# 2015–16 Motherwell F.C. season

The 2015–16 season is Motherwell's thirty-first consecutive season in the top flight of Scottish football and the third in the newly established Scottish Premiership, having been promoted from the Scottish First Division at the end of the 1984–85 season. Motherwell will also compete in the League Cup and the Scottish Cup.

## Important Events

On 12 June 2015, Motherwell announced their first batch of Pre-season Friendlies.
On 23 September 2015, Motherwell parted ways with manager Ian Baraclough.
On 13 October 2015, Mark McGhee returned to the club as manager.

## Results & Fixtures

Win  Draw  Loss  Postponed

### Scottish League Cup
## Squad statistics
### Appearances

    As of match played 15 May 2016
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Scottish Premiership | Scottish Premiership | Scottish League Cup | Scottish League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 3 | DF | SCO | Steven Hammell | 29 | 0 | 25+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ENG | Louis Laing | 16 | 1 | 13+2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | SCO | Stephen McManus | 40 | 1 | 37 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | ENG | Lionel Ainsworth | 33 | 3 | 17+12 | 2 | 1+1 | 1 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | SCO | Stephen Pearson | 28 | 9 | 25+1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 | FW | ENG | Wes Fletcher | 14 | 1 | 5+9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | ENG | Marvin Johnson | 42 | 6 | 34+4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 13 | GK | SCO | Craig Samson | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | MF | SCO | Keith Lasley | 33 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | SCO | Joe Chalmers | 19 | 0 | 11+6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | ENG | Kieran Kennedy | 25 | 0 | 18+4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ENG | Josh Law | 33 | 0 | 28+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | SCO | David Clarkson | 8 | 0 | 0+7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | ENG | Louis Moult | 42 | 18 | 34+4 | 15 | 1+1 | 2 | 1+1 | 1 |
| 21 | MF | SCO | Jack Leitch | 13 | 0 | 3+8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | SCO | Craig Moore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | SCO | Dom Thomas | 17 | 0 | 2+12 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 24 | FW | SCO | James McFadden | 4 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | SCO | Chris Cadden | 21 | 2 | 16+4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 27 | DF | SCO | David Ferguson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | DF | SCO | Luke Watt | 3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | MF | SCO | Robbie Leitch | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | GK | SCO | Brett Long | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | NIR | Ben Hall | 19 | 1 | 16+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | SCO | Jack McMillan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | FW | SCO | Dylan Mackin | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | MF | SCO | Allan Campbell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | FW | SCO | Ryan Watters | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | SCO | Jake Hastie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | DF | SCO | Adam Livingstone | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | MF | SCO | Ross MacLean | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | | SCO | Dylan Falconer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | MF | SCO | Barry Maguire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | GK | SCO | P. J. Morrison | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | | SCO | Josh Moore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | MF | SCO | David Turnbull | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | FW | AUS | Scott McDonald | 41 | 14 | 34+3 | 10 | 0+2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Players away from the club on loan: ||||||||||||
| Players who left Motherwell during the season: ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | ENG | Connor Ripley | 40 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | SCO | Craig Reid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | ENG | Liam Grimshaw | 16 | 0 | 13+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | GK | GER | Dan Twardzik | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | JAM | Theo Robinson | 11 | 0 | 2+8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | SEN | Morgaro Gomis | 11 | 0 | 8+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 25 | MF | WAL | Jake Taylor | 8 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Goal scorers

    As of match played 15 May 2016
| Ranking | Nation | Number | Name | Scottish Premiership | Scottish Cup | Scottish League Cup | Total |
| 1 | | 20 | Louis Moult | 15 | 1 | 2 | 18 |
| 2 | | 77 | Scott McDonald | 10 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| 3 | | 8 | Stephen Pearson | 7 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| 4 | | 11 | Marvin Johnson | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | | 7 | Lionel Ainsworth | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | | 26 | Chris Cadden | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | | 9 | Wes Fletcher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | | 32 | Ben Hall | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | | 6 | Stephen McManus | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | | 5 | Louis Laing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | | 14 | Keith Lasley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | | | Own goal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | TOTALS | 47 | 6 | 5 | 55 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of match played 15 May 2016
| Position | Number | Name | Scottish Premier League | Scottish Premier League | Scottish League Cup | Scottish League Cup | Scottish Cup | Scottish Cup | Total | Total |
| GK | 1 | Connor Ripley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| DF | 3 | Steven Hammell | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| MF | 4 | Liam Grimshaw | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | 5 | Louis Laing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | 6 | Stephen McManus | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| MF | 7 | Lionel Ainsworth | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | 8 | Stephen Pearson | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| MF | 11 | Marvin Johnson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | 14 | Keith Lasley | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| DF | 15 | Joe Chalmers | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| DF | 16 | Kieran Kennedy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | 17 | Morgaro Gomis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | 18 | Josh Law | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| FW | 20 | Louis Moult | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| MF | 21 | Jack Leitch | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| MF | 25 | Jake Taylor | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| MF | 26 | Chris Cadden | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| DF | 31 | Ben Hall | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FW | 77 | Scott McDonald | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| | | TOTALS | 66 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 72 | 4 |

## Team statistics
### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 3 | Heart of Midlothian | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 59 | 40 | +19 | 65 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | St Johnstone | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 58 | 55 | +3 | 56 | |
| 5 | Motherwell | 38 | 15 | 5 | 18 | 47 | 63 | −16 | 50 | |
| 6 | Ross County | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 55 | 61 | −6 | 48 | |
| 7 | Inverness Caledonian Thistle | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 54 | 48 | +6 | 52 | |
* ↑ Teams play each other three times (33 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six).

#### 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 | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A |
| Result | W | L | L | L | L | W | D | L | W | L | L | D | W | L | L | D | W | W | W | D | L | L | D | L | L | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | L | L | W | L |
| Position | 5 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: BBC Sport

#### Results by opponent

Motherwell score first
| Team | Results | Results | Results | Results | Points |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Points |
| Aberdeen | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 4 |
| Celtic | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–7 | 3 |
| Dundee | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | - | 4 |
| Dundee United | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | - | 6 |
| Hamilton Academical | 0–1 | 3–3 | 1–0 | - | 4 |
| Heart of Midlothian | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–6 | 1–0 | 4 |
| Inverness C.T. | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | - | 6 |
| Kilmarnock | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | - | 6 |
| Partick Thistle | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | - | 6 |
| Ross County | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 4 |
| St Johnstone | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3 |
Source: 2015–16 Scottish Premier League Results Table

## Transfers
### Released

| Date | Position | Name | Joined | Date |
| 26 January 2016 | GK | Dan Twardzik | VSG Altglienicke | 2018 |
| 31 May 2016 | GK | Brett Long | | |
| 31 May 2016 | MF | Jack Leitch | Airdrieonians | 2 September 2016 |
| 31 May 2016 | FW | David Clarkson | St Mirren | 1 June 2016 |
| 31 May 2016 | FW | Wes Fletcher | The New Saints | 30 August 2016 |
| 14 June 2016 | DF | Ben Hall | Brighton & Hove Albion | 14 June 2016 |