# 2023–24 Scottish League One

The 2023–24 Scottish League One (known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of Scottish League One, the third tier of Scottish football. The season began on 5 August 2023.
Ten teams contested the league: Alloa Athletic, Annan Athletic, Cove Rangers, Edinburgh City, Falkirk, Hamilton Academical, Kelty Hearts, Montrose, Queen of the South and Stirling Albion.

## Teams

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

### Stadia and locations

| Alloa Athletic | Annan Athletic | Cove Rangers | Edinburgh City |
| Recreation Park | Galabank | Balmoral Stadium | Meadowbank Stadium |
| Capacity: 3,100 | Capacity: 2,504 | Capacity: 3,023 | Capacity: 1,280 |
| Falkirk | AlloaAnnan AthleticCove RangersEdinburgh CityFalkirkHamiltonKelty HeartsMontroseQueen of the SouthStirling Albionclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League One | AlloaAnnan AthleticCove RangersEdinburgh CityFalkirkHamiltonKelty HeartsMontroseQueen of the SouthStirling Albionclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League One | Hamilton Academical |
| Falkirk Stadium | AlloaAnnan AthleticCove RangersEdinburgh CityFalkirkHamiltonKelty HeartsMontroseQueen of the SouthStirling Albionclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League One | AlloaAnnan AthleticCove RangersEdinburgh CityFalkirkHamiltonKelty HeartsMontroseQueen of the SouthStirling Albionclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League One | New Douglas Park |
| Capacity: 7,937 | AlloaAnnan AthleticCove RangersEdinburgh CityFalkirkHamiltonKelty HeartsMontroseQueen of the SouthStirling Albionclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League One | AlloaAnnan AthleticCove RangersEdinburgh CityFalkirkHamiltonKelty HeartsMontroseQueen of the SouthStirling Albionclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2023–24 Scottish League One | Capacity: 6,018 |
| Kelty Hearts | Montrose | Queen of the South | Stirling Albion |
| New Central Park | Links Park | Palmerston Park | Forthbank Stadium |
| Capacity: 2,181 | Capacity: 4,936 | Capacity: 8,690 | Capacity: 3,808 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Alloa Athletic | Andy Graham | Scott Taggart | Pendle | Northern Gas and Power |
| Annan Athletic | Peter Murphy | Steven Swinglehurst | EV2 Sportswear | M & S Engineering |
| Cove Rangers | Paul Hartley | Mitch Megginson | Adidas | ACE Group |
| Edinburgh City | Michael McIndoe | Alieu Faye | Hummel | AMG Construction Group |
| Falkirk | John McGlynn | Stephen McGinn | O'Neills | Crunchy Carrots |
| Hamilton Academical | John Rankin | Scott Martin | LF Sports | Active Access |
| Kelty Hearts | Michael Tidser | Reece Lyon | Umbro | I-Scaff Access Solutions |
| Montrose | Stewart Petrie | Paul Watson | Uhlsport | Montrose Port Authority (Home) InterMoor (Away) |
| Queen of the South | Marvin Bartley | Josh Todd | Macron | Blinds by Mark McGowan |
| Stirling Albion | Darren Young | Ross McGeachie | Joma | Prudential |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Kelty Hearts | John Potter | Appointed Raith Rovers technical director | 12 May 2023 | Pre-season | Michael Tidser | 17 May 2023 |
| Edinburgh City | Alan Maybury | Mutual consent | 3 October 2023 | 10th | Michael McIndoe | 9 October 2023 |
| Alloa Athletic | Brian Rice | Appointed Livingston coach | 9 November 2023 | 6th | Andy Graham | 15 November 2023 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Falkirk (C, P) | 36 | 27 | 9 | 0 | 96 | 28 | +68 | 90 | Promotion to the Championship |
| 2 | Hamilton Academical (O, P) | 36 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 73 | 28 | +45 | 74 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 3 | Alloa Athletic | 36 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 60 | 55 | +5 | 56 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 4 | Montrose | 36 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 58 | 57 | +1 | 53 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 5 | Cove Rangers | 36 | 14 | 7 | 15 | 58 | 63 | −5 | 49 | |
| 6 | Kelty Hearts | 36 | 12 | 8 | 16 | 48 | 63 | −15 | 44 | |
| 7 | Queen of the South | 36 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 46 | 53 | −7 | 41 | |
| 8 | Annan Athletic | 36 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 55 | 68 | −13 | 39 | |
| 9 | Stirling Albion (R) | 36 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 39 | 58 | −19 | 39 | Qualification for the League One play-offs |
| 10 | Edinburgh City (R) | 36 | 3 | 5 | 28 | 38 | 98 | −60 | 8 | Relegation to League Two |
* ↑ On 25 January 2024, Edinburgh City were deducted 6 points, having failed to pay its players’ wages on time and defaulting its tax obligations to HMRC, as well as not engaging fully in the disciplinary process leading to further breaches of SPFL Rules.

