The record · Completed season
2025-26
A European league phase and a cup defence, followed by a relegation worry and a managerial reset.
Expectations
The baseline going in
A top-four baseline after the Scottish Cup win, with a first European league phase in the modern era and a squad expected to defend the cup.
Top four, European progress and a cup defence. This is an analyst-set baseline, not a published club target.
Jimmy Thelin was dismissed on 4 January 2026. Peter Leven took interim charge, assisted by Craig Hinchliffe, and Stephen Robinson was appointed on 12 March 2026 after a 67-day search. The club finished ninth with 40 points.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Thelin | 2025-08-04 – 2026-01-03 | 20 | 7-4-9 | 20 | 24 | 25 | 1.25 |
| Peter LevenInterim | 2026-01-06 – 2026-03-04 | 9 | 1-1-7 | 9 | 17 | 4 | 0.44 |
| Stephen Robinson | 2026-03-14 – 2026-05-17 | 9 | 3-2-4 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 1.22 |
Interim spells are separate records. A match in a gap is not assigned to the nearest manager.
Cups
Domestic runs
- Scottish Cup · Quarter-final eliminated Lost 3-0 at Dunfermline Athletic on 7 March 2026.
- League Cup · Quarter-final eliminated Lost 1-0 at home to Motherwell.
Europe
Continental runs
- Europa League · Play-off round eliminated Lost 5-2 on aggregate to FCSB; dropped into the Conference League.
- Conference League · League phase eliminated Finished 35th of 36; results included a 6-0 defeat at AEK Athens and a 3-2 home loss to Shakhtar Donetsk.
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 17%
- england · 7 arrivals 29%
- europe · 11 arrivals 46%
- other · 2 arrivals 8%
- unknown · 0 arrivals 0%
0 arrivals have no resolved source market.
Age at arrival
Median 25 · average 24.2 · coverage 96%.
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
Key business includes Kevin Nisbet's permanent move, Nicolas Milanovic's arrival, Emmanuel Gyamfi, Kjartan Már Kjartansson and a series of loans. The full set is in the transfer register; key business is linked below. 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.
European football and a relegation fight in the same season are the trade-off in its sharpest form. The measured proxies show what happened; the reading does not use the European campaign to excuse the league form.
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 · 10 fixtures (20%)
- 3-4-2-1 · 10 fixtures (20%)
- 3-4-3 · 7 fixtures (14%)
- 4-1-4-1 · 7 fixtures (14%)
- 3-4-1-2 · 5 fixtures (10%)
- 3-5-2 · 3 fixtures (6%)
Top by starts
| Player | Starts | Mins |
|---|---|---|
| J. Milne | 44 | 3986 |
| D. Mitov | 44 | 3960 |
| M. Knoester | 34 | 2917 |
| N. Devlin | 32 | 2962 |
| K. Nisbet | 32 | 2738 |
| S. Armstrong | 31 | 2571 |
| A. Jensen | 29 | 2522 |
| T. Keskinen | 27 | 2290 |
| G. Shinnie | 25 | 2420 |
| A. Aouchiche | 25 | 1991 |
| J. Karlsson | 23 | 1915 |
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 archive is available from the current career-role backfill for 2025-26; selection metrics are published where coverage allows.
Academy
Youth pathway
Curated debuts
No curated academy debut is recorded for this season.
Measured new players
- N. Milanovic · 4 Aug 2025
- A. Aouchiche · 4 Aug 2025
- K. Yengi · 4 Aug 2025
- M. Lazetic · 31 Aug 2025
- E. Gyamfi · 23 Sept 2025
- S. Armstrong · 23 Sept 2025
- J. Karlsson · 23 Sept 2025
- K. Bilalovic · 23 Sept 2025
- D. Lobban · 29 Oct 2025
- K. Kjartansson · 6 Jan 2026
- M. Frame · 24 Jan 2026
- L. Cameron · 24 Jan 2026
- T. Olusanya · 24 Jan 2026
- L. Morrison · 31 Jan 2026
- A. Afeez · 15 Feb 2026
- P. Bratveit · 24 Feb 2026
- T. McIntyre · 24 Feb 2026
- D. Geiger · 4 Mar 2026
- E. Bwomono · 11 Apr 2026
- N. Suman · 17 May 2026
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
- 10 Nov 2025 Lutz Pfannenstiel · Sporting director In
- 4 Jan 2026 Christer Persson · Assistant manager Out dismissed
- 4 Jan 2026 Craig Hinchliffe · Assistant manager InInterim
- 4 Jan 2026 Jimmy Thelin · Manager Out dismissed
- 4 Jan 2026 Peter Leven · Interim manager InInterim
- 12 Mar 2026 Brian Kerr · Assistant manager In
- 12 Mar 2026 Craig Hinchliffe · Assistant manager OutInterim interim_end
- 12 Mar 2026 Peter Leven · Interim manager OutInterim interim_end
- 12 Mar 2026 Stephen Robinson · Manager In
The read · fitba assessment
An assessment, not a measurement
What worked. The club reached a European league phase and defended the Scottish Cup into the quarter-finals. The managerial search ended with a permanent appointment before the end of the season, giving the next campaign a settled start.
What did not. The league fell to ninth and the club was winless away from home in the 2025-26 league season (January to May 2026). The cup defence ended in a 3-0 quarter-final defeat at Dunfermline. The European league phase produced heavy defeats and a 35th-place finish.
The trade-off. European league-phase football is a reward for the previous season and a cost in the next: travel, squad depth and league points. The season shows both sides, and the managerial change shows the cost of waiting too long to act.
The 2025-26 season is the strongest argument for reading the record as a trade-off rather than a verdict. The club was in Europe, defended a trophy and still fell into a relegation worry. The reset to Stephen Robinson is the response; the 2026-27 season is the test of whether it changes the pattern.
Look ahead. Stephen Robinson's first full season would begin with a substantial squad rebuild, no European football and a League Cup semi-final against Rangers.
Coverage
What is measured, curated and missing
- League record: available
- Manager records: league only
- Transfers: audited
- Lineups: available · 52/52 fixtures
- Unattributed league matches: 0
League-only manager records. Cup/Europe runs are curated exit rounds. Selection is measured where historical lineups exist.
← 2024-25 · 2026-27 → · 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.