2020–21 Scottish Championship

The 2020–21 Scottish Championship was the eighth season of the Scottish Championship, the second tier of Scottish football.

Scottish Championship

Season	2020–21
Dates	16 October 2020 – 30 April 2021
Champions	Heart of Midlothian
Promoted	Heart of Midlothian Dundee
Relegated	Alloa Athletic
Matches played	135
Goals scored	380 (2.81 per match)
Top goalscorer	Liam Boyce (14 goals)[1]
Biggest home win	Heart of Midlothian 6–0 Alloa Athletic (9 April 2021)
Biggest away win	Raith Rovers 0–4 Heart of Midlothian (26 January 2021)
Highest scoring	Heart of Midlothian 6–2 Dundee (16 October 2020) Heart of Midlothian 5–3 Ayr United (26 December 2020)
← 2019–20 2021–22 →

Ten teams contested the league: Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr United, Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic, Greenock Morton, Heart of Midlothian, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Queen of the South and Raith Rovers.

In June 2020, eight of the ten clubs voted in favour of shortening the season from the usual 36 games to 27 (playing each other three instead of four times), with the season starting on 16 October 2020.^[2] This was done to reduce costs in light of the coronavirus pandemic.^[2]

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2019–20 season.^[3]

To Championship

Promoted from League One

• Raith Rovers

Relegated from the Premiership

• Heart of Midlothian

From Championship

Relegated to League One

• Partick Thistle

Promoted to the Premiership

• Dundee United

Stadia and locations

Alloa Athletic	Arbroath	Ayr United	Dundee
Recreation Park	Gayfield Park	Somerset Park	Dens Park
Capacity: 3,100[4]	Capacity: 6,600[5]	Capacity: 10,185[6]	Capacity: 11,775[7]
Dunfermline Athletic	Alloa Athletic Arbroath Ayr United Dundee Dunfermline Athletic Greenock Morton Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Queen of the South Raith Rovers Location of teams in 2020–21 Scottish Championship		Greenock Morton
East End Park			Cappielow
Capacity: 11,480[8]			Capacity: 11,589[9]
Heart of Midlothian	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Queen of the South	Raith Rovers
Tynecastle Park	Caledonian Stadium	Palmerston Park	Stark's Park
Capacity: 19,852[10]	Capacity: 7,750[11]	Capacity: 8,690[12]	Capacity: 8,867[13]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Alloa Athletic	Peter Grant	Andy Graham[14]	Pendle	Northern Gas and Power
Arbroath	Dick Campbell	Mark Whatley[15]	Pendle[16]	Megatech[16]
Ayr United	David Hopkin	Jack Baird	Hummel[17]	Bitcoin BCH[18]
Dundee	James McPake	Charlie Adam	Macron[19]	Crown Engineering Services[20]
Dunfermline Athletic	Stevie Crawford	Euan Murray[21]	Joma[22]	SRJ Windows[22]
Greenock Morton	Gus MacPherson	Sean McGinty	est 1874	Millions[23]
Heart of Midlothian	Robbie Neilson	Steven Naismith	Umbro	Save the Children
Inverness CT	Neil McCann (interim)	Sean Welsh	Puma[24]	ILI Group[24]
Queen of the South	Allan Johnston	Stephen Dobbie[25]	Macron[26]	BP's Taxis
Raith Rovers	John McGlynn	Kyle Benedictus	Joma[27]	valmcdermid.com[27](Home) TAG (Away)

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Heart of Midlothian	Daniel Stendel	End of contract	21 June 2020[28]	Pre-season	Robbie Neilson	21 June 2020[29]
Greenock Morton	David Hopkin	Resigned	10 December 2020[30]	7th	Anton McElhone (interim)	10 December 2020[30]
Inverness CT	John Robertson	Compassionate leave	22 February 2021	7th	Neil McCann (interim)	23 February 2021
Ayr United	Mark Kerr	Mutual consent	28 February 2021[31]	9th	David Hopkin	11 March 2021[32]
Greenock Morton	Anton McElhone	End of interim	10 March 2021[33]	6th	Gus MacPherson	10 March 2021[33]

League summary

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Heart of Midlothian (C, P)	27	17	6	4	63	24	+39	57	Promotion to the Premiership
2	Dundee (O, P)	27	12	9	6	49	40	+9	45	Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-final
3	Raith Rovers	27	12	7	8	45	36	+9	43	Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-final
4	Dunfermline Athletic	27	10	9	8	38	34	+4	39
5	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27	8	12	7	36	31	+5	36
6	Queen of the South	27	9	5	13	38	51	−13	32
7	Arbroath	27	7	9	11	28	34	−6	30
8	Ayr United	27	6	11	10	31	37	−6	29
9	Greenock Morton (O)	27	6	11	10	22	33	−11	29	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
10	Alloa Athletic (R)	27	5	7	15	30	60	−30	22	Relegation to League One

Source: SPFL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-to head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Play-off (only for deciding promotion, play-off participation and relegation).^[34]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Teams play each other three times, twice in the first two thirds of the season (home and away) and once in the last third of the season, making a total of 135 games, with each team playing 27.