## 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 | ALO | ANN | COV | EDI | FAL | HAM | KEL | MON | QOS | STI |
| Alloa Athletic | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Annan Athletic | 1–1 | — | 1–3 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 3–0 |
| Cove Rangers | 1–2 | 3–2 | — | 7–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 |
| Edinburgh City | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–2 | — | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–4 | 1–5 | 1–2 | 1–3 |
| Falkirk | 3–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Hamilton Academical | 2–1 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 5–0 |
| Kelty Hearts | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–5 | 0–2 | — | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Montrose | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 5–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–2 | — | 1–4 | 1–0 |
| Queen of the South | 3–4 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–3 | — | 0–1 |
| Stirling Albion | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — |

### Second half of season (Matches 19–36)

| Home \ Away | ALO | ANN | COV | EDI | FAL | HAM | KEL | MON | QOS | STI |
| Alloa Athletic | — | 1–1 | 4–1 | 3–1 | 0–5 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| Annan Athletic | 2–3 | — | 4–2 | 3–0 | 3–3 | 1–3 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Cove Rangers | 2–3 | 2–1 | — | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 4–2 |
| Edinburgh City | 2–5 | 1–2 | 0–2 | — | 2–2 | 2–5 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 |
| Falkirk | 2–2 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 4–1 | — | 3–2 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 |
| Hamilton Academical | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | — | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Kelty Hearts | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–5 | — | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Montrose | 4–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–7 | 1–2 | 4–2 | — | 3–2 | 0–1 |
| Queen of the South | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–3 | — | 2–2 |
| Stirling Albion | 1–5 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — |

## Season statistics
### Scoring
#### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Callumn Morrison | Falkirk | 23 |
| 2 | Rumarn Burrell | Cove Rangers | 21 |
| 3 | Ross MacIver | Falkirk | 14 |
| 3 | Kevin O'Hara | Hamilton Academical | 14 |
| 5 | Bobby Wales | Alloa Athletic | 12 |
| 5 | Aidan Nesbitt | Falkirk | 12 |

## Awards

| Month | Manager of the Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month |
| Month | Manager | Club | Player | Club |
| August | John Rankin | Hamilton Academical | Jamie Smith | Hamilton Academical |
| September | John McGlynn | Falkirk | Callumn Morrison | Falkirk |
| October | John McGlynn | Falkirk | Kyle MacDonald | Hamilton Academical |
| November | Paul Hartley | Cove Rangers | Rumarn Burrell | Cove Rangers |
| December | John McGlynn | Falkirk | Rumarn Burrell | Cove Rangers |
| January | John McGlynn | Falkirk | Calvin Miller | Falkirk |
| February | Andy Graham | Alloa Athletic | Taylor Steven | Alloa Athletic |
| March | John McGlynn | Falkirk | Callumn Morrison | Falkirk |
| April | John McGlynn | Falkirk | Aidan Smith | Annan Athletic |
The SPFL League One manager of the year was John McGlynn of Falkirk.
The SPFL League One player of the year was Callumn Morrison of Falkirk.

## League One play-offs
### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Stirling Albion | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | | |
| 4 | Dumbarton | 2 | 0 | 2 | | | | | |
| 4 | Dumbarton | 2 | 0 | 2 | Dumbarton | Dumbarton | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| | | | | | The Spartans | The Spartans | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | The Spartans | 2 | 5 | 7 | The Spartans | The Spartans | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Peterhead | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | | | |