# 2015–16 Scottish Championship

The 2015–16 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.
Rangers won the league title and promotion after a 1–0 win against Dumbarton on 5 April 2016, while Alloa Athletic were relegated after a 0–0 draw against Livingston on 2 April 2016.

## Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2014–15 season.

### Stadia and locations

| Alloa Athletic | Dumbarton | Falkirk | Greenock Morton |
| Recreation Park | Dumbarton Football Stadium | Falkirk Stadium | Cappielow Park |
| Capacity: 3,100 | Capacity: 2,020 | Capacity: 8,750 | Capacity: 11,589 |
| Hibernian | Alloa AthleticDumbartonFalkirkMortonHibernianLivingstonQueen of the SouthRaith RoversRangersSt Mirren | Alloa AthleticDumbartonFalkirkMortonHibernianLivingstonQueen of the SouthRaith RoversRangersSt Mirren | Livingston |
| Easter Road | Alloa AthleticDumbartonFalkirkMortonHibernianLivingstonQueen of the SouthRaith RoversRangersSt Mirren | Alloa AthleticDumbartonFalkirkMortonHibernianLivingstonQueen of the SouthRaith RoversRangersSt Mirren | Almondvale Stadium |
| Capacity: 20,421 | Alloa AthleticDumbartonFalkirkMortonHibernianLivingstonQueen of the SouthRaith RoversRangersSt Mirren | Alloa AthleticDumbartonFalkirkMortonHibernianLivingstonQueen of the SouthRaith RoversRangersSt Mirren | Capacity: 9,865 |
| Queen of the South | Raith Rovers | Rangers | St Mirren |
| Palmerston Park | Stark's Park | Ibrox Stadium | St Mirren Park |
| Capacity: 8,690 | Capacity: 8,867 | Capacity: 50,817 | Capacity: 8,023 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Alloa Athletic | Jack Ross | Pendle | Marshall Construction |
| Dumbarton | Stephen Aitken | Joma | Baxter Ramsay |
| Falkirk | Peter Houston | Puma | Central Demolition |
| Greenock Morton | Jim Duffy | Nike | Millions Sweets |
| Hibernian | Alan Stubbs | Nike | Marathonbet |
| Livingston | David Hopkin | Joma | Energy Assets |
| Queen of the South | Gavin Skelton (Caretaker) | Joma | Palmerston Cafe |
| Raith Rovers | Ray McKinnon | Puma | valmcdermid.com (Home shirt) D&G Autocare (Away shirt) |
| Rangers | Mark Warburton | Puma | 32Red |
| St Mirren | Alex Rae | Carbrini | JD Sports |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Dumbarton | Ian Murray | Signed by St Mirren | 22 May 2015 | Pre-season | Stevie Aitken | 27 May 2015 |
| St Mirren | Gary Teale | Sacked | 22 May 2015 | Pre-season | Ian Murray | 22 May 2015 |
| Raith Rovers | Laurie Ellis (interim) | End of interim | 23 May 2015 | Pre-season | Ray McKinnon | 23 May 2015 |
| Rangers | Stuart McCall (interim) | End of interim | 15 June 2015 | Pre-season | Mark Warburton | 15 June 2015 |
| Alloa Athletic | Danny Lennon | Resigned | 7 December 2015 | 10th | Jack Ross | 15 December 2015 |
| St Mirren | Ian Murray | Resigned | 12 December 2015 | 8th | Alex Rae | 18 December 2015 |
| Livingston | Mark Burchill | Sacked | 21 December 2015 | 9th | David Hopkin | 23 December 2015 |
| Queen of the South | James Fowler | Sacked | 19 April 2016 | 7th | Gavin Skelton (interim) | 19 April 2016 |
a.^ Initially interim, made permanent 5 January 2016

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rangers (C, P) | 36 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 88 | 34 | +54 | 81 | Promotion to the Premiership |
| 2 | Falkirk | 36 | 19 | 13 | 4 | 61 | 34 | +27 | 70 | Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-finals |
| 3 | Hibernian | 36 | 21 | 7 | 8 | 59 | 34 | +25 | 70 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round and for the Premiership play-off semi-finals |
| 4 | Raith Rovers | 36 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 52 | 46 | +6 | 62 | Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-finals |
| 5 | Greenock Morton | 36 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 39 | 42 | −3 | 43 | |
| 6 | St Mirren | 36 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 44 | 53 | −9 | 42 | |
| 7 | Queen of the South | 36 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 46 | 56 | −10 | 42 | |
| 8 | Dumbarton | 36 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 35 | 66 | −31 | 37 | |
| 9 | Livingston (R) | 36 | 8 | 7 | 21 | 37 | 51 | −14 | 31 | Qualification for the Championship play-offs |
| 10 | Alloa Athletic (R) | 36 | 4 | 9 | 23 | 22 | 67 | −45 | 21 | Relegation to League One |
* ↑ Hibernian qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2015–16 Scottish Cup.

## 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 36 games.

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

    As of matches played on 1 May 2016
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Martyn Waghorn | Rangers | 20 |
| 2 | Jason Cummings | Hibernian | 18 |
| 3 | John Baird | Falkirk | 17 |
| 4 | Denny Johnstone | Greenock Morton | 14 |
| 4 | Kenny Miller | Rangers | 14 |
| 6 | Derek Lyle | Queen of the South | 13 |
| 7 | Liam Buchanan | Livingston | 11 |
| 7 | Iain Russell | Queen of the South | 11 |
| 7 | Stevie Mallan | St Mirren | 11 |

### Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Alloa Athletic | 20,182 | 3,100 | 492 | 1,121 | −21.2%$^†$ |
| 2 | Dumbarton | 18,739 | 1,978 | 468 | 1,041 | −2.9%$^†$ |
| 3 | Falkirk | 84,052 | 7,804 | 3,550 | 4,669 | −1.2%$^†$ |
| 4 | Greenock Morton | 49,153 | 7,392 | 1,175 | 2,730 | +59.1%$^†$ |
| 5 | Hibernian | 168,105 | 14,412 | 6,686 | 9,339 | −8.1%$^†$ |
| 6 | Livingston | 31,766 | 6,505 | 787 | 1,764 | −27.3%$^†$ |
| 7 | Queen of the South | 38,072 | 5,858 | 1,047 | 2,115 | −23.4%$^†$ |
| 8 | Raith Rovers | 41,698 | 6,943 | 1,064 | 2,316 | −10.9%$^†$ |
| 9 | Rangers | 815,841 | 50,349 | 37,182 | 45,324 | +38.2%$^†$ |
| 10 | St Mirren | 63,876 | 5,933 | 2,321 | 3,548 | −8.3%$^†$ |
| | League total | 1,331,484 | 50,349 | 468 | 7,397 | −2.6%$^†$ |
Updated to games played on 1 May 2016 Source:

## Championship play-offs

Livingston, the second bottom team, entered into a 4-team playoff with the 2nd-4th placed teams in 2015–16 Scottish League One; Ayr United, Peterhead, and Stranraer.

### Final

The winners of the semi-finals, Ayr United and Stranraer, competed against one another over two legs, with the winner, Ayr, replacing Livingston and being promoted to the 2016–17 Scottish Championship.