2016–17 Scottish Championship

Ladbrokes Championship 2016–17
Season information
Winners	Hibernian
Promoted	Hibernian
Relegated	Ayr United Raith Rovers
Season statistics
Matches played	180
Goals scored	469
Top goalscorer	Jason Cummings Stephen Dobbie (19 goals)
Biggest home win	St Mirren 5–0 Raith Rovers (29 April 2017)
Biggest away win	Queen of the South 0–5 Greenock (15 October 2016)
Highest scoring	Ayr United 4–4 Dumbarton (24 December 2016) St Mirren 6–2 Ayr United (1 April 2017)
← 2015–16	2017–18 →

The 2016–17 Scottish Championship (referred to as the Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the 22nd season in the current format of 10 teams in the second tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 17 June 2016.

Ten teams will contest the league. Ayr United, Dumbarton, Dundee United, Dunfermline Athletic, Falkirk, Greenock Morton, Hibernian, Queen of the South, Raith Rovers and St Mirren.

Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2015–16 season.

To Championship Promoted from Scottish League One Dunfermline Athletic Ayr United Relegated from Scottish Premiership Dundee United

From Championship Relegated to Scottish League One Alloa Athletic Livingston Promoted to Scottish Premiership Rangers

Stadia and locations

Ayr United	Dumbarton	Dundee United	Dunfermline Athletic
Somerset Park	Dumbarton Football Stadium	Tannadice Park	East End Park
Capacity: 10,185	Capacity: 2,020	Capacity: 14,223	Capacity: 11,904
Falkirk			Greenock Morton
Falkirk Stadium			Cappielow Park
Capacity: 7,937			Capacity: 11,589
Hibernian	Queen of the South	Raith Rovers	St. Mirren
Easter Road	Palmerston Park	Stark's Park	Paisley 2021 Stadium
Capacity: 20,421	Capacity: 8,690	Capacity: 9,031	Capacity: 8,023

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Ayr United	Ian McCall	Nicky Devlin	Adidas	Bodog
Dumbarton	Stephen Aitken	Darren Barr	Joma	Turnberry Homes
Dundee United	Ray McKinnon	Seán Dillon	Nike	McEwan Fraser Legal
Dunfermline Athletic	Allan Johnston	Andy Geggan	Joma	SRJ Windows
Falkirk	Peter Houston	Mark Kerr	Puma	Central Demolition
Greenock Morton	Jim Duffy	Lee Kilday	Vision Outsourcing	Millions
Hibernian	Neil Lennon	David Gray	Nike	Marathonbet
Queen of the South	Gavin Skelton	Chris Higgins	Macron	KBT Pharmacy
Raith Rovers	Gary Locke	Jason Thomson	Puma	valmcdermid.com (Home shirt) Myeloma UK (Away shirt)
St Mirren	Allan McManus (interim)	Andy Webster	Carbrini	JD Sports

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Dundee United	name !Mixu Paatelainen	Sacked	4 May 2016	Pre-season	name !Ray McKinnon	12 May 2016
Raith Rovers	name !Ray McKinnon	Resigned	11 May 2016		name !Gary Locke	20 May 2016
Hibernian	name !Alan Stubbs	Signed by Rotherham United	1 June 2016		name !Neil Lennon	8 June 2016
St Mirren	name !Alex Rae	Sacked	18 September 2016	10th	Allan McManus (interim)	18 September 2016
St Mirren	name !Allan McManus (interim)	End of interim	4 October 2016	10th	name !Jack Ross	4 October 2016
Queen of the South	name !Gavin Skelton	Resigned	7 November 2016	6th	name !Jim Thomson (caretaker)	7 November 2016
Queen of the South	name !Jim Thomson (caretaker)	End of interim	5 December 2016	6th	name !Gary Naysmith	5 December 2016
Raith Rovers	name !Gary Locke	Sacked	7 February 2017	8th	John Hughes	10 February 2017

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Hibernian  (C) (P)	36	19	14	3	59	25	+34	71	Promotion to Scottish Premiership
2	Falkirk  (Q)	36	16	12	8	58	40	+18	60	Qualification to Premiership play-off semi-finals
3	Dundee United  (Q)	36	15	12	9	50	42	+8	57	Qualification to Premiership play-off semi-finals
4	Greenock Morton  (Q)	36	13	13	10	44	41	+3	52
5	Dunfermline Athletic	36	12	12	12	46	43	+3	48
6	Queen of the South	36	11	10	15	46	52	−6	43
7	St. Mirren	36	9	12	15	52	56	−4	39
8	Dumbarton	36	9	12	15	46	56	−10	39
9	Raith Rovers  (R)	36	10	9	17	35	52	−17	39	Qualification to Championship play-offs
10	Ayr United  (R)	36	7	12	17	33	62	−29	33	Relegation to Scottish League One

