🔵 Predicted Finish: 1st 🤝 Transfers Oh it’s been a busy summer at Rugby Park that’s for sure. Tommy Wright wasn’t shy after his side’s Play-Off relegation that he wanted rid of a lot of the players that had put them in this division. He’s signed 14 players so far, and two more including a striker will probably arrive before the end of August. He’s brought in a lot of quality and looks to have built a squad more than capable of winning this division despite some big departures over the summer. The vast majority of the Killie squad from last season are gone and although some departures will be more welcome than others, Kyle Lafferty’s goals would’ve been ideal for Wright this season, though the allure of Anorthosis Famagusta and Cypriot football proved too strong to resist for the Northern Irishman. 👉 Verdict I think the biggest obstacle in Killie’s way that could hamper their return to the Premiership is themselves. The atmosphere wasn’t great last season but with nearly an entire new squad through the door that shouldn’t be too difficult an issue to solve. The issue of gelling 14-16 new players together could be though, but with the season returning to 36 games they do have a bit of time to get it wrong if they need it. I’m fairly confident they’ll top the division with the squad already at Wright’s disposal but if he can add a capable striker to complement the raw Innes Cameron then they could run away with the Championship this season.

🏁 Predicted Finish: 2nd 🤝 Transfers I’m a big fan of the business done by Peter Grant so far this summer and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Dunfermline have a good season if the signings look as good on the park as they do on paper. Kai Kennedy is a fantastic player and even at 19-years-old you can tell he’s line for a good career. West Ham had three bids rejected for teenager before Rangers sent him out on loan to East End Park, he really could be a difference maker for Grant’s men if his performances for Raith and Inverness are anything to go by. Dan Pybus and Reece Cole add good quality to the centre of the pitch and the arrival of Nikolay Todorov could be a masterstroke. He has all the raw materials to be an excellent number nine and with nine goals in 26 games for Inverness last campaign he looks to be realising his considerable potential. 👉 Verdict Grant now has a great pool of forwards to draw upon with Todorov and Kennedy contesting with the likes of Dom Thomas, Kevin O’Hara and Craig Wighton for a starting spot. That’s a lot of quality and the hardest part might be settling on which of those to play but it’s certainly a nice problem to have. It could be a brilliant Championship season this year with it looking as open as it has in a long time and Dunfermline could be beneficiaries of the lack of a free-spending name like seasons gone by and have a real go at the title, even if they might not have enough to pip pre-season favourites for the top spot Killie.

🇧🇪 Predicted Finish: 3rd 🤝 Transfers Last season’s League One champions have added some decent players for their return to the Championship. Kevin Holt, Cammy Smith and Kyle Turner all have the potential to be crucial players at this level and add to what looks a talented Partick squad. They still look a few bodies light at the time of writing though they have been heavily linked to a pair of Rangers youngsters. Jake Hastie and Lewis Mayo have been touted as potential loan options, with Hastie looking very interesting. He burst onto the season at Motherwell and looked a real star though you can’t help but feel he made the jump to Rangers a little too early but if he does arrive at Firhill there’s no reason why he couldn’t be a real threat and hopefully rediscover the form that attracted Rangers to him in the first place. James Penrice will be a loss after heading to the Premiership and Livi but Holt is a more than capable replacement at left back. 👉 Verdict I’m not sure they’ll have enough for back-to-back promotions but I’ve liked what I’ve seen of Partick and if they can add a little more quality in the final third before the window slams shut then there’s the no reason why they can’t have another enjoyable season under Ian McCall’s stewardship. Zak Rudden has all of the tools to be a prolific striker and in Smith, Brian Graham and possibly Hastie he should have a lot of quality service at his disposal and could be the difference between making the Play-Offs and a mid-table finish for the Jags this campaign.

