On the first Saturday of July folk in Paisley celebrate no longer having to supply free thread to the mill owners. See. Source.
Morton visit Station Park for a friendly against Forfar Athletic. These two met in a preseason friendly a year ago yesterday and played to a scoreless draw.
Now that we have the League Cup group stage there are really only a few dates for friendlies: the end of June, two Saturdays and two midweeks in early July, the off day during the group stage, and the midweek before the first league match.
Sometimes two clubs that have scheduled a preseason friendly are drawn together in the group stage, leading them to cancel the friendly. The best way to avoid this is to book a date with a team from the opposite section. (The League Cup group stage is divided into North and South sections.) This I think has been Morton's strategy with Forfar.
Also, pro tip, don't let your manager arrange a friendly as cover for interviewing with the other club (e.g., St Mirren and Coleraine).
Caley Thistle are doing interesting things with their preseason. They split their squad in half to play two Highland league clubs simultaneously: Strathspey Thistle and Clachnacuddin on June 29th, and Forres and Rothes on July 2nd. But today the halves reunite to play Aberdeen. [1 - 1.]
In this decade Morton and Forfar have played four league games and one cup game. They each took two wins in League One 2014-15, and Morton won handily in the 2011-12 Challenge Cup.
How did they each fare against a third party, Cowdenbeath? Morton played to a 6W 3D 3L record against the Blue Brazil. Forfar were 5W 3D 4L, with a loss in the third round of the 2014-15 Scottish Cup.
This is not Forfar's first friendly of 2019-20. On June 30th they hosted Dunfermline and lost 0 - 1. The BBC called both sides 'rusty', which is why you play pre-season friendlies.
This is David Hopkin's first start as Morton manager -- since those two other times. In 2003 he filled in for one match, against Albion Rovers. In 2013, after Allan Moore was sacked and before Kenny Shiels got hired, Hopkin managed the team against Inverness CT, Dundee and Alloa. He has also been the opposing manager on ten occasions, all with Livingston.
David Hopkin's managerial record against Morton:
2015/9/5 Livi 2 - 4 Morton league
2015/11/7 Morton 1 - 0 Livi league
2016/1/9 Livi 0 - 1 Morton Scottish Cup
2016/3/1 Livi 0 - 0 Morton league
2016/4/9 Morton 2 - 1 Livi league
2017/8/15 Morton 0 - 2 Livi Challenge Cup
2017/8/26 Morton 0 - 1 Livi league
2018/2/27 Morton 0 - 1 Livi league
2018/3/13 Livi 1 - 1 Morton league
2018/4/7 Livi 3 - 2 Morton league
There are a few former Morton managers working in the SPFL: Ray McKinnon at Falkirk, Jim Duffy at Dumbarton, Allan Moore who is an assistant manager at Clyde, Ian McCall at Ayr United, and Jim McInally at Peterhead. I'll mash up their statistics through the coming season.
News: In a nostalgic glance back to 2002 the Greenock Morton management had the players clean the main stand this week.
Lee Kilday and Robbie McCrorie have signed with Queen of the South.
Morton are unhappy about the number of TV dates they're getting this season. So far four Saturday games have been moved to Friday night.
Manageria: Cove Rangers have signed Paul Hartley.
[Forfar 1 - 0 Morton.]
The Canadian Premier League Fall Season begins.
Forge [1 - 2] Edmonton
HFX Wanderers [1 - 0] York9
[Goal by Garcia.]
Wanderers have nine games this month.
Pacific [2 - 3] Cavalry
They just played five days ago.
Tohoku Soccer League: Iwaki FC [4 - 0] Morioka Zebra (tomorrow)
UEFA Europa League preliminary round, second leg (July 4):
Cardiff Metropolitan University 2 - 1 Progrès Neiderkorn
2 - 2 on aggregate. Progrès advance on the away goal rule.
NSÍ Runavík 0 - 0 Ballymena United
Tre Fiori 0 - 4 KÍ Klaksvík
Cliftonville 4 - 0 Barry Town United
Ballymena, KÍ and Cliftonville advance.
