2014–15 Scottish Championship

The 2014–15 Scottish Championship is the 20th season in the current format of 10 teams in the second tier of Scottish football.

Scottish Championship

Season	2014–15
Champions	Heart of Midlothian
Promoted	Heart of Midlothian
Relegated	Cowdenbeath
Matches played	180
Goals scored	525 (2.92 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jason Cummings (18 goals)
Biggest home win	Hearts 10–0 Cowdenbeath (28 February 2015)
Biggest away win	Cowdenbeath 0–5 Queen of the South (21 January 2015)
Highest scoring	Hearts 10–0 Cowdenbeath (28 February 2015)
Longest winning run	9 games[1] Heart of Midlothian
Longest unbeaten run	20 games[1] Heart of Midlothian
Longest winless run	12 games[1] Alloa Athletic
Longest losing run	5 games[1] Cowdenbeath Livingston
Highest attendance	43,683[2] Rangers 1–2 Heart of Midlothian (10 August 2014)
Lowest attendance	549[2] Cowdenbeath 0–3 Alloa Athletic (23 August 2014)
Average attendance	7,532[2]
← 2013–14 2015–16 → All statistics correct as of 31 March 2015.

Heart of Midlothian won the title on 22 March 2015 and secured their return to the Scottish Premiership with a record seven matches remaining, after Rangers defeated city rivals Hibernian 2–0.[3] This marked the first time since the 1984-85 season that a side in the same division as an Old Firm club won a league title in Scotland.

Teams

Rangers were promoted as 2013–14 Scottish League One champions, whilst Heart of Midlothian were relegated from the 2013–14 Scottish Premiership. Hibernian finished 11th in the Premiership and were eventually relegated after a play-off against Hamilton Academical, losing a penalty shoot-out following a 2–2 draw on aggregate over two legs.

Stadia and locations

Stadia by capacity and locations

Alloa Athletic	Cowdenbeath	Dumbarton	Falkirk
Recreation Park	Central Park	Dumbarton Football Stadium	Falkirk Stadium
Capacity: 3,100[4]	Capacity: 4,309[5]	Capacity: 2,020[6]	Capacity: 8,750[7]
Rangers	Alloa Athletic Cowdenbeath Dumbarton Falkirk Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Livingston Queen of the South Raith Rovers Rangers		Heart of Midlothian
Ibrox Stadium			Tynecastle Stadium
Capacity: 50,947[8]			Capacity: 17,529[9]
Raith Rovers	Queen of the South	Livingston	Hibernian
Stark's Park	Palmerston Park	Almondvale Stadium	Easter Road
Capacity: 8,473[10]	Capacity: 8,690[11]	Capacity: 9,865[12]	Capacity: 20,421[13]

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Alloa Athletic	Danny Lennon	Pendle	Marshall Construction
Cowdenbeath	Jimmy Nicholl	Uhlsport	Subsea Pressure Controls
Dumbarton	Ian Murray	Joma	Baxter Ramsay
Falkirk	Peter Houston	Puma	Central Demolition
Heart of Midlothian	Robbie Neilson	Adidas	Foundation of Hearts (A)
Hibernian	Alan Stubbs	Nike	Marathonbet
Livingston	John McGlynn	Joma	Energy Assets
Queen of the South	James Fowler	Joma	Southwest Mechanical Services
Raith Rovers	Grant Murray	Puma	valmcdermid.com (H, front of shirt), Keytech Electronic Systems (H, back of shirt), D&G Autocare (A)
Rangers	Stuart McCall	Puma	32Red

