Plenty of Nothing

Greenock / Port Glasgow

Old photographs of the border area between Greenock and Port Glasgow, with the boundary line added. Source.

Port Glasgow Football in the 1870s

Detail of the old Broadfield Hospital in Port Glasgow. The windows have since been fixed and the place converted to housing. Source.

Morton visit Raith Rovers. Morton are third in the Championship with 4 points, Raith tenth with 0 points. Raith haven't scored a goal yet in league play. Morton can move into top position with a win today if Hamilton and Queen’s Park also win.

Raith Rovers are being managed by Ian Murray, who took over in May.

Morton and Raith have played each other 50 times since January 1st, 2000, in 48 league matches and two cup games. Over that span Morton have had 17 wins, 12 draws and 21 losses against the Rovers.

The earliest match I know of between Morton and Raith Rovers was a friendly played at Cappielow on October 3rd, 1896. The newspaper scan is blurry, but it looks like Morton won 3 - 1.

Rumours of Leigh Griffiths signing with Morton have come to naught as he has joined a third-tier club in Australia.

[Raith Rovers 2 - 1 Morton. Goal by Blues.]

Other Championship matches:

Dundee (5th) 4 - 2 Arbroath (8th) (last night)

Ayr United (2nd) [2 - 2] Hamilton Academical (6th)

ICT (7th) [4 - 1] Cove Rangers (4th)

Queen's Park (9th) [3 - 2] Partick Thistle (1st)

Other matches:

Inverurie Loco Works (4th) [0 - 1] Forres Mechanics (5th)

East Kilbride (2nd) [4 - 0] Gala Fairydean Rovers (4th)

Largs Thistle (13th) [1 - 5] Kirkintilloch Rob Roy (3rd)

FC Isle of Man (13th) [2 - 1] Ashton Athletic (15th)

Mito HollyHock (12th) vs Tokyo Verdy (11th) (postponed)

HFX Wanderers [1 - 0] Valour    [Goal by Salter.]

UCD 2 - 1 Finn Harps (yesterday)

Morton Women scored six against St Mirren in a pre-season friendly midweek. 

Morton Women vs Ayr (tomorrow)

It's the Women's Inter-Provincial Championship, between the top women's clubs in the PLSQ, League1 Ontario and League1 BC.

Alliance United vs AS Laval

Blainville vs Varsity FC

League1 Ontario (men): North Mississauga 0 - 1 Alliance United (yesterday)

By rights Alliance United should have their home field on Avenue Road, but they don't, they're from Markham.

PLSQ: Celtix du Haut-Richelieu vs Royal-Sélect de Beauport 

The CSL quarter-finals take place this weekend. Serbian White Eagles, who finished first in the standings, have a bye to the semis.

Telstar 0 - 5 PEC Zwolle (yesterday)

Winterthur vs Zurich (tomorrow)

UEFA Champions League 3QR, second leg (August 9):

Rangers 3 - 0 Union Saint-Gilloise

Rangers advance.

UEFA Europa League qualifying round, second leg:

Shkupi 1 - 2 Shamrock Rovers (August 9)

Zurich 3 - 0 Linfield (August 11)

Shamrock advance. Linfield drop down to the Europa Conference.

UEFA Europa Conference 3QR, second leg (August 11):

AZ 7 - 0 Dundee United

Sligo Rovers 1 - 0 Viking

St Patrick's Athletic 0 - 2 CSKA Sofia

Dundee United, Sligo and St Patrick's are out.

Video

Stare like a hawk at a biography of legendary referee Pierluigi Collina.

How many times have Morton outscored the opposition by at least 3 goals the past ten years?

9    2012-13

6    2017-18

4    2014-15, 2015-16, 2019-20

3    2013-14, 2016-17, 2018-19

1    2020-21, 2021-22

Historical results:

August 13, 1966    Morton 2 - 1 East Fife

The 1966-67 season began with the League Cup group stage. Morton were in Group 6 with East Fife, Third Lanark and Arbroath. Notice the comparatively late start date, over a month later than the beginning of the 2022-23 season.

August 13, 1977    Kilmarnock 0 - 3 Morton

The 1977-78 season began on the same date with a Division One (tier 2 of 3) league match. Andy Ritchie scored one goal and Mark McGhee scored two.

Port Glasgow football in the 1870s:

Port Glasgow Athletic dates back to 1878, but for the first couple of years the team was known as Broadfield, according to Wikipedia. There's a Broadfield Avenue in Port Glasgow today, about half a mile east of Clune Park, and a junior club played under the name Broadfield in the 1880s.

There was an earlier club named Port Glasgow. It made a couple of appearances in the Scottish Cup before disbanding in 1879.

