2015–16 Scottish Championship

Ladbrokes Championship
Season 2015–16
Champions Rangers
Promoted Rangers
Relegated Alloa Athletic
Livingston
Europa League Hibernian
Matches played 180
Goals scored 483 (2.68 per match)
Top goalscorer Martyn Waghorn
(20 goals)[1]
Biggest home win Queen of the South 6–0 Dumbarton[2]
(19 March 2016)
Biggest away win Dumbarton 0–6 Rangers[2]
(2 January 2016)
Highest scoring Raith Rovers 4–3 St Mirren[2]
(5 March 2016)
Rangers 4–3 Queen of the South[2]
(26 March 2016)
Longest winning run 11 matches:[2]
Rangers
Longest unbeaten run 14 matches:[2]
Hibernian
Longest winless run 12 matches:[2]
Alloa Athletic
Longest losing run 7 matches:[2]
Alloa Athletic
Highest attendance 50,349[2]
Rangers 1–1 Alloa Athletic
(23 April 2016)
Lowest attendance 468[2]
Dumbarton 3–1 Alloa Athletic
(8 March 2016)
Total attendance 1,331,484[2]
Average attendance 7,397[2]
All statistics correct as of 7 May 2016.

The 2015–16 Scottish Championship (referred to as the Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the 21st season in the current format of 10 teams in the second tier of Scottish football.

Rangers won the league title and promotion after a 1–0 win against Dumbarton on 5 April 2016,[3] while Alloa Athletic were relegated after a 0–0 draw against Livingston on 2 April 2016.[4]

Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2014–15 season.

Stadia and locations

Alloa Athletic Dumbarton Falkirk Greenock Morton
Recreation Park Dumbarton Football Stadium Falkirk Stadium Cappielow Park
Capacity: 3,100[5] Capacity: 2,020[6] Capacity: 8,750[7] Capacity: 11,589[8]
Hibernian Livingston
Easter Road Almondvale Stadium
Capacity: 20,421[9] Capacity: 9,865[10]
Queen of the South Raith Rovers Rangers St Mirren
Palmerston Park Stark's Park Ibrox Stadium St Mirren Park
Capacity: 8,690[11] Capacity: 8,867[12] Capacity: 50,817[13] Capacity: 8,023[14]

Personnel and kits

Team Manager Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Alloa Athletic Scotland Jack Ross Pendle Marshall Construction
Dumbarton Scotland Stephen Aitken Joma Baxter Ramsay
Falkirk Scotland Peter Houston Puma Central Demolition
Greenock Morton Scotland Jim Duffy Nike Millions Sweets
Hibernian England Alan Stubbs Nike Marathonbet
Livingston Scotland David Hopkin Joma Energy Assets
Queen of the South England Gavin Skelton (Caretaker) Joma Palmerston Cafe
Raith Rovers Scotland Ray McKinnon Puma valmcdermid.com (Home shirt)
D&G Autocare (Away shirt)
Rangers England Mark Warburton Puma 32Red
St Mirren Scotland Alex Rae Carbrini JD Sports

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Dumbarton Scotland Ian Murray Signed by St Mirren 22 May 2015[15] Pre-season Scotland Stevie Aitken 27 May 2015[16]
St Mirren Scotland Gary Teale Sacked 22 May 2015[15] Scotland Ian Murray 22 May 2015[15]
Raith Rovers Scotland Laurie Ellis (interim) End of interim 23 May 2015[17] Scotland Ray McKinnon 23 May 2015[17]
Rangers Scotland Stuart McCall (interim) End of interim 15 June 2015[18] England Mark Warburton 15 June 2015[18]
Alloa Athletic Scotland Danny Lennon Resigned 7 December 2015[19] 10th Scotland Jack Ross 15 December 2015[20]
St Mirren Scotland Ian Murray Resigned 12 December 2015[21] 8th Scotland Alex Rae 18 December 2015[22]
Livingston Scotland Mark Burchill Sacked 21 December 2015[23] 9th Scotland David Hopkina 23 December 2015[24][25]
Queen of the South Scotland James Fowler Sacked 19 April 2016[26] 7th England Gavin Skelton (interim) 19 April 2016[26]

a.^ Initially interim, made permanent 5 January 2016

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Rangers (C, P) 36 25 6 5 88 34 +54 81 Promotion to Scottish Premiership
2 Falkirk (Q) 36 19 13 4 61 34 +27 70 Qualification to Premiership play-off semi-finals
3 Hibernian (Q) 36 21 7 8 59 34 +25 70 Qualification to Premiership play-off quarter-finals
4 Raith Rovers (Q) 36 18 8 10 52 46 +6 62
5 Greenock Morton 36 11 10 15 39 42 −3 43
6 St Mirren 36 11 9 16 44 53 −9 42
7 Queen of the South 36 12 6 18 46 56 −10 42
8 Dumbarton 36 10 7 19 35 66 −31 37
9 Livingston (Q, R) 36 8 7 21 37 51 −14 31 Qualification to Championship play-offs
10 Alloa Athletic (R) 36 4 9 23 22 67 −45 21 Relegation to Scottish League One
Updated to match(es) played on 1 May 2016. Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (R) Relegated.

