Plenty of Nothing

Roman Ljubljana

The Roman city of Emona lies beneath the Slovenian capital Ljubljana -- well, virtually. The iEmona exhibit is situated in an underpass in the centre of the capital. Source.

Porcelain Greenock

A soup tureen made by Clyde Pottery, Greenock. Source. Pottery Street is just east of Cappielow at Lady Burn, but there are no potteries there now.

Dundee United visit Cappielow.

The situation: Dundee United sit second, one point behind Hibs who host Queen of the South. Morton hold third place, and a win today would bring them within two points of United. Morton have not lost in league play since these Tangerines beat them 2 - 1 on September 24th.

Jim Duffy and Thomas O'Ware took the Championship Manager of the Month and Player of the Month awards for October.

[0 - 0. Match report.]

1898-99. Morton were at home to Abercorn and won 4 - 2.

It's Round Three of the Scottish Junior Cup. Let's follow:

Thorniewood United [pp] Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic

Stonehaven [pp] Greenock Juniors

Dundee North End [pp] Linlithgow Rose

Kilwinning Rangers [5 - 2] Shettleston

Beith Juniors [9 - 0] Islavale

Pollok [1 - 1] Auchinleck Talbot

What is a result? You would think that result would mean the final score. But the word is used in British soccer circles to mean a favourable outcome. "I hope we get a result in Falkirk the day!" means, "I hope we win in Falkirk." But a result can also be stretched to mean a draw, if your team is the underdog. Thus Celtic 3 - 3 Manchester City is a result for Celtic.

How do the Swiss Challenge League stadia compare in size to the Scottish Championship grounds?

Challenge League:

Servette              30,084

Zürich                  25,000

Xamax                12,000

Winterthur            8,550

Aarau                   8,000

Wil                        6,958

Chiasso                5,000

Schaffhausen       4,200

Le Mont                4,000

Wohlen                 3,624

Championship:

Hibernian            20,421

Dundee Utd        14,229

Morton                11,589

Dunfermline        11,480

Ayr Utd                10,185

Raith                     8,867

Falkirk                   8,750

Q of the South      8,690

St Mirren               8,023

Dumbarton            2,020

By this measure, Xamax is most like Greenock Morton.

How is Servette FC like Greenock Morton?

Not much. Their stadium Stade de Genève was built in 2003, has three times Cappielow's capacity, all seated and roofed over, and was a venue for Euro 2008. Geneva is on a lake, but the stadium is not near the water. Geneva's metropolitan population is about 900,000, much greater than Inverclyde. Geneva is a major corporate center, with headquarters for all kinds of United Nations agencies, and FIFA.

Historically, Servette is one of the top four or five clubs in Switzerland. They have won the Swiss championship 17 times, and the Swiss Cup 7 times. They wear maroon and white. If there is Scottish Championship equivalent to Servette FC, it's Hibs, not Morton.

AFC Champions League final, first leg: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors [2 - 1] Al-Ain of Abu Dhabi.

Lowland League: Spartans (2nd) [1 - 0] East Kilbride (1st).

Largs Thistle [2 - 1] Troon.

Tomorrow Blaublitz Akita end their 2016 J3 season by hosting Ryukyu. [Akita win 2 - 0 and finish the J3 season in fourth place, outside the promotion zone.]

The Acropolis Through Time

Watch this animation of the Acropolis in Athens through time, including the usually neglected Middle Ages. Spoiler: the Venetians blew up the Parthenon.

Tesla at Niagara Falls

Nikola Tesla stands atop his invention the alternating current motor for a good view the falls. Source.

Basil

Menippus on the Best Life

    The best way to live is to be an ordinary human being. So give up all this metaphysical nonsense. Stop worrying about first principles and final causes, and forget all those clever arguments -- they don't mean a thing. Just live in the present moment and get along as best you can, trying to see the funny side of things and talking nothing very seriously.

Lucian, from "Menippus Goes to Hell" in Satirical Sketches (Penguin, trans. Turner), pp. 109-10.

Menippus. Menippean satire.

Heptagonal Bank

Bechdel and Beaton

Kate Beaton posted this photo of herself in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, beside Riva Lehrer's portrait of Alison Bechdel. If I read this right she is receiving the power to do a book about her own mom.

133 Years of Hurt

Hearts vs Dumbarton at Hampden in the 1975-76 Scottish Cup semi-final.

