Plenty of Nothing

Lucas Cranach Statue, Wittenberg

Source.

Tapestry Restorers

Read about them here.

Breakfast in Greenock

Beans, black pudding, sausage, slice, fried egg, bacon, tattie scone, bread and butter, and tea. Times four. Source. The League Cup group stage is the breakfast box of Scottish football.

Morton host Edinburgh City on the last day of League Cup group stage action. These two clubs have never played each other before. Having said that, Morton did play the old Edinburgh City a dozen times in the 1930s and 1940s.

Last season Edinburgh City got into the League Cup as Lowland League champions. They finished the group stage with zero points. So far this year they have two points, and could finish ahead of Morton on goal difference if they win today.

When Edinburgh City entered the SPFL last year they brought Meadowbank Stadium (former haunt of Meadowbank Thistle) with them. But now they've signed a groundsharing agreement with Spartans and will use their place, Ainslie Park, for the next three seasons while Meadowbank is being renovated.

The Edinburgh clubs that are not Hibs or Hearts share a tangled history with regard to home grounds. City Park was home to the old Edinburgh City from 1935 to 1955, Feranti Thistle 1969 to 1974, and Spartans 1976 to 2009.  Powderhall Stadium (which also had a greyhound track) was home to Leith Athletic from 1926 to 1928 and the old Edinburgh City from 1931 to 1934. St Bernard's played at seven different home grounds in their time.

The situation: Motherwell have won Group F, so if Morton are to advance they must finish the group stage as one of the top four second-place teams. Already Group C has a 9-point runner-up, so there are really only three spots available.

Step one is to win in regulation time today. This will leave Morton with 8 points.

Step two is for a slew of upsets to happen, preventing teams in other groups from finishing with 10, 9 or 8 points. Favourable results would be: Forfar over Inverness, Dunfermline over Hearts, Alloa over Hibs, Dumbarton over Kilmarnock, Queen of the South and Albion Rovers to go to penalty kicks, Stranraer over Partick Thistle.

Any scheme that hinges on Stranraer beating Partick though . . . [shakes head.]

Morton have signed defender Jack Iredale, formerly of Perth Glory.

Morton chairman Douglas Rae is retiring from his day job at Golden Casket, where he made Millions.

[Morton win 5 - 0. Goals by McHugh (2), Quitongo, and Thomson (2). But it's not enough. Morton finish sixth among second-place teams, and don't advance.]

Also today: Motherwell [1 - 0] Berwick

[Group A final standings:

Falkirk                   12

Inverness CT          8

Stirling Albion         7

Brechin                   2

Forfar                      1

Inverness are also out.

Group F final standings:

Motherwell            12

Morton                    8

Queen's Park          7

Edinburgh City        2

Berwick                   1

Elsewhere: Hearts are knocked out.]

Thomas O'Ware's goals.

date                park                against                goalkeeper          competition

2014/4/1         Cappielow        Dumbarton          Jamie Ewings       league

2014/8/19       Cappielow        Berwick               William Bald          Challenge Cup

2014/8/23       Balmoor           Peterhead           Graeme Smith       league

2014/10/4       Glebe               Brechin               Graeme Smith*      league

2014/10/25     East End          Dunfermline        Ryan Scully           league

2015/1/10       Ochilview         Stenhousemuir    Greg Fleming        league

2015/8/29       Recreation       Alloa                   David Crawford      league

2015/10/3       Stark's             Raith                   Kevin Cuthbert       league

2016/1/9         Almondvale     Livingston           Darren Jamieson    Scottish Cup

2016/2/24       Easter Road    Hibs                      Mark Oxley           league

2016/4/9         Cappielow       Livingston           Marc McCallum      league

2016/7/16**    Cliftonhill         Albion Rovers       Ross Stewart        League Cup

2016/7/19       Cappielow       Clyde                    John Gibson         League Cup

2016/8/6        Paisley 2021    St Mirren             Jamie Langfield      league

2016/9/20       Cappielow       Dundee Utd         Cameron Bell        League Cup

2016/10/15    Palmerston       QoS                     Lee Robinson        league

2016/10/29     Cappielow       Ayr Utd                 Greg Fleming        league

2016/11/1       Cappielow       St Mirren             Jamie Langfield      league

2016/12/3       Bellsdale         Beith Juniors      Stephen Grindlay    Scottish Cup

2016/12/3       Bellsdale         Beith Juniors      Stephen Grindlay    Scottish Cup

2016/12/24     Cappielow       QoS                      Lee Robinson        league

2017/2/18       Cappielow       Falkirk                  Danny Rogers        league

2017/5/9         Cappielow       Dundee Utd          Cameron Bell        playoffs

*There are two Graeme Smiths. **After extra time.

The Highland and Lowland leagues start today. East Kilbride and Buckie Thistle have already finished their League Cup group stage matches, which demonstrates that the three leagues did actually talk to each other in the planning phase.

The Highland League has been made up of the same 18 teams for nine straight years, whereas the Lowland League has never had the same assortment of clubs from one year to the next in its five years of existence.

