2014–15 Scottish Championship

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]

All statistics correct as of 31 March 2015.

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

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 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 Scotland Danny Lennon Pendle Marshall Construction
Cowdenbeath Northern Ireland Jimmy Nicholl Uhlsport Subsea Pressure Controls
Dumbarton Scotland Ian Murray Joma Baxter Ramsay
Falkirk Scotland Peter Houston Puma Central Demolition
Heart of Midlothian Scotland Robbie Neilson Adidas Foundation of Hearts (A)
Hibernian England Alan Stubbs Nike Marathonbet
Livingston Scotland John McGlynn Joma Energy Assets
Queen of the South Scotland James Fowler Joma Southwest Mechanical Services
Raith Rovers Scotland Grant Murray Puma valmcdermid.com (H, front of shirt), Keytech Electronic Systems (H, back of shirt), D&G Autocare (A)
Rangers Scotland 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 Scotland Locke, GaryGary Locke Mutual Consent 12 May 2014[14] Pre-season Scotland Neilson, RobbieRobbie Neilson 12 May 2014[14]
Falkirk Scotland Holt, GaryGary Holt Resigned 2 June 2014[15] Pre-season Scotland Houston, PeterPeter Houston 12 June 2014[16]
Hibernian England Butcher, TerryTerry Butcher Sacked 10 June 2014[17] Pre-season England Stubbs, AlanAlan Stubbs 24 June 2014[18]
Queen of the South Scotland McIntyre, JimJim McIntyre Appointed by Ross County 9 September 2014[19] 4th Scotland Fowler, JamesJames Fowler 30 September 2014[20]
Rangers Scotland McCoist, AllyAlly McCoist Resigned 15 December 2014[21] 2nd Scotland McCall, StuartStuart McCall 12 March 2015[22]
Livingston Scotland McGlynn, JohnJohn McGlynn Mutual Consent 16 December 2014[23] 10th Scotland Burchill, MarkMark Burchill 16 December 2014[23]
Alloa Athletic Scotland Smith, BarryBarry Smith Resigned 7 March 2015[24] 9th Scotland Lennon, DannyDanny 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 2015–16 Scottish Premiership
2 Hibernian (Q) 36 21 7 8 70 32 +38 70 Qualification to the semi-finals of the promotion play-offs
3 Rangers (Q) 36 19 10 7 69 39 +30 67 Qualification to the quarter-finals of the promotion play-offs
4 Queen of the South (Q) 36 17 9 10 58 41 +17 60
5 Falkirk 36 14 11 11 48 48 0 53
6 Raith 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 to the relegation play-off
10 Cowdenbeath (R) 36 7 4 25 31 86 55 25 Relegation to the 2015–16 Scottish League One
Updated to match(es) played on 2 May 2015. Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (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 DUMFALHOMHIBLIVQOSRAIRAN
Alloa Athletic 23 01 23 01 21 10 11 01 11
Cowdenbeath 03 13 22 02 12 10 21 13 03
Dumbarton 31 00 03 00 36 10 04 21 03
Falkirk 21 60 11 12 10 00 11 01 02
Heart of Midlothian 20 51 51 41 21 50 41 10 20
Hibernian 20 32 00 01 11 21 00 11 40
Livingston 40 21 12 01 01 04 22 01 01
Queen of the South 20 12 30 30 03 10 11 20 20
Raith Rovers 11 21 31 00 04 13 15 34 04
Rangers 11 10 41 40 12 13 20 42 61

Updated to games played on 27 December 2014.
Source: BBC Sport
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second half of season

Home ╲ Away ALO COW DUMFALHOMHIBLIVQOSRAIRAN
Alloa Athletic 30 30 13 14 01 22 22 00 01
Cowdenbeath 02 30 01 12 02 12 05 01 00
Dumbarton 10 12 10 15 12 15 00 22 13
Falkirk 10 10 33 03 03 20 11 10 11
Heart of Midlothian 30 100 40 23 11 10 20 21 22
Hibernian 41 50 30 33 20 21 01 11 02
Livingston 00 11 12 21 23 13 10 02 11
Queen of the South 10 41 21 10 12 02 31 21 30
Raith Rovers 21 13 21 22 13 21 04 30 12
Rangers 22 41 31 22 21 02 11 11 40

Updated to games played on 2 May 2015.
Source: BBC Sport
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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

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 Red card 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 Scotland Jason Cummings Hibernian 18
2 Scotland Derek Lyle Queen of the South 15
3 Scotland Liam Buchanan Alloa Athletic 14
4 Scotland Gavin Reilly Queen of the South 13
Republic of the Congo Dominique Malonga Hibernian
6 Netherlands Género Zeefuik Heart of Midlothian 12
7 Scotland James Keatings Heart of Midlothian 11
Sweden Osman Sow Heart of Midlothian
Scotland Jamie Walker Heart of Midlothian
Scotland Jordan White Livingston

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "2014–15 Scottish Championship statistics". Statto. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "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.
  9. "Heart of Midlothian Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  10. "Raith Rovers Football Club". Scottish Professional Football League. 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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "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.
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