First two thirds of season (Matches 1–18)

Home \ Away	ALL	ARB	AYR	DUN	DNF	GMO	HOM	INV	QOS	RAI
Alloa Athletic	—	1–1	0–2	3–3	1–4	1–1	1–3	2–1	2–1	2–5
Arbroath	0–1	—	2–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–0
Ayr United	4–1	0–1	—	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	2–1	0–0
Dundee	3–1	1–0	1–3	—	3–3	1–0	3–1	2–1	2–3	1–1
Dunfermline Athletic	2–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	—	1–2	2–1	3–1	3–2	4–1
Greenock Morton	1–0	0–1	3–2	2–2	0–0	—	0–2	2–2	2–0	0–1
Heart of Midlothian	3–0	3–1	5–3	6–2	1–0	1–1	—	2–1	6–1	2–3
Inverness CT	2–2	3–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	—	0–1	2–0
Queen of the South	2–0	2–2	3–2	1–3	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–3	—	2–5
Raith Rovers	3–1	3–0	0–0	3–1	2–2	5–0	0–4	0–1	0–2	—

Source: SPFL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Last third of season (Matches 19–27)

Home \ Away	ALL	ARB	AYR	DUN	DNF	GMO	HOM	INV	QOS	RAI
Alloa Athletic	—	—	2–2	0–3	1–0	—	—	1–1	—	1–2
Arbroath	2–1	—	4–0	—	—	0–0	0–0	—	2–4	—
Ayr United	—	—	—	0–3	1–1	—	—	—	0–0	1–1
Dundee	—	2–0	—	—	3–2	1–1	—	—	—	2–1
Dunfermline Athletic	—	4–3	—	—	—	1–0	0–0	0–1	3–1	—
Greenock Morton	1–1	—	0–2	—	—	—	0–0	1–4	2–1	—
Heart of Midlothian	6–0	—	2–0	2–1	—	—	—	3–0	2–3	—
Inverness CT	—	1–0	2–2	1–1	—	—	—	—	—	0–0
Queen of the South	2–3	—	—	0–2	—	—	—	1–1	—	0–1
Raith Rovers	—	2–2	—	—	5–1	1–0	0–4	—	—	—

Source: SPFL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of 30 April 2021

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Liam Boyce	Hearts	14
2	Declan McManus	Dunfermline Athletic	9
	Craig Wighton	Hearts & Dunfermline Athletic
	Nikolay Todorov	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
	Ayo Obileye	Queen of the South
6	Jack Hamilton	Arbroath	8
	Jason Cummings	Dundee
	Osman Sow	Dundee
	Kevin O'Hara	Dunfermline Athletic
	Connor Shields	Queen of the South

Source:^[1]

Hat-tricks

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

Player	For	Against	Score	Date
Kevin O'Hara	Dunfermline Athletic	Alloa Athletic	4–1 (A)	24 October 2020
Osman Sow	Dundee	Queen of the South	3–1 (A)	26 December 2020
Steven Naismith	Hearts	Arbroath	3–1 (H)	29 December 2020
Liam Boyce	Hearts	Alloa Athletic	6–0 (H)	9 April 2021

Attendances

Games are mostly being played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited attendance is allowed at some grounds with strict conditions under the Scottish Government Tier system, dependent on the club's geographical location.

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref.
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
October	Stevie Crawford	Dunfermline Athletic	Euan Murray	Dunfermline Athletic
November	Stevie Crawford	Dunfermline Athletic	Kyle Turner	Dunfermline Athletic
December	Robbie Neilson	Heart of Midlothian	Charlie Adam	Dundee
January	Allan Johnston	Queen of the South	Connor Shields	Queen of the South
February	Dick Campbell	Arbroath	Willie Gibson	Queen of the South
March	James McPake	Dundee	David Carson	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
April	Robbie Neilson	Heart of Midlothian	Jack Hamilton	Arbroath

End-of-season awards

Manager of the Year		Player of the Year
Manager	Club	Player	Club
James McPake	Dundee	Charlie Adam	Dundee

Championship play-offs

The second bottom team (Greenock Morton) entered into a 4-team playoff with the 2nd-4th placed teams in 2020–21 Scottish League One. Cove Rangers and Airdrieonians have also secured playoff spots.

