
Building a Liner at Greenock, by Muirhead Bone. Source.
The 2020-21 Scottish Championship season begins today, seven months and ten days after the last one stopped. The member clubs are Alloa, Arbroath, Ayr United, Dunfermline, Dundee, Hearts, Inverness CT, Morton, Queen of the South and Raith Rovers. It's an assortment never seen before, mainly due to Hearts, who have only played in tier II once before in the four-division age.
The only other time Hearts played in the Championship was 2014-15, when Morton were in League One. Of this year's clubs only Queen of the South, Raith Rovers and Alloa were around to play Hearts that year. Hearts swept them all.
There's a severe scarcity of derbies in this year's Championship. Morton are without St Mirren, Ayr are without Kilmarnock, Dundee are without Dundee United, Inverness are without Ross County, Hearts have no Hibs, Alloa have no Stirling Albion, and Arbroath are without any other Forfarshire team. Only Dunfermline and Raith can indulge their local Fife rivalry. Queen of the South haven't had a local derby since Gretna went bust. Everyone will simply have to hate on Heart of Midlothian.
This will be Morton's first 27-game season, as 2019-20 was their first 28-game season. The most points a team can accumulate in 27 games is 81. And that's assuming all games get played. The 2020-21 schedule could very easily become Swiss cheese, with the final standings based on points per game.
Today's home-opener is Morton versus Alloa.
These clubs met three times last season. Morton took two wins and there was a 4 - 4 draw. Morton and Alloa had never played each other to a 4 - 4 result before. So don't say that new things don't happen.
Wasps who have played for Morton: Alan Trouten (2003-04), Andy Graham (2011-2012), Scott Taggart (2012-14), and Robert Thomson (2017-19). None of the Morton squad have played for Alloa.
Morton have seven players whose surname begins with Mc or Mac.
Morton's starting lineup is: [McAdams, Fjortoft, McLean, McGinty, Muirhead, Jacobs, McAlister, Salkeld, McPake, Nesbitt, Orsi.]
Compare last year: Ramsbottom, Tumilty, Van Schaik, Brian McLean, Grant, Jacobs, McAlister, Muirhead, Nesbitt, Cadden, Sutton.
Read The Two Point One's guide to the 2020-21 Scottish Championship.
The other Championship matches:
Hearts 6 - 2 Dundee* (last night)
Dundee were instrumental in preventing the league reconstruction that would have kept Hearts in the Premiership, so karma.
Ayr United [2 - 1] Queen of the South
These two have met 95 times before, with 39 wins each, plus 17 draws. QoS are without their coaching staff, who have gone into isolation.
Dunfermline [3 - 1] Inverness CT*
ICT won all three matches last season.
Raith Rovers [3 - 0] Arbroath
Their last meeting was in League One a year and a half ago.
[Morton win 1 - 0. Goal by Salkeld.]
When did the current Championship clubs most recently join the division, and did they come from above or below?
2020 Hearts (above)
2020 Raith Rovers (below)
2019 Dundee (above)
2019 Arbroath (below)
2018 Ayr United (below)
2018 Alloa (below)
2017 Inverness CT (above)
2016 Dunfermline (below)
2015 Morton (below)
2013 QoS (below)
In which divisions have the 2020-21 Championship clubs played since 1994?
Hearts AAAAAA AAAAAAAAAA AAAABAAAAA B
Dundee BBBBAA AAAAABBBBB BBABAAAAAB B
Inverness CT DDDCCB BBBBAAAAAB AAAAAAABBB B
Dunfermline BBAAAB AAAAAAABBB BABCCCBBBB B
Raith Rovers BAABBB BBCBBCCCCB BBBBBBBCCC B
Morton CBBBBB BCDCCCCBBB BBBBCBBBBB B
QoS CCCCCC CCBBBBBBBB BBCBBBBBBB B
Ayr Utd BCCBBB BBBBCCCCCB CBCCCCBCBB B
Alloa DDDDCC BCBCCCCCCC CDCBBBCCBB B
Arbroath DDDDCC CBBCCDDDCC DCCCDDDCCB B
(A = tier I; B = tier II; etc.)
Which clubs have spent at least a dozen years in tier II since 1994, including 2020-21?
19 Morton
18 Falkirk
18 Queen of the South
17 Raith Rovers
14 St Mirren
14 Dundee
14 Ayr United
13 Partick Thistle
13 Dunfermline
12 Ross County
Sort the Championship clubs by points earned so far in the 2020-21 League Cup:
G GD Pts
Dunfermline 3 6 9
Hearts 3 4 9
Dundee 2 5 6
Ayr United 3 3 6
Arbroath 3 3 6
Alloa 3 2 6
Morton 2 1 4
QoS 3 0 4
Raith Rovers 2 -1 3
Inverness CT 2 -1 2
Plenty of Nothing's objectives for Morton:
1) Make the promotion playoffs, if they happen.
2) Get at least a point off Hearts.
3) Finish higher than Ayr United.
4) Finish higher than Queen of the South.
5) Have a positive goal difference.
6) Get to a quarter-final.
7) Beat St Mirren.
Prediction:
This season every story in the Scotsman about the Championship will be about Hearts.
Kilmarnock:
Livingston host Kilmarnock. These two have played 50 competitive matches up till now: Killie have 27 wins, Livi 14, with 9 draws. They played twice last season and each took a win.
