2022–23 Scottish Championship

The 2022–23 Scottish Championship (known as cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth season of the Scottish Championship, the second tier of Scottish football.

Scottish Championship

Season	2022–23
Dates	30 July 2022 – 5 May 2023
Champions	Dundee
Promoted	Dundee
Relegated	Hamilton Academical (via play-offs) Cove Rangers
Matches played	180
Goals scored	504 (2.8 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dipo Akinyemi 20 goals
Biggest home win	Dundee 7–0 Hamilton Academical (1 April 2023)
Biggest away win	Cove Rangers 0–6 Queen's Park (7 January 2023)
Highest scoring	Hamilton Academical 4–4 Cove Rangers (29 October 2022) Queen's Park 3–5 Dundee (5 May 2023)
Longest winning run	Inverness Caledonian Thistle Queen's Park 6 games
Longest unbeaten run	Dundee Greenock Morton 10 games
Longest winless run	Cove Rangers 10 games
Longest losing run	Hamilton Academical 7 games
Highest attendance	6,862 Dundee 0–0 Cove Rangers (28 April 2023)
Lowest attendance	471 Queen's Park 2–1 Cove Rangers (27 August 2022) Queen's Park 1–2 Greenock Morton (4 October 2022)
Total attendance	397,031
Average attendance	2,205
← 2021–22 2023–24 → All statistics correct as of 5 May 2023.

Ten teams contested the league: Arbroath, Ayr United, Cove Rangers, Dundee, Greenock Morton, Hamilton Academical, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Partick Thistle, Queen's Park and Raith Rovers.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2021–22 season.

To Championship Promoted from League One Cove Rangers Queen's Park Relegated from the Premiership Dundee

From Championship Relegated to League One Dunfermline Athletic Queen of the South Promoted to the Premiership Kilmarnock

Stadia and locations

Arbroath	Ayr United	Cove Rangers	Dundee
Gayfield Park	Somerset Park	Balmoral Stadium	Dens Park
Capacity: 6,600[1]	Capacity: 10,185[2]	Capacity: 3,023[3]	Capacity: 11,775[4]
Greenock Morton	Arbroath Ayr United Cove Rangers Dundee Morton Hamilton Inverness Caledonian Thistle Partick Thistle Queen's Park Raith Rovers Location of teams in 2022–23 Scottish Championship		Hamilton Academical
Cappielow			New Douglas Park
Capacity: 11,589[5]			Capacity: 6,018[6]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Partick Thistle	Queen's Park	Raith Rovers
Caledonian Stadium	Firhill Stadium	Ochilview Park[7]	Stark's Park
Capacity: 7,512[8]	Capacity: 10,102[9]	Capacity: 3,746[10]	Capacity: 8,867[11]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arbroath	Dick Campbell	Thomas O'Brien	Macron	Megatech
Ayr United	Lee Bullen	Sean McGinty	Hummel	Jewson (Home) Lindsay Mortgage Services (Away)
Cove Rangers	Paul Hartley	Mitch Megginson	Adidas	ACE Group
Dundee	Gary Bowyer	Ryan Sweeney	Macron	Crown Engineering Services
Greenock Morton	Dougie Imrie	Grant Gillespie	Joma	McGill's
Hamilton Academical	John Rankin	Brian Easton	Adidas	Active Access
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Billy Dodds	Sean Welsh	Puma	ILI Group
Partick Thistle	Kris Doolan	Ross Docherty	O'Neills	Just Employment Law
Queen's Park	Owen Coyle	Lee Kilday	Macron	Scotts
Raith Rovers	Ian Murray	Scott Brown	Joma	Dean Park Hotel (Home) Fife Letting Service (Away)

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Raith Rovers	John McGlynn	End of contract	3 May 2022[12]	Pre-season	Ian Murray	24 May 2022[13]
Dundee	Mark McGhee		15 May 2022[14]		Gary Bowyer	8 June 2022[15]
Queen's Park	John Potter	End of interim spell	15 May 2022[16]		Owen Coyle	1 June 2022[17]
Cove Rangers	Paul Hartley	Signed by Hartlepool United	3 June 2022[18]		Jim McIntyre	15 June 2022[19]
Hamilton Academical	Stuart Taylor	Mutual consent	23 June 2022[20]		John Rankin	28 June 2022[21]
Cove Rangers	Jim McIntyre	Sacked	3 January 2023[22]	8th	Paul Hartley	5 January 2023[23]
Partick Thistle	Ian McCall		12 February 2023[24]	5th	Kris Doolan	12 February 2023[24]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Dundee (C, P)	36	17	12	7	66	40	+26	63	Promotion to the Premiership
2	Ayr United	36	16	10	10	61	43	+18	58	Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-final
3	Queen's Park	36	17	7	12	63	52	+11	58	Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-final
4	Partick Thistle	36	16	9	11	65	45	+20	57
5	Greenock Morton	36	15	12	9	53	43	+10	57
6	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	36	15	10	11	52	47	+5	55
7	Raith Rovers	36	11	10	15	46	49	−3	43
8	Arbroath	36	6	16	14	29	47	−18	34
9	Hamilton Academical (R)	36	7	10	19	31	63	−32	31	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
10	Cove Rangers (R)	36	7	10	19	38	75	−37	31	Relegation to League One

Source: ^[25]
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).^[26]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (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 180 games, with each team playing 36.

