2019–20 Scottish Championship

The 2019–20 Scottish Championship (known as Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 26th season in the current format of 10 teams in the second-tier of Scottish football. Ten teams contested the league: Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr United, Dundee, Dundee United, Dunfermline Athletic, Greenock Morton, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Partick Thistle and Queen of the South.

Scottish Championship

Season	2019–20
Dates	3 August 2019 – 15 April 2020
Champions	Dundee United
Promoted	Dundee United
Relegated	Partick Thistle
Matches played	137
Goals scored	364 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Lawrence Shankland (24 goals)[1][2]
Biggest home win	Dundee United 6–0 Greenock Morton (28 September 2019)[2]
Biggest away win	Queen of the South 0–4 Greenock Morton (29 February 2020)[2]
Highest scoring	Dundee United 6–2 Dundee (30 August 2019)[2] Greenock Morton 4–4 Alloa Athletic (22 February 2020)[2]
Longest winning run	9 matches:[2] Dundee United
Longest unbeaten run	13 matches:[2] Dundee United
Longest winless run	10 matches:[2] Queen of the South
Longest losing run	5 matches:[2] Dunfermline Athletic
Highest attendance	14,108 Dundee United 6–2 Dundee (30 August 2019)[2]
Lowest attendance	661 Alloa Athletic 0–1 Arbroath (24 August 2019)[2]
Total attendance	414,131[2]
Average attendance	3,022[2](98)
← 2018–19 2020–21 → All statistics correct as of 1 May 2020.

The season began on 3 August 2019 and was scheduled to end on 2 May 2020.^[3] On 13 March 2020 all SPFL leagues were indefinitely suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.^[4] On 8 April 2020, the SPFL proposed to end the 2019–20 season by utilising a points per game ratio to determine the final standings.^[5] The plan was approved on 15 April 2020, declaring that the season was over, as Dundee United were declared title winners with Partick Thistle relegated to League One.^[6] Partick Thistle joined Heart of Midlothian F.C. (which had been relegated from the Scottish Premiership under similar circumstances) in suing the Scottish Professional Football League on the grounds that their relegation was unfair; Partick was two points behind the second-to-last-place team but had played one less game. Ultimately, the lawsuit failed and Partick and Hearts were indeed relegated.^[7]

Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2018–19 season:

To Championship

Arbroath secured promotion to the Championship on 13 April 2019.^[8] Dundee were relegated from the Premiership on 4 May 2019.^[9]

From Championship

Ross County secured promotion to the Premiership on 26 April 2019. Falkirk were relegated to League One on 3 May 2019.

Stadia and locations

Alloa Athletic	Arbroath	Ayr United	Dundee
Recreation Park	Gayfield Park	Somerset Park	Dens Park
Capacity: 3,100[10]	Capacity: 6,600[11]	Capacity: 10,185[12]	Capacity: 11,775[13]
Dundee United	Alloa Arbroath Ayr United Dundee Dundee Utd Dunfermline Morton Inverness CT Partick Thistle Queen of the South Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish Championship		Dunfermline Athletic
Tannadice Park			East End Park
Capacity: 14,223[14]			Capacity: 11,480[15]
Greenock Morton	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Partick Thistle	Queen of the South
Cappielow	Caledonian Stadium	Firhill Stadium	Palmerston Park
Capacity: 11,589[16]	Capacity: 7,750[17]	Capacity: 10,102[18]	Capacity: 8,690[19]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Alloa Athletic	Peter Grant	Andy Graham[20]	Pendle	Northern Gas and Power
Arbroath	Dick Campbell	Mark Whatley[21]	Pendle[22]	Megatech[22]
Ayr United	Mark Kerr	Ross Docherty[23]	Adidas[24]	Bitcoin BCH[25]
Dundee	James McPake	Josh Meekings	Macron[26]	Switch Gas & Electric[27]
Dundee United	Robbie Neilson	Mark Reynolds	Macron[28]	Utilita[28]
Dunfermline Athletic	Stevie Crawford	Paul Paton[29]	Joma[30]	SRJ Windows[30]
Greenock Morton	David Hopkin	Jim McAlister[31]	est 1874	Millions[32]
Inverness CT	John Robertson	Carl Tremarco[33]	Erreà[34]	McEwan Fraser Legal[34]
Partick Thistle	Ian McCall	Thomas O'Ware	Joma[35]	Just Employment Law[36]
Queen of the South	Allan Johnston	Stephen Dobbie[37]	Macron[38]	BB Body Repairers

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Alloa Athletic	Jim Goodwin	Signed by St Mirren	29 June 2019	Pre-season	Peter Grant	10 July 2019
Partick Thistle	Gary Caldwell	Sacked	18 September 2019	9th	Ian McCall	23 September 2019
Ayr United	Ian McCall	Signed by Partick Thistle	23 September 2019	2nd	Sandy Stewart (interim)	23 September 2019
Ayr United	Sandy Stewart	End of interim	22 October 2019	2nd	Mark Kerr	22 October 2019

