The 2019–20 season was Motherwell's thirty-fifth consecutive season in the top flight of Scottish football, having been promoted from the Scottish First Division at the end of the 1984–85 season. After the season was postponed on 13 March by the Scottish Football Association due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season was curtailed on 18 May by the Scottish Professional Football League, with Motherwell finishing the season in third place with a points per game ration of 1.5333, 0.0333 higher than fourth placed Aberdeen. In the League Cup, Motherwell were knocked out by Heart of Midlothian in the Second Round, whilst St Mirren knocked Motherwell out of the Scottish Cup by penalties in a Fifth Round Reply.
Season review Pre-season On 10 June, Motherwell announced the singing of Chris Long to a one-year contract, beginning when his Blackpool expires on 30 June. On 12 June, Motherwell announced that they had agreed a record transfer fee with Celtic for the transfer of midfielder David Turnbull, with the player given permission to discuss personal terms with Celtic. On 27 June Motherwell announced that the transfer had fallen through during the medical, with Turnbull requiring preventive surgery on his knee. On 2 July, Motherwell announced the signing of Devante Cole on an initial six-month loan deal from Wigan Athletic. On 8 July, Motherwell signed Sherwin Seedorf to a two-year contract from Wolverhampton Wanderers. On 12 July, Motherwell announced the signing of Christian Ilić to a one-year contract.
July On 18 July, manager Stephen Robinson and assistant manager Keith Lasley both agreed new contracts, keeping them at the club until the summer of 2022. The following day, Rohan Ferguson moved to Linfield for the 2019/20 season.
On 23 July, Allan Campbell signed an improved contract with Motherwell until the summer of 2021. On 25 July, Motherwell announced the singing of Christy Manzinga on a one-year contract, with the option of a second, from Sporting Châtelet. The following day, 26 July, Danny Johnson moved to Dundee for an undisclosed fee, and Reece McAlear moved to Norwich City for an undisclosed.
On 2 September, Adam Livingstone joined Greenock Morton on a season-long loan deal, Craig Tanner declined a new contract from Motherwell and left the club, and Mark O'Hara joined on a season-long loan deal from Peterborough United.
September On 12 September, Motherwell announced the signing of Bevis Mugabi on a contract until January 2020.
On 20 September, Motherwell announced that P. J. Morrison had joined Cowdenbeath on an emergency one-week loan deal.
October On 2 October, Motherwell announced that they had extended their contract with Liam Donnelly until the summer of 2022.
November On 22 November, Motherwell announced that they had extended their contract with Bevis Mugabi until the summer of 2021.
January On 7 January, Motherwell announced that Trevor Carson had signed a new contract with the club, until the summer of 2022. On 13 January, Mikael Ndjoli joined Motherwell on loan from AFC Bournemouth for the remainder of the season.
On 15 January, Liam Grimshaw signed a new contract with Motherwell until the summer of 2022.
On 23 January, David Devine joined Queen of the South on loan for the remainder of the season.
On 28 January, Ross Maciver signed a new contract with Motherwell, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2021.
On 31 January, Casper Sloth left Motherwell by mutual consent, Rolando Aarons joined the club on loan from Newcastle United for the remainder of the season, and James Scott moved to Hull City for an undisclosed fee.
February After returning to the club from his loan deal with Greenock Morton on 31 January, Adam Livingstone joined Clyde on loan for the remainder of the season on 4 February.
On 7 February, Motherwell announced the signing of Tony Watt on a contract until the end of the season.
March On 9 March, Motherwell announced the signing of Harry Robinson on a contract until the end of the season.
On 11 March, David Turnbull signed a one-year extension to his contract, keeping him at Motherwell until the summer of 2022.
On 13 March, the Scottish Football Association postponed all league fixtures until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
May On 18 May the season was curtailed by the Scottish Professional Football League with Motherwell finishing the season in third place with a points per game ration of 1.5333, 0.0333 higher than fourth placed Aberdeen.
On 29 May, Motherwell announced that Tony Watt had signed a new contract with the club, for the 2020–21 season.
On 31 May, Motherwell announced that Rohan Ferguson, Mark Gillespie, Richard Tait, Peter Hartley, Christian Ilić, Adam Livingstone and Christy Manzinga were all leaving the club after their contracts expired, whilst Charles Dunne, Chris Long, Barry Maguire, P. J. Morrison, Harry Robinson and Yusuf Hussain have been offered new contracts with contracts due to expire too.
