Plenty of Nothing

Margaret of Anjou

Margaret of Anjou was born on this date in 1430. She married Henry VI of England and was de facto ruler of England during part of the Wars of the Roses. Here she is played by Peggy Ashcroft in one of those Shakespeare history plays. Source.

Saint Margaret and the Dragon: Another Look

Source.

Philibert and Margaret

Boxwood carvings of Philibert of Savoy and Margaret of Austria, c. 1515. Source.

Pretty Peggy-O

Roud #545. Source.

Simon and Garfunkel, "Peggy-O".

Bob Dylan, "Pretty Peggy-O".

The Clancy Brothers, "The Maid of Fife".

Joan Baez, "Fennario".

Grateful Dead, "Peggy-O".

The Corries, "The Bonny Lass of Fyvie-O".

Iona Fyfe, "Bonnie Lass of Fyvie".

The Black Crowes, "Fennario".

Anthea Lawrence, "Fennario".

Maggie's Well

Maggie's Well is situated at the top of the hill on the Old Largs Road and is named after either a shepherdess or a horse. Source.

Kilmarnock vs Celtic (tomorrow)

Kilmarnock's all-time record against Celtic is not good: 38 wins, 54 draws, 175 losses. Celtic won all three meetings last season by an identical 3 - 1 score. Killie's last win against them came on September 23rd, 2018.

Celtic are shooting for their tenth consecutive title, which would be a Scottish record. Teams that have won nine in a row:

Celtic        1965-66 to 1973-74

Rangers    1988-89 to 1996-97

Celtic        2011-12 to 2019-20

What was Killie's biggest league win against Celtic?

1963/3/27      Kilmarnock 6 - 0 Celtic

What was Killie's biggest league loss to Celtic?

1937/12/25    Celtic 8 - 0 Kilmarnock

And a Merry Christmas! But there's also:

1938/8/13      Celtic 9 -  1 Kilmarnock

[Killie 1 - 1 Celtic! This draw leaves Killie in 8th place, Celtic in 4th, and Hibs in first.]

Mortonalia:

Wednesday Morton renewed the contracts of McAllister, McLean, Millar, Nesbitt, Muirhead, McGinty, Hynes, McGrattan and Rodgers. The club also signed Gary Oliver, who previously played for the club from 2016 to 2019, and Rabin Omar who has played for Elgin and Annan.

There are presently no plans to sign Reserve or Development players, as those leagues are not slated to be played.

Reghan Tumilty has signed with Raith Rovers. Henk van Schaik has joined Eintracht Trier. He appeared in one game for Morton in August 2019.

Reghan Tumilty's goals for Morton:

2018/7/17      74'    Partick          Firhill           Bell          League Cup

2019/8/3        73'    Ayr United    Somerset    Doohan    league

Developments:

Hearts and Partick have each been fined £2500 by the SFA for taking the SPFL to court.

Two Aberdeen players have Covid-19 and six others are in quarantine after a night out at the pub. Nicola Sturgeon is not pleased. Today's match between St Johnstone and Aberdeen has been postponed to August 20th.

Queen of the South have made no signings.

League One and Two clubs have voted in a salary cap.

The Canadian Premier League starts Thursday, but still no schedule.

Other games:

2019-20 Europa League, Round of 16, second leg (August 6):

Bayer Leverkusen 1 - 0 Rangers

Rangers lasted longer than Celtic.

Iceland: ÍBV vs Keflavik (August 4) (postponed)

ÍBV vs Leiknir F. (postponed)

All football in Iceland has been postponed since July 31 due to Covid-19. At the time of the stoppage ÍBV were in second place with 5 wins and 3 draws.

Faroes: B36 4 - 1 TB (August 6)

Allsvenskan: Malmö 4 - 1 Helsingborgs IF (August 5)

Falkenbergs FF [0 - 1] Malmö (tomorrow)

K League: Pohang Steelers [1 - 1] Gwangju FC

J2: Fagiano Okayama [3 - 1] Mito HollyHock

2020-21 UEFA Champions League, preliminary round semi-final:

Tre Fiori [0 - 2] Linfield (at Nyon, Switzerland)

What a comedown for Northern Ireland, to be one of the four bottom European associations, with San Marino, Kosovo and Andorra.

