Plenty of Nothing

Sardar Patel

The statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat is 182 metres tall, not counting the base. The Statue of Liberty would just about come up to his knee.   Source.

Sturgeon

Source.

Morocco's Land

This turbanned figure on the outside of 265-267 Canongate, Edinburgh, recalls the career of a 17th-century citizen who made his (or her) fortune in service to the Sultan of Morocco. Source.

Medieval Ovid

Source.

James Watt

James Watt, the first man to apply steam power to football.

The 2019-20 Scottish Championship season begins. Morton are at Somerset Park to play Ayr United.

On paper Ayr are not as good a team as last year. Lawrence Shankland has signed with Dundee United. Declan McDaid has signed with Dundee. Goalkeeper Ross Doohan has gone back to Celtic.

In the preseason Ayr visited Queen's Park and won 0 - 2. In the League Cup group stage Ayr trounced Berwick, beat Falkirk, were beaten by Livingston, and were held to a draw against Stranraer. Their 7 points were not enough to get them into Round Two.

The Honest Men are facing the realities of operating in the Championship. In late June the Ayr United board issued a detailed statement about the club's financial state and prospects.

Near the end of last season it looked as if the 2019-20 Championship would include both St Mirren and Falkirk, but with one in the Premiership and the other in League One it's hard for a Morton supporter to know who to hate. If only Port Glasgow were still in the league.

This season the Championship includes the Dundee Derby. But you won't see is Dundee and Dundee United playing home games on the same day. For crowd control reasons the police don't allow it.

The savants at Pie and Bovril have Dundee United as overwhelming favourites to win the Championship. And since the Tangerines got Lawrence Shankland it seems likely. But this is the Championship, where anything can go wrong. This will be Dundee United's fourth straight year as favourites for promotion.

Today's starting lineup is [Ramsbottom, Tumilty, Van Schaik, Brian McLean, Grant, Jacobs, McAlister, Muirhead, Nesbitt, Cadden, Sutton.]

Compare last year's: Scully, Kilday, Buchanan, Telfer, Millar, McAlister, McHugh, Tidser, Tumilty, MacLean, McKeown.

The other Championship matches:

Alloa [1 - 1] Partick Thistle

Arbroath [0 - 0] Queen of the South

Dundee United [4 - 1] Inverness CT

Dunfermline 2 - 2 Dundee (last night)

[Ayr 4 - 2 Morton. Morton goals by Tumilty and Cadden.]

When have Morton started the league with a game against Ayr United, and how did that go?

2014/8/9        Ayr United 1 - 0 Morton

1997/8/2        Ayr United 1 - 2 Morton

1971/9/4        Ayr United 1 - 0 Morton

1939/10/21    Ayr United 0 - 1 Morton

1930/8/9        Ayr United 2 - 2 Morton

1920/8/18      Ayr United 0 - 2 Morton

How did the 2019-20 Championship clubs fare against each other in the group stage?

Arbroath 2 - 3 Alloa

Dundee 1 - 0 ICT

Morton 3 - 3 QoS

It's not really enough to build a table out of.

When did the current Championship clubs most recently join the division, and did they come from above or below?

2019    Dundee (above)

2019    Arbroath (below)

2018    Partick (above)

2018    Ayr United (below)

2018    Alloa (below)

2017    Inverness CT (above)

2016    Dundee United (above)

2016    Dunfermline (below)

2015    Morton (below)

2013    QoS (below)

When did they confirm their places in the 2019-10 Championship?

Arbroath                April 13

Morton                   April 27

Dunfermline           April 27

Partick                   May 4

Alloa                      May 4

Dundee                 May 4

Ayr United             May 11

Inverness CT        May 17

QoS                      May 18

Dundee Utd          May 26

In which divisions have the 2019-2020 Championship teams played since 1994?

Dundee Utd        ABAAAA     AAAAAAAAAA      AAAAAABBBB

Dundee               BBBBAA     AAAAABBBBB     BBABAAAAAB

Inverness CT     DDDCCB     BBBBAAAAAB      AAAAAAABBB

Dunfermline        BBAAAB     AAAAAAABBB      BABCCCBBBB

Partick                AABBCC     CBAABCBBBB      BBBAAAAABB

Morton                CBBBBB     BCDCCCCBBB     BBBBCBBBBB

QoS                    CCCCCC    CCBBBBBBBB      BBCBBBBBBB

Ayr Utd               BCCBBB     BBBBCCCCCB     CBCCCCBCBB

Alloa                   DDDDCC    BCBCCCCCCC     CDCBBBCCBB

Arbroath             DDDDCC    CBBCCDDDCC     DCCCDDDCCB

(A = top tier, B = second tier, etc.)

