2019–20 Scottish League One
# 2019–20 Scottish League One

The 2019–20 Scottish League One (known as Ladbrokes League One for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season in the current format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football. The fixtures were published in June 2019 and the season began on 3 August 2019.

Ten teams contested the league: Airdrieonians, Clyde, Dumbarton, East Fife, Falkirk, Forfar Athletic, Montrose, Peterhead, Raith Rovers and Stranraer.

On 13 March 2020 all SPFL leagues were indefinitely suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 8 April, with the pandemic continuing, the SPFL board proposed to curtail the 2019–20 League One season and use the points per game earned by each team to date as the final standings. The plan was approved on 15 April, meaning the league was declared over and Raith Rovers were crowned champions and Stranraer relegated to League 2.

## Teams

The following teams have changed division since the 2018–19 season.

### Stadia and locations

| Airdrieonians | Clyde | Dumbarton | East Fife |
| - | - | - | - |
| Excelsior Stadium | Broadwood Stadium | Dumbarton Football Stadium | Bayview Stadium |
| Capacity: 10,101 | Capacity: 8,086 | Capacity: 2,020 | Capacity: 1,980 |
| Falkirk | AirdrieClydeDumbartonEast FifeFalkirkForfar AthleticMontrosePeterheadRaith RoversStranraerclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish League One | AirdrieClydeDumbartonEast FifeFalkirkForfar AthleticMontrosePeterheadRaith RoversStranraerclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish League One | Forfar Athletic |
| Falkirk Stadium | AirdrieClydeDumbartonEast FifeFalkirkForfar AthleticMontrosePeterheadRaith RoversStranraerclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish League One | AirdrieClydeDumbartonEast FifeFalkirkForfar AthleticMontrosePeterheadRaith RoversStranraerclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish League One | Station Park |
| Capacity: 7,937 | AirdrieClydeDumbartonEast FifeFalkirkForfar AthleticMontrosePeterheadRaith RoversStranraerclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish League One | AirdrieClydeDumbartonEast FifeFalkirkForfar AthleticMontrosePeterheadRaith RoversStranraerclass=notpageimage| Location of teams in 2019–20 Scottish League One | Capacity: 6,777 |
| Montrose | Peterhead | Raith Rovers | Stranraer |
| Links Park | Balmoor | Stark's Park | Stair Park |
| Capacity: 4,936 | Capacity: 3,150 | Capacity: 8,867 | Capacity: 4,178 |

### Personnel and kits

| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Airdrieonians | Ian Murray | Sean Crighton | Joma | Holemasters |
| Clyde | Danny Lennon | David Goodwillie | Kappa | North Lanarkshire Leisure (Home) Advance Construction (Away) |
| Dumbarton | Jim Duffy | Stuart Carswell | Joma | Turnberry Homes |
| East Fife | Darren Young | Kevin Smith | Joma | East Fife Supporters Club |
| Falkirk | David McCracken and Lee Miller | Gregor Buchanan | Puma | Central Demolition |
| Forfar Athletic | Stuart Malcolm | Michael Travis | Pendle | Orchard Timber Products |
| Montrose | Stewart Petrie | Paul Watson | Hummel | Carnegie Fuels Ltd |
| Peterhead | Jim McInally | Scott Brown | Adidas | Prime Seafoods |
| Raith Rovers | John McGlynn | Kyle Benedictus | Puma | valmcdermid.com (Home) Tag Games (Away) |
| Stranraer | Stephen Farrell | Jamie Hamill | Joma | Stena Line |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Forfar Athletic | Jim Weir | Resigned | 3 November 2019 | 10th | Stuart Malcolm | 10 November 2019 |
| Falkirk | Ray McKinnon | Sacked | 16 November 2019 | 4th | David McCracken and Lee Miller (interim) | 19 November 2019 |
| Falkirk | David McCracken and Lee Miller (interim) | End of interim | 13 December 2019 | 4th | David McCracken and Lee Miller | 13 December 2019 |

## League summary

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG | Promotion, qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Raith Rovers (C) | 28 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 49 | 33 | +16 | 53 | 1.89 | Promotion to the Championship |
| 2 | Falkirk | 28 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 54 | 18 | +36 | 52 | 1.86 | |
| 3 | Airdrieonians | 28 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 38 | 27 | +11 | 48 | 1.71 | |
| 4 | Montrose | 28 | 15 | 2 | 11 | 48 | 38 | +10 | 47 | 1.68 | |
| 5 | East Fife | 28 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 44 | 36 | +8 | 45 | 1.61 | |
| 6 | Dumbarton | 28 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 35 | 44 | −9 | 38 | 1.36 | |
| 7 | Clyde | 28 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 35 | 43 | −8 | 34 | 1.21 | |
| 8 | Peterhead | 27 | 7 | 5 | 15 | 30 | 44 | −14 | 26 | 0.96 | |
| 9 | Forfar Athletic | 28 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 26 | 47 | −21 | 24 | 0.86 | |
| 10 | Stranraer (R) | 27 | 2 | 10 | 15 | 28 | 57 | −29 | 16 | 0.59 | Relegation to League Two |

