Plenty of Nothing

Arbroath Abbey

South View of the Gate at Arbroath Abbey, by Francis Grose. Source.

It's the 27th and last matchday for the 2020-21 Scottish Championship. All five games are Friday-nighters. Morton visit Gayfield Park for a final meeting with Arbroath.

Their two previous meetings have ended in a draw and a win for Arbroath. Morton have not scored on Derek Gaston this season.

The situation:

All four playoff positions in the Championship will be decided today. Raith Rovers can finish 2nd or 3rd. Dundee can finish 2nd, 3rd or 4th. Dunfermline can finish 3rd or 4th. At the bottom end Morton, Ayr and Arbroath can finish 9th.

If Morton win, they're in the 2021-22 Championship.

If Morton lose, they go to the relegation playoffs, unless Ayr lose to ICT by something like seven goals.

If Morton and Arbroath play to a draw and Ayr lose, Morton stay up.

If Morton and Arbroath play to a draw and Ayr win or draw, Morton go to the relegation playoffs.

Morton, Ayr United and Arbroath all came up from League One. Morton have had six consecutive seasons in the Championship, Ayr three, and Arbroath two.

The last time Morton came into their final match not knowing whether they would wind up in the relegation playoffs was at the conclusion of the 2009-10 season. After 35 games Morton were eighth with 34 points, Airdrie were ninth with 33, and Ayr United were tenth with 31. On Helicopter Saturday Airdrie were at home to fifth-place Dunfermline, and lost 0 - 1. Morton were at Cappielow against Ayr and won 2 - 1, and so they finished eighth.

Should Morton go into the playoffs they won't know their first opponent until Tuesday when the League One schedule ends. Airdrieonians and Falkirk are the likeliest candidates.

The other matches:

Alloa [1 - 0] Dunfermline

ICT [2 - 2] Ayr United

QoS [0 - 2] Dundee

Raith [0 - 4] Hearts

[Arbroath 0 - 0 Morton. Morton were in eighth place twice during the game, thanks to ICT taking the lead against Ayr. Morton finish the season ninth and proceed to the relegation playoffs.]

Developments:

Supporters organization Morton Club Together and GMFC owners Golden Casket have come to an agreement that will allow MCT to take over the club and own Cappielow Park without assuming the club debt. Source.

Goalkeeper Aidan McAdams has been named Morton player of the year.

Queen of the South's Stephen Dobbie will retire after today's game.

East Fife has been fined by the SPFL for pulling out of that match with Clyde after a Clyde player tested positive for Covid. The game will be played May 6th.

The playoff between Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts is on, and the winner will meet Brechin.

The League Cup has a new sponsor for next year.

The 2020-21 South Challenge Cup has been declared null and void.

[Raith Rovers and Inverness CT have been declared joint winners of the 2019-20 Challenge Cup. This is the first time a major Scottish trophy has had joint winners since Dumbarton and Rangers shared the 1890-91 league title.]

The 2020-21 SWF Championship season is now officially null and void. The plan is to stick with winter football and begin preparations for the 2021-22 season.

The Canadian Premier League admits that it won't be able to start May 22nd due to Covid lockdowns. Four of the teams have still not been cleared to begin training.

First and last place teams week by week (3 of 3):

Week 19            Hearts            Alloa

Week 20            Hearts            Alloa

Week 21            Hearts            Alloa

Week 22            Hearts            Alloa

Week 23            Hearts            Alloa

Week 24            Hearts P        Alloa

Week 25            Hearts            Alloa R

Week 26            Hearts            Alloa

Week 27            Hearts            Alloa

When was the Championship title won in recent years?

2019-20    not applicable

2018-19    Week 35

2017-18    Week 33

2016-17    Week 33

2015-16    Week 32

2014-15    Week 29

Morton highs of 2020-21:

2020/10/31    Morton 3 - 2 Ayr Utd    Three goals in the final 7 minutes.

2021/2/20      Hearts 1 - 1 Morton      A point off Hearts.

2021/4/3        East Fife 1 - 2 Morton    Revenge for 2019.