Which SPFL clubs have spent at least a dozen years in tier II since 1994, including 2019-20?

18            Falkirk

18            Morton

17            Queen of the South

16            Raith Rovers

14            St Mirren

13            Dundee

13            Ayr United

13            Partick Thistle

12            Ross County

12            Dunfermline

What are Plenty of Nothing's objectives for Morton this season?

1) Play a Premiership club at Cappielow.

2) Play a non-Scottish club.

3) Make the promotion playoffs.

4) Win the Challenge Cup.

5) Score 50 goals in league play.

6) Knock Falkirk out of any cup.

7) Finish above Ayr United.

8) Finish above Queen of the South.

League One matches:

Airdrieonians [0 - 2] Forfar

Clyde [1 - 1] East Fife

Dumbarton [0 - 1] Raith Rovers

Peterhead [0 - 0] Falkirk

Stranraer [2 - 2] Montrose

League One is so much like an alternate Championship this year that I'm going to follow every game.

What year did Falkirk last play a league match against the other 2019-20 League One teams?

2018        Dumbarton

2017        Raith Rovers

2013        Airdrieonians

2005        Clyde

1999        Stranraer

1997        East Fife

1991        Forfar

1986        Montrose

never       Peterhead

Port Glasgow Athletic versus Heart of Midlothian. Of sixteen league matches, Hearts were the winner eleven times, Port Glasgow twice, with three draws. Hearts knocked Port Glasgow out of the Scottish Cup three times.

Lowland League: Edusport Academy have changed their name to Caledonian Braves.

SWFL2 W/SW: Morton Women vs East Kilbride Thistle Ladies (tomorrow)

East Kilbride Thistle have dropped out of the league.

2019 CONCACAF League preliminary round, first leg:

Forge FC 2 - 1 Antigua GFC (Aug 1)

Antigua GFC are winners of the 2019 Guatemalan League clausura. They wear green and white stripes. Antigua was the capital city of Guatemala from 1543 to 1775.

Antigua have been north once before. They made it to the 2016-17 CONCACAF Champions League group stage, where they played Alianza of El Salvador and the New York Red Bulls. On August 3rd, 2016 they visited Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, and lost 3 - 0.

Robinhood 0 - 0 Capoise (July 31)

Robinhood have been in it since the Caribbean Club Shield, so we must follow them.

Canadian Premier League:

Cavalry vs Forge (postponed)

Valour 2 - 2 Pacific (July 31)

Edmonton 2 - 0 HFX Wanderers (July 31)

Forge vs York9 (postponed)

HFX Wanderers [1 - 0] Valour (August 5) [Goal by Arnone.]

UEFA Champions League 2QR, second leg (July 30 and 31):

Nõmme Kalju (Estonia) 0 - 2 Celtic

Copenhagen 1 - 0 The New Saints

AIK 3 - 2 Maribor

Qarabağ 3 - 0 Dundalk

UEFA Europa League 2QR, second leg (August 1):

Progrès Niederkorn 0 - 0 Rangers

Aberdeen 5 - 0 Chikhura Sachkhere (Georgia)

Sūduva (Lithuania) 5 - 0 Tre Penne

Ludogorets Razgrad 4 - 0 Valur

Linfield 1 - 0 HB

Stjarnan 1 - 3 Espanyol

Vaduz 2 - 0 Fehérvár

KÍ 0 - 1 Luzern

Malmö 3 - 2 Domžale (Slovenia)

Apollon Limassol (Cyprus) 3 - 1 Shamrock Rovers

Crusaders 1 - 4 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Partizan 3 - 0 Connah's Quay Nomads

Swiss Challenge League: Winterthur vs Lausanne Sport

Numeralia: Two years from now it will be the beginning of the season named 2021-22, which comes exactly 101 years after the similarly sequential 1920-21.

Decebalus

Decebalus was the last king of Dacia before the Roman conquest. Source.

Jules Verne's Tomb

The tomb of Jules Verne, who died on this day in 1905, implies that he hasn't been dead all this time so much as exploring the centre of the earth. Source.

Rossio Station

This is the front entrance of the railway station in Rossio Square, Lisbon. The style is Neo-Manuelian, modelled on early 15th-century Portuguese architecture, in the form of a pair of horseshoes. The station opened in 1891. A couple of years ago the statue of Sebastian I, between the two doors, was unluckily knocked out of its niche by a tourist trying for a selfie with the king. Source.

Edward the Chancellor

Apparently the only full-length statue of King Edward VIII is the one outside the Aberystwyth University Student Union, unveiled in 1923 while he was was Prince of Wales as well as Chancellor of the university. Source.

Apatosauruses

Two apatosaurus statues mark the border between China and Mongolia at Erlian. Source.