When Hibernian won their first Scottish Cup in 114 years the club's supporters broke down the goalposts and tore up the pitch in a cathartic and statutorily offensive frenzy. But another Championship club has gone 133 years without a Cup. What of their pain?

Morton visit the Championship's oldest (founded 1872) and smallest club (their stadium has capacity for 2,020 spectators), Dumbarton.

Morton and Dumbarton have met 25 times in league play in the 21st Century. Morton gained 13 wins, Dumbarton 6, with 6 draws. They met in the Challenge Cup 4 times, Morton taking 3 wins to Dumbarton's 1. They met in the Scottish Cup in 2009 and 2010, Morton winning both times. They have not met in the League Cup since 1982, when Morton beat Dumbarton twice in the group stage.

What is their record from the 19th Century? They played two league games in 1895-96. Morton won both.

Currently Morton hold fourth place in the Scottish Championship, Dumbarton eighth. Their first meeting in August ended 1 - 1. Morton have one win away, and Dumbarton have one win at home.

[Morton win 0 - 2. Goals by Russell and Oyenuga. Morton take third place. Match report.]

When have Dumbarton made the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup?

1874-75    Lost semi-final to Renton.

1875-76    Lost semi-final to 3rd Lanark.

1879-80    Lost semi-final to Queen's Park.

1880-81    Lost final to Queen's Park.

1881-82    Lost final to Queen's Park.

1882-83    Won cup final against Vale of Leven.

1886-87    Lost final to Hibs.

1888-89    Lost semi-final to Celtic.

1890-91    Lost final to Hearts.

1896-97    Lost final to Rangers.

1975-76    Lost semi-final to Hearts.

It's the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup. The matches are:

St Mirren vs Ayr

St Mirren knocked off Hibs, and Ayr beat Falkirk to get here. These two clubs have met three times before in the Challenge Cup. Ayr took two wins, St Mirren one. [St Mirren 2 - 1 Ayr.]

Dunfermline vs Dundee United

This cup tie displaced the league fixture Dundee United vs Dunfermline, which the two teams, thinking ahead, played last Tuesday. That's the second time this season a cup tie has caused the Tangerines to play a division rival twice in one week. [United win 0 - 1.]

Queen of the South vs Alloa

In the last round QoS defeated Linfield and Alloa eliminated Bala Town. QoS and Alloa have never met in this cup before. [Queen of the South win 2 - 0.]

Livingston vs The New Saints

Livi have already knocked off Celtic U20 and Crusaders. [But Livingston 0 - 3 The New Saints.]

How often have these eight quarter-final clubs won the Challenge Cup? Queen of the South (twice); Alloa, St Mirren, Livingston (once each); Ayr, Dunfermline, Dundee United (never, but they made the final); The New Saints (never ever).

Taking the Welsh Premier League as equal to the Scottish Championship, if The New Saints were to join the Scottish Championship, where would they be in the standings? They'd be in first place. So far this season they have 14 wins in 14 starts.

Hibernian FC in the Scottish Challenge Cup:

2014-15    R1    Rangers 2 - 1 Hibs

2015-16    R1    Hibs 2 - 6 Rangers

2016-17    R3    Turriff United 0 - 3 Hibs

                 R4    Hibs 1 - 2 St Mirren

Turriff United are the only club that Hibs have ever beaten in the Challenge Cup.

1898-99. On this date Morton played Port Glasgow Athletic to a 2 - 2 draw, but not in SFL action. There's an important fact I've been holding back about the 1898-99 SFL: it played only a double round robin from August to December (though some fixtures straggled into the new year.) Six SFL clubs (Abercorn, Ayr, Linthouse, Morton, Port Glasgow, and St Mirren, plus Ayr Parkhouse) (Kilmarnock was to have been in it, but withdrew) combined to form another league to play from January to May 1899. The name of that league was the Glasgow and West Scotland Football League. This November 12th game was the only one to be played in 1898. After New Year's I'll follow Morton's progress in the G&WSFL, as well as the Scottish Cup and the all-important Renfrewshire Cup.

