The record · Completed season
2021-22
A tenth-place finish, a February managerial change and the cost of a failed rebuild.
Expectations
The baseline going in
A top-six baseline after a fourth-place finish, with evidence that the new management could change the style without falling out of the top half.
Top six and a cup run. This is an analyst-set baseline, not a published club target.
Stephen Glass was dismissed on 13 February 2022. Barry Robson took one match as interim and Jim Goodwin was appointed on 19 February. The club had signed a new crop of players in the summer, including Scott Brown as player-coach.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Glass | 2021-08-01 – 2022-02-09 | 25 | 8-5-12 | 30 | 32 | 29 | 1.16 |
| Barry RobsonInterim | 2022-02-15 – 2022-02-19 | 2 | 0-2-0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1.00 |
| Jim Goodwin | 2022-02-26 – 2022-05-15 | 11 | 2-4-5 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 0.91 |
Interim spells are separate records. A match in a gap is not assigned to the nearest manager.
Cups
Domestic runs
- Scottish Cup · Fifth round eliminated Lost 2-1 away to Motherwell on 12 February 2022.
- League Cup · Second round eliminated Lost 2-1 away to Raith Rovers on 15 August 2021.
Europe
Continental runs
- Conference League · Play-off round eliminated Lost 4-1 on aggregate to Qarabağ.
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 · 4 arrivals 33%
- england · 0 arrivals 0%
- europe · 0 arrivals 0%
- other · 1 arrivals 8%
- unknown · 7 arrivals 58%
7 arrivals have no resolved source market.
Age at arrival
Median 23 · average 24.5 · coverage 83%.
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 summer arrivals included Scott Brown, Declan Gallagher, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Christian Ramirez. The full 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 intended change of style is part of the public record; the measured proxies show what actually happened. The page does not equate possession with progress.
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 · 18 fixtures (38%)
- 4-3-3 · 10 fixtures (21%)
- 4-1-4-1 · 3 fixtures (6%)
- 3-4-1-2 · 3 fixtures (6%)
- 3-5-2 · 3 fixtures (6%)
- 4-4-2 · 2 fixtures (4%)
Top by starts
| Player | Starts | Mins |
|---|---|---|
| L. Ferguson | 44 | 3927 |
| J. Lewis | 42 | 3780 |
| C. Ramírez | 41 | 3656 |
| R. McCrorie | 39 | 3373 |
| J. Hayes | 35 | 3087 |
| D. Bates | 34 | 3072 |
| F. Ojo | 34 | 3044 |
| S. Brown | 31 | 2774 |
| C. Ramsay | 27 | 2293 |
| D. Gallagher | 25 | 2235 |
| R. Hedges | 20 | 1724 |
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 lineup backfill is available or partial; selection metrics are measured where coverage allows and the fraction is shown.
Academy
Youth pathway
Curated debuts
No curated academy debut is recorded for this season.
Measured new players
- S. Brown · 1 Aug 2021
- J. Emmanuel-Thomas · 1 Aug 2021
- C. Ramírez · 1 Aug 2021
- J. Gurr · 1 Aug 2021
- D. Gallagher · 8 Aug 2021
- T. Jenks · 8 Aug 2021
- M. Longstaff · 29 Aug 2021
- A. Samuels · 29 Aug 2021
- D. Bates · 11 Sept 2021
- V. Besuijen · 1 Feb 2022
- C. Barron · 15 Feb 2022
- A. Montgomery · 15 Feb 2022
- D. Polvara · 5 Mar 2022
- L. Harvey · 11 May 2022
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
- 13 Feb 2022 Barry Robson · Interim manager InInterim
- 13 Feb 2022 Stephen Glass · Manager Out dismissed
- 19 Feb 2022 Barry Robson · Interim manager OutInterim interim_end
- 19 Feb 2022 Jim Goodwin · Manager In
The read · fitba assessment
An assessment, not a measurement
What worked. The club changed manager in February and finished 10th on 41 points, in the bottom six. The European campaign reached the play-off round, one round beyond the previous season's third qualifying round.
What did not. The league fell from fourth to tenth, the League Cup ended in the second round and the Scottish Cup ended in the fifth. The summer rebuild did not produce a settled team.
The trade-off. A change of direction can cost league position before it produces a new baseline. The season is evidence of the cost; it is not by itself evidence that the direction was wrong.
The Glass experiment is the record's clearest warning against reading a single season as a verdict. The club tried to change how it played and where it recruited, and the league results fell sharply. The next two seasons test whether that was a transition cost or a structural mistake.
Look ahead. Jim Goodwin would take the club into 2022-23, then be dismissed in January with Barry Robson producing a third-place finish.
Coverage
What is measured, curated and missing
- League record: available
- Manager records: league only
- Transfers: curated_partial
- Lineups: partial · 47/49 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 · 2022-23 → · The record · Results and fixtures
Provenance
How this page is sourced
Dataset 2026-10-27T19:05:13+00:00-0154e2c. 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 2026-10-27T19:05:13+00:00-0154e2c, as of 2026-10-27T19:05:13+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.