League summary

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG	Promotion, qualification or relegation[lower-alpha 1]
1	Dundee United (C)	28	18	5	5	52	22	+30	59	2.11	Promotion to the Premiership
2	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27	14	3	10	39	32	+7	45	1.67
3	Dundee	27	11	8	8	32	31	+1	41	1.52
4	Ayr United	27	12	4	11	38	35	+3	40	1.48
5	Arbroath	26	10	6	10	24	26	−2	36	1.38
6	Dunfermline Athletic	28	10	7	11	41	36	+5	37	1.32
7	Greenock Morton	28	10	6	12	45	52	−7	36	1.29
8	Alloa Athletic	28	7	10	11	33	43	−10	31	1.11
9	Queen of the South	28	7	7	14	28	40	−12	28	1.00
10	Partick Thistle (R)	27	6	8	13	32	47	−15	26	0.96	Relegation to League One

Source: SPFL
Rules for classification: 1) Points per game.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. All play-off matches were cancelled, as clubs voted to curtail the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland.^[39]

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 180 games, with each team playing 36.

First half of season (Matches 1–18)

Home \ Away	ALL	ARB	AYR	DUN	DNU	DNF	GMO	INV	PAR	QOS
Alloa Athletic	—	0–1	1–4	0–3	1–0	2–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	2–2
Arbroath	2–1	—	0–3	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–1	0–0
Ayr United	2–1	1–1	—	1–2	2–0	0–1	4–2	0–2	4–1	1–0
Dundee	2–1	2–0	1–0	—	0–2	4–3	2–1	0–0	1–3	1–2
Dundee United	2–1	2–1	4–0	6–2	—	2–0	6–0	4–1	1–0	3–0
Dunfermline Athletic	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–2	0–2	—	3–1	0–1	5–1	2–0
Greenock Morton	4–1	1–0	2–3	1–0	1–2	1–1	—	2–1	3–2	2–2
Inverness CT	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–0	0–3	2–0	5–0	—	1–3	2–0
Partick Thistle	1–1	1–3	2–3	0–1	1–2	0–3	2–1	3–1	—	0–1
Queen of the South	0–1	2–0	3–1	1–1	4–0	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–2	—

Source: Scottish Championship
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season (Matches 19–36)

Home \ Away	ALL	ARB	AYR	DUN	DNU	DNF	GMO	INV	PAR	QOS
Alloa Athletic	—	2–0	0–2	N/A	0–0	N/A	N/A	2–0	1–1	N/A
Arbroath	N/A	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	0–0	1–2	N/A	2–1	2–0
Ayr United	N/A	N/A	—	0–0	0–0	N/A	1–2	1–0	N/A	1–2
Dundee	0–0	N/A	2–0	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	0–2	2–0	N/A
Dundee United	N/A	0–1	N/A	1–1	—	N/A	1–1	2–1	1–1	N/A
Dunfermline Athletic	1–3	N/A	0–1	2–0	2–0	—	1–2	N/A	N/A	1–1
Greenock Morton	4–4	1–1	N/A	1–1	N/A	3–2	—	N/A	1–2	N/A
Inverness CT	1–1	0–1	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	3–2	—	N/A	3–1
Partick Thistle	N/A	N/A	1–1	N/A	1–4	1–1	N/A	N/A	—	0–0
Queen of the South	2–3	N/A	N/A	0–1	0–1	2–3	0–4	N/A	N/A	—

Source: Scottish Championship
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Lawrence Shankland	Dundee United	24
2	Kevin Nisbet	Dunfermline Athletic	18
3	Kevin O'Hara	Alloa Athletic	10
	Alan Forrest	Ayr United
	Kane Hemmings	Dundee
6	Alan Trouten	Alloa Athletic	8
	Bob McHugh	Greenock Morton
	Stephen Dobbie	Queen of the South
9	Nicky Clark	Dundee United	7
	Jordan White	Inverness CT

Source:^[40]

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Scottish Professional Football League hat-tricks § Scottish Championship

Player	For	Against	Score	Date	Ref
Lawrence Shankland4	Dundee United	Inverness CT	4–1 (H)	3 August 2019	[41]
Bob McHugh	Greenock Morton	Alloa Athletic	4–1 (H)	10 August 2019	[42]
Lawrence Shankland	Dundee United	Greenock Morton	6–0 (H)	28 September 2019	[43]
Kevin Nisbet4	Dunfermline Athletic	Partick Thistle	5–1 (H)	30 November 2019	[44]
Lawrence Shankland	Dundee United	Partick Thistle	4–1 (A)	11 January 2020	[45]

Note

⁴ Player scored four goals

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Alloa Athletic	16,216	1,827	661	1,158	−1.7%†
2	Arbroath[lower-alpha 1]	19,006	4,052	801	1,462	+53.9%†
3	Ayr United	24,891	3,167	777	1,777	−17.6%†
4	Dundee[lower-alpha 2]	68,603	11,233	4,228	5,277	−12.4%†
5	Dundee United	118,950	14,108	6,929	8,496	+67.3%†
6	Dunfermline Athletic	62,275	6,480	3,397	4,151	−17.1%†
7	Greenock Morton	22,499	2,742	1,120	1,607	−17.3%†
8	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27,518	2,902	1,760	2,116	−17.0%†
9	Partick Thistle	35,084	4,101	1,714	2,698	−11.3%†
10	Queen of the South	19,549	2,041	1,094	1,396	−15.6%†
	League total	414,131	14,108	661	3,022	−3.1%†

Source: ^[46]

1. Club was playing in League One during the previous season.
2. Club was playing in Premiership during the previous season.