🔵 Predicted Finish: 4th 🤝 Transfers The biggest loss will of course be Regan Hendry, with the influential midfielder swapping Starks Park for Forest Green Rovers this summer, though his departure was expected given just how good he was in the Championship. I like the bodies they’ve brought into to compensate for Hendry’s departure, with the signings of Dario Zanatta, Christophe Berra and Liam Dick all capable of helping Raith to a similar season to last year’s promotion push. Kieran MacDonald, Manny Doku and Danny Armstrong aren’t insignificant departures and all leave to strengthen Championship rivals which hopefully doesn’t come back to bite John McGlynn. 👉 Verdict In Jamie MacDonald, Raith have one of, if not the, best keepers in the Championship and the back four in front of him are filled with experience and the early signs are that McGlynn has built a very solid back five. Raith didn’t concede a single goal in the League Cup group stages and I expect that defensive resilience to come in handy this season, especially without Hendry at their disposal to dominate games from the middle of the park. They’re not quite as strong as they were this time last year but there’s still more than enough quality for McGlynn to work with and push for another top four finish.

⚓️ Predicted Finish: 5th 🤝 Transfers It’s not been the busiest of windows across the Championship thus far but Ayr have been one of the more active sides, with David Hopkin revamping his Honest Men squad. It’s his first window while in charge of Ayr and he’s been busy, brining in a number of players from his old club Morton. Cameron Salked, Aidan McAdams, Markus Fjortoft and Sean McGinty all switched Cappielow for Somerset. Luke McCowan will be a big loss, as the winger has headed to Premiership side Dundee, with the 23-year-old a reliable source of goals and creativity though he had reached a stage where a move up the pyramid was almost a formality. 👉 Verdict It does look like Hopkin will have a tight squad to work with this season which probably does put a ceiling on expectations but I’m big fan of his. You know he’ll make Ayr hard to beat and the ball will move quickly from defence to attack so you’re probably not going to see amazing football in Ayrshire but it will likely prove to be effective. I feel they’re missing a little bit of quality in the final third to have a real go at making the Play-Offs this season but they should be in with a shout of a top four finish, even if the thin squad will likely run out of steam.

🔴 Predicted Finish: 6th 🤝 Transfers Usually when a team drops out of the top flight and into the Championship we see wholesale changes (see Kilmarnock as the prime example of this) but Brian Rice has a similar squad at his disposal as he attempts an instantaneous return to the Premiership. Andy Ryan has returned to where it at all started for the striker after six years away from Hamilton coming off the back of a prolific season in League Two with Stirling Albion. He’s joined by Matthew Shiels, Kieran MacDonald and Lewis Spence in what is a talented if small pile of new permanent recruits. They, predictably, lost last season’s top scorer Ross Callachan after his relegation release clause was activated and he swapped Hamilton for Ross County and his goals from midfield will be missed. 👉 Verdict As things stand, I’m not overly impressed with this Hamilton squad. They were comfortably the worst side in the Premiership last season and have lost their only difference maker from last campaign in Callachan. A lot will be asked of this young Hamilton squad with expectations of a top four finish but I’m not sure I quite by into those Play-Off hopes. They’ll likely need goals from Ryan if they’re to get into the Play-Offs and he’s never been a consistent scorer in the second tier despite impressive returns at lower levels. There’s certainly talent in this Accies side but it’s probably a season too early to call them genuine promotion candidates.

🔵 Predicted Finish: 7th 🤝 Transfers The headlines all come in the outgoings for Queens, with club legend Stephen Dobbie joining Ayo Obileye and Connor Shields in departing Palmerston this summer. That’s a thick chunk of talent to lose but Allan Johnston hasn’t sat on his hands and has been busying replacing the important trio. Harry Cochrane was incredibly well thought of when he broke through at Hearts but his career has stalled a little, Queens will hope they can give him a platform to be the player he looked when he first smashed onto the scene at Tynecastle. Ali Roy has started like a house on fire in the League Cup and he might need to keep the goals coming with Dobbie and Shields departed. 👉 Verdict Individually, I quite like the business done by Johnston but there is a lot of youngsters brought in with little experience at this level. The likes of Josh Rae, Ruari Paton and Roberto Nditi are all exciting but I’m a bit wary of the average age of this squad and whether it may be a little too wet behind the ears to mount a serious push for the Play-Offs. They do look to have a little more quality than some of the other sides tipped to be at the wrong end of the table and I’m hopeful that we’ll see the positives of having such a young squad, rather than the negatives.

