Progress Cup

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Soviet Progress Cup

Cup for club that moved up most places in the league system each year. Who woulda been the winner in the Scottish League in previous years?

[craigkillie]

Let's assume that this is carried out by assigning each club a position based on their division - for example Hibs would be 13th in Scotland this season, while Cowdenbeath are currently 42nd.  The trophy can be awarded to any club in any division.

I already had a spreadsheet of league finishes, so it was reasonably quick to write a programme to identify the "winners".  I haven't double checked any of it, so it's possible that there are errors in there.

Here is the list of winners since the Scottish League started in 1890/91:

Season	Progress Trophy Winners	Gain
1890/91	Dumbarton & Rangers	(champions)
1891/92	Heart of Midlothian	3
1892/93	St Mirren	7
1893/94	Heart of Midlothian	3
1894/95	Clyde	6
1895/96	Hibernian	8
1896/97	Partick Thistle & Greenock Morton & Linthouse	4
1897/98	Port Glasgow Athletic	6
1898/99	Motherwell	6
1899/00	Kilmarnock	6
1900/01	Greenock Morton	8
1901/02	Motherwell	8
1902/03	Dundee	7
1903/04	Clyde	7
1904/05	Airdrieonians	7
1905/06	Aberdeen	9
1906/07	Clyde	10
1907/08	Raith Rovers	9
1908/09	Clyde	14
1909/10	Falkirk	7
1910/11	Partick Thistle	12
1911/12	Heart of Midlothian	10
1912/13	Motherwell	8
1913/14	Greenock Morton & Ayr United	10
1914/15	St Mirren	11
1915/16	Dundee	6
1916/17	Third Lanark	11
1917/18	Queen's Park	11
1918/19	Ayr United	13
1919/20	Airdrieonians	6
1920/21	Heart of Midlothian	12
1921/22	St Mirren	14
1922/23	Airdrieonians	14
1923/24	Stenhousemuir	10
1924/25	Cowdenbeath	17
1925/26	Motherwell	13
1926/27	East Stirlingshire	13
1927/28	Heart of Midlothian & Arbroath & King's Park	9
1928/29	Greenock Morton	16
1929/30	King's Park	9
1930/31	Cowdenbeath	9
1931/32	Third Lanark	17
1932/33	St Johnstone	17
1933/34	Queen of the South	18
1934/35	Dundee United	13
1935/36	Third Lanark	12
1936/37	Falkirk	14
1937/38	Dumbarton	8
1938/39	Queen of the South	10
1946/47	Greenock Morton	26
1947/48	Dundee	13
1948/49	East Fife	13
1949/50	Raith Rovers & Cowdenbeath	8
1950/51	Ayr United	10
1951/52	Alloa Athletic	9
1952/53	Clyde & Queen's Park	12
1953/54	Albion Rovers	9
1954/55	Aberdeen & Kilmarnock	8
1955/56	Airdrieonians	10
1956/57	Albion Rovers	12
1957/58	Clyde	15
1958/59	Stenhousemuir	13
1959/60	Dundee United	15
1960/61	Stranraer	13
1961/62	Greenock Morton	16
1962/63	Albion Rovers	11
1963/64	Montrose	10
1964/65	Stirling Albion	18
1965/66	Ayr United	17
1966/67	Clyde	8
1967/68	Greenock Morton	13
1968/69	Stranraer	10
1969/70	Alloa Athletic	12
1970/71	Falkirk	12
1971/72	Partick Thistle	12
1972/73	Hamilton Academical	11
1973/74	Queen of the South & Clydebank [1965]	7
1974/75	Kilmarnock & Airdrieonians	8
1975/76	St Mirren & Cowdenbeath & Montrose	8
1976/77	Clydebank [1965]	13
1977/78	Stirling Albion	10
1978/79	Clyde	6
1979/80	East Stirlingshire	10
1980/81	Queen of the South	11
1981/82	Clyde & Queen's Park	7
1982/83	Alloa Athletic & Meadowbank Thistle	10
1983/84	Brechin City	10
1984/85	Montrose	11
1985/86	Kilmarnock	9
1986/87	Dunfermline Athletic	11
1987/88	Meadowbank Thistle	11
1988/89	Albion Rovers	