The game is at Stade Colovray, home of third-tier FC Stade Nyonnais. August is the close season this year in Switzerland, so there could be a lot of UEFA matches there this month.

Ireland: UCD 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers II (yesterday)

Finland: TPS 0 - 2 FC Honka (August 6)

Vaduz and Thun are in a two-legged playoff for a place in the coming 2020-21 Swiss Super League season.

Vaduz 2 - 0 Thun (yesterday)

Thun [4 - 3] Vaduz (August 10)

[Vaduz go up. Thun will play in Winterthur's division in the upcoming season.]

Historical matches:

Aug 4, 1992. Morton hosted Clydebank in a midweek fixture and won 5 - 1. Scoring for the Ton were Alex Mathie with three goals, Rowan Alexander and David Hopkin. It was Hopkin's final goal for Morton before he went off to Chelsea.

Aug 8, 1992. Morton travelled to Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh to play Meadowbank Thistle. Morton won 3 - 0. Goalscorers were Alex Mathie, Alan Mahood and Rowan Alexander.

JFL 1999: Sony Sendai 0 - 1 Mito HollyHock

ÍBV in the 1970s:

1979    18    10    4    4    26    13    +13    24    1st (I)

1978    18      8    3    7    29    24      +5    19    4th (I)

1977    18      9    3    6    27    18      +9    21    3rd (I)

1976    16    13    2    1    63    13    +50    28    1st (II)

1975    14      2    5    7    11    22      -11     9     8th (I)

1974    14      3    7    4    20    20        0    13    4th (I)

1973    14      8    1    5    27    19      +8    17    3rd (I)

1972    14      7    4    3    37    22    +15    18    2nd (I)    Icelandic Cup

1971    14      9    2    3    37    19    +18    20    2nd (I)

1970    14      6    1    7    20    25       -5    13    7th (I)

Source. Source.

Kilmarnock's last ten loses to non-Premiership sides:

2017/7/14      Ayr United 1 - 0 Kilmarnock    League Cup group stage

2016/7/30      Kilmarnock 0 - 0 Albion Rovers (Rovers won on PK)    League Cup group stage

2016/7/23      Kilmarnock 0 - 2 Morton    League Cup group stage

2013/8/27      Kilmarnock 0 - 1 Hamilton        League Cup

2012/8/28      Kilmarnock 1 - 2 Stenhousemuir    League Cup

2007/9/25      Hamilton 2 - 0 Kilmarnock        League Cup

2007/1/6        Morton 3 - 1 Kilmarnock        Scottish Cup

2003/9/23      Brechin 1 - 0 Kilmarnock        League Cup

2002/9/24      Kilmarnock 0 - 0 Airdrie United (Airdrie won on PK)    League Cup

2001/10/9      Ayr United 0 - 0 Kilmarnock (Ayr won on PK)    League Cup

Margaret of Antioch and the Dragon

Source.

Margit Nordin

Margit Nordin became the first woman to race in the Vasaloppet on March 4, 1923. Source.

Saint Margaret of Scotland

Margaret of Scotland (1045-1093) was the sister of the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Edgar Aetheling, who inherited the crown after Harold was killed at Hastings but never got to wear it. She was born in exile in Hungary but came into her own when she married Malcolm III of Scotland in 1070. She was made a saint in 1250, and her relics moved to Dunfermline Abbey. They were scattered and destroyed during the Scottish Reformation. The Jesuits later chipped in for this scrumptious marble statue which stands in the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Farm Street in London. Source.

The Oldest Football in the World

I cannot get enough of the Stirling Heads. This is Margaret Tudor with her heraldic greyhound. Her marriage to James IV in 1503 led to the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the Union of Parliaments in 1707, and the referendum of 2014.

Morton visit Forthbank Stadium to play Stirling Albion. Stirling Albion have one win so far this season. This should be a gimme. You would think.

Ally McCoist is on gardening leave. [Hibs beat Rangers 4 - 0.]

Margaret Tudor died in 1541. Sometime that same decade, someone kicked this football into the rafters of the Queen's Chamber, where it lodged and was then hidden behind a new ceiling, to be rediscovered in the 1970s and sent to the Stirling Smith Museum which also has the world's oldest curling stone!

[Morton win 3 - 4. Goals by McKee, McManus (2), plus an own goal. Morton see out 2014 in third place.]

It's Late September

Maggie May, 1971.