August


Tuesday 2nd August 1955

The club decline the offer of £2,500 from Dundee FC for the services of Jim Forrest.

Tuesday 3rd August 1948

Andy Paton is made the captain for the upcoming 1948/49 season.

Tuesday 3rd August 1954

Manager, George Stevenson reports that he has been successful in his pursuit of Queen’s Park goalkeeper, Hastie Weir.

Tuesday 4th August 1941

George Gillan arrives at the club from Alloa Athletic for a fee of £475.

Tuesday 7th August 1956

Manager, Bobby Ancell reports that he has signed goalkeeper Alan Wylie from Penicuik Thistle.

Tuesday 8th August 1950

It was decided that Andy Paton would remain the captain of the side for the upcoming 1950/51 season.

Tuesday 8th August 1995

The side were drawn out the hat to face an unknown quantity in the UEFA Cup as Finnish outfit MyPa-47 came to Lanarkshire for the 1st Leg Preliminary Round tie. The Steelmen perhaps underestimated their opponents as they crashed to a disappointing 1-3 loss in front of 8,280 at Fir Park, the three away goals would prove to be pivotal for the Finn’s as in the away leg two weeks later Motherwell managed claw it back to 3-3 on aggregate with a 2-0 win but they crashed out of the competition on the away goals rule, further misery was compounded as young forward Lee McCulloch hit the post with a late effort. Harri Kampman had masterminded the victory, he would become a familiar face around Fir Park in a few years time.

Tuesday 9th August 1927

Robert Ferrier is appointed the club captain for the upcoming 1927/28 season.

Tuesday 9th August 1938

John Hunter reported that he managed to sign Donald McLeod from Whitburn Juniors at the usual terms.

Tuesday 9th August 2017

New signing Ellis Plummer makes a small bit of history for the club as he is the first fourth substitute to be used in a match as the new rule in cup ties mean an additional player can be used in extra time if required. Ellis would come on in the 104th minute as the Steelmen defeated Ross County in Dingwall.

Tuesday 10th August 1943

The Board decided to pursue the signing of two young centres after they impressed in a trial match, Jimmy Brown of Kello Rovers and Alec Gibson of Ardeer Rec.

Wednesday 10th August 2022

Goalkeeper coach Andy Dibble leaves the club after only 48 days in the post.

Thursday 11th August 2022

Former ‘Well left back Steven Hammell is named the new Motherwell manager, he had been the Academy Director at the club after retiring from playing. Stevie had taken the role of caretaker manager after former gaffer Graham Alexander left by mutual termination almost two weeks ago.

Tuesday 12th August 1997

Namibian striker, Eliphas Shivute arrives at Fir Park signing a two year deal, the club had managed to beat off competition from Hearts and Dundee United to secure his signature.

Monday 12th August 2012

The Board of Directors decided to order posters from the printers which essentially requests all spectators to refrain from using obscene language, disorderly conduct and interfering with players or referee.

Friday 13th August 1954

Alex Bain joins the club from Cockenzie Star.

Saturday 13th August 2022

New manager Steven Hammell takes charge of his first official match as the side travel to Pittodrie to take on Aberdeen. Stevie had been at the helm for the first two Premiership games against St Mirren and St Johnstone before being offered the role two days ago. Ironically, it was at this stadium 22 years ago that Hammell had made his debut as a teenager in a losing effort but as a manager he got off to a flyer as the Steelmen beat the Don’s 3-2 thanks to goals from Blair Spittal, Callum Slattery and Kevin Van Veen.

Earlier in the day the club had announced the signing of goalkeeper Aston Oxborough, some media outlets mentioned that this was Stevie’s first signing as manager but motherwellfc.co.uk stated that he had actually been signed by Graham Alexander.

Tuesday 14th August 1934

George Stevenson is appointed the club captain for the 1934/35 season.

Tuesday 15th August 1950

George Stevenson reported to the Board that John Russell has been successfully transferred to Kilmarnock, the club will receive £1,500 from the deal.

Saturday 15th August 1959

The side traveled to Easter Road to face Hibernian in a League Cup tie, despite the fine 3-1 win it was forward Ian St John that made the headlines when he scored a hat trick within 2 and a half minutes which is the quickest ever in the Scottish professional leagues.

Wednesday 16th August 1911

Manager, John ‘Sailor’ Hunter takes charge of his first game as the side draw 1-1 with Queen’s Park at Hampden Park, Davie Lindley netted for ‘Well.