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Heart of Midlothian	Gary Locke	Mutual Consent	12 May 2014[14]	Pre-season	Robbie Neilson	12 May 2014[14]
Falkirk	Gary Holt	Resigned	2 June 2014[15]	Pre-season	Peter Houston	12 June 2014[16]
Hibernian	Terry Butcher	Sacked	10 June 2014[17]	Pre-season	Alan Stubbs	24 June 2014[18]
Queen of the South	Jim McIntyre	Appointed by Ross County	9 September 2014[19]	4th	James Fowler	30 September 2014[20]
Rangers	Ally McCoist	Resigned	15 December 2014[21]	2nd	Stuart McCall	12 March 2015[22]
Livingston	John McGlynn	Mutual Consent	16 December 2014[23]	10th	Mark Burchill	16 December 2014[23]
Alloa Athletic	Barry Smith	Resigned	7 March 2015[24]	9th	Danny Lennon	7 April 2015[25]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Heart of Midlothian (C, P)	36	29	4	3	96	26	+70	91	Promotion to the Premiership
2	Hibernian	36	21	7	8	70	32	+38	70	Qualification for the Premiership play-off semi-final
3	Rangers	36	19	10	7	69	39	+30	67	Qualification for the Premiership play-off quarter-final
4	Queen of the South	36	17	9	10	58	41	+17	60
5	Falkirk	36	14	11	11	48	48	0	53
6	Raith Rovers	36	12	7	17	42	65	−23	43
7	Dumbarton	36	9	7	20	36	79	−43	34
8	Livingston[lower-alpha 1]	36	8	8	20	41	53	−12	27
9	Alloa Athletic (O)	36	6	9	21	34	56	−22	27	Qualification for the Championship play-offs
10	Cowdenbeath (R)	36	7	4	25	31	86	−55	25	Relegation to League One

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

1. Livingston were deducted 5 points due to failure of tax payments.

Results

Teams play each other four times in this league. In the first half of the season each team plays every other team twice (home and away) and then do the same in the second half of the season, for a total of 36 games.

First half of season Home \ Away ALO COW DUM FAL HOM HIB LIV QOS RAI RAN Alloa Athletic 2–3 0–1 2–3 0–1 2–1 1–0 1–1 0–1 1–1 Cowdenbeath 0–3 1–3 2–2 0–2 1–2 1–0 2–1 1–3 0–3 Dumbarton 3–1 0–0 0–3 0–0 3–6 1–0 0–4 2–1 0–3 Falkirk 2–1 6–0 1–1 1–2 1–0 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–2 Heart of Midlothian 2–0 5–1 5–1 4–1 2–1 5–0 4–1 1–0 2–0 Hibernian 2–0 3–2 0–0 0–1 1–1 2–1 0–0 1–1 4–0 Livingston 4–0 2–1 1–2 0–1 0–1 0–4 2–2 0–1 0–1 Queen of the South 2–0 1–2 3–0 3–0 0–3 1–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 Raith Rovers 1–1 2–1 3–1 0–0 0–4 1–3 1–5 3–4 0–4 Rangers 1–1 1–0 4–1 4–0 1–2 1–3 2–0 4–2 6–1 Updated to match(es) played on 27 December 2014. Source: BBC Sport Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season Home \ Away ALO COW DUM FAL HOM HIB LIV QOS RAI RAN Alloa Athletic 3–0 3–0 1–3 1–4 0–1 2–2 2–2 0–0 0–1 Cowdenbeath 0–2 3–0 0–1 1–2 0–2 1–2 0–5 0–1 0–0 Dumbarton 1–0 1–2 1–0 1–5 1–2 1–5 0–0 2–2 1–3 Falkirk 1–0 1–0 3–3 0–3 0–3 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–1 Heart of Midlothian 3–0 10–0 4–0 2–3 1–1 1–0 2–0 2–1 2–2 Hibernian 4–1 5–0 3–0 3–3 2–0 2–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 Livingston 0–0 1–1 1–2 2–1 2–3 1–3 1–0 0–2 1–1 Queen of the South 1–0 4–1 2–1 1–0 1–2 0–2 3–1 2–1 3–0 Raith Rovers 2–1 1–3 2–1 2–2 1–3 2–1 0–4 3–0 1–2 Rangers 2–2 4–1 3–1 2–2 2–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 4–0 Updated to match(es) played on 2 May 2015. Source: BBC Sport Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship play-offs