Results

Teams play each other four times, twice in the first half of the season (home and away) and twice in the second half of the season (home and away), making a total of 36 games.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 1 May 2016[27][1]
Rank Player Club Goals
1 England Martyn Waghorn Rangers 20
2 Scotland Jason Cummings Hibernian 18
3 Scotland John Baird Falkirk 17
4 Scotland Denny Johnstone Greenock Morton 14
Scotland Kenny Miller Rangers
6 Scotland Derek Lyle Queen of the South 13
7 Scotland Liam Buchanan Livingston 11
Scotland Iain Russell Queen of the South
Scotland Stevie Mallan St Mirren

Discipline

Player

Club

Attendances

Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Alloa Athletic 20,182 3,100 492 1,121 −21.2%†
2 Dumbarton 18,739 1,978 468 1,041 −2.9%†
3 Falkirk 84,052 7,804 3,550 4,669 −1.2%†
4 Greenock Morton 49,153 7,392 1,175 2,730 +59.1%†
5 Hibernian 168,105 14,412 6,686 9,339 −8.1%†
6 Livingston 31,766 6,505 787 1,764 −27.3%†
7 Queen of the South 38,072 5,858 1,047 2,115 −23.4%†
8 Raith Rovers 41,698 6,943 1,064 2,316 −10.9%†
9 Rangers 815,841 50,349 37,182 45,324 +38.2%†
10 St Mirren 63,876 5,933 2,321 3,548 −8.3%†
League total 1,331,484 50,349 468 7,397 −2.6%†

Updated to games played on 1 May 2016
Source: [2][30]

Championship play-offs

Livingston, the second bottom team, entered into a 4-team playoff with the 2nd-4th placed teams in 2015–16 Scottish League One; Ayr United, Peterhead, and Stranraer.

Semi-finals

First leg

Second leg

Final

The winners of the semi-finals, Ayr United and Stranraer, competed against one another over two legs, with the winner, Ayr, replacing Livingston and being promoted to the 2016–17 Scottish Championship.

First leg

Second leg

References

  1. 1 2 "2015–16 Scottish Championship scorers". ESPN. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "2015–16 Scottish Championship performance". ESPN. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "Rangers 1-0 Dumbarton". BBC Sport. 5 April 2016.
  4. ↑ "Livingston 0-0 Alloa Athletic". BBC Sport. 2 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "Alloa Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  6. ↑ "Dumbarton Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  7. ↑ "Falkirk Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  8. ↑ "Greenock Morton Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  9. ↑ "Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. ↑ "Livingston Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "Queen of the South Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  12. ↑ "Raith Rovers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  14. ↑ "St Mirren Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  15. 1 2 3 "St Mirren: Ian Murray leaves Dumbarton to be Buddies boss". BBC Sport. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "Dumbarton: Stranraer's Stephen Aitken makes managerial switch". BBC Sport. 27 May 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Raith Rovers: Brechin's Ray McKinnon in Kirkcaldy switch". BBC Sport. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  18. 1 2 "Rangers: Mark Warburton - 'no short-term fixes' for new manager". BBC Sport. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  19. ↑ "Danny Lennon resigns as Alloa Athletic manager". BBC Sport. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  20. ↑ "Alloa Athletic name Jack Ross as their new manager". BBC Sport. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "St Mirren: Ian Murray resigns after six months as manager". BBC Sport. 12 December 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  22. ↑ "St Mirren: Alex Rae succeeds Ian Murray as manager". BBC Sport. 18 December 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  23. ↑ "Livingston sack manager Mark Burchill". BBC Sport. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  24. ↑ "Interim role for Hopkin at Livingston". SPFL. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  25. ↑ "David Hopkin appointed Livingston head coach until end of season". BBC Sport. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  26. 1 2 "Queen of the South part with manager James Fowler". BBC Sport. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  27. ↑ "Scottish Championship Top Scorers". BBC. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  28. 1 2 "2015–16 Scottish Championship statistics – Player Discipline". ESPN. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  29. 1 2 "2015–16 Scottish League One statistics – Club Discipline". ESPN. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  30. ↑ "2014–15 Scottish Championship performance". ESPN. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  31. 1 2 3 4 "Play-off fixtures for next week". SPFL.
  32. 1 2 "Championship play-off final on BBC ALBA". spfl.co.uk. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
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