2023–24 Scottish Championship

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]

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.

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

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

Stadia and locations

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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 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]
 
     
Championship football clubs in Glasgow

Personnel and kits

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Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
Airdrieonians   Rhys McCabe   Adam Frizzell Joma Holemasters
Arbroath   Jim McIntyre   Thomas O'Brien Macron Megatech
Ayr United   Scott Brown   Sean McGinty O'Neills Jewson (Home)
Lindsay Mortgage Services (Away)
Dundee United   Jim Goodwin   Ross Docherty Erreà Bartercard
Dunfermline Athletic   James McPake   Kyle Benedictus Erreà SRJ Windows
Greenock Morton   Dougie Imrie   Grant Gillespie Joma Dalrada Technology (Home)
Erskine (Away)
Team Talk (3rd)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle   Duncan Ferguson   Billy Mckay Puma ILI Group
Partick Thistle   Kris Doolan   Brian Graham O'Neills Clydebuilt Home Improvements
Queen's Park   Callum Davidson   Jack Thomson Adidas City Facilities Management
Raith Rovers   Ian Murray   Scott Brown Joma Dean Park Hotel (Home)
Fife Letting Service (Away)

Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Queen's Park   Owen Coyle Resigned 15 May 2023[13] Pre-season   Robin Veldman 17 June 2023[14]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle   Billy Dodds Sacked 17 September 2023 10th   Duncan Ferguson 26 September 2023
Arbroath   Dick Campbell Resigned 25 November 2023 9th   Jim McIntyre 4 December 2023
Queen's Park   Robin Veldman Sacked 9 December 2023 8th   Callum Davidson 9 January 2024
Ayr United   Lee Bullen 15 January 2024 9th   Scott Brown 23 January 2024

League table

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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

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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)

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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)

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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

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Scoring

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Top scorers

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

Awards

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

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Bracket

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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

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First leg

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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

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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

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First leg

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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

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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

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  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
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