2019–20 Scottish Championship

Ladbrokes Championship 2019–20
Season information
Dates	3 August 2019 – 15 April 2020
Winners	Dundee United
Promoted	Dundee United
Relegated	Partick Thistle
Season statistics
Matches played	137
Goals scored	364
Average	(2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Lawrence Shankland
Biggest home win	Dundee 6–0 Greenock (28 September 2019)
Biggest away win	Queen of the South 0–4 Greenock (29 February 2020)
Highest scoring	Dundee United 6–2 Dundee (30 August 2019) Greenock 4–4 Alloa (22 February 2020)
← 2018–19	2020–21 →

The 2019–20 Scottish Championship (known as Ladbrokes Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season in the current format of 10 teams in the second-tier of Scottish football. Ten teams contested the league: Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr United, Dundee, Dundee United, Dunfermline Athletic, Greenock Morton, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Partick Thistle and Queen of the South.

The season began on 3 August 2019 and was scheduled to end on 2 May 2020. On 13 March 2020 all SPFL leagues were indefinitely suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic|coronavirus pandemic. On 8 April 2020, the SPFL proposed to end the 2019–20 season by utilising a points per game ratio to determine the final standings. The plan was approved on 15 April 2020, declaring that the season was over, as Dundee United were declared title winners with Partick Thistle relegated to League One.

Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2018–19 season:

To Championship

Arbroath secured promotion to the Championship on 13 April 2019. Dundee were relegated from the Premiership on 4 May 2019.

From Championship

Ross County secured promotion to the Premiership on 26 April 2019. Falkirk were relegated to League One on 3 May 2019.

Stadia and locations

Alloa Athletic	Arbroath	Ayr United	Dundee
Recreation Park	Gayfield Park	Somerset Park	Dens Park
Capacity: 3,100	Capacity: 6,600	Capacity: 10,185	Capacity: 11,506
Dundee United			Dunfermline Athletic
Tannadice Park			East End Park
Capacity: 14,223			Capacity: 11,480
Greenock Morton	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Partick Thistle	Queen of the South
Cappielow	Caledonian Stadium	Firhill Stadium	Palmerston Park
Capacity: 11,589	Capacity: 7,750	Capacity: 10,102	Capacity: 8,690

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Alloa Athletic	Goodwin, JimJim Goodwin	Graham, AndyAndy Graham	Pendle	The Energy Check
Arbroath	Campbell, DickDick Campbell	Whatley, MarkMark Whatley	Pendle	Megatech
Ayr United	McCall, IanIan McCall	Docherty, RossRoss Docherty	Adidas	Bitcoin BCH
Dundee	James McPake	Miller, KennyKenny Miller	Macron	Switch Gas & Electric
Dundee United	Neilson, RobbieRobbie Neilson	TBC	Nike	Utilita
Dunfermline Athletic	Crawford, StevieStevie Crawford	Ashcroft, LeeLee Ashcroft	Joma	SRJ Windows
Greenock Morton	Hopkin, DavidDavid Hopkin	McAlister, JimJim McAlister	Vision Outsourcing	Millions
Inverness CT	Robertson, JohnJohn Robertson	Tremarco, CarlCarl Tremarco	Erreà	McEwan Fraser Legal
Partick Thistle	Caldwell, GaryGary Caldwell	Bannigan, StuartStuart Bannigan	Joma	Just Employment Law
Queen of the South	Johnston, AllanAllan Johnston	Dobbie, StephenStephen Dobbie	Macron	Border Finance Ltd

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Alloa Athletic	Jim Goodwin	Signed by St Mirren	29 June 2019	Pre-season	Peter Grant	10 July 2019
Partick Thistle	Gary Caldwell	Sacked	18 September 2019	9th	Ian McCall	23 September 2019
Ayr United	Ian McCall	Signed by Partick Thistle	23 September 2019	2nd	Sandy Stewart (interim)	23 September 2019
Ayr United	Sandy Stewart	End of interim	22 October 2019	2nd	Mark Kerr	22 October 2019

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dundee United  (C) (P)	28	18	5	5	52	22	+30	59	Promotion to the Premiership
2	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27	14	3	10	39	32	+7	45
3	Dundee	27	11	8	8	32	31	+1	41
4	Ayr United	27	12	4	11	38	35	+3	40
5	Arbroath	26	10	6	10	24	26	−2	36
6	Dunfermline Athletic	28	10	7	11	41	36	+5	37
7	Greenock Morton	28	10	6	12	45	52	−7	36
8	Alloa Athletic	28	7	10	11	33	43	−10	31
9	Queen of the South	28	7	7	14	28	40	−12	28
10	Partick Thistle  (R)	27	6	8	13	32	47	−15	26	Relegation to League One

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

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Lawrence Shankland	Dundee United	24
2	Kevin Nisbet	Dunfermline Athletic	18
3	Kevin O'Hara	Alloa Athletic	10
	Alan Forrest	Ayr United
	Kane Hemmings	Dundee
6	Alan Trouten	Alloa Athletic	8
	Bob McHugh	Greenock Morton
	Stephen Dobbie	Queen of the South
9	Nicky Clark	Dundee United	7
	Jordan White	Inverness CT

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Score	Date
Lawrence Shankland4	Dundee United	Inverness CT	4–1 (H)	3 August 2019
Bob McHugh	Greenock Morton	Alloa Athletic	4–1 (H)	10 August 2019
Lawrence Shankland	Dundee United	Greenock Morton	6–0 (H)	28 September 2019
Kevin Nisbet4	Dunfermline Athletic	Partick Thistle	5–1 (H)	30 November 2019
Lawrence Shankland	Dundee United	Partick Thistle	4–1 (A)	11 January 2020

Note ⁴ Player scored four goals

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Alloa Athletic	16,216	1,827	661	1,158	-0.9830220713073−1.6%†
2	Arbroath	19,006	4,052	801	1,462	0.53894736842105+53.8%†
3	Ayr United	24,891	3,167	777	1,777	-0.82382939267501−17.6%†
4	Dundee	68,603	11,233	4,228	5,277	-0.87599601593625−12.4%†
5	Dundee United	118,950	14,108	6,929	8,496	0.67309964552974+67.3%†
6	Dunfermline Athletic	62,275	6,480	3,397	4,151	-0.82887380191693−17.1%†
7	Greenock Morton	22,499	2,742	1,120	1,607	-0.82749742533471−17.2%†
8	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27,518	2,902	1,760	2,116	-0.83045525902669−16.9%†
9	Partick Thistle	35,084	4,101	1,714	2,698	-0.88691650230112−11.3%†
10	Queen of the South	19,549	2,041	1,094	1,396	-0.84350453172205−15.6%†
	League total	414,131	14,108	661	3,022	-0.96858974358974−3.1%†

Source: .

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Robbie Neilson	Dundee United	Lawrence Shankland	Dundee United
September	Ian McCall	Ayr United Partick Thistle	Alan Forrest	Ayr United
October	James McPake	Dundee	Declan McDaid	Dundee
November	Robbie Neilson	Dundee United	Kevin Nisbet	Dunfermline Athletic
December	Robbie Neilson	Dundee United	Calum Butcher	Dundee United
January	Peter Grant	Alloa Athletic	Kevin O'Hara	Alloa Athletic
February	David Hopkin	Greenock Morton	Nicky Cadden	Greenock Morton