First half of season (Matches 1–18)

Home \ Away	ARB	AYR	COV	DND	GMO	HAM	ICT	PAR	QPA	RAI
Arbroath	—	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–2	0–1
Ayr United	0–0	—	2–2	3–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	4–2	5–0	2–0
Cove Rangers	2–0	1–2	—	3–1	1–2	2–2	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–0
Dundee	4–2	2–1	3–0	—	0–0	1–0	2–3	2–3	3–0	2–0
Greenock Morton	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–0	—	5–0	4–0	2–1	3–2	1–0
Hamilton Academical	1–0	2–3	4–4	0–2	1–1	—	2–1	1–2	0–2	0–2
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	1–1	2–2	4–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	—	1–0	1–1	1–1
Partick Thistle	3–0	3–2	2–2	2–3	5–1	1–1	4–1	—	0–4	2–1
Queen's Park	1–1	2–3	2–1	2–2	1–2	4–0	2–1	3–2	—	1–0
Raith Rovers	1–1	3–2	3–0	0–1	2–1	3–1	0–2	3–0	2–5	—

Source: ^[27]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season (Matches 19–36)

Home \ Away	ARB	AYR	COV	DND	GMO	HAM	ICT	PAR	QPA	RAI
Arbroath	—	2–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–4	0–0	1–4	1–2
Ayr United	2–2	—	3–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–2	0–1	0–0	1–0
Cove Rangers	1–1	0–5	—	0–2	1–2	2–0	1–2	0–5	0–6	2–2
Dundee	2–4	3–1	0–0	—	3–3	7–0	1–1	1–3	3–0	3–1
Greenock Morton	1–2	1–3	2–1	1–0	—	2–0	1–2	0–0	2–1	1–0
Hamilton Academical	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	—	1–2	2–2	1–4	0–1
Inverness Caledonian Thistle	2–0	1–2	6–1	1–1	2–2	0–3	—	1–0	0–0	2–0
Partick Thistle	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	0–1	5–1	—	4–0	3–0
Queen's Park	0–1	2–0	1–0	3–5	2–2	1–0	2–1	2–0	—	1–1
Raith Rovers	1–1	0–0	6–1	1–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–2	2–0	—

Source: ^[27]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Dipo Akinyemi	Ayr United	20
2	Simon Murray	Queen's Park	15
3	Billy Mckay	Inverness CT	13
	Brian Graham	Partick Thistle
5	Zach Robinson	Dundee	12

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Lee Bullen	Ayr United	Dipo Akinyemi	Ayr United
September/October	Dougie Imrie	Greenock Morton	Robbie Muirhead	Greenock Morton
November	Gary Bowyer	Dundee	Paul McMullan	Dundee
December	Owen Coyle	Queen's Park	Grant Savoury	Queen's Park
January	Billy Dodds	Inverness CT	Billy Mckay	Inverness CT
February	Dougie Imrie	Greenock Morton	Connor Shields	Queen's Park
March	Gary Bowyer	Dundee	Dipo Akinyemi	Ayr United
April	Billy Dodds	Inverness CT	Kyle Turner	Partick Thistle

The SPFL Championship manager of the year was Gary Bowyer of Dundee.

The SPFL Championship player of the year was Dipo Akinyemi of Ayr United.

Championship play-offs

The semi-finals were contested by the teams placed second to fourth in League One, as well as the team placed ninth in the Championship. The winners advanced to the final, with the highest-ranked team hosting the second leg.^[28]

Qualified teams

Team	Rank
Hamilton Academical	1
Falkirk	2
Airdrieonians	3
Alloa Athletic	4

Semi-finals

First leg

Airdrieonians v Falkirk

9 May 2023	Airdrieonians	6–2	Falkirk	Airdrie
19:45	Devenny 8' McCabe 14', 90' (pen.) Smith 16' Taylor-Sinclair 31' Fordyce 41'	[29]	Donaldson 61' Kennedy 68'	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 3,272 Referee: Scott Lambie

Alloa Athletic v Hamilton Academical

9 May 2023	Alloa Athletic	1–0	Hamilton Academical	Alloa
19:45	Donnelly 45'	[30]		Stadium: Recreation Park Attendance: 1,011 Referee: Greg Aitken

Second leg

Falkirk v Airdrieonians

13 May 2023	Falkirk	0–1 (2–7 agg.)	Airdrieonians	Falkirk
15:00		[31]	McGill 42'	Stadium: Falkirk Stadium Attendance: 4,080 Referee: Euan Anderson

Hamilton Academical v Alloa Athletic

13 May 2023	Hamilton Academical	5–2 (5–3 agg.)	Alloa Athletic	Hamilton
15:00	Zanatta 37', 45' Winter 39', 45+1', 52'	[32]	Sammon 5' Scougall 32'	Stadium: New Douglas Park Attendance: 1,353 Referee: Chris Graham

Final

First leg

Airdrieonians v Hamilton Academical

17 May 2023	Airdrieonians	1–0	Hamilton Academical	Airdrie
19:35	Smith 56'	[33]		Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 3,118 Referee: Steven Kirkland

Second leg

Hamilton Academical v Airdrieonians

20 May 2023	Hamilton Academical	2–1 (a.e.t.) (2–2 agg.) (5–6 p)	Airdrieonians	Hamilton
17:15	C. Smith 23' Tiéhi 80'	Report	McGill 90+1'	Stadium: New Douglas Park Attendance: 3,429 Referee: Craig Napier
	Penalties
	Zanatta McGowan Winter C. Smith Mimnaugh O'Reilly		Fordyce McCabe Devenny Frizzell Gallagher Ballantyne