🦅 Predicted Finish: 8th 🤝 Transfers Billy Dodds has looked to bring experience to the Highlands this summer, swooping for some big names in the hope of a Play-Off push with Inverness. Kirk Broadfoot, Billy McKay and Michael Gardyne have all dropped down from Premiership football to sign for Caley and bring with them a wealth of experience if not the same levels of ability they maybe once had. Tom Walsh and Manny Doku have shown in fits and starts that they’re capable at this level and both could be decent signings if they can be a little more consistent. They’ll need to replace last season’s key attacking duo with Daniel McKay and Nikolay Todorov away, whether any of Caley’s new signings are capable of replicating the quality that duo brought remains to be seen in my eyes. 👉 Verdict I actually don’t mind the squad Dodds has built at Inverness and there certainly is the bones of a good side capable of challenging at the right end of the table. However, Dodds’ comments after his side’s 3-1 loss at League One Cove Rangers in the League Cup worried me, as he stated he hadn’t worked on his defence just 10 days before the start of the league season. I do fear it could be a long season for Inverness who will struggle to replace two of the better players in the league and with a manager who might not be able to get his team to be more than the sum of their parts.

🔵 Predicted Finish: 9th 🤝 Transfers The Ton look to be going for quality over quantity this summer, though I’m sure some Dundee and Hearts would contest using the world ‘quality’ to describe a transfer window that involves the signing of Jack Hamilton. The keeper has had his fair share of clangers in the past but in Morton he could find a perfect match. He was quick to lose, regain then lose his first-choice spot at both Dundee and Hearts but he’ll be the undisputed number one which could give him the confidence and consistency he so desperately needs. Gozie Ugwu, Mark Russell and Alan Lithgow all have experience at this level though none of them are likely to single-handedly fix the ticking timebomb that has been Greenock Morton Football Club over the past few years. A lot of experience has left, seemingly half of which to Ayr United, so it will be interesting to see how Gus MacPherson’s Ton get on this season. 👉 Verdict I predict not very well. MacPherson won’t have an easy job this season, not just because he’s dealing with one of the trickier boards to please but he’ll have to rely on a lot of youngsters as part of a thread bare squad. Of the few experienced players at the club there’s not a great deal of quality outside of Lewis Strapp, and even then he’s just 21. Big seasons will be needed from Robbie Muirhead and Gary Oliver up top and with neither being prolific at any point in their senior careers I suspect it might be another glum season at Cappielow, similar to the last campaign that ended in them just about staying up thanks to the Play-Offs.

🇱🇻 Predicted Finish: 10th 🤝 Transfers Red Lichties stalwart Mark Whatley has departed for Montrose after seven years at Gayfield and leaves as the club’s most successful ever captain having won both League Two and League One. His leadership will need replaced but the core of this Arbroath squad have been together for a long time now so there is a wealth of experience to call on already at the club. Nicky Low and Liam Henderson are good acquisitions but hardly game-changing signings, something that was probably needed after a tough campaign last time out. Signing on loan immediately after joining Livingston, striker Joel Nouble will have to work hard to displace Dale Hilson and Luke Donnelly in Dick Campbell’s preferred strike partnership though his scoring record thus far in his career has been patchy. 👉 Verdict Arbroath only narrowly avoided the relegation Play-Off spot last season and I think they’ll be doing well to do the same this time around. They were the division’s second lowest scorers across the campaign and have lost two of the three players that managed more than two goals for them last season, with Jack Hamilton returning to Livingston and Kris Doolan released leaving defender Ricky Little as the only Arbroath player to get more than a couple of Championship goals still in the squad. They are Scotland’s best part-time team yet I fear they’ll be returning to League One after three years in the Championship come May, especially if Donnelly, Nouble and Hilson don’t really chip in with some much needed goals over the coming 36 games.