The eastern neighbourhoods of Port Glasgow are named after the farming estates that were there before the town expanded, and those places often had the word Park in their name. Clune Park and Parklea were known by those names long before soccer was ever thought of.

Port Glasgow (I) in 1879-80:

1879/9/20      Port Glasgow scr/wo Johnstone Athletic    SCup R1

Broadfield 1879-80:

Nothing found.

Port Glasgow (I) in 1878-79:

1878/10/19    Barrhead 6 - 2 Port Glasgow    SCup R2

1878/9/21      Port Glasgow wo/scr Pollockshaws Athletic    SCup R1

Broadfield 1878-79:

Nothing found.

Port Glasgow (I) in 1877-78

1877/9/29      Port Glasgow 0 - 1 Thornliebank    SCup R1

1877/9/22      Stonelaw 5 - 0 Port Glasgow

(Sources: The Beautiful Dribbling Game for the Scottish Cup; Glasgow Herald for friendlies. SFHA and fitbastats were also searched but produced no results.)

Genpei War Map

Source.

Argillite Sea Captain

Argillite figure of a sea captain, c. 1830-1850. Source.

Pugwash Salt Mine, 1971

Source.

2022-23 Scottish Challenge Cup, Round One

The UEFA Super Cup, not the Scottish Challenge Cup or the Plenty of Nothing Championship League Cup. Source.

It's Round One of the 2022-23 Scottish Challenge Cup. This round will include 11 Premiership colt teams, four Highland League clubs, four Lowland League clubs and teams 8, 9 and 10 from last year's League Two. Four non-Scottish clubs will participate this time around but not until Round Three.

Ross County are the only Premiership side without a colt team in this show.

The matches:

Brora Rangers [2 - 0] Aberdeen B

These two met in Round One last year and the Aberdeen colts won 0 - 1.

Hearts B [2 - 3] Buckie Thistle (tomorrow)

Last year Buckie Thistle defeated Brechin and then lost to Inverness CT.

Fraserburgh [0 - 2] St Johnstone B

Last year Fraserburgh lost to Cowdenbeath in the first round.

Hibs B [1 - 1] Brechin (tomorrow) [Brechin win on PK.]

Brechin have not won in the Challenge Cup since 2016.

Elgin [1 - 0] Dundee United B

Elgin beat Hibs colts and Dunfermline Athletic last year.

Bonnyrigg Rose [0 - 0] Livingston B [Livi win on PK.]

This is Bonnyrigg's third Challenge Cup appearance. They beat Glasgow University 5 - 0 in 2019, but lost to Queen's Park last year.

St Mirren B [0 - 0] East Stirlingshire [East Stirlingshire win on PK.]

East Stirlingshire appear for the first time since 2018. They haven't won a Challenge Cup match since 2012.

The Spartans [0 - 1] Rangers B (tomorrow)

This is just a regular Lowland League match.

Motherwell B [1 - 2] East Kilbride

Last year EK lost to Falkirk in the first round.

Albion Rovers [2 - 3] Celtic B

Albion Rovers beat Livi colts and St Mirren colts last year.

Kilmarnock B [3 - 0] Cowdenbeath

Last year Cowdenbeath beat Fraserburgh, then lost to Alloa.

Other matches:

Vauxhall Motors vs FC Isle of Man [postponed]

UEFA Super Cup (tomorrow):

Real Madrid [2 - 0] Eintracht Frankfurt

The Plenty of Nothing Championship League Cup

This is a simulated knockout tournament using scores from actual games.

Last year this cup finally produced a winner, but the follow-up Consolation Cup ran out of time, so let's try again. This year the pecking order is:

Dundee

Arbroath

Inverness CT

Partick Thistle

Raith Rovers

Hamilton Accies

Morton

Ayr United

Cove Rangers

Queen's Park

Morton will play Queen's Park in Round One, and Ayr will play Cove. Two Round Two match-ups are already known: Partick vs Raith and ICT vs Hamilton. Like last year, known matches will be played as soon as they come up, regardless of whether the previous round is completed yet. Cup games and playoff games are eligible for use. As soon as the finalists are known, the Consolation Cup will start with the other eight teams. Cup winners so far:

Championship League Cup:

2019-20        no winner

2020-21        no winner

2021-22        Arbroath

Championship Consolation Cup:

2021-22        no winner

Palais du Trocadéro

Le Palais du Trocadéro (1878 - 1935). Source.

Halifax Armoury Finial

Source.

Cove Rangers

Cove Rangers, 1956. Source.

Morton host Cove Rangers. This is the first Scottish League match between these two clubs, but not the first match. They met up at Cove Rangers' old ground Allan Park in the 2004-05 Scottish Cup Round Two and Morton won 1 - 7. The last Morton player to score on Cove Rangers was Chris Millar.