Transfers
In Date Position Nationality Name From Fee Ref. 11 April 2019 DF Declan Gallagher Livingston Free 17 April 2019 MF Liam Polworth Inverness Caledonian Thistle Free 29 April 2019 DF Jake Carroll Cambridge United Free 21 May 2019 MF Casper Sloth Silkeborg Free 29 May 2019 MF Jermaine Hylton Solihull Moors Free 10 June 2019 FW Chris Long Blackpool Free 8 July 2019 MF Sherwin Seedorf Wolverhampton Wanderers Undisclosed 12 July 2019 MF Christian Ilić TSV Hartberg Undisclosed 25 July 2019 FW Christy Manzinga Sporting Châtelet Undisclosed 1 August 2019 FW Ross Maciver Ross County Undisclosed 12 September 2019 DF Bevis Mugabi Yeovil Town Free 7 February 2020 FW Tony Watt CSKA Sofia Free 9 March 2020 MF Harry Robinson Oldham Athletic Free Transfers announced on the above date, becoming official when the Scottish transfer window opened on 1 June. Transfers announced on the above date, becoming official when they're contracts expire on 30 June.
Out Date Position Nationality Name To Fee Ref. 26 July 2019 FW Danny Johnson Dundee Undisclosed 26 July 2019 MF Reece McAlear Norwich City Undisclosed 31 January 2020 FW James Scott Hull City Undisclosed
Loans in Date from Position Nationality Name From Date to Ref. 2 July 2019 FW Devante Cole Wigan Athletic 1 January 2020 2 September 2019 MF Mark O'Hara Peterborough United End of Season 13 January 2020 FW Mikael Ndjoli AFC Bournemouth End of Season 31 January 2020 FW Rolando Aarons Newcastle United End of Season
Loans out Date from Position Nationality Name To Date to Ref. 19 July 2019 GK Rohan Ferguson Linfield End of Season 2 September 2019 DF Adam Livingstone Greenock Morton 31 January 2019 20 September 2019 GK P. J. Morrison Cowdenbeath 27 September 2019 23 January 2020 DF David Devine Queen of the South End of Season 4 February 2020 DF Adam Livingstone Clyde End of Season
Released Date Position Nationality Name Joined Date Ref. 2 September 2019 FW Craig Tanner Aldershot Town 9 December 2019 31 January 2020 MF Casper Sloth Notts County 20 August 2020 31 May 2020 GK Mark Gillespie Newcastle United 3 July 2020 31 May 2020 GK Rohan Ferguson Queen of the South 17 September 2020 31 May 2020 DF Peter Hartley Jamshedpur 20 August 2020 31 May 2020 DF Richard Tait St Mirren 18 June 2020 31 May 2020 DF Charles Dunne Motherwell 27 June 2020 31 May 2020 DF Jack Brown Albion Rovers 18 June 2020 31 May 2020 DF Adam Livingstone Cove Rangers 27 August 2020 31 May 2020 MF Christian Ilić Lokomotiv Plovdiv 21 August 2020 31 May 2020 FW Christy Manzinga Linfield 1 August 2020 31 May 2020 FW Chris Long Motherwell 10 July 2020 30 June 2020 GK Robbie Hemfrey Stoke City U23 6 October 2020 30 June 2020 MF Adam Kettings Syngenta 30 June 2020 FW Cole Starrs Forfar Athletic 1 September 2020
Squad
No. Name Nationality Position Date of birth (age) Signed from Signed in Contract ends Apps. Goals Goalkeepers 1 Trevor Carson GK Hartlepool United 2017 2022 63 0 20 Mark Gillespie GK Walsall 2018 2020 67 0 41 Robbie Hemfrey GK Academy 2012 2020 0 0 43 Matty Connelly GK Academy 2019 2021 0 0 Defenders 2 Richard Tait DF Grimsby Town 2016 2020 142 5 3 Jake Carroll DF Cambridge United 2019 2021 27 2 5 Peter Hartley DF Blackpool 2018 2020 65 7 15 Barry Maguire DF Academy 2015 2020 14 0 18 Charles Dunne DF Oldham Athletic 2017 2020 78 1 22 Liam Donnelly DF Hartlepool United 2018 2022 40 12 24 Bevis Mugabi DF Yeovil Town 2019 2021 11 0 31 Declan Gallagher DF Livingston 2019 2021 36 2 32 Yusuf Hussain DF Falkirk 2018 2020 0 0 