13	Maroš Klimpl	1	0	0	0	1
	MF		17	Jim O'Brien	1	0	0	0	1
	DF		12	Paul Quinn	1	0	0	0	1
TOTALS					46	4	1	0	51

Clean sheets

As of match played 23 May 2009

Ranking	Nation	Position	Number	Name	Premier League	Scottish Cup	League Cup	UEFA Cup	Total
1	GK		1	Graeme Smith	9	1	0	0	10
TOTALS					9	1	0	0	10

Disciplinary record

As of match played 23 May 2009

Nation	Position	Number	Name	Premier League		Scottish Cup		League Cup		UEFA Cup		Total
	GK	1	Graeme Smith	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	DF	2	Paul Quinn	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	2
	DF	3	Steven Hammell	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	0
	DF	4	Mark Reynolds	6	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	7	0
	DF	5	Stephen Craigan	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
	DF	6	Brian McLean	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	MF	7	Stephen Hughes	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	MF	8	Bob Malcolm	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
	FW	10	David Clarkson	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
	DF	13	Maroš Klimpl	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
	MF	14	Keith Lasley	7	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	9	0
	MF	16	Marc Fitzpatrick	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	MF	19	Steven McGarry	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Players who left Motherwell during the season:
	FW	9	Chris Porter	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
			TOTALS	52	3	3	0	2	1	1	0	58	4

See also

• List of Motherwell F.C. seasons

References

1. "Malcolm nets new Motherwell deal". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
2. "Motherwell seal double transfer". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
3. "Motherwell seal Sutton transfer". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
4. "Well sign Slovak defender Klimpl". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
5. "Blues loan keeper Krysiak to Well". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 2 January 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
6. "Forbes and Pope head out on loan". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 24 January 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
7. "Motherwell sign loan duo". skysports.com. Sky Sports. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
8. "Porter swaps Motherwell for Derby". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
9. Dons Welcome Returning Hero, BBC Sport, 12 June 2009
10. "FootballSquads - Motherwell - 2008/09".
11. "Ayr snap up midfielder Connolly". news.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sport. 17 January 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
12. Motherwell's score is shown first.
13. The number(s) in brackets shows the minutes of the goal(s) that was/were scored.
14. Motherwell F.C. 2008–09 Statistics, Motherwell F.C. Official Site
15. Motherwell FC season 2008–09, Fir Park Corner