The 2015–16 Scottish Championship (referred to as the Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the 22nd season in the current format of 10 teams in the second tier of Scottish football.
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] |
← 2014–15 2016–17 → All statistics correct as of 7 May 2016. |
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
editThe following teams have changed division since the 2014–15 season.
To ChampionshipeditPromoted from Scottish League One Relegated from Scottish Premiership | From ChampionshipeditPromoted to Scottish Premiership Relegated to Scottish League One
|
Stadia and locations
editAlloa 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
editTeam | Manager | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
---|---|---|---|
Alloa Athletic | ![]() | Pendle | Marshall Construction |
Dumbarton | ![]() | Joma | Baxter Ramsay |
Falkirk | ![]() | Puma | Central Demolition |
Greenock Morton | ![]() | Nike | Millions Sweets |
Hibernian | ![]() | Nike | Marathonbet |
Livingston | ![]() | Joma | Energy Assets |
Queen of the South | ![]() | Joma | Palmerston Cafe |
Raith Rovers | ![]() | Puma | valmcdermid.com (Home shirt) D&G Autocare (Away shirt) |
Rangers | ![]() | Puma | 32Red |
St Mirren | ![]() | Carbrini | JD Sports |
Managerial changes
editTeam | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dumbarton | ![]() | Signed by St Mirren | 22 May 2015[15] | Pre-season | ![]() | 27 May 2015[16] |
St Mirren | ![]() | Sacked | 22 May 2015[15] | ![]() | 22 May 2015[15] | |
Raith Rovers | ![]() | End of interim | 23 May 2015[17] | ![]() | 23 May 2015[17] | |
Rangers | ![]() | End of interim | 15 June 2015[18] | ![]() | 15 June 2015[18] | |
Alloa Athletic | ![]() | Resigned | 7 December 2015[19] | 10th | ![]() | 15 December 2015[20] |
St Mirren | ![]() | Resigned | 12 December 2015[21] | 8th | ![]() | 18 December 2015[22] |
Livingston | ![]() | Sacked | 21 December 2015[23] | 9th | ![]() | 23 December 2015[24][25] |
Queen of the South | ![]() | Sacked | 19 April 2016[26] | 7th | ![]() | 19 April 2016[26] |
a.^ Initially interim, made permanent 5 January 2016
League table
editPos | 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 the Premiership |
2 | Falkirk | 36 | 19 | 13 | 4 | 61 | 34 | +27 | 70 | Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-finals |
3 | Hibernian | 36 | 21 | 7 | 8 | 59 | 34 | +25 | 70 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round and for the Premiership play-off semi-finals[a] |
4 | Raith Rovers | 36 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 52 | 46 | +6 | 62 | Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-finals |
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 (R) | 36 | 8 | 7 | 21 | 37 | 51 | −14 | 31 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
10 | Alloa Athletic (R) | 36 | 4 | 9 | 23 | 22 | 67 | −45 | 21 | Relegation to League One |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:
- ^ Hibernian qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2015–16 Scottish Cup.
Results
editTeams 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
editScoring
editTop scorers
editDiscipline
editPlayer
editYellow cardsedit
| Red cardsedit
|
Club
editYellow cardsedit
| Red cardsedit
|
Attendances
editPos | 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% |
Championship play-offs
editLivingston, 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
editFirst leg
edit3 May 2016[31] | Peterhead | 1–4 | Ayr United | Balmoor, Peterhead |
20:00 | McIntosh ![]() | BBC Report | Donald ![]() Preston ![]() Crawford ![]() | Attendance: 807 Referee: Stephen Finnie |
4 May 2016[31] | Stranraer | 5–2 | Livingston | Stair Park, Stranraer |
19:45 | McGuigan ![]() Stirling ![]() Gibson ![]() | BBC Report | White ![]() Buchanan ![]() | Attendance: 589 Referee: John Beaton |
Second leg
edit7 May 2016[31] | Ayr United | 2–1 (6–2 agg.) | Peterhead | Somerset Park, Ayr |
15:00 | Crawford ![]() Devlin ![]() | BBC Report | Donald ![]() | Attendance: 1,848 Referee: Crawford Allan |
7 May 2016[31] | Livingston | 4–3 (a.e.t.) (6–8 agg.) | Stranraer | Almondvale Stadium, Livingston |
15:00 | Buchanan ![]() White ![]() Mullen ![]() Halkett ![]() | BBC Report | Cairney ![]() Dick ![]() Longworth ![]() | Attendance: 1,018 Referee: Craig Thomson |
Final
editThe 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
edit11 May 2016[32] | Stranraer | 1–1 | Ayr United | Stair Park, Stranraer |
19:45 | McGuigan ![]() | BBC Report | Docherty ![]() | Attendance: 1,652 Referee: Bobby Madden |