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref.
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Robbie Neilson	Dundee United	Lawrence Shankland	Dundee United
September	Ian McCall	Ayr United Partick Thistle	Alan Forrest	Ayr United
October	James McPake	Dundee	Declan McDaid	Dundee
November	Robbie Neilson	Dundee United	Kevin Nisbet	Dunfermline Athletic
December	Robbie Neilson	Dundee United	Calum Butcher	Dundee United
January	Peter Grant	Alloa Athletic	Kevin O'Hara	Alloa Athletic
February	David Hopkin	Greenock Morton	Nicky Cadden	Greenock Morton

References

1. "Top Scorers - Scottish Championship". BBC. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
2. "Scottish Championship Performance Stats 2019–20". ESPN. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
3. "Key dates for 2019/20". SPFL. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
4. "Coronavirus joint response group update". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
5. "SPFL: Clubs to vote on lower leagues; Premiership decision on hold". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 April 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
6. "Dundee Utd, Raith & Cove win titles & reconstruction talks start after Dundee vote". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
7. "Hearts & Thistle relegations confirmed". BBC Sport. 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
8. "Arbroath seal League One title with draw at Brechin City". BBC. 13 April 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
9. Watt, Martin (4 May 2019). "Dundee 0–1 Hamilton: Tony Andreu penalty sends Dundee down". BBC. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
10. "Alloa Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
11. "Arbroath Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
12. "Ayr United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
13. "Dundee Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
14. "Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
15. "Dunfermline Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
16. "Greenock Morton Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
17. "Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
18. "Partick Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
19. "Queen of the South Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
20. Hall, Jamie (27 June 2017). "Goodwin's delight in landing midfielder Thomas Grant". Alloa Advertiser. Newsquest. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
21. Johnstone, Darren (30 January 2016). "Arbroath captain Mark Whatley insists play-offs firmly in Red Litchties' sights". Deadline News. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
22. "New strips – sneak peak![sic]". Arbroath FC. 24 June 2017. Archived from the original on 6 May 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
23. "Doc signs as new club captain". Ayr United FC. 25 May 2017. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
24. "New Ayr United "Strip" 2017-18 by Adidas". Football Kit News. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
25. "New sponsor announced". Ayr United F.C. 10 April 2018. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
26. "Dee sign with Macron". dundeefc.co.uk. 14 January 2019.
27. "Switch sign up as main shirt sponsor". dundeefc.co.uk. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
28. Rooney, Richard (17 May 2018). "'We look like United again' — With a tangerine top and black shorts Dundee United's new strip is refreshingly like their older ones". DC Thomson Ltd. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
29. "Club captain appointed". Dunfermline Athletic FC. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
30. "Away kit launched". Dunfermline Athletic F.C. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
31. Mitchell, Jonathan (16 July 2018). "Jim McAlister appointed club captain". Greenock Morton F.C. Archived from the original on 19 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
32. Mitchell, Jonathan (7 April 2017). "Order the new tartan away kit today". Greenock Morton F.C. Archived from the original on April 22, 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
33. Law, Danny (5 July 2018). "Carl Tremarco named new Caley Thistle captain". Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
34. "A new kit - a new season". Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. 9 May 2017. Archived from the original on 25 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
35. "2018/19 kits launched". Partick Thistle F.C. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
36. "Just Employment Law backs the Jags for another season". Partick Thistle F.C. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
37. "Report - Stranrer 14.7.18". Queen of the South F.C. 15 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
38. "Introducing ... 2017/18 kit". Queen of the South F.C. 27 April 2017. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
39. "Dundee Utd, Raith & Cove win titles and reconstruction talks start after Dundee vote". BBC Sport. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
40. "Scottish Championship Top Scorers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
41. Lewis, Jane (3 August 2019). "Dundee United 4–1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
42. "Greenock Morton 4-1 Alloa Athletic". BBC Sport. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
43. "Dundee United 6–0 Greenock Morton". bbc.co.uk. 28 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
44. "Dunfermline Athletic 5-1 Partick Thistle". BBC Sport. 30 November 2019.
45. "Partick Thistle 1–4 Dundee United". bbc.co.uk. 11 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
46. ">Ladbrokes Championship Results". SPFL. Retrieved 10 August 2019.