2023–24 Scottish Championship

Scottish Championship
Season2023–24
Dates4 August 2023 – 3 May 2024
ChampionsDundee United
PromotedDundee United
RelegatedInverness Caledonian Thistle (via play-offs)
Arbroath
Matches played180
Goals scored503 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorerBrian Graham
20 goals
Biggest home winDundee United 6–0 Arbroath (27 October 2023)
Queen's Park 6–0 Arbroath (27 February 2024)
Biggest away winPartick Thistle 0–5 Dundee United (21 October 2023)
Dunfermline Athletic 0–5 Greenock Morton (3 February 2024)
Queen's Park 0–5 Dundee United (6 April 2024)
Arbroath 0–5 Queen's Park (27 April 2024)
Highest scoringRaith Rovers 4–4 Ayr United (22 December 2023)
Longest winning runRaith Rovers
5 games
Longest unbeaten runDundee United
14 games
Longest winless runQueen's Park
15 games
Longest losing runArbroath
10 games
Highest attendance11,802
Dundee United 4–1 Partick Thistle (3 May 2024)
Lowest attendance916
Queen's Park 2–1 Arbroath (12 August 2023)
Total attendance607,497
Average attendance3,374
All statistics correct as of 3 May 2024.

The 2023–24 Scottish Championship (known as cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the Scottish Championship, the second tier of Scottish football. The season began on 4 August 2023.[1]

Ten teams contested the league: Airdrieonians, Arbroath, Ayr United, Dundee United, Dunfermline Athletic, Greenock Morton, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Partick Thistle, Queen's Park and Raith Rovers.

Teams

The following teams changed division after the 2022–23 season.

Stadia and locations

Airdrieonians Arbroath Ayr United Dundee United
Excelsior Stadium Gayfield Park Somerset Park Tannadice Park
Capacity: 10,101[3] Capacity: 6,600[4] Capacity: 10,185[5] Capacity: 14,223[6]
Dunfermline Athletic
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Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish Championship
 Greenock Morton
East End Park Cappielow
Capacity: 11,480[7] Capacity: 11,589[8]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Partick Thistle Queen's Park Raith Rovers
Caledonian Stadium Firhill Stadium Hampden Park Stark's Park
Capacity: 7,512[9] Capacity: 10,887[10] Capacity: 51,866[11] Capacity: 8,867[12]
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Championship football clubs in Glasgow

Personnel and kits

Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Airdrieonians Scotland Rhys McCabe Scotland Adam Frizzell Joma Holemasters
Arbroath Scotland Jim McIntyre Scotland Thomas O'Brien Macron Megatech
Ayr United Scotland Scott Brown Republic of Ireland Sean McGinty O'Neills Jewson (Home)
Lindsay Mortgage Services (Away)
Dundee United Republic of Ireland Jim Goodwin Scotland Ross Docherty Erreà Bartercard
Dunfermline Athletic Northern Ireland James McPake Scotland Kyle Benedictus Erreà SRJ Windows
Greenock Morton Scotland Dougie Imrie Scotland Grant Gillespie Joma Dalrada Technology (Home)
Erskine (Away)
Team Talk (3rd)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scotland Duncan Ferguson Northern Ireland Billy Mckay Puma ILI Group
Partick Thistle Scotland Kris Doolan Scotland Brian Graham O'Neills Clydebuilt Home Improvements
Queen's Park Scotland Callum Davidson Scotland Jack Thomson Adidas City Facilities Management
Raith Rovers Scotland Ian Murray Scotland 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
Queen's Park Republic of Ireland Owen Coyle Resigned 15 May 2023[13] Pre-season Netherlands Robin Veldman 17 June 2023[14]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Scotland Billy Dodds Sacked 17 September 2023 10th Scotland Duncan Ferguson 26 September 2023
Arbroath Scotland Dick Campbell Resigned 25 November 2023 9th Scotland Jim McIntyre 4 December 2023
Queen's Park Netherlands Robin Veldman Sacked 9 December 2023 8th Scotland Callum Davidson 9 January 2024
Ayr United Scotland Lee Bullen 15 January 2024 9th Scotland Scott Brown 23 January 2024

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Dundee United (C, P) 36 22 9 5 73 23 +50 75 Promotion to the Premiership
2 Raith Rovers 36 20 9 7 58 42 +16 69 Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-final
3 Partick Thistle 36 14 13 9 63 54 +9 55 Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-final
4 Airdrieonians 36 15 7 14 44 44 0 52
5 Greenock Morton 36 12 9 15 43 46 −3 45
6 Dunfermline Athletic 36 11 12 13 43 48 −5 45
7 Ayr United 36 12 8 16 53 61 −8 44
8 Queen's Park 36 11 10 15 50 56 −6 43
9 Inverness Caledonian Thistle (R) 36 10 12 14 41 40 +1 42 Qualification for the Championship play-offs
10 Arbroath (R) 36 6 5 25 35 89 −54 23 Relegation to League One
Source: [15]
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).[16]
(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 AIR ARB AYR DUN DNF GMO ICT PAR QPA RAI
Airdrieonians — 2–0 1–2 0–2 1–2 0–0 2–1 2–1 1–1 1–0
Arbroath 4–0 — 2–1 0–4 1–1 1–2 2–3 1–3 0–1 1–2
Ayr United 1–0 2–0 — 0–3 2–2 0–1 1–0 0–4 2–2 1–2
Dundee United 2–0 6–0 1–0 — 1–1 1–1 1–1 3–0 4–1 0–1
Dunfermline Athletic 2–1 3–0 0–1 1–2 — 3–1 1–1 1–2 0–3 0–1
Greenock Morton 0–1 0–3 3–1 0–1 1–2 — 2–1 1–4 1–0 1–2
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1–0 1–2 3–1 0–1 1–1 0–0 — 0–0 1–2 1–2
Partick Thistle 2–1 0–3 2–2 0–5 3–0 2–1 1–1 — 3–1 2–2
Queen's Park 1–2 2–1 2–5 0–0 0–2 0–0 1–4 2–2 — 2–3
Raith Rovers 1–1 2–2 4–4 1–1 1–0 3–2 1–0 4–3 3–2 —
Source: [17]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season (Matches 19–36)