2021/4/20      Morton 0 - 0 Hearts    Another point off Hearts.

Morton lows of 2020-21:

2020              Covid erases the first quarter and the Challenge Cup.

2020/11/7      Raith Rovers 5 - 0 Morton

2021/1/10      Captain Jim McAlister retires to become Rangers' assistant kitman.

2021/3/6        Morton 0 - 2 Ayr United    Dropped Morton into ninth place.

2021/4/6        Morton 1 - 4 Inverness CT    Ninth place again.

2021/4/23      Morton 1 - 1 Alloa    Morton trip on the ball.

[2021/4/30     Arbroath 0 - 0 Morton    You can't win if you don't score.]

How did Morton fare against the other Championship clubs?

QoS                  2 wins, 1 loss.  5 gf, 3 ga, +2 gd.  6 points.

Alloa                  1 win, 2 draws. 3 gf, 2 ga, +1 gd.    5 points.

Dunfermline      1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss.  3 gf, 2 ga, +1 gd.  4 points.

Ayr United         1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss.  4 gf, 5 ga, -1 gd.  4 points.

Inverness CT    1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss. 4 gf, 6 ga, -2 gd.  4 points.

Dundee            2 draws, 1 loss. 3 gf, 4 ga, -1 gd.  2 points.

[Arbroath           2 draws, 1 loss. 0 gf, 1 ga, -1 gd.  2 points.]

Hearts              2 draws, 1 loss. 1 gf, 3 ga, -2 gd.  2 points.

Raith Rovers    3 losses. 0 gf, 7 ga, -7 gd. 0 points.

What were Plenty of Nothing's objectives for Morton, and were they realized?

1)    Make the promotion playoffs.    NO

2)    Get at least a point off Hearts.    YES

3)    Finish higher than Ayr United.    [NO]

4)    Finish higher than Queen of the South.    NO

5)    Have a positive goal difference.    [NO]

6)    Get to a quarter-final.    NO

7)    Beat St Mirren.    NO

Other matches:

Motherwell [2 - 0] Kilmarnock (tomorrow)

Clyde vs East Fife (April 27) (postponed -- Covid)

Forfar 2 - 1 Clyde (April 29)

Clyde [2 - 0] Dumbarton (tomorrow)

Swiss Challenge League: Winterthur [0 - 1] Xamax

Wexford [0 - 6] UCD

[Wexford's goalie received a red card in the first minute. And their substitute goalie earned a red card in the second half.]

JFL: Matsue City [2 - 0] FC Kariya (tomorrow)

Copa Libertadores group stage, matchday 2:

Group B: Olimpia (Paraguay) 2 - 1 Always Ready (April 28)

Group C: Barcelona (Ecuador) 4 - 0 The Strongest (April 28)

Copa Sudamericana group stage, matchday 2:

Group B: Bahia (Brazil) 5 - 0 Guabira (April 27)

Group C: Jorge Wilstermann 0 - 0 Bolivar (April 29)

Fukushima prefectural championship semifinal (April 29):

Iwaki FC 12 - 1 Merry

Merry play in the Tohoku League 2 South. They made it to this game by beating Iwaki City Hall 7 - 0, Soma SC 4 - 1, and FC Puri 2 - 1. Merry is spelled メリー.

Concacaf Champions League QF, first leg (April 27):

Toronto FC 1 - 3 Azul Cruz

Historical matches:

April 28, 1915. Morton played Rangers at Firhill in the final of the Navy and Army War Fund Shield and won 2 - 1.

May 1, 1993. Morton visited Kilbowie Park and played Clydebank to a 2 - 2 draw. David MacCabe scored both Morton goals.

Evangelina Cosio y Cisneros

Evangelina Cosio y Cisneros, heroine of the Cuban War of Independence of the 1890s, lived to the ripe old age of 92 and saw the coming of the 1970s.

Seizan Omamori

The story of the lute Seizan is told in Heike Monogatari chapter 7, part 18. The instrument was brought to Ninna-ji Temple for safe-keeping by Taira no Tsunemasa who never returned for it, having died in battle. You can buy the omamori. Source.