Kilmarnock's best result against Livi in league play:
1991/4/10 Meadowbank Thistle 1 - 8 Kilmarnock
And worst:
2001/10/20 Kilmarnock 1 - 5 Livingston
[Livi 1 - 3 Killie.]
League One:
Cove Rangers begin their first League One season with a visit from East Fife whom they have never played before. Cove have also never played three other 2020-21 League One sides: Clyde, Dumbarton and Forfar. [Cove win 3 - 1.]
Other matches:
J2: Matsumoto Yamaga 2 - 2 Mito HollyHock (Oct 14)
Mito HollyHock [1 - 3] Albirex Niigata (tomorrow)
JFL: Iwaki FC [1 - 2] Sony Sendai (tomorrow)
Both teams have 13 points after 8 games, and both have a 0 gd.
K League: Pohang [4 - 0] Ulsan (tomorrow)
Faroes: B36 [2 - 0] TB
Allsvenskan: Djurgården [3 - 2] Malmö (Monday)
FC Haka 2 - 1 TPS (yesterday)
TPS [4 - 1] RoPS (Monday)
Ireland: UCD 5 - 1 Cabinteely (yesterday)
Iceland: ÍBV vs Fram (postponed)
3.Liga: 1.FC Saarbrücken [2 - 1] Unterhaching (tomorrow)
Swiss Challenge League: Winterthur 2 - 2 Schaffhausen (yesterday)
Luxembourg Cup, Second Round: Kehlen [0 - 2] Progres Niederkorn (tomorrow)
Lowland League: Bonnyrigg Rose [3 - 0] Gretna 2008
WoSFL: Largs Thistle vs Clydebank (postponed)
The 2020-21 SWF Championship South was to begin tomorrow but has been postponed due to second-wave Covid. Morton vs Stenhousemuir (postponed).
Other developments:
Club The Strongest have closed their facilities for the weekend because of the Bolivian election. Between them Covid and political upheaval have knocked big holes in the Bolivian football schedule, which normally has almost no close season.
Tuesday's League Cup match between Stranraer and Albion Rovers ended in a 14 - 15 shootout.
Morton Women so far:
G W D L F A GD Pts Pos
2017 20 18 2 0 122 8 +114 56 1st, SWFL 2 West
2018 22 2 0 20 18 79 -61 6 11th, SWFL 1 South
2019 14 14 0 0 105 4 +101 42 1st, SWFL 2 W/SW
2020 3 2 0 1 9 4 +5 6 3rd, SWF Champ. South
Historical matches:
Oct 17, 1914. Morton travelled to Motherwell and played to a 1 - 1 draw.
Oct 17, 1992. Morton hosted Meadowbank Thistle and won 4 - 1. Johnstone, Mathie and Mahood scored, plus one own goal.
JFL 1999: Denso 3 - 2 Mito HollyHock
SFL Division Three results, October 18, 1924:
Vale of Leven 3 - 1 Royal Albert
Solway Star 2 - 1 Helensburgh
Galston 2 - 1 Queen of the South
Beith 1 - 3 Lochgelly United
Dumbarton Harp 3 - 1 Mid Annandale

1924-25 Scottish Qualifying Cup, Fourth Round:
Nithsdale Wanderers 1 - 0 Dykehead
Clackmannan 1 - 1 Peebles Rovers
Leith Athletic 3 - 3 Montrose
Source: Glasgow Herald, October 20, 1924, p. 14.
And finally, the 2020-21 Championship League Cup:
Last season I fabricated the Championship League Cup, a knockout cup tournament based on actual results from SPFL Championship league matches. You can read the rules here. Because of coronavirus, the final between Arbroath and Partick Thistle was not played. This season those two teams are not in the same division or Betfred Cup group, so an autumn final is unfortunately out of the question. Therefore the final result for the first Championship League Cup is:
2019-20 no winner
This season the Championship is only 27 games long, or three round robins, which means there can only be three cup rounds to this cup, not four like last year. This requires Round One to be a group stage. Round Two will be the semi-final, with the top two finishers from each group, and Round Three will be the final.
The pecking order will be based on the 2019-20 Championship table. There will be two groups. Group A will consist of the teams in positions 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 of the 2019-20 table, and Group B will be made up of teams 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. Hearts will take the place of Dundee United, and Raith Rovers will take the place of Partick Thistle. So, the groups are:
Group A: Hearts, Dundee, Arbroath, Morton, QoS.
Group B: ICT, Ayr United, Dunfermline, Alloa, Raith Rovers.
Every team will play every other team in its group once, and the results will be made up into a table for each group. There will be no need for special tie-breaking rules in this round, as draws are allowed. If two teams are tied in the standings at the end of this round, the usual SPFL Championship tiebreakers will apply. All these games take place from October and December. Like last year, if a match gets postponed until later than the next round match it sets up, and there isn't another match between those two clubs in the meantime, then the tournament must be abandoned on the grounds of absurdity. There are 20 games to play in the group stage, half of them in December, so weather- or Covid-related postponement could easily scuttle it.
Round Two will consist of two matches: A1 vs B2, B1 vs A2. Last season's tiebreaker rules will be applied if needed.
The final will occur some time between March and May.
Each Championship League Cup hatch will be marked with an asterisk. There are two today. (See above.)