Semi-final

First leg

Montrose v Greenock Morton

8 May 2021	Montrose	2–1	Greenock Morton	Montrose
15:00	McLean 57' Webster 77'	Report	Oliver 5'	Stadium: Links Park Referee: Grant Irvine

Cove Rangers v Airdrieonians

8 May 2021	Cove Rangers	1–1	Airdrieonians	Aberdeen
15:00	McIntosh 66'	Report	Graham 55' (o.g.)	Stadium: Balmoral Stadium Referee: David Dickinson

Second leg

Greenock Morton v Montrose

11 May 2021	Greenock Morton	3–1 (a.e.t.) (4–3 agg.)	Montrose	Greenock
19:45	Oliver 5' Salkeld 19' McGuffie 120'	Report	McLean 35'	Stadium: Cappielow Referee: Euan Anderson

Airdrieonians v Cove Rangers

11 May 2021	Airdrieonians	3–2 (a.e.t.) (4–3 agg.)	Cove Rangers	Airdrie
19:45	Gallagher 19', 108' J.McKay 90'	Report	Megginson 15' McAllister 90'	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Referee: Colin Steven

Final

First leg

Airdrieonians v Greenock Morton

18 May 2021	Airdrieonians	0–1	Greenock Morton	Airdrie
19:35		Report	Muirhead 90+4'	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 500 Referee: David Munro

Second leg

Greenock Morton v Airdrieonians

21 May 2021	Greenock Morton	3–0 (4–0 agg.)	Airdrieonians	Greenock
19:35	Muirhead 12', 78' Oliver 44'	Report		Stadium: Cappielow Attendance: 600 Referee: Alan Muir

References

1. "Scottish Championship Top Scorers". BBC. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
2. Idessane, Kheredine (14 June 2020). "Scottish Championship clubs vote for 27-game season starting in October". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
3. "Dundee Utd, Raith & Cove win titles and reconstruction talks start after Dundee vote". BBC Sport. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
4. "Alloa Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
5. "Arbroath Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
6. "Ayr United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
7. "Dundee Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
8. "Dunfermline Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
9. "Greenock Morton Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
10. "Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
11. "Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
12. "Queen of the South Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
13. "Raith Rovers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
14. Hall, Jamie (27 June 2017). "Goodwin's delight in landing midfielder Thomas Grant". Alloa Advertiser. Newsquest. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
15. Johnstone, Darren (30 January 2016). "Arbroath captain Mark Whatley insists play-offs firmly in Red Litchties' sights". Deadline News. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
16. "New strips – sneak peak![sic]". Arbroath FC. 24 June 2017. Archived from the original on 6 May 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
17. "Hummel partner club in record deal". Ayr United FC. 24 March 2020. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
18. "New sponsor announced". Ayr United F.C. 10 April 2018. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
19. "Dee sign with Macron". dundeefc.co.uk. 14 January 2019.
20. "Crown Engineering Services become main club sponsor". dundeefc.co.uk. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
21. "Captain and vice-captain appointed". Dunfermline Athletic FC. 9 August 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
22. "Away kit launched". Dunfermline Athletic F.C. 14 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
23. Mitchell, Jonathan (7 April 2017). "Order the new tartan away kit today". Greenock Morton F.C. Archived from the original on 22 April 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
24. "New partners and new kit for season 2020-21". Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
25. "Report - Stranrer 14.7.18". Queen of the South F.C. 15 July 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
26. "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.
27. "introducing our 2020-21 home kit". Raith Rovers FC. 28 May 2020. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
28. "Robbie Neilson: Hearts name Dundee Utd boss to replace Daniel Stendel". BBC. 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
29. "Robbie Neilson: Hearts name Dundee Utd boss to replace Daniel Stendel". BBC. 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
30. "Greenock Morton: David Hopkin quits in 'selfless act' to save money". BBC. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
31. "Ayr United: Mark Kerr departs as manager". BBC. 28 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
32. "David Hopkin named Ayr United manager day after Morton appoint Gus MacPherson". BBC Sport. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
33. "Gus MacPherson: Morton look to experienced manager for run-in". BBC Sport. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
34. "The Rules of the Scottish Professional Football League" (PDF). SPFL. pp. 38–39. Retrieved 20 October 2019.

External links

• Official website