Updated to games played on 6 May 2017
Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Positions by Round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

	Leader - Promotion to 2017–18 Scottish Premiership
	Qualification to Premiership play-off semi-finals
	Qualification to Premiership play-off quarter-finals
	Qualification to Championship play-offs
	Relegation to 2017-18 Scottish League One

Team \ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Hibernian	3	2	2	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Falkirk	9	7	8	6	5	4	3	3	3	5	5	5	5	5	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Dundee United	4	8	4	4	4	5	5	5	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3
Greenock Morton	5	6	6	8	9	7	8	6	6	7	6	4	3	3	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4
Dunfermline Athletic	2	4	7	7	8	9	7	8	8	8	8	9	9	8	9	7	7	7	6	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	5
Queen of the South	6	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	2	3	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6
St. Mirren	7	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	8	9	8	7
Dumbarton	8	5	5	5	6	8	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	9	8	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	7	8	7	7	8	8	7	7	9	7	7	8
Raith Rovers	1	1	1	2	3	3	4	4	5	4	3	3	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	7	8	8	8	7	8	8	6	7	8	8	7	8	9	9
Ayr United	10	10	10	10	7	6	6	7	7	6	7	7	7	7	7	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10

Source: Statto.com
Updated: 6 May 2017

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 Home \ Away AYR DUM DNU DNF FAL GMO HIB QOS RAI STM Ayr United 4–4 0–1 0–0 0–1 2–1 0–3 1–0 0–2 1–1 Dumbarton 0–3 1–0 2–2 2–1 0–2 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–1 Dundee United 3–0 2–1 1–0 1–0 2–1 1–0 1–1 2–2 2–1 Dunfermline Athletic 1–1 4–3 1–3 1–1 2–1 1–3 0–1 0–0 4–3 Falkirk 2–0 1–0 3–1 2–1 1–1 1–2 2–2 2–4 3–1 Greenock Morton 2–1 1–1 0–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 3–1 Hibernian 1–2 2–0 1–1 2–1 1–1 4–0 4–0 1–1 2–0 Queen of the South 4–1 1–2 1–4 2–2 2–0 0–5 0–0 3–1 2–3 Raith Rovers 1–1 3–2 0–0 2–0 0–2 0–1 0–0 1–0 3–1 St. Mirren 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–1 1–1 1–1 0–2 1–3 1–0 Updated to games played on 7 February 2017 Source: Scottish Championship 1The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away AYR DUM DNU DNF FAL GMO HIB QOS RAI STM Ayr United 2–1 0–0 0–2 1–4 1–4 0–4 0–2 1–0 0–2 Dumbarton 2–2 1–0 0–2 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–2 4–0 2–2 Dundee United 2–1 2–2 1–0 1–1 1–1 0–1 3–3 3–0 3–2 Dunfermline Athletic 0–1 5–1 1–1 1–2 3–1 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–1 Falkirk 1–1 2–2 3–0 2–0 0–1 1–2 2–2 1–0 2–2 Greenock Morton 1–1 2–1 1–1 0–1 2–2 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–4 Hibernian 1–1 2–2 3–0 2–2 2–1 0–0 3–0 3–2 1–1 Queen of the South 0–0 1–2 4–2 0–1 0–2 3–0 0–1 2–1 0–2 Raith Rovers 2–1 1–3 2–1 0–2 1–4 2–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 St. Mirren 6–2 1–1 3–2 0–0 1–2 1–1 2–0 0–3 5–0 Updated to games played on 6 May 2017 Source: Scottish Championship 1The home team is listed in the left-hand column. Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 1 October 2016

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Jason Cummings	Hibernian	8
2	Stephen Dobbie	Queen of the South	6
3	Derek Lyle	Queen of the South	5
4	Tony Andreu	Dundee United	4
5	Mark Docherty	Dumbarton	3
	Joe Cardle	Dunfermline Athletic
	Nicky Clark	Dunfermline Athletic
	Lee Miller	Falkirk
	Ross Callachan	Raith Rovers
	Ryan Hardie	St Mirren
	John Sutton	St Mirren
	Tom Walsh	St Mirren