* ↑ All play-off matches were cancelled, as clubs voted to curtail the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## 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

| Home \ Away | AIR | CLY | DUM | EFI | FAL | FOR | MON | PET | RAI | STR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Airdrieonians | — | 3–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 |
| Clyde | 3–1 | — | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 6–1 |
| Dumbarton | 0–1 | 1–2 | — | 2–4 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 |
| East Fife | 4–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 1–1 |
| Falkirk | 1–2 | 0–1 | 6–0 | 0–0 | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Forfar Athletic | 1–4 | 0–0 | 3–4 | 1–2 | 0–2 | — | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Montrose | 0–1 | 4–0 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 3–0 | — | 4–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Peterhead | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| Raith Rovers | 1–0 | 5–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | — | 3–1 |
| Stranraer | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 3–2 | — |

### Second half of season

| Home \ Away | AIR | CLY | DUM | EFI | FAL | FOR | MON | PET | RAI | STR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Airdrieonians | — | 2–0 | N/A | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | N/A | N/A | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Clyde | N/A | — | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | N/A | 2–1 | N/A | N/A | 3–3 |
| Dumbarton | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | N/A | N/A | 2–0 | N/A | N/A | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| East Fife | 2–2 | N/A | 4–2 | — | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1–0 | 3–5 | 4–2 |
| Falkirk | N/A | N/A | 3–0 | 2–0 | — | 6–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | N/A | N/A |
| Forfar Athletic | N/A | 2–1 | N/A | 0–1 | N/A | — | 2–3 | N/A | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Montrose | 1–0 | N/A | 2–1 | 1–0 | N/A | N/A | — | 4–3 | N/A | 4–1 |
| Peterhead | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | N/A | 1–3 | 1–1 | N/A | — | N/A | N/A |
| Raith Rovers | N/A | 1–0 | N/A | N/A | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–3 | 2–1 | — | N/A |
| Stranraer | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1–1 | N/A | 0–1 | N/A | 1–1 | — |

## Season statistics

### Scoring

**Top scorers**

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | David Goodwillie | Clyde | 20 |
| 2 | Declan McManus | Falkirk | 19 |
| 3 | Dale Carrick | Airdrieonians | 12 |
| 4 | Calum Gallagher | Airdrieonians | 11 |
| 5 | Blair Lyons | Montrose | 10 |
| 6 | Scott Agnew | East Fife | 9 |
| 6 | Graham Webster | Montrose | 9 |
| 6 | Jamie Gullan | Raith Rovers | 9 |
| 9 | Isaac Layne | Dumbarton | 8 |
| 9 | Scott Brown | Peterhead | 8 |

Source:

**Hat-tricks**

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Declan McManus | Falkirk | Dumbarton | 6–0 (H) | 10 August 2019 |
| David $Goodwillie^5$ | Clyde | Stranraer | 6–1 (H) | 14 September 2019 |
| David Goodwillie | Clyde | Stranraer | 3–3 (H) | 4 January 2020 |
| Declan McManus | Falkirk | Peterhead | 3–1 (A) | 11 January 2020 |

Note

$^5$ Player scored five goals

### Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Airdrieonians | 15,567 | 2,530 | 600 | 1,037 | $+35.9%^†$ |
| 2 | Clyde | 13,369 | 2,048 | 507 | 954 | $+49.5%^†$ |
| 3 | Dumbarton | 9,268 | 982 | 364 | 662 | $+7.3%^†$ |
| 4 | East Fife | 11,533 | 1,998 | 425 | 823 | $+18.1%^†$ |
| 5 | Falkirk | 51,987 | 4,060 | 3,289 | 3,713 | $−21.7%^†$ |
| 6 | Forfar Athletic | 9,029 | 998 | 370 | 644 | $−3.2%^†$ |
| 7 | Montrose | 9,293 | 1,095 | 423 | 663 | $−16.0%^†$ |
| 8 | Peterhead | 9,611 | 1,513 | 443 | 640 | $−5.5%^†$ |
| 9 | Raith Rovers | 25,746 | 3,235 | 975 | 1,839 | $+18.3%^†$ |
| 10 | Stranraer | 4,204 | 549 | 190 | 350 | $+3.2%^†$ |
| | League total | 159,617 | 4,060 | 190 | 1,148 | $+52.5%^†$ |

Source:

* 1 2 Club was playing in League Two during the previous season.
* ↑ Club was playing in Championship during the previous season.

## Awards

### Monthly awards

| Month | Manager of the Month | Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month | Ref. |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Month | Manager | Club | Player | Club | Ref. |
| August | Darren Young | East Fife | Marc McCallum | Forfar Athletic | |
| September | John McGlynn | Raith Rovers | Steven Anderson | Raith Rovers | |
| October | Stewart Petrie | Montrose | Graham Webster | Montrose | |
| November | Ian Murray | Airdrieonians | Dale Carrick | Airdrieonians | |
| December | Stewart Petrie | Montrose | Andrew Steeves | Montrose | |
| January | David McCracken Lee Miller | Falkirk | Declan McManus | Falkirk | |
| February | Darren Young | East Fife | Scott Agnew | East Fife | |
