2020–21 Scottish Championship

Ladbrokes Championship 2020–21
Season information
Dates	17 October 2020 – 30 April 2021
Winners	Heart of Midlothian
Promoted	Heart of Midlothian
Relegated	Alloa Athletic
Season statistics
Matches played	135
Goals scored	380
Average	(2.81 per match)
Top goalscorer	Liam Boyce (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Heart of Midlothian 6–0 Alloa Athletic (9 April 2021)
Biggest away win	Raith Rovers 0–4 Heart of Midlothian (26 January 2021)
Highest scoring	Heart of Midlothian 6–2 Dundee (16 October 2020) Heart of Midlothian 5–3 Ayr United (26 December 2020)
← 2019–20	2021–22 →

The 2020–21 Scottish Championship was the eighth season of the Scottish Championship, the second tier of Scottish football.

Ten teams will contest the league: Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr United, Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic, Greenock Morton, Heart of Midlothian, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Queen of the South and Raith Rovers.

In June 2020, eight of the ten clubs voted in favour of shortening the season from the usual 36 games to 27 (playing each other three times), with the season tentatively scheduled to start on 17 October. This was done to reduce costs in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2019–20 season.

To Championship

• Heart of Midlothian (relegated)
• Raith Rovers (promoted)

From Championship

• Dundee United (promoted)
• Partick Thistle (relegated)

Stadia and locations

	Alloa Athletic	Arbroath	Ayr United	Dundee	Dunfermline Athletic
Recreation Park	Gayfield Park	Somerset Park	Dens Park	East End Park
Capacity: 3,100	Capacity: 6,600	Capacity: 10,185	Capacity: 11,506	Capacity: 11,480

Greenock Morton	Heart of Midlothian	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	Queen of the South	Raith Rovers
Cappielow	Tynecastle Park	Caledonian Stadium	Palmerston Park	Stark's Park
Capacity: 11,589	Capacity: 19,852	Capacity: 7,750	Capacity: 8,690	Capacity: 8,867

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Alloa Athletic	Grant, PeterPeter Grant	Graham, AndyAndy Graham	Pendle	Northern Gas and Power
Arbroath	Campbell, DickDick Campbell	Whatley, MarkMark Whatley	Pendle	Megatech
Ayr United	Hopkin, DavidDavid Hopkin	Baird, JackJack Baird	Hummel	Bitcoin BCH
Dundee	McPake, JamesJames McPake	McGhee, JordanJordan McGhee	Macron	Crown Engineering Services
Dunfermline Athletic	Crawford, StevieStevie Crawford	Murray, EuanEuan Murray	Joma	SRJ Windows
Greenock Morton	Hopkin, DavidDavid Hopkin	McAlister, JimJim McAlister	est 1874	Millions
Heart of Midlothian	Neilson, RobbieRobbie Neilson	Naismith, StevenSteven Naismith	Umbro	Save the Children
Inverness CT	Neil McCann (interim)	Welsh, SeanSean Welsh	Puma	ILI Group
Queen of the South	Johnston, AllanAllan Johnston	Dobbie, StephenStephen Dobbie	Macron	BB Body Repairers
Raith Rovers	McGlynn, JohnJohn McGlynn	Benedictus, KyleKyle Benedictus	Joma	valmcdermid.com(Home) TAG (Away)

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Heart of Midlothian	Daniel Stendel	End of contract	21 June 2020	Pre-season	Robbie Neilson	21 June 2020

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Heart of Midlothian  (C) (P)	27	17	6	4	63	24	+39	57	Promotion to the Premiership
2	Dundee  (P) (O)	27	12	9	6	49	40	+9	45	Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-final
3	Raith Rovers	27	12	7	8	45	36	+9	43	Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-final
4	Dunfermline Athletic	27	10	9	8	38	34	+4	39
5	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	27	8	12	7	36	31	+5	36
6	Queen of the South	27	9	5	13	38	51	−13	32
7	Arbroath	27	7	9	11	28	34	−6	30
8	Ayr United	27	6	11	10	31	37	−6	29
9	Greenock Morton  (O)	27	6	11	10	22	33	−11	29	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
10	Alloa Athletic  (R)	27	5	7	15	30	60	−30	22	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

Championship play-offs

The second bottom team (Greenock Morton) entered into a 4-team playoff with the 2nd-4th placed teams in 2020–21 Scottish League One. Cove Rangers and Airdrieonians have also secured playoff spots.