The second bottom team in the Championship enters into a 4 team playoff with the teams from 2nd to 4th from League One

Semi-finals

All times British Summer Time (UTC+1)

First leg

6 May 2015

19:45

Brechin City	0–2	Alloa Athletic
	Report	Chopra  56' Benedictus  90'

Glebe Park, Brechin

Attendance: 505

Referee: Brian Colvin

---

6 May 2015

19:45

Forfar Athletic	3–0	Stranraer
Kader  61' Swankie  87' Hay  90'	Report

Station Park, Forfar

Attendance: 717

Referee: Stephen Finnie

Second leg

9 May 2015

15:00

Alloa Athletic	0–1	Brechin City
	Report	Trouten  80'

Recreation Park, Alloa

Attendance: 606

Referee: Crawford Allan

Alloa win 2-1 on aggregate

9 May 2015

15:00

Stranraer	1–1	Forfar Athletic
Aitken  41' (pen.)	Report	Swankie  53' (pen.)

Stair Park, Stranraer

Attendance: 519

Referee: Bobby Madden

Forfar win 4-1 on aggregate

Final

The two semi-final winners enter a two-legged play-off, the winner of which is awarded a place in the 2015–16 Scottish Championship.

First leg

13 May 2015

19:45

Forfar Athletic	3–1	Alloa Athletic
Kader  10' Templeman  57' Travis  90'	Report	Benedictus  82'

Station Park, Forfar

Attendance: 1,212

Referee: Kevin Graham

Second leg

17 May 2015

17:30

Alloa Athletic	3–0	Forfar Athletic
Chopra  45' Buchanan  67' Holmes  74' Meggatt  84'	Report

Recreation Park, Alloa

Attendance: 1,423

Referee: Willie Collum

Alloa win 4-3 on aggregate

Top scorers

As of 13 May 2015 (UTC)

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[26]
1	Jason Cummings	Hibernian	18
2	Derek Lyle	Queen of the South	15
3	Liam Buchanan	Alloa Athletic	14
4	Gavin Reilly	Queen of the South	13
	Dominique Malonga	Hibernian
6	Género Zeefuik	Heart of Midlothian	12
7	James Keatings	Heart of Midlothian	11
	Osman Sow	Heart of Midlothian
	Jamie Walker	Heart of Midlothian
	Jordan White	Livingston

References

1. "2014–15 Scottish Championship statistics". Statto. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
2. "2014–15 Scottish Championship statistics". ESPN. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
3. "Hibernian 0-2 Rangers". BBC Sport. 21 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
4. "Alloa Athletic Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
5. "Cowdenbeath Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
6. "Dumbarton Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
7. "Falkirk Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
8. "Rangers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
9. "Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
10. "Raith Rovers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
11. "Queen of the South Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
12. "Livingston Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
13. "Hibernian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
14. "Hearts: Craig Levein lands lead role as manager Gary Locke exits". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 May 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
15. "Norwich make triple appointment of Holt, Robson and Royle". BBC Sport. BBC. 2 June 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
16. "New Falkirk boss Peter Houston sets his sights on play-offs". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
17. "Hibernian sack Terry Butcher following club's relegation". BBC Sport. BBC. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
18. "Hibernian name Alan Stubbs as their new head coach". BBC Sport. BBC. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
19. "Ross County: Jim McIntyre joins from Queen of the South". BBC Sport. BBC. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
20. "Queen of the South appoint Fowler as new manager". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
21. "Rangers confirm manager Ally McCoist's resignation". BBC Sport. 15 December 2014.
22. "Rangers: Stuart McCall appointed manager until summer". BBC Sport. 12 March 2015.
23. "John McGlynn: Livingston boss departs 'by mutual consent'". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
24. "Barry Smith resigns as manager of Alloa Athletic". BBC Sport. 7 March 2015.
25. "Alloa Athletic appoint Danny Lennon as new manager". BBC Sport. 7 April 2015.
26. "Scottish Championship Top Scorers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 January 2015.