Monday 18th August 1997

Forward, Alex Burns was the third ‘Well player to take advantage of the new ‘Bosman Ruling’ as he leaves Fir Park to join Dutch Second Division outfit FC Heracles for free. Paul Lambert and Rab McKinnon previously took advantage of this ruling which deprived the club of approximately £1.5 million in transfer fees.

Saturday 22nd August 1998

New Motherwell chairman, John Boyle drew up ambitious plans to try and make the club the third force in Scottish football, one of his first plans was to try and entice the local public to Fir Park instead of heading to Glasgow. For the next few games he introduced the ‘Football for a Fiver Scheme’ where adults paid £5 for entry whereas kids only paid £1. The first game saw 9,858 fans take the offer as the side drew 0-0 with Dunfermline Athletic in a drab affair.

Tuesday 23rd August 1927

English side Leicester City approach the club about the potential transfer of club captain Robert Ferrier, they are quickly rebuffed and told the player is not for transfer.

Wednesday 23rd August 1989

How typical, ‘Well crash out of the League Cup after losing 1-0 to St Mirren at Love Street. Midfielder, Paul Kinnaird scored the winner after 14 minutes, he had only recently departed Fir Park to join the Buddies, with Motherwell he failed to score in 39 first team games.

The side would however get a degree of retribution as they beat St Mirren 3-1 in a Premier League fixture only a matter of days later with Nicky Cusack getting a double and Stevie Kirk also amongst the goals.

Monday 24th August 1936

Alex Stewart accepted a deal with the club arriving from St Johnstone for a fee of £250. He is perhaps best known for scoring 6 goals against Celtic in a single game, the match in question was played on the 30th April 1937, when ‘Well triumphed 8-0. To this day that result stands as Celtic’s record defeat.

Tuesday 24th August 1943

Charlie Higgins has agreed terms with the club.

Saturday 25th August 2007

During the 2007/08 season Gretna who were newly promoted to the SPL didn’t have a suitable stadium that met the leagues requirements so they made an agreement with Motherwell to groundshare for the season. On this day ‘Well played as the ‘away side’ as they met the Anvil’s in a fixture at Fir Park, goals from Keith Lasley and Chris Porter secured a 2-1 win.

Wednesday 26th August 1981

Davie Hay takes over as Motherwell manager after the departure of Ally McLeod.

Thursday 27th August 2020

After a long drawn out transfer saga, talented midfielder David Turnbull joins Celtic for a record breaking transfer fee. Despite being reported to be in the region of £3,000,000, the actual figure was undisclosed.

On the same evening, the side beat Northern Irish out Glentoran 5-1 in a Europa League game at Fir Park, the tie was only one played over one leg due to the ongoing situation regarding Covid-19.

Tuesday 30th August 1938

John ‘Sailor’ Hunter reported to the board that he had interviewed Wishaw Juniors Davie Mathie, he also noted that he was given permission to sign him as long as terms with the player could be agreed upon.

Saturday 30th August 1998

The second game in John Boyle’s ‘Football for a Fiver’ initiative saw the Steelmen take on Dundee United on a Sunday with an easy evening kick off of 18:05 live on SKY Sports. A very healthy crowd of 11,201 packed Fir Park as ‘Well managed to secure a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Kai Nyyssonen.

Sunday 31st August 2008

Former ‘Well favourite Jamie Dolan died whilst out jogging near his home in Bathgate, West Lothian. A post mortem revealed he had suffered from cardiac ischaemia, his father had also passed away at the age of 44 with the same condition. Jamie was due to play in Dougie Arnott’s testimonial match in only two weeks time, he was 39 years old.

Wednesday 31st August 2016

The club make a double signing on transfer deadline day as forward Ryan Bowman arrives from Gateshead for an undisclosed fee and winger Luka Belić arrives on a 6 month loan deal from West Ham United. While Bowman would go on to enjoy a degree of success, Serbian Belić just seemed to vanish from the scheme of things, not only did he not feature for the first team but he rarely appeared for the U20’s side. Needless to say he left under a cloud, like another Mark McGhee signing the transfer drew parallels to that of Turkish forward Semih Aydilek who arrived at the club from Birmingham City in February 2009 but the closest he got to the first team was sitting on the bench without playing any minutes.

Undated August 1964

Bobby Ancell signs 18 year old left winger Billy Clark who arrives from Renfrew Juniors. Motherwell had to battle for his signature as several other clubs were eager to sign him, he had actually only been on the books at Renfrew for a short time having joined them from a Glasgow based side called Brunswick Boys Club.

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