Lapu-Lapu

Today is the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Mactan, in which the forces of chief Lapu-Lapu repelled the Spanish Empire and killed Magellan. Source.

Mont Ventoux

Petrarch climbed Mont Ventoux on this date in 1336 and then wrote about it. Paul Flandrin painted this view in 1842. Source.

2021 Women's Hockey Champions

Wisconsin's Brette Pettet is from Kentville. Source.

Isobel Cup: Boston Pride

NCAA: Wisconsin

Russia: Agidel Ufa (decided September 11, 2021)

Sweden: Luleå/MSSK

Finland: Kiekko-Espoo

Switzerland: Lugano

Germany: ESC Planegg-Würmtal

Japan: Peregrine

EWHL: KMH Budapest

U Sports (Canadian university) did not play, and there is still no Canadian pro league.

The 2021 Women's Worlds, which were to be staged in Halifax and Truro in April, had been postponed until May, and now are either further postponed or cancelled, depending on who you talk to.

Vertiginous Greenock

Steeplejacks hang out atop Victoria Tower at Greenock Town Hall. Source.

Morton (in ninth place) host Alloa (in tenth and already relegated).

Morton are on a four-game winless streak, league and cup. Alloa have a five-game winless streak of their own.

Morton enter this match with 27 points, equal to Ayr United except 5 goals below them on goal difference. Morton need to win today and to run up the score as well, though this season they have not been the sort of team that runs up the score. Morton are without an effective striker, and Mark Farrell's award-winning pitch has been allowed to deteriorate into a turnip patch this season, favouring low-scoring games.

Best-case scenario: Morton win, and Ayr and Arbroath lose. Morton would be a point up on Arbroath and 3 points up on Ayr, and would need only a point (or a loss or a draw by Ayr) next weekend to evade ninth place.

Worst-case scenario: Morton lose, and Ayr and Arbroath win. Arbroath would then be uncatchable, and Morton would have to win against them next weekend and hope that Ayr lose and that a goal difference of 7 or more evaporates.

But Ayr could lose both of their remaining games (against QoS and ICT), which would certainly work in Morton's favour.

It's the second-last day of the schedule and there is no team that can say for certain that it'll be in next season's Championship. Three Premiership clubs might be, five League One clubs might be, and eight Championship clubs might be.

Queen of the South will book a place in the 2021-22 Championship today if they and Morton both lose. If Dunfermline win and Caley Thistle lose then ICT will also remain in the Championship.

Alloa's manager Peter Grant will leave the club after next weekend's season finale.

Falkirk have fired co-managers David McCracken and Lee Miller, who were League One managers of the month just last month.

Hearts' match at Cappielow Tuesday was their fifth consecutive away league fixture to end in a draw, which sets a club record.

Dundee FC's The Dee Archive is stats paradise.

The other Championship matches:

Ayr United [0 - 0] QoS

Dundee [2 - 1] Raith

Dunfermline [4 - 3] Arbroath

Hearts [3 - 0] Inverness CT

[Morton 1 - 1 Alloa. Morton goal by Fjørtoft.]

Meanwhile it's the 2020-21 Scottish Cup quarter-finals.

Hibs [2 - 2] Motherwell    [Hibs win on PK.]

Rangers [1 - 1] St Johnstone (tomorrow)    [St Johnstone win on PK.]

Aberdeen [0 - 3] Dundee United (tomorrow)

Kilmarnock [3 - 3] St Mirren (Monday)    [St Mirren win on PK.]

Four of these clubs, Rangers, Hibs, St Johnstone and St Mirren, also made it to the League Cup quarter-finals.

Celtic are out of the quarter-finals for the first time since 2013-14. And 2020-21 will be their first season without any silverware at all since 2009-10.

Since 1975, which Scottish Cup quarter-finals have been all-Premiership?