Cove Rangers were founded in 1922, and in 1947 became a founding member of the Aberdeenshire Amateur League Division One, which they won 13 times including 1956 (above). They moved to the North Junior League in 1985 and the Highland League in 1986. They won that league seven times, and in 2019 they relegated Berwick Rangers to win a spot in the SPFL. Cove won League Two in 2020 and League One in 2022, and now they find themselves in the Championship. The division has never had an Aberdeen club before.

After guiding them through two promotions manager Paul Hartley left for Hartlepool this summer, because naming is destiny. Their present gaffer is Jim McIntyre, formerly of Dunfermline, Queen of the South, Ross County and Dundee. They wear blue.

After Week One's games Cove Rangers sit atop the Championship. Morton meanwhile were in a four-way tie for third prior to last night's match between Queen's Park and Ayr.

[Morton win 1 - 0. Goal by Quitongo.]

Prior to this season, how many games had Cove Rangers played against the other 2022-23 Championship clubs?

7    Queen's Park

4    Partick Thistle

3    Inverness CT

3    Raith Rovers

2    Dundee

1    Morton

0    Arbroath

0    Ayr United

0    Hamilton Academical

Other Championship matches:

Queen's Park 2 - 3 Ayr United (last night)

Arbroath [0 - 0] Inverness CT

Partick Thistle [1 - 1] Hamilton Academical

Raith Rovers [0 - 1] Dundee

Other matches:

Edinburgh University 2 - 3 Gala Fairydean Rovers (August 2)

The Spartans [4 - 0] Gala Fairydean Rovers (today)

Nairn County [0 - 5] Forres Mechanics

Pollok [0 - 0] Largs Thistle

Shamrock Rovers vs UCD (yesterday) (postponed)

The Dutch Eerste divisie starts this weekend. Typical of football everywhere, Eerste divisie is the name of the second division. The top division, confusingly, is called the Eredivisie. We're following PEC Zwolle.

PEC Zwolle vs De Graafschap (tomorrow)

Servette vs Winterthur

Litherland REMYCA 1 - 2 FC Isle of Man (August 3)

Blaublitz Akita vs Mito HollyHock (tomorrow)

Blancdieu Hirosaki vs Bogolle.D.Tsugaru (tomorrow)

Forge vs HFX Wanderers

League1 BC playoff final (August 1):

Varsity FC 1 - 1 TSS Rovers (TTS Rovers win on PK.)

TTS Rovers advance to the 2023 Canadian Championship. The Juan de Fuca Plate goes to the club with the most points after the male and female league tables are combined: Varsity FC.

League1 Ontario: North Toronto Nitros vs North Mississauga

North Toronto Nitros have their home field in Downsview, Toronto.

PLSQ: Royal-Sélect de Beauport vs CS Longueuil (tomorrow)

CSL: Serbian White Eagles vs Toronto Falcons

Someone vandalized the pitch at Centennial Park Stadium, so CSL games have been shifted to Churchill Meadows, North Mississauga SC's pitch.

Toronto FC U23 0 - 1 Sunderland AFC U23, in Regina (August 3)

HFX Wanderers U23 1 - 0 CS St-Laurent (August 3)

UEFA Champions League 3QR, first leg (August 2):

Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium) 2 - 0 Rangers

UEFA Europa League qualifying round, first leg (August 4):

Shamrock Rovers 3 - 1 Shkupi (North Macedonia)

Linfield 0 - 2 Zurich

UEFA Europa Conference 3QR, first leg (August 4):

Dundee United 1 - 0 AZ (Netherlands)

Viking (Norway) 5 - 1 Sligo Rovers

CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) 0 - 1 St Patrick's Athletic

Concacaf League, preliminary round, second leg (August 2):

Pacific FC 6 - 0 Waterhouse FC (Jamaica)

Pacific advance.

Subsequent careers of clubs promoted via the pyramid playoffs:

FC Edinburgh (Edinburgh City)

2016-17    36    11    10    15    38    45       -7    43    7th, League Two

2017-18    36      7      9    20    37    62     -25    30    9th, League Two

2018-19    36    20      7      9    58    31    +27    67    3rd, League Two

2019-20    27    17      4      6    49    28    +21    55    2nd, League Two

2020-21    22    12      2      8    40    27    +13    38    2nd, League Two

2021-22    36    14    10    12    43    49       -6    52    4th, League Two    P

Cove Rangers

2019-20    28    22      2      4    76    34    +42    68    1st, League Two    P

2020-21    22    10      6      6    28    18    +10    36    3rd, League One

2021-22    36    23    10      3    73    32    +41    79    1st, League One    P

Kelty Hearts

2021-22    36    24      9      3    68    28    +40    81    1st, League Two    P

Once having gained entry to the SPFL, these three clubs have subsequently earned four promotions. Contrast the relegated clubs East Stirlingshire, Berwick and Brechin, who have not earned anything in their new leagues.

