Championship preview

Craig Stewart casts his eye over the 10 clubs in the Scottish Championship, which kicks off this weekend.

With Rangers, Hearts and Hibernian all involved, and Falkirk and Queen of the South again hoping to make the play-offs, it promises to be a thrilling campaign in the coming months.

Alloa Athletic
The Wasps avoided the relegation play-offs thanks to an injury-time goal from Queen of the South at Cowdenbeath on the last day and boss Barry Smith will be looking for survival again first and foremost.

The returning Greig Spence has hit four goals in two cup ties and will need to be as deadly in the Championship to keep Alloa out of danger. Liam Buchanan and David Weatherston have also been brought in. Alloa have a more than reliable defence but they need to find the target more often.

Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath survived in the Championship last season by defeating Dunfermline in the play-off final but two of their goalscorers on that day, Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart, have moved on.

Manager Jimmy Nicholl has brought in Craig Sutherland, Sean Higgins and Danijel Jurisic to help get the goals this season and the Blue Brazil will need the trio to find the net often to get points on board.

Dumbarton
Ian Murray enhanced his reputation further in his first full season as Dumbarton manager as he guided his team to within touching distance of the play-offs.

Securing fifth place for a second season running would be a great achievement for the Sons however Murray will no doubt say that their first priority is getting enough points on board to avoid relegation.

Falkirk 
The Bairns are under new management, with former Falkirk legend Peter Houston taking over from Gary Holt, who has headed back down south to take up a position at Norwich.

Houston has already lost Stephen Kingsley from his squad to English Premiership side Swansea and Blair Alston is attracting attention but he has brought in experience, with Jamie MacDonald and Alan Maybury coming on board.

Matching last season’s third place would be a good season for Falkirk and going any higher would be a great first year for Houston.

Hearts
Director of Football Craig Levein will be desperate to foster the spirit that the club displayed last season as they sought to overcome their 15-point disadvantage.

New Head Coach Robbie Neilson faces a baptism of fire this weekend at Ibrox where ironically he played as an East Fife player less than 12 months ago. Neilson has brought in youth and experience to his playing staff and they are being backed by an army of season ticket holders who will be willing them to come out on top.

Hibernian
Alan Stubbs has come into Easter Road with a new broom and 17 players have been moved along. Scott Allan has been brought in following a spell at West Brom, with Farid El Alagui joining up after a loan spell at Dundee United.

The Easter Road club will need to get over the slide in results last season that saw them relegated after losing to Hamilton Accies in the play-offs.

Rangers could have gained a slight advantage for the season ahead after their 2-1 Petrofac Training Cup win on Tuesday night over Stubbs’ side but it is expected Hibs will challenge for the Championship especially if they beef up their squad.

Livingston
Former Hearts boss John McGlynn starts his first full season as Livingston manager against Hibs at the weekend and it will be a new-look West Lothian team that take to the field.

McGlynn has made eight new signings and their season has started well, with cup wins at Queen of the South and then Albion Rovers. A play-off challenge was expected last season however it never happened and the Lions were actually bottom of the table when McGlynn came in last autumn.

Queen of the South 
Queens made a slow start last season but they recovered to reach fourth spot and manager Jim McIntyre moved quickly to sign up the vast majority of his squad.

He added Lewis Kidd from Celtic as well as John Baird from Raith Rovers but injuries are causing the Palmerston Park boss concern and they will kick off against Alloa without Chris Mitchell, Mark Kerr, Paul Burns, Stephen McKenna and Michael Paton.

After Alloa, it is Dumbarton and then Livingston for the Doonhamers. It is not beyond them to make a flying start if they can cope with the lengthy injury list.

Raith Rovers
Raith’s season has had a hiccup already as they lost hold of the Petrofac Training Cup on Tuesday night to Fife rivals Dunfermline. The Kirkcaldy men will look to put that behind them and make a similar start to last season, when they were a top- half side up until February.

Raith open up against Dumbarton and then Alloa before facing Hearts - if they can win their opening two games then Stark’s Park will be jumping for the visit of manager Grant Murray’s former side.

Rangers
After two titles in a row, manager Ally McCoist and his players now stand just one season away from Premiership football. Rangers were undefeated last season but the Championship looks like being a tougher mountain to climb.

Kris Boyd and Kenny Miller have returned to help out and Darren McGregor has come in from St Mirren, with long-time target Marius Zaliukas finally joining after leaving Hearts for Leeds last season.