Here's how The Glasgow Herald put it, November 14, 1898 (page 10):

    MORTON V. PORT-GLASGOW ATHLETIC (WESTERN LEAGUE).--The first game in this cometition was played at Cappielow on Saturday, before the biggest crowd of the season. In the first half Morton had the best of the exchanges, and led at interval by 2 to 1. The second half opened briskly, and after half an hour's play Port equalised. The last quarter of an hour was brimful of excitement, but no further scoring was done, and the result was a draw--2 goals each. For the Morton their defence was best, while Dale and Reid shone in the front line. The backs of the Port were shaky, their half-backs strong, and Hodge, M'Corquodale, and Smith were prominent forward. Teams:--Morton--M'Pherson; Anderson, Orr; Colligan, Henderson, Blair; Dale, Grant; Walker; Lynn, Reid. Port-Glasgow Athletic--Ward; Scullion, Scott; M'Neill, Curran, Graham; Hodge, M'Corquodale; Smith, M'Master, Tosh.

Switzerland. Last week we discovered through a point by point comparison that the Swiss Challenge League is the European soccer league most like the Scottish Championship. The follow-up question, then, is: Which Swiss Challenge League club is most like Greenock Morton? The contenders are: Aarau, Chiasso, Servette, Le Mont, Neuchâtel Xamax, Schaffhausen, Wil, Winterthur, Wohlen, Zürich. I'll assign points according to some set of criteria that I'm still cooking up, and in the end we'll total them and see which Swiss Challenge League club is most like Greenock Morton.

So, how is Switzerland like Scotland? Both are small European countries. Switzerland is 41,285 square kilometres. Scotland is 77,933. Switzerland has 8.2 million people, Scotland 5.3 million. Each country has its area of greatest population in a discrete position away from its neighbouring countries. Scotland has most of its population in the Central Belt, which includes the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and a host of smaller towns, in between the rural Borders and the nearly empty Highlands. Switzerland has most of its population in the Central Plateau, which runs from Geneva to Zurich. The Jura Mountains separate it from France, and the Alps separate it from Italy.

How is Switzerland unlike Scotland? Switzerland is wealthy, wealthy, wealthy, partly because it has been so good at maintaining its industrial base. Finding a Swiss town that has lost its jobs the way Greenock has will be tough.

Swiss Challenge League and Scottish Championship clubs by year of foundation:

Dumbarton                    1872

Morton                           1874

Hibs                               1875

Falkirk                            1876

Raith                              1883

Dunfermline                   1885

St Mirren                        1887

Servette                         1890

Schaffhausen               1896

Winterthur                     1896

Zürich                            1896

Wil                                  1900

Aarau                             1902

Wohlen                          1904

Chiasso                         1905

Dundee United               1909

Ayr United                      1910

Queen of the South        1919

Le Mont                         1942

Xamax                           2013

Morton, second-oldest club in the current Championship, is much older than any of the Challenge League clubs. Positionally Schaffhausen, Winterthur and Zürich are closest to Morton (which is to say, they are jointed second-oldest in their league).

What is a draw? In British football there are two meanings to the word draw. 1) A draw is a final score in which no winner has emerged: 0 - 0, 1 - 1, 2 - 2, and so on. 2) A draw is an event at which a group of eligible teams is sorted into scheduled encounters, usually for a cup competition, by pulling names out of a hat, or bingo balls out of a bowl. See tie.

Tomorrow Blaublitz Akita visit Gamba Osaka U23. [2 - 2]

Tomorrow it's the Canadian Interuniversity Sport women's soccer championship in Wolfville, Nova Scotia: UBC [1 - 2] Laval

And the Canadian university men's soccer championship in Guelph, Ontario: UQAM [0 - 1] Alberta

Canadian Interuniversity Sport changed its name to U Sports on October 20th.

And it's the fourth round of the Emperor's Cup. Albirex are the only north-of-36° team left, so let's follow them plus any teams that are not in J1.

Omiya Ardija [1 - 0] Yokohama FC (J2)

FC Tokyo [2 - 1] Honda FC (JFL)

Yokohama F.Marinos [1 - 0] Albirex Niigata

Gamba Osaka [1 - 0] Shimizu S-Pulse (J2)

The Japan Football Association conducts only two draws over the course of the Emperor's Cup. The first draw sets the matches for Round One, and then the winning clubs progress according to the bracket. Another draw takes place before Round Four, and then the winners advance to the conclusion of the tournament according to another bracket. Watch the Round Four draw.

Yesterday Scotland played England in World Cup qualifying action at Wembley Stadium and lost 3 - 0.

Scotland are in a group with England, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Malta. Only the first-place and some of the second-place teams advance. The group stage continues until October 2017!

Deveronvale [7 - 2] Strathspey Thistle

Largs Thistle [4 - 3] Arthurlie

View the 100 best Scottish buildings of the past century.

Scarlet Maple With Tar Spots