Times that Morton began the league season with a draw:

2022/7/30      Hamilton Academical 1 - 1 Morton

2021/7/31      Morton 2 - 2 Dunfermline

2018/8/4        Morton 2 - 2 Queen of the South

2017/8/5        Dumbarton 0 - 0 Morton

2016/8/6        St Mirren 1 - 1 Morton

2015/8/8        Morton 1 - 1 Falkirk

2012/8/11      Morton 2 - 2 Livingston

2011/8/6        Ross County 0 - 0 Morton

2010/8/7        Morton 0 - 0 Stirling Albion

2008/8/2        Clyde 1 - 1 Morton

2002/8/3        Gretna 1 - 1 Morton

1995/8/12      Dundee United 1 - 1 Morton

1994/8/13      Morton 1 - 1 Berwick Rangers

1985/8/10      Partick Thistle 1 - 1 Morton

1982/9/4        Morton 0 - 0 Kilmarnock

1976/9/4        Montrose 0 - 0 Morton

1975/8/30      Morton 0 - 0 Partick Thistle

1960/8/24      Morton 2 - 2 Stranraer

1957/8/21      Morton 1 - 1 Hamilton Academical

1954/9/11      Morton 2 - 2 Third Lanark

1953/9/5        Morton 3 - 3 Stenhousemuir

1951/9/8        Morton 2 - 2 Queen of the South

1948/8/14      Celtic 0 - 0 Morton

1945/8/11      Morton 1 - 1 Celtic

1943/8/14      Morton 1 - 1 Motherwell

1940/8/10      Third Lanark 2 - 2 Morton

1930/8/9        Ayr United 2 - 2 Morton

1927/8/13      Arbroath 1 - 1 Morton

1924/8/16      Morton 2 - 2 Kilmarnock

1921/8/17      Morton 0 - 0 Motherwell

1919/8/16      Partick Thistle 1 - 1 Morton

1917/8/18      Partick Thistle 3 - 3 Morton

1911/8/15      Partick Thistle 1 - 1 Morton

1896/8/22      Partick Thistle 2 - 2 Morton

The James Watt Dock, 1886

The opening of the James Watt Dock, Greenock, August 5th, 1886. Source.

    The "James Watt" Dock at Greenock. This dock, which has been constructed on the old Garvel Park Estate at the east end of Greenock, was formally opened on the 5th inst. The first sod of the dock was cut on the 1st of August, 1878, and the foundation stone was laid on August 6th, 1881. The construction has thus occupied eight years. The works comprise two tidal harbours, one wet dock, and one graving dock, with an extensive quayage area. The dimensions of these various docks are as follows:---James Watt wet dock,---width of entrance, 75 ft.; depth of water on cill at high water, 32 ft.; length, 2,000 ft.; width, 300 ft. to 350 ft.; length of jetty, 800 ft.; length of quays, 3,600 ft.  Great harbour (tidal), :---Length, 3,230 ft.; width, 600 ft.; area, 45 acres; depth at high water when completed, 38 ft.  Garvel basin (tidal):---Width of entrance, 175 ft.; depth at high water when completed, 35 ft.; length of quays, 2,480 ft.  Garvel graving dock:---Length, 635 ft.; width, 80 ft.; and depth on cill at high water, 20 ft.  The total water space provided by those docks and tidal harbours is ninety acres; the total quay area about 100 acres; and the total length of quays is over three miles.  The James Watt Dock, which is considered the greatest and most costly of these extensive harbours, is one of the finest harbourages for steamers in the United Kingdom.  It has cost over 250,000l., and the outlay on the entire scheme, which has been designed, by Mr. Kinipple, C.E., is fully half a million of money.  An extensive range of warehouses and sheds, capable of storing 20,000 tons of general merchandise, has been constructed at a cost of about 40,000l.  Lines of railways (Caledonian and Glasgow and South-Western) run along the sides of the Watt Dock, and lines of railways have also been laid through the centre of the warehouses and sheds; and hydraulic cranes of great power commanding those rails have been erected, so that goods can be loaded into or discharged from railway wagons under cover.  On the jetty at the Watt Dock two 30-ton steam coaling cranes have been provided, each crane being capable of loading about 150 tons of coal per hour.  According to the Scotsman, the James Watt Wet Dock has this enormous and essential advantage, that it is the only dock on the Clyde in which vessels of huge tonnage can be constantly kept afloat.  At all other docks or harbours the large class of steamers ground during a part of each tide.

The Builder, August 14, 1886, p. 256. Source.