2015–16 Scottish Championship

The 2015–16 Scottish Championship (referred to as the Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd season in the current format of 10 teams in the second tier of Scottish football.

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]
← 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

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

To Championship Promoted from Scottish League One Greenock Morton Relegated from Scottish Premiership St Mirren

From Championship Promoted to Scottish Premiership Heart of Midlothian Relegated to Scottish League One Cowdenbeath

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	Alloa Athletic Dumbarton Falkirk Morton Hibernian Livingston Queen of the South Raith Rovers Rangers St Mirren		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	Jack Ross	Pendle	Marshall Construction
Dumbarton	Stephen Aitken	Joma	Baxter Ramsay
Falkirk	Peter Houston	Puma	Central Demolition
Greenock Morton	Jim Duffy	Nike	Millions Sweets
Hibernian	Alan Stubbs	Nike	Marathonbet
Livingston	David Hopkin	Joma	Energy Assets
Queen of the South	Gavin Skelton (Caretaker)	Joma	Palmerston Cafe
Raith Rovers	Ray McKinnon	Puma	valmcdermid.com (Home shirt) D&G Autocare (Away shirt)
Rangers	Mark Warburton	Puma	32Red
St Mirren	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	Ian Murray	Signed by St Mirren	22 May 2015[15]	Pre-season	Stevie Aitken	27 May 2015[16]
St Mirren	Gary Teale	Sacked	22 May 2015[15]		Ian Murray	22 May 2015[15]
Raith Rovers	Laurie Ellis (interim)	End of interim	23 May 2015[17]		Ray McKinnon	23 May 2015[17]
Rangers	Stuart McCall (interim)	End of interim	15 June 2015[18]		Mark Warburton	15 June 2015[18]
Alloa Athletic	Danny Lennon	Resigned	7 December 2015[19]	10th	Jack Ross	15 December 2015[20]
St Mirren	Ian Murray	Resigned	12 December 2015[21]	8th	Alex Rae	18 December 2015[22]
Livingston	Mark Burchill	Sacked	21 December 2015[23]	9th	David Hopkina	23 December 2015[24][25]
Queen of the South	James Fowler	Sacked	19 April 2016[26]	7th	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 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

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Hibernian qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2015–16 Scottish Cup.

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.

First half of season Home \ Away ALO DUM FAL GMO HIB LIV QOS RAI RAN STM Alloa Athletic 0–2 1–1 0–1 0–1 0–3 1–2 0–1 1–5 0–2 Dumbarton 0–2 0–5 1–2 2–1 2–1 0–2 3–3 1–2 1–0 Falkirk 5–0 2–1 1–0 0–1 2–0 0–0 1–0 2–1 3–0 Greenock Morton 1–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–2 0–4 0–0 Hibernian 3–0 4–2 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 2–0 2–1 1–1 Livingston 0–1 1–1 1–2 2–4 0–1 0–1 3–0 1–1 0–1 Queen of the South 3–1 1–0 2–2 2–2 0–3 1–4 1–1 1–5 0–2 Raith Rovers 3–0 1–0 1–2 2–1 1–2 3–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 Rangers 4–0 4–0 3–1 2–2 1–0 3–0 2–1 5–0 3–1 St Mirren 1–1 1–2 2–3 1–1 1–4 1–1 1–0 1–2 0–1 Source: Scottish Championship Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away ALO DUM FAL GMO HIB LIV QOS RAI RAN STM Alloa Athletic 1–1 0–1 2–2 1–0 1–3 2–2 1–1 1–1 0–1 Dumbarton 3–1 1–1 0–0 3–2 1–0 4–2 2–3 0–6 2–1 Falkirk 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–2 3–1 2–2 3–2 3–2 Greenock Morton 4–1 2–0 0–1 0–0 2–1 3–2 0–1 0–2 0–1 Hibernian 3–0 4–0 2–2 0–3 2–1 2–0 1–0 3–2 3–1 Livingston 0–0 2–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–1 1–0 2–3 Queen of the South 1–0 6–0 2–2 1–0 1–0 3–1 1–2 0–1 1–0 Raith Rovers 0–1 0–0 2–2 3–2 2–1 2–0 2–0 3–3 4–3 Rangers 1–1 1–0 1–0 3–1 4–2 4–1 4–3 2–0 1–0 St Mirren 3–1 1–0 0–0 3–1 2–2 1–4 2–1 1–2 2–2 Source: [citation needed] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 1 May 2016^[27][1]

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

Discipline

Player

Yellow cards As of matches played on 1 May 2016[28] Rank Player Club Cards 1 Darren Barr Dumbarton 9 Kyle Jacobs Queen of the South 3 Jon Routledge Dumbarton 8 Declan McManus Greenock Morton Liam Henderson Hibernian Lewis Stevenson Hibernian Ben Gordon Livingston Chris Higgins Queen of the South Lewis Toshney Raith Rovers 10 9 players 7

Red cards As of matches played on 1 May 2016[28] Rank Player Club Cards 1 Kyle Benedictus Raith Rovers 2 Andy Halliday Rangers 3 22 players 1

Club

Yellow cards As of matches played on 1 May 2016[29] Rank Club Cards 1 Queen of the South 72 2 Raith Rovers 62 3 Greenock Morton 61 Livingston

Red cards As of matches played on 1 May 2016[29] Rank Club Cards 1 Alloa Athletic 4 Dumbarton St Mirren 4 Queen of the South 3 Raith Rovers

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

Peterhead v Ayr United

3 May 2016[31]	Peterhead	1–4	Ayr United	Balmoor, Peterhead
20:00	McIntosh 35'	BBC Report	Donald 18' Preston 41', 59' Crawford 74'	Attendance: 807 Referee: Stephen Finnie

Stranraer v Livingston

4 May 2016[31]	Stranraer	5–2	Livingston	Stair Park, Stranraer
19:45	McGuigan 14', 70' Stirling 17' Gibson 40', 81'	BBC Report	White 10' Buchanan 68'	Attendance: 589 Referee: John Beaton

Second leg

Ayr United v Peterhead

7 May 2016[31]	Ayr United	2–1 (6–2 agg.)	Peterhead	Somerset Park, Ayr
15:00	Crawford 26' Devlin 57'	BBC Report	Donald 31' (o.g.)	Attendance: 1,848 Referee: Crawford Allan

Livingston v Stranraer

7 May 2016[31]	Livingston	4–3 (a.e.t.) (6–8 agg.)	Stranraer	Almondvale Stadium, Livingston
15:00	Buchanan 18' White 45+2' Mullen 89' Halkett 90+4'	BBC Report	Cairney 62' Dick 109' Longworth 120'	Attendance: 1,018 Referee: Craig Thomson

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

Stranraer v Ayr United

11 May 2016[32]	Stranraer	1–1	Ayr United	Stair Park, Stranraer
19:45	McGuigan 54'	BBC Report	Docherty 90+5'	Attendance: 1,652 Referee: Bobby Madden

Second leg

Ayr United v Stranraer

15 May 2016[32]	Ayr United	0–0 (a.e.t.) (1–1 agg.) (3–1 p)	Stranraer	Somerset Park, Ayr
14:45		BBC Report		Attendance: 4,581 Referee: Andrew Dallas
	Penalties
	Preston Trouten Docherty Graham		Cairney Longworth Barron Gibson