The record · Completed season
2019-20
A top-four finish in a season that began before Cormack and ended in a curtailed league.
Expectations
The baseline going in
A top-four baseline under Derek McInnes, with an expectation of European qualification and a meaningful cup run.
Qualify for Europe and reach the latter stages of a cup. This is an analyst-set baseline, not a published club target.
The league was curtailed in May 2020 and placings were decided on average points per game. The Scottish Cup semi-final was not played until November 2020. Cormack's chairmanship began in December 2019, so this is a transition season rather than a full Cormack-era sample.
Measured
The league record
Manager records are league-only. Cup and European results are curated exit rounds, not match-level manager records.
The season
Managers and the within-season split
| Manager | Dates | Pld | W-D-L | GF | GA | Pts | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derek McInnes | 2019-08-04 – 2020-03-07 | 30 | 12-9-9 | 40 | 36 | 45 | 1.50 |
Interim spells are separate records. A match in a gap is not assigned to the nearest manager.
Cups
Domestic runs
- Scottish Cup · Semi-final eliminated Lost 2-0 to Celtic; the semi-final was played on 1 November 2020 after the league had been curtailed.
- League Cup · Quarter-final eliminated Lost to Heart of Midlothian on penalties in September 2019.
Europe
Continental runs
- Europa League · Third qualifying round eliminated Lost 4-0 on aggregate to Rijeka; the home leg was on 15 August 2019.
Recruitment
What came in and went out
Estimated net is a range from public/reported fee anchors and a transparent age, position and market model. It is not an audited balance; free transfers count as zero fee and loan fees are excluded.
Source market
- scotland · 2 arrivals 20%
- england · 2 arrivals 20%
- europe · 0 arrivals 0%
- other · 0 arrivals 0%
- unknown · 6 arrivals 60%
6 arrivals have no resolved source market.
Age at arrival
Median 24.5 · average 24.9 · coverage 80%.
Disclosed fees only. Undisclosed is never zero and is excluded from the totals. Age is shown only where a birth date is known.
Key business
Historical transfer rows are curated partial before 2024-25. The full 2019-20 set is in the transfer register. Full transfer register →
Style
How the season looked
Opponent-unadjusted team proxies from league match rows. Not xG and not a tactical model. Possession is provider-reported only.
The page does not claim a tactical identity from memory. It shows the measured shot, corner, foul and card proxies and labels the reading.
Possession is not shown unless the provider team-statistics backfill is available; it is never inferred.
Selection
Who played, and how old they were
Formation mix
- 4-2-3-1 · 17 fixtures (40%)
- 4-3-3 · 8 fixtures (19%)
- No grid · 7 fixtures (16%)
- 4-4-2 · 3 fixtures (7%)
- 3-5-2 · 3 fixtures (7%)
- 4-1-4-1 · 1 fixtures (2%)
Top by starts
| Player | Starts | Mins |
|---|---|---|
| J. Lewis | 43 | 3870 |
| L. Ferguson | 39 | 3510 |
| A. Considine | 38 | 3467 |
| S. McKenna | 35 | 3049 |
| S. Logan | 34 | 3053 |
| S. Cosgrove | 33 | 2914 |
| N. McGinn | 33 | 2866 |
| F. Ojo | 24 | 1973 |
| G. Leigh | 23 | 2010 |
| R. Hedges | 23 | 1972 |
| A. Taylor | 20 | 1635 |
Formation is the kick-off shape. Ages use the season roster or a known birth date; missing ages are excluded, not filled. Top-by-starts is not a claim that those players started together.
The most-used players and age profile are measured from the historical lineups, not inferred from the current squad.
Academy
Youth pathway
Curated debuts
No curated academy debut is recorded for this season.
Measured new players
New-player measurement starts in the following season.
Curated debuts are explicit club/academy records. Measured new players are first appearances in the covered history, not career debuts.
Off the pitch
Staff changes
- 16 Dec 2019 Dave Cormack · Board member Out role_change
- 16 Dec 2019 Dave Cormack · Chairman In
- 16 Dec 2019 Stewart Milne · Chairman Out resigned
- 16 Dec 2019 Stewart Milne · Board member In
The read · fitba assessment
An assessment, not a measurement
What worked. The senior squad held a top-four position through a curtailed league and reached the Scottish Cup semi-final and League Cup quarter-final. The transition from Milne to Cormack did not produce a mid-season collapse.
What did not. The European campaign ended at the third qualifying round for the sixth year in a row, and the Scottish Cup semi-final was lost without a goal. The league position was decided by average points per game, not a full season.
The trade-off. Continuity protected the league floor but did not change the European ceiling. The first Cormack season is the baseline against which the later turnover is measured.
This is the control case: a stable, senior squad under a long-serving manager, finishing where the previous seasons had finished. It is not yet evidence for or against the trading model. Its value is as a comparison — the later seasons show what changed when the squad, the manager and the recruitment pattern changed.
Look ahead. The 2020-21 season would end the McInnes era and begin the most volatile managerial sequence of the period.
Coverage
What is measured, curated and missing
- League record: available
- Manager records: league only
- Transfers: curated_partial
- Lineups: available · 43/43 fixtures
- Unattributed league matches: 0
League-only manager records. Cup/Europe runs are curated exit rounds. Selection is measured where historical lineups exist.
2020-21 → · The record · Results and fixtures
Provenance
How this page is sourced
Dataset 2026-10-27T12:06:31+00:00-c598315. Sources and coverage are listed below; the page keeps its own source and uncertainty labels.
- Cormack-era historical record · mixed · active
- League results, historical · football_data_uk · active
- Published transfer register · curated · active
- Medium and long-term themes · derived · active
Definitions: history.baseline · history.coverage · history.defeats · history.scorecard · history.season · history.season-document · history.staff
Corrections and changes are recorded on Corrections and contact.
Cite this page
Cormack era. Dataset 2026-10-27T12:06:31+00:00-c598315, as of 2026-10-27T12:06:31+00:00. Sources: mixed; football-data.co.uk; curated; derived. Definitions: history.baseline; history.coverage; history.defeats; history.scorecard; history.season; history.season-document; history.staff.