Scottish Championship PREVIEW 1 Aug 2026: Championship openers: Bartley and Imrie face off at Stark's Park

Raith Rovers host Stenhousemuir at Stark's Park (15:00) in a fixture with a personal edge for the two head coaches. Dougie Imrie's Rovers welcome Stenhousemuir for the Warriors' first season in the second tier since the two-division system was abandoned after 1974/75, with former Livingston coaching colleague Marvin Bartley now in the Ochilview dugout alongside Neil Hastings. Imrie said of Bartley: "We are really good friends off the pitch. We worked well together at Livingston for the time we were there." He added that friendship will be parked for ninety minutes: "But when we come up against each other, I'll be looking to take all three points." On team news, Imrie said Paul Hanlon might be available for Saturday, while Scott Brown is more likely to be ready for the Ayr United match on 22 August. Stenhousemuir arrive having gone through their League Cup group unbeaten, drawing with Partick Thistle and Livingston before winning both shootouts, and Imrie has been paying attention: "I watched Stenhousemuir on Saturday against Livingston. They were very good, well organised, good on and off the ball, so it's not going to be an easy game." The all-time record between the clubs, published by Raith, stands at Raith 39 wins, Stenhousemuir 19, with 17 draws; the sides last shared a division in 2018/19, when Rovers took 10 points from the four meetings.

At the Caledonian Stadium, Inverness Caledonian Thistle host Dunfermline Athletic (15:00) in a meeting between two clubs with contrasting recent fortunes. Inverness go into the Championship as League One champions after a turbulent spell that included entering administration in October 2024, while Dunfermline reached last season's Scottish Cup final, losing to Celtic, and went out of the Premiership play-offs to Partick Thistle. Head coach Scott Kellacher struck a respectful tone about the visitors: "Dunfermline are a really good side and got a great result last week against St Mirren. We know they have some really good players who can hurt you, so we'll need to be at our best to get a result from the match." He also pointed to home advantage: "We're the home team, our record at home is good, and we'll try to build on that." History favours the hosts here — of all Dunfermline's Championship rivals, this is their one poor record, with Inverness ahead 19 wins to 11 with 23 draws from 53 meetings.

Livingston host Queen's Park at the Set Fare Arena (15:00) with both sides starting fresh under new management. Glenn Whelan has taken over the Livingston dugout from Marvin Bartley — now, as noted above, in charge at Stenhousemuir — while Queen's Park are managed by Sean Crighton, a former Livingston player starting his second season in charge. Queen's Park's preview flagged early-season absentees: the Spiders were missing Nikolay Todorov and David Mitchell last week, with the former Livingston striker recovering from a hamstring issue and the summer-signing goalkeeper still recovering from concussion suffered in pre-season training. There was better news on Zach Mauchin, who has returned to light training with the first-team pool after almost 18 months on the sidelines. Both clubs were eliminated from League Cup qualifying at the group stage before this opener.

Ayr United host Arbroath at Somerset Park (15:00) under new boss Gary Naysmith, who arrived in the summer from Stenhousemuir along with assistant Brown Ferguson. The clubs' last league meeting went Ayr's way, a 1-0 win on 11 April 2026, in a season that saw Ayr finish seventh and Arbroath third, with Arbroath going on to reach the Premiership play-offs. Ayr head into the campaign having won their Premier Sports Cup group unbeaten, taking maximum points from four matches.

Greenock Morton host Partick Thistle at Cappielow (15:00), a fixture the two sides have shared every season since 2021/22, with Partick finishing above Morton each time — including a runners-up finish on 66 points last term, when Morton were eighth. Ian Murray, appointed at Cappielow in January, and Mark Wilson, in his second full season at Firhill, take charge of their sides for a first league meeting of the new campaign.