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Cardle, JoeJoe Cardle	Dunfermline Athletic	Dumbarton	4–3	02016-08-06-6 August 2016

Discipline

Player

Yellow cards As of matches played on 1 October 2016 Rank Player Club Cards 1 Robert Thomson Dumbarton 4 Dale Hilson Queen of the South Ross Callachan Raith Rovers Kyle Hutton St Mirren 5 Andy Geggan Dunfermline Athletic 3 Lewis Martin Dunfermline Athletic Lee Kilday Greenock Morton Jamie McDonagh Greenock Morton Kyle Benedictus Raith Rovers 10 27 players 2

Red cards As of matches played on 1 October 2016 Rank Player Club Cards 1 Gregor Buchanan Dumbarton 1 Paul Dixon Dundee United Lee Ashcroft Dunfermline Athletic Jason Talbot Dunfermline Athletic Marvin Bartley Hibernian Lewis Stevenson Hibernian Mark Russell Greenock Morton

Club

Yellow cards As of matches played on 1 October 2016 Rank Club Cards 1 Greenock Morton 19 Raith Rovers 3 Dundee United 17

Red cards As of matches played on 1 October 2016 Rank Club Cards 1 Dunfermline Athletic 2 Hibernian 3 Dumbarton 1 Dundee United Greenock Morton

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Neil Lennon	Hibernian	Jason Cummings	Hibernian
September	Peter Houston	Falkirk	Cammy Bell	Dundee United
October	Jim Duffy	Greenock Morton	Thomas O'Ware	Greenock Morton
November	Ray McKinnon	Dundee United	John McGinn	Hibernian
December	Stephen Aitken	Dumbarton	Mark Docherty	Dumbarton
January	Neil Lennon	Hibernian	Ross Forbes	Greenock Morton
February	Peter Houston	Falkirk	Jason Cummings	Hibernian
March	Jack Ross	St Mirren	Efe Ambrose	Hibernian
April	Jack Ross	St Mirren

Championship play-offs

Raith Rovers the second bottom team, entered into a 4-team playoff with the 2nd-4th placed teams in 2016–17 Scottish League One; Alloa Athletic, Airdrieonians and Brechin City.

Semi-finals

First leg

10 May 2017	Brechin City	1 – 1	Raith Rovers	Brechin
19:45	Caldwell  45+1' (pen.)	BBC Sport report	McManus  70'	Stadium: Glebe Park Attendance: 1,022 Referee: Don Robertson

10 May 2017	Airdrieonians	1 – 0	Alloa Athletic	Airdrie
19:45	Ryan  52'	BBC Sport report		Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 1,199 Referee: Stephen Finnie

Second leg

13 May 2017	Raith Rovers	3 – 3 (4 – 4 agg.) (3 – 4 pen)	Brechin City	Kirkcaldy
15:00	M'voto  68' McManus  90+1' Hardie  101'	BBC Sport report	Caldwell  51' Trouten  84' Watt  115'	Stadium: Stark's Park Referee: Alan Muir
	Penalties
	Handling Thompson B. Barr McManus Robertson		Dyer Watt McLean Trouten Love Jackson

13 May 2017	Alloa Athletic	1 – 0 (1 – 1 agg.) (4 – 3 pen)	Airdrieonians	Alloa
15:00	Robertson  50'	BBC Sport report		Stadium: Recreation Park Referee: Barry Cook
	Penalties
	Taggart Hetherington Kirkpatrick Graham Waters		Ryan Leitch Russell MacDonald McIntosh

Final

The winners of the semi-finals will compete against one another over two legs, with the winner competing in the 2017–18 Scottish Championship.

First leg

17 May 2016	Brechin City	1 – 0	Alloa Athletic	Brechin
19:35	Ford  56'	BBC Sport report		Stadium: Glebe Park Attendance: 702 Referee: Euan Anderson

Second leg

20 May 2016	Alloa Athletic	4–3 (4–4 agg.) (4–5 pen)	Brechin City	Alloa
17:15	Spence  36', 40', 73' Mackin  79'	Report	Dale  34' McLean  54' Watt  78'	Stadium: Recreation Park Attendance: 1,204 Referee: Nick Walsh
	Penalties
	Taggart Spence Kirkpatrick Graham Waters Flannigan		Dyer Hill Jackson Trouten Love Dale