Home \ Away AIR ARB AYR DUN DNF GMO ICT PAR QPA RAI
Airdrieonians — 5–2 2–3 0–0 2–1 3–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–0
Arbroath 1–2 — 0–0 0–3 2–3 1–2 1–1 0–1 0–5 3–2
Ayr United 2–1 5–0 — 1–2 3–3 1–1 1–3 4–3 1–2 1–2
Dundee United 0–2 4–0 1–0 — 0–0 2–3 1–1 4–1 3–1 2–0
Dunfermline Athletic 0–2 1–1 2–0 3–1 — 0–5 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–2
Greenock Morton 2–1 3–0 3–0 1–4 0–1 — 0–2 1–1 2–0 0–0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0–0 2–1 1–2 0–1 0–0 3–1 — 3–3 0–1 0–1
Partick Thistle 4–0 4–0 0–0 1–1 1–3 2–1 1–0 — 3–2 0–1
Queen's Park 2–0 6–0 1–2 0–5 2–1 0–0 0–1 2–2 — 0–0
Raith Rovers 1–3 5–0 2–1 2–1 2–0 0–0 2–3 0–0 1–2 —
Source: [17]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Scotland Brian Graham Partick Thistle 20
2 England Louis Moult Dundee United 18
3 Republic of Ireland Ruari Paton Queen's Park 17
4 Scotland Lewis Vaughan Raith Rovers 15
5 Scotland Anton Dowds Ayr United 13
Scotland Tony Watt Dundee United

Awards

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month
Manager Club Player Club
August Netherlands Robin Veldman Queen's Park Republic of Ireland Ruari Paton Queen's Park
September Republic of Ireland Jim Goodwin Dundee United England Jermaine Hylton Arbroath
October Scotland Kai Fotheringham Dundee United
November Scotland Duncan Ferguson Inverness CT Canada David Wotherspoon Inverness CT
December Scotland Ian Murray Raith Rovers Scotland Lewis Vaughan Raith Rovers
January Scotland Dougie Imrie Greenock Morton England George Oakley Greenock Morton
February Scotland Dom Thomas Queen's Park
March Northern Ireland James McPake Dunfermline Athletic England Louis Moult Dundee United
April Republic of Ireland Jim Goodwin Dundee United Scotland Brian Graham Partick Thistle

The SPFL Championship manager of the year was Jim Goodwin of Dundee United.

The SPFL Championship player of the year was Louis Moult of Dundee United.

Championship play-offs

Bracket

Semi-finals Final
          
1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 0 1 1
4 Montrose 0 0 0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 2 3
Hamilton Academical 2 3 5
3 Alloa Athletic 2 2 4
2 Hamilton Academical 2 3 5

Semi-finals

First leg

7 May 2024 Montrose 0–0 Inverness Caledonian Thistle Montrose
19:45 Stadium: Links Park
Attendance: 1,043
Referee: Chris Graham
7 May 2024 Alloa Athletic 2–2 Hamilton Academical Alloa
19:45 Steven 47'
Roberts 54'		 Henderson 31'
O'Hara 75'		 Stadium: Recreation Park
Attendance: 1,077
Referee: Craig Napier

Second leg

11 May 2024 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1–0
(1–0 agg.)		MontroseInverness
15:00 McKay 59' Stadium: Caledonian Stadium
Attendance: 2,089
Referee: Alan Muir
11 May 2024 Hamilton Academical 3–2
(5–4 agg.)		Alloa AthleticHamilton
15:00 Tumilty 18'
L.Smith 43'
Rose 77'		 Coulson 7'
Sammon 57'		 Stadium: New Douglas Park
Attendance: 1,027
Referee: Steven Kirkland

Final

First leg

15 May 2024 Hamilton Academical 2–1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle Hamilton
20:05 O'Hara 6'
Owens 22'		 Pepple 68' Stadium: New Douglas Park
Attendance: 1,389
Referee: Graham Grainger

Second leg

18 May 2024 Inverness Caledonian Thistle2–3
(3–5 agg.)		 Hamilton Academical Inverness
17:30 Kerr 31'
Samuel 90+9'		 [18] O'Hara 8', 41' (pen.)
Smith 12'		 Stadium: Caledonian Stadium
Attendance: 2,873
Referee: Euan Anderson

References

  1. ^ "Key dates for Season 2023/24". SPFL. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  2. ^ Lindsay, Clive (17 April 2023). "What now for Dunfermline Athletic after promotion?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Airdrieonians Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  4. ^ "Arbroath Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  5. ^ "Ayr United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  6. ^ "Dundee United Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  7. ^ "Dunfermline Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  8. ^ "Greenock Morton Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  9. ^ "Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. ^ "Partick Thistle Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  11. ^ "Queen's Park Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  12. ^ "Raith Rovers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  13. ^ "Owen Coyle: Queen's Park manager steps down". BBC Sport. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  14. ^ "Robin Veldman: Queen's Park appoint former Anderlecht assistant as head coach". BBC Sport. 17 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  15. ^ "cinch Championship Table". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  16. ^ "The Rules of the Scottish Professional Football League" (PDF). SPFL. pp. 38–39. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  17. ^ a b "cinch Championship League Results". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  18. ^ Hamilton claim play-off glory to replace Inverness in Championship, STV News, 18 May 2024