UEFA Champions League 3QR, first leg:

Celtic 0 - 0 Rosenborg (Norway)

Maribor (Slovenia) 1 - 0 FH (Iceland)

UEFA Europa League 3QR, first leg:

Östersund 1 - 0 Fola Esch (Luxembourg) -- goal by Bachirou!

Aberdeen 2 - 1 Apollon Limossol (Cyprus)

Fouad Bachirou is not the only former Greenock Morton player appearing in UEFA competition this summer. Robbie Crawford of Icelandic champions FH went on as a substitute in their July 18th victory over Vikingur in the Champions League 2QR. He played for Morton in 2014-15.

JFL:

Vanraure Hachinohe [2 - 0] Honda FC -- that's a big win.

Honda Lock [1 - 1] ReinMeer Aomori

The JFL is off till August 20th.

Germany:

SSV Ulm 1846 [1 - 4] 1. FC Saarbrücken

This was the start of the 2017-18 Regionalliga Südwest schedule. The league is part of the fourth tier of German football, and covers about a fifth of the Geman landmass. There are 19 clubs playing a double round robin for a total of 36 games each. Last year our guys 1. FC Saarbrücken finished third.

How do you say "1. FC Saarbrücken"? Ersteh Ef Cee Sarbrooken.

Was SSV Ulm really founded in 1846? Yes, but as a swimming and sports club. Football came along later. There have been mergers and bankruptcies. The present entity dates from 1999.

Powderhall Stadium in 1937. Source.

Last Days of Canadian Martyrs Church

Fiery

Genshiken Menu

The release of the Genshiken Nidaime anime in 2013 was the occasion for this three menu cross-promotion.

League Cup Trivia

The League Cup was born in 1946, which makes it a baby boomer. Source.

There are five teams in each League Cup group, so everybody gets one day off, and today is Morton's.

Inverness CT, Dunfermline, Dundee United, Ross County, Kilmarnock, Queen of the South and St Mirren all have the day off as well. None of them has a friendly lined up, even though you could organize four really good matches between them, including a Highland derby and a Renfrewshire Cup.

What would it take for Morton to advance to the next round? There are two ways to do it. 1) Win the group. The best Morton can do is finish with 8 points. Motherwell have 6 with two games left against Edinburgh City and Berwick. Motherwell must lose both games, though a shootout loss in one of them is acceptable. But it won't happen. Motherwell are going to win the group. So, 2) Morton must be one of the top four second-place finishers. Last year no team with fewer than 9 points fell into this group, and no team with a gd worse than +3. Morton are -3. So, on Saturday Morton must beat Edinburgh City by a huge margin, and hope for a huge number of favourable results tonight and Saturday. Specifically (and these are just today's games): Forfar to beat Falkirk, Peterhead to beat Hearts, Cowdenbeath to beat Dundee, Hibs and Arbroath to go to a shootout, Clyde and Ayr to go a shootout, Albion Rovers and Hamilton to go to a shootout, Airdrieonians to beat Partick. [Well, two of those things happened.]

Has any club won all its group stage games without even conceding a goal? Yes. In 1946-47 East Fife won six of six games, scored 22 goals and allowed none. And in 1983-84 Rangers won six of six, scored 18 and allowed none. And in 2016-17 Rangers won four of four, scored 10 and allowed none.

Has any club lost all its group stage games and not even scored? No, but in 1969-70 Partick Thistle lost six of six, scored one goal and allowed 25.

Did Leith Athletic ever play in the League Cup? Yes! In 1947-48 they won Group 6 with 3 wins and 3 draws, before going down 8 - 2 to Aberdeen in the quarter-finals.

Gretna in the League Cup:

2002-03    R1    Gretna 1 - 2 East Fife

2003-04    R1    Gretna 1 - 2 Peterhead

2004-05    R1    Morton 1 - 0 Gretna

2005-06    R1    Albion Rovers 3 - 2 Gretna

2006-07    R3    Hibs 6 - 0 Gretna

2007-08    R3    Inverness CT 3 - 0 Gretna

The Morton twitter account refers to the club's youth squad as the Ton teens. Will the last one still with the club collect all the bonus money? (Tontine.)

Morton's Warren Hawke has been elected to the SPFL Board.

Group F action:

Berwick [2 - 3] Queen's Park

Edinburgh City [1 - 2] Motherwell

[Group A standings after July 25th:

Falkirk                9

Stirling Albion     7

Inverness CT      5

Brechin               2

Forfar                 1

Group F standings after July 25th:

Motherwell          9

Queen's Park      7

Morton                5

Edinburgh City    2

Berwick               1

Queen's Park have played all their games, so Motherwell win Group F. I'll go over the odds of Morton advancing to Round Two in Saturday's post.]

Vive le Québec libre!

Mayor Drapeau was caught off-guard by the tenor of General De Gaulle's remarks on this day in 1967. Source.