Semi-final

First leg

8 May 2021	Montrose	2–1	Greenock Morton	Montrose
15:00	McLean  57' Webster  77'	Report	Oliver  5'	Stadium: Links Park Attendance: 0 Referee: Grant Irvine

8 May 2021	Cove Rangers	1–1	Airdrieonians	Aberdeen
15:00	McIntosh  66'	Report	Graham  55' (o.g.)	Stadium: Balmoral Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: David Dickinson

Second leg

11 May 2021	Greenock Morton	3–1 (4–3 agg.)	Montrose	Greenock
19:45	Oliver  5' Salkeld  19' McGuffie  120'	Report	McLean  35'	Stadium: Cappielow Attendance: 0 Referee: Euan Anderson

11 May 2021	Airdrieonians	3–2 (4–3 agg.)	Cove Rangers	Airdrie
19:45	Gallagher  19', 108' J.McKay  90'	Report	Megginson  15' McAllister  90'	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Colin Steven

Final

First leg

18 May 2021	Airdrieonians	0–1	Greenock Morton	Airdrie
19:35		Report	Muirhead  90+4'	Stadium: Excelsior Stadium Attendance: 500 Referee: David Munro

Second leg

21 May 2021	Greenock Morton	3–0 (4–0 agg.)	Airdrieonians	Greenock
19:35	Muirhead  12', 78' Oliver  44'	Report		Stadium: Cappielow Attendance: 600 Referee: Alan Muir

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Liam Boyce	Hearts	14
2	Declan McManus	Dunfermline Athletic	9
	Craig Wighton	Hearts & Dunfermline Athletic
	Nikolay Todorov	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
	Ayo Obileye	Queen of the South
6	Jack Hamilton	Arbroath	8
	Jason Cummings	Dundee
	Osman Sow	Dundee
	Kevin O'Hara	Dunfermline Athletic
	Connor Shields	Queen of the South

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Score	Date
Kevin O'Hara	Dunfermline Athletic	Alloa Athletic	4–1 (A)	24 October 2020
Osman Sow	Dundee	Queen of the South	3–1 (A)	26 December 2020
Steven Naismith	Hearts	Arbroath	3–1 (H)	29 December 2020
Liam Boyce	Hearts	Alloa Athletic	6–0 (H)	9 April 2021

Most assists

As of 30 April 2021

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Charlie Adam	Dundee	7
	Paul McMullan	Dundee
	Andy Irving	Hearts
4	Dom Thomas	Dunfermline Athletic	6
5	Joe Chalmers	Ayr United	5
	Paul McGowan	Dundee
	Liam Boyce	Hearts
	Olly Lee	Hearts
	Jamie Walker	Hearts
	Shane Sutherland	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
	Regan Hendry	Raith Rovers

Attendances

Games are mostly being played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited attendance is allowed at some grounds with strict conditions under the Scottish Government Tier system, dependent on the club's geographical location.

Awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
October	Stevie Crawford	Dunfermline Athletic	Euan Murray	Dunfermline Athletic
November	Stevie Crawford	Dunfermline Athletic	Kyle Turner	Dunfermline Athletic
December	Robbie Neilson	Heart of Midlothian	Charlie Adam	Dundee
January	Allan Johnston	Queen of the South	Connor Shields	Queen of the South
February	Dick Campbell	Arbroath	Willie Gibson	Queen of the South
March	James McPake	Dundee	David Carson	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
April	Robbie Neilson	Heart of Midlothian

External links

• Official website