34 Jack Brown DF Academy 2014 2020 0 0 35 Sam Muir DF Academy 2019 2021 0 0 36 Matthew McDonald DF Academy 2019 2021 0 0 38 Cameron Wilson DF Academy 2019 2021 0 0 Midfielders 4 Liam Grimshaw MF Preston North End 2017 2022 102 0 6 Allan Campbell MF Academy 2016 2021 120 11 7 David Turnbull MF Academy 2017 2022 36 15 11 Sherwin Seedorf MF Wolverhampton Wanderers 2019 2021 28 3 16 Christian Ilić MF TSV Hartberg 2019 2020 13 1 19 Liam Polworth MF Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2019 2021 37 3 26 Dean Cornelius MF Hibernian 2018 2021 1 0 33 Adam Kettings MF Academy 2012 2020 0 0 40 Paul Hale MF Academy 2019 2021 0 0 42 Lewis Robertson MF Rangers 2019 2021 0 0 52 Mark O'Hara MF Loan from Peterborough United 2019 2020 20 2 Harry Robinson MF Oldham Athletic 2020 2020 0 0 Forwards 8 Tony Watt FW CSKA Sofia 2020 2021 6 2 9 Chris Long FW Blackpool 2019 2020 31 11 12 Christy Manzinga FW Sporting Châtelet 2019 2020 7 1 14 Jermaine Hylton FW Solihull Moors 2019 2021 36 4 17 Rolando Aarons FW loan from Newcastle United 2020 2020 8 1 25 Jamie Semple FW Academy 2018 2021 6 0 29 Cole Starrs FW Academy 2020 0 0 37 Ross Maciver FW Ross County 2019 2021 8 1 39 Findlay Cook FW Academy 2021 0 0 44 Mikael Ndjoli FW loan from AFC Bournemouth 2020 2020 2 0 Away on loan 13 Rohan Ferguson GK Airdrieonians 2017 2020 1 0 21 Adam Livingstone DF Academy 2008 2020 5 0 28 David Devine DF Academy 2019 2021 1 0 31 P. J. Morrison GK Academy 2009 2020 0 0 Left during the season 8 Casper Sloth MF Silkeborg 2019 2021 1 0 17 James Scott FW Academy 42 7 24 Danny Johnson FW Gateshead 2018 2020 28 8 27 Craig Tanner FW Reading 2017 36 9 30 Reece McAlear MF Academy 0 0 44 Devante Cole FW loan from Wigan Athletic 2019 2020 21 4
Out on loan
Left club during season
Friendlies
Competitions Premiership
League table
Results by round
Results summary
Results
Scottish Cup
League Cup
Group stage
Table
Results
Knockout phase
Challenge Cup
Squad statistics Appearances
|colspan="12"|Players away from the club on loan: |- |colspan="12"|Players who left Motherwell during the season:
Goal scorers
RankingPositionNationNumberNameScottish PremiershipScottish CupLeague CupTotal1 DF22Liam Donnelly70411FW9 Chris Long731113 MF6 Allan Campbell5106FW17James Scott30365 FW44Devante Cole4004FW14Jermaine Hylton20247 MF11Sherwin Seedorf2013MF19Liam Polworth11139 DF3 Jake Carroll2002DF31Declan Gallagher2002MF52Mark O'Hara1102FW8 Tony Watt1102DF5 Peter Hartley101214FW12Christy Manzinga1001FW37Ross Maciver1001FW17Rolando Aarons0101MF16Christian Ilić0011 Own goal1001TOTALS4081462
Clean sheets
RankingPositionNationNumberNameScottish PremiershipScottish CupLeague CupTotal1 GK20Mark Gillespie111416TOTALS111416
Disciplinary record
NumberNationPositionNameScottish PremiershipScottish Cup League CupTotal 2 DFRichard Tait400010503 DFJake Carroll811000914 MFLiam Grimshaw300000305 DFPeter Hartley300000306 MFAllan Campbell100000109 FWChris Long6110007111MFSherwin Seedorf1000102012FWChristy Manzinga2100002114FWJermaine Hylton2000002015DFBarry Maguire1000001016MFChristian Ilić1000001017FWRolando Aarons2010003019MFLiam Polworth3010004020GKMark Gillespie4000004022DFLiam Donnelly121000012124DFBevis Mugabi0010001031DFDeclan Gallagher9000009052MFMark O'Hara40000040Players who left Motherwell during the season:17FWJames Scott1000001044FWDevante Cole10000010TOTALS5845020754
See also List of Motherwell F.C. seasons
References
External links Motherwell F.C. Website BBC My Club Page Motherwell F.C. Newsnow