The Black Hole of Relegation.
The playoffs continue:
Premiership playoff quarterfinal, second leg:
Inverness CT [1 - 1] Ayr United
[ICT advance. Ayr will be in next year's Championship.]
Championship playoff semifinals, second leg:
Queen of the South [5 - 0] Montrose
Forfar [1 - 1] Raith Rovers
[It's QoS vs Raith in the next round.]
League One playoff semifinals, second leg:
Stenhousemuir [1 - 2] Annan
[Stenny go down.]
Clyde [3 - 0] Edinburgh City
[It's Clyde vs Annan in the next round.]
League Two playoff final, first leg:
Cove Rangers [4 - 0] Berwick Rangers
St Mirren can get locked into 11th place in the Premiership on Monday if they lose at home to Hamilton. If they win, though, they will be just one point behind the Accies, and their final game will be a lot easier to win (Dundee) than Hamilton's (St Johnstone). [The Buddies win 2 - 0.]
Mortonalia: Jack Iredale has signed with Carlisle United. Dave MacKinnon has been hired as CEO. He has been general manager of Kilmarnock and held executive positions at Dundee and Hamilton.
Jack Iredale's goals for Morton:
date venue opponent goalkeeper competition
2018/2/10 Cappielow Dumbarton Scott Gallacher Scottish Cup
2018/4/10 Cappielow Dumbarton Scott Gallacher league
2018/11/3 Cappielow Partick Cammy Bell league
The BBC is reporting that there have been talks to reformat the Championship into a 12-team league playing 44 games. Either the SPFL would expand by two clubs, or two Old Firm colt clubs would be added, or Leagues One and Two would get knocked together into an 18-team division. They just can't stop tinkering.
If this were to come in it would have to include scrapping the League Cup group stage, otherwise the minimum number of matches played by the Championship clubs would be 50, and some clubs (spelled Morton) can barely make it to the end of the schedule with eleven healthy players as it is.
And I guess it means League Three is off.
It's the final of the English National League playoffs: Salford City vs Fylde. If next year is like this year the top two National League teams that don't get promoted will enter the 2019-20 Scottish Challenge Cup. If Salford City win today those two teams would be Solihull Moors and Wrexham; if Fylde win they would be Solhull and Salford. [Fylde 0 - 3 Salford City.]
Since the four-division format began in 1994, which clubs have played in which tiers?
Tier I only: Aberdeen, Celtic, Kilmarnock, Motherwell
Tiers I and II only: Dundee, Dundee United, Falkirk*, Hearts, Hibs, St Johnstone, St Mirren
Tiers I, II and III only: Dunfermline, Partick, Raith Rovers
All four tiers: Gretna, Hamilton, Inverness CT, Livingston, Rangers, Ross County
Tier II only: old Airdrieonians
Tiers II and III only: new Airdrieonians, Ayr United, Clydebank, QoS
Tiers II, III and IV only: Alloa, Arbroath, Brechin, Clyde, Cowdenbeath, Dumbarton, East Fife, Morton, Stirling Albion, Stranraer
Tier III only: none
Tiers III and IV only: Albion Rovers, Berwick, Forfar, Montrose, Peterhead, Queen's Park, Stenhousemuir
Tier IV only: Annan, East Stirlingshire, Edinburgh City, Elgin City
*that's about to change.
Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic won the East of Scotland League last week but have been denied an SFA license, so they aren't going up to the Lowland League.
Canadian Premier League:
Valour [1 - 0] Wanderers
Forge [1 - 2] Cavalry (tomorrow)
Edmonton [0 - 0] Pacific (tomorrow)
About Valour FC
Valour have the best kit in the league, in a pleasing chocolate, gold and oxblood colour palette.
Their name is too close to Valur not to be a premeditated bilingual pun, considering that Manitoba has the largest chunk of the Icelandic diaspora, and that valur means gyrfalcon and there was that famous hockey club named the Winnipeg Falcons which was made up of Icelandic settlers. Still, if it sets up a Valour/Valur friendly some time, okay.
But if we're doing puns why not Winnipeg Strikers, because this month is the centenary of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, one of the few events anyone remembers about the place.
Valour FC is owned by the same people who own the CFL Blue Bombers, and they use the same stadium. Can Valour soccer draw Blue Bomber football fan numbers?
Winnipeg Blue Bombers home game attendances 2018:
23,034 June 1 exhibition game vs Edmonton
25,458 June 14 league game vs Edmonton
26,567 July 7 league game vs BC
27,116 July 27 league game vs Toronto
26,454 Aug 10 league game vs Hamilton
27,602 Aug 17 league game vs Ottawa
33,134 Sept 8 league game vs Saskatchewan
24,349 Sept 21 league game vs Montreal
26,070 Oct 13 league game vs Saskatchewan
25,173 Oct 26 league game vs Calgary
The announced attendance for Valour's first home game was 10,156.
J2 watch: Undefeated Mito HollyHock are top of the division with 7 wins and 5 draws, 14 goals for and only 4 against. Montedio Yamagata are in second place.
West of Scotland Premiership: Auchinleck Talbot [1 - 0] Largs Thistle
Danish 1st Division: Viborg 2 - 1 Fredericia (May 8th)
Fredericia [2 - 1] Thisted (May 12th)
Swiss Challenge League: Vaduz [1 - 0] Winterthur
Regionalliga Südwest: 1899 Hoffenheim II [0 - 3] 1. FC Saarbrücken (May 12)
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