Faroes. I'm late to this I know but the UK occupied the Faroe Islands from 1940 to 1945 and in 1944 the Faroes soccer league had to be cancelled for lack of footballs.
Morton's preseason friendlies this decade:
2010/7/8 Morton 1 - 0 Hamilton (at Battery Park)
2010/7/8 Morton 4 - 2 Nigerian Select XI (at Battery Park)
2010/7/10 Albion Rovers 2 - 2 Morton
2010/7/13 Blyth Spartans 0 - 0 Morton
2010/7/15 Gateshead 0 - 1 Morton
2010/7/17 Morton 1 - 3 Bristol Rovers
2010/7/20 Morton 13 - 0 Moorcroft AFC (RC)
2010/7/27 Morton 0 - 0 St Mirren (RC) St Mirren won on PK
2011/6/30 Hibs 5 - 2 Morton
2011/6/30 Airdrie United 1 - 4 Morton
2011/7/5 Morton 2 - 3 Motherwell
2011/7/13 Morton 0 - 2 Walsall
2011/7/16 St Mirren 4 - 2 Morton (RC)
2011/7/16 Largs Thistle 2 - 0 Morton
2011/7/19 Queen's Park 0 - 1 Morton
2012/7/3 Rapid București 5 - 2 Morton (at Grangemouth)
2012/7/7 Albion Rovers 0 - 1 Morton
2012/7/11 Campbeltown Pupils 2 - 10 Morton
2012/7/12 Morton 0 - 1 Concordia Chiajna
2012/7/16 Morton 4 - 1 Kilmarnock
2012/7/21 Morton 0 - 1 St Mirren (RC)
2013/7/3 Morton 0 - 1 Sheffield United
2013/7/6 Morton 3 - 1 Motherwell
2013/7/9 Morton 0 - 0 Rotherham United
2013/7/13 Morton 0 - 1 St Johnstone
2013/7/16 Morton 9 - 0 Viewfield Rovers (RC)
2013/7/20 St Mirren 2 - 4 Morton (RC)
2013/7/28 Largs Thistle 3 - 4 Morton
2014/7/5 Queen of the South 1 - 0 Morton (at Croy)
2014/7/8 Morton 1 - 1 Motherwell
2014/7/12 Morton 0 - 1 Rotherham United
2014/7/14 Morton 13 - 1 Viewfield Rovers (RC)
2014/7/16 Partick Thistle 0 - 1 Morton
2014/7/19 Morton 0 - 1 St Mirren (RC)
2014/7/23 Celtic 3 - 0 Morton
2014/8/3 Scotland 3 - 0 Morton (at Bishopton)
2015/7/3 Dundee 0 - 3 Morton
2015/7/4 Morton 4 - 0 Next Level Soccer XI (at Port Glasgow)
2015/7/7 BSC Glasgow 2 - 3 Morton (at Airdrie)
2015/7/9 Clachnacuddin 0 - 0 Morton
2015/7/11 Brora Rangers 0 - 1 Morton
2015/7/13 Morton 1 - 3 Celtic XI
2015/7/15 Kilmarnock 4 - 0 Morton
2015/7/18 Morton 0 - 3 Rotherham United
2015/8/3 Rangers XI 1 - 0 Morton XI
2016/6/24 Dundee 1 - 1 Morton
2016/6/28 Morton 1 - 1 Airdrieonians (at Port Glasgow)
2016/7/5 Livingston 2 - 2 Morton
2016/7/9 Morton 1 - 2 Partick Thistle
2016/7/26 Morton 1 - 2 Swansea City U23
2017/7/1 Stenhousemuir 0 - 3 Morton
2017/7/8 Turriff United 1 - 6 Morton
2018/7/3 Morton 2 - 1 Motherwell
2018/7/7 Forfar 0 - 0 Morton
RC = Renfrewshire Cup
(Source: most of these scores are from the Morton Seasons articles on Wikipedia, which unfortunately are no longer being compiled. I have probably missed some friendlies from 2017 and 2018 -- though there are fewer being played since the League Cup Group stage was introduced.)
Lawrence Shankland signed a three-year deal with Dundee United Tuesday, despite this plea embedded in his Wikipedia page by an Ayr supporter:
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