Hofkirche, Innsbruck

The Hofkirche, Innsbruck, contains the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I, plus a couple dozen statues of his illustrious relatives. These three are Albrecht II of Austria (1298-1358), Rudolf I of Habsburg, King of the Romans (1218-1291), and Philip I of Castile (1478-1506). Source.

To Fir Park

The North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre makes a better-looking stadium than Fir Park. Source.

Morton visit Motherwell.

These two have met four times in the 21st Century, twice in the League Cup and twice in the Scottish Cup. Motherwell have won each time except most recently in the 2015-16 League Cup when Morton upset them 3 - 2 at Cappielow.

The situation: Morton sit atop Group F, having earned 5 of a possible 6 points. A win or a pk win will keep them on top for now, and maybe a pk loss will be enough too, depending on how Edinburgh City do. But Motherwell remain the favourites to win the group.

Last year in the League Cup group stage Motherwell had three wins and a loss (to Rangers), before going out in the second round with a 5 - 0 loss to Celtic.

Motherwell held their training camp in Dublin this summer. They played friendlies against Stirling Albion and Livingston, winning both, and two against English clubs, losing against Gateshead and Barrow, both of them Northern English clubs in the fifth-tier National League.

A squad of Morton's younger players and trialists met Largs Thistle Wednesday at Barrfields in Largs. Theestle won 3 - 0.

Morton have signed midfielder Connor McManus.

Biggest upsets so far in the tournament: East Kilbride (tier V) over Queen of the South (tier II); Ayr (tier III) over Kilmarnock (tier I).

Which clubs have played the most League Cup matches against Morton?

Motherwell           18 games (including today)

Rangers                17 games

Cowdenbeath        15 games

Alloa                      14 games

Ayr United             13 games

[Ugh. Motherwell win 4 - 0. That probably ends any chance of Morton advancing.]

Also today: Queen's Park [3 - 0] Edinburgh City 

Michael Tidser's goals for Morton:

date              park              opponent       goalkeeper          competition

2010/8/10     Cappielow    Partick             Bryn Halliwell        league

2011/8/13     Cappielow    Livingston       Andrew McNeil      league

2011/8/23     Cappielow    St Mirren         Craig Samson       League Cup

2012/3/20     Falkirk          Falkirk         Michael McGovern    league

2012/8/5       Ochilview   E. Stirlingshire  Ryan McWillams    League Cup

2012/8/14     Cappielow    QoS                Lee Robinson      Challenge Cup

2012/11/13   Cappielow  Albion Rovers  Matthew McGinley  Scottish Cup

2012/11/13   Cappielow  Albion Rovers  Matthew McGinley  Scottish Cup

2012/12/17   Cappielow    Turriff Utd        Stephen Coutts     Scottish Cup

2012/12/17    Cappielow   Turriff Utd        Stephen Coutts     Scottish Cup

2012/12/29   Cappielow    Dunfermline    Paul Gallacher       league

2012/12/29   Cappielow    Dunfermline    Paul Gallacher       league

2013/1/26     Cappielow    Raith               David McGurn        league

2013/2/3       Dens            Dundee           Rab Douglas         Scottish Cup

2013/2/23     East End      Dunfermline    Paul Gallacher       league

2013/2/23     East End      Dunfermline    Paul Gallacher       league

2013/3/16     Dumbarton   Dumbarton    Stephen Grindlay    league

2015/9/22     Cappielow    Motherwell     Connor Ripley       League Cup

2016/12/3     Bellsdale    Beith Juniors    Stephen Grindlay   Scottish Cup

2017/1/7       Cappielow    Dumbarton      Mark Brown           league

2017/2/12     Ibrox             Rangers       Wes Foderingham    Scottish Cup

Tidser had a tough 2016-17. He missed games 5 to 10 of the league schedule due to injury, and was a substitute for nearly half of the remainder of the season. While Morton finished with a +3 goal difference, Tidser ended up with plus/minus of -5 in league play.

(I'm not sure if plus/minus is a thing in soccer. You add up the number of goals scored for and against the team while the player is on the field.)

[Group A standings after July 22nd:

Falkirk                   6

Inverness CT        5

Stirling Albion       4

Brechin                 2

Forfar                   1

Group F standings after July 22nd:

Motherwell            6

Morton                  5

Queen's Park       4

Edinburgh City     2

Berwick                1

Close brackets.]

UEFA Champions League 2QR, second leg:

Celtic 4 - 0 Linfield

Celtic advance.

The New Saints 1 - 5 Rijeka

The New Saints are out.

UEFA Europa League 2QR, second leg:

Odd 1 - 0 Vaduz

Vaduz are out.

Galatasaray 1 - 1 Östersund

Östersund advance.

Široki Brijeg 0 - 2 Aberdeen

Aberdeen advance.

AEL 2 - 1 Progrès Niederkorn

Niederkorn are out.

Japan:

Ryutsu Keisai University [0 - 0] Vanraure Hachinohe

ReinMeer Aomori [3 - 0] Biwako Shiga

Kashima Antlers [2 - 0] Sevilla

Germany:

1. FC Saarbrücken [3 - 0] Wuppertaler SV