1985-86, 2020-21

The last ten Scottish Cup matches between Athletic clubs:

2020/11/28    Penicuik Athletic 2 - 3 Musselburgh Athletic

2017/1/21      Alloa Athletic 2 - 3 Dunfermline Athletic

2011/10/29    Annan Athletic 2 - 0 Alloa Athletic

2011/10/22    Alloa Athletic 2 - 2 Annan Athletic

2010/10/30    Annan Athletic 5 - 0 Preston Athletic

2010/9/29      Preston Athletic 0 - 0 Annan Athletic

1997/1/13      Forfar Athletic 0 - 1 Alloa Athletic

1992/2/5        Dunfermline Athletic 3 - 1 Forfar Athletic

1992/1/25      Forfar Athletic 0 - 0 Dunfermline Athletic

1984/1/9        Dunfermline Athletic 1 - 0 Forfar Athletic

Other matches:

Kilmarnock 3 - 0 Dundee United (April 21)

Peterhead [3 - 0] Clyde

Luxembourg: Swift Hespernage 1 - 1 Progrès Niederkorn (April 21)

Progrès Niederkorn [3 - 2] Victoria Rosport (tomorrow)

3.Liga: 1.FC Saarbrücken 5 - 0 Mannheim (April 21)

FC Bayern II  [0 - 4]  1.FC Saarbrücken (Monday)

Aarau 3 - 3 Winterthur (yesterday)

J2: Mito HollyHock 0 - 1 JEF United Chiba (April 21)

Blaublitz Akita [1 - 0] Mito HollyHock (tomorrow)

HollyHock enter this game 9th and Blaublitz 10th.

JFL: FC Kariya [0 - 1] Honda FC (tomorrow)

FC Kariya have held 17th place since the season began, and they're unlikely to break out against Honda who are top of the table.

Galway United 2 - 2 UCD (last night)

Faroes: B36 [2 - 1] Streymur (tomorrow)

Copa Libertadores, group stage, matchday 1:

Group B: Always Ready 2 - 0 Internacional (Brazil) (April 20)

Group C: The Strongest 0 - 1 Boca Juniors (Argentina) (April 21)

Copa Sudamericana, group stage, matchday 1:

Group B: Guabira 1 - 3 Independiente (Argentina) (April 21)

Group C: Ceara (Brazil) 3 - 1 Jorge Wilstermann (April 21)

Bolivar 2 - 1 Arsenal (Argentina) (April 22)

The Tohoku League Division 1 starts tomorrow. This year there are twelve clubs in it. Let's follow one of the new ones, Dogizaka FC from the Tsugaru area of Aomori prefecture.

Sendai University vs Dogizaka

(Source.)

[The Tohoku League schedule has been pared back and won't start till June 6th.]

Developments:

All six of its English founding members dropped the European Super League like a hot potato Tuesday.

Postponed matches:

SWF Championship South: United Glasgow vs Morton

Morton vs Clyde (tomorrow)

This is the end of the 2020-21 SWF schedule, none of which was ever played.

This weekend would have seen the South Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Morton's worst goalless runs:

Nine games:

1988/2/6        Dundee United 2 - 0 Morton

1988/2/16      Morton 0 - 0 Falkirk

1988/2/20      Hearts 2 - 0 Morton

1988 2/27      Celtic 1 - 0 Morton

1988/3/5        Dundee 1 - 0 Morton

1988/3/19      Morton 0 - 2 St Mirren

1988/3/23      Morton 0 - 3 Dunfermline

1988/3/26      Hearts 2 - 0 Morton

1988/4/2        Motherwell 1 - 0 Morton

Eight games:

1987/11/7      Morton 0 - 0 Aberdeen

1987/11/14    Falkirk 2 - 0 Morton

1987/11/18    Hibs 0 - 0 Morton

1987/11/21    Morton 0 - 1 Dundee United

1987/11/24    Morton 0 - 3 Rangers

1987/11/28    Motherwell 1 - 0 Morton

1987/12/5      Morton 0 - 4 Celtic

1987/12/12    Aberdeen 4 - 0 Morton

Six games:

1910/3/19      Morton 0 - 1 Motherwell

1910/3/26      Morton 0 - 2 Queen's Park

1910/4/2        Aberdeen 1 - 0 Morton

1910/4/6        Celtic 3 - 0 Morton

1910/4/9        Morton 0 - 2 Third Lanark

1910/4/21      Clyde 1 - 0 Morton

Morton had 5-game goalless runs in 2013-14, 1984-85 (twice), 1982-83, 1950-51 and 1902-03.

Historical matches:

April 24, 1915: Kilmarnock 2 - 2 Morton. End of league schedule. Morton finished fourth with a record of 18 wins, 12 draws and 8 losses for 48 points.

April 24, 1993: Hamilton 2 - 1 Morton. Jim Tolmie scored.

SFL Division Three results, April 25, 1925:

Beith 5 - 0 Leith Athletic

Dykehead 2 - 0 Lochgelly United

Galston 1 - 1 Montrose

Royal Albert 3 - 0 Vale of Leven

Source: Glasgow Herald, April 27, p. 13.

That's the last table the Herald published for this season, but you can see there are several fixtures left to be fulfilled. The others can be found at this site:

1925/4/20      Peebles Rovers 1 - 1 Leith Athletic

1925/4/21      Clackmannan 1 - 1 Dykehead

1925/4/27      Royal Albert 1 - 1 Galston

1925/4/28      Dykehead 2 - 0 Montrose

1925/4/29      Beith 3 - 2 Montrose

1915/4/29      Peebles Rovers 4 - 0 Galston

The final fixture between Brechin and Dykehead was never played.

Nithsdale Wanderers and Queen of the South were promoted.

Dumbarton Harp disbanded as soon as they were dropped from the league in January.

But the collapse of Vale of Leven is the story of this season. They lead the league until February but were unable to finish better than fourth in the end. Had they escaped Division Three their history might have been very different. As it was they were dissolved in 1929 and it was Queen of the South who went on to become a permanent feature of the SFL.

Vale of Leven were one of the big clubs in the early years of the SFA. Next month I'll start to dig into their results from the 1870s and 1880s.

Where are the 1924-25 Division Three clubs now?

Nithsdale Wanderers    South of Scotland League (tier VI)

Queen of the South      SPFL Championship (tier II)

Solway Star                  defunct

Vale of Leven               West of Scotland League, Conference C (tier VII)

Lochgelly United          defunct

Helensburgh                defunct

Leith Athletic                East of Scotland League, Conference A (tier VII)

Peebles Rovers           East of Scotland League, Conference B (tier VII)

Clackmannan              defunct

Royal Albert                West of Scotland League, Conference B (tier VII)

Galston                        defunct

Dykehead                    defunct

Beith                           West of Scotland League, Premier Division (tier VI)

Brechin City                SPFL League Two (tier IV)

Mid-Annandale           South of Scotland League (tier VI)

Montrose                     SPFL League One (tier III)

I think you'll agree that Progrès Niederkorn have the better insect.

Another George and the Dragon

George and the Dragon by the Master of the Housebook. Source.

Canucks Sens

Canucks and Sens in 2017, the centennial of Vancouver's Stanley Cup. Source.

2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Stanley Cup final between the old Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Millionaires of the PCHA, played entirely in the Denman Arena in Vancouver. The games were:

1921/3/21      Vancouver Millionaires 3 - 1 Ottawa Senators

1921/3/24      Vancouver Millionaires 3 - 4 Ottawa Senators

1921/3/28      Vancouver Millionaires 2 - 3 Ottawa Senators

1921/3/31      Vancouver Millionaires 3 - 2 Ottawa Senators

1921/4/4        Vancouver Millionaires 1 - 2 Ottawa Senators

(Home team is listed first.)

Due to Civid tthe Canucks did not play between March 24th and April 18th, and they fell eight games behind the Sens, though still one point ahead of them.

[Canucks 0 - 3 Senators.]

My Lady Carey's Dompe

Anne and Mary Boleyn, who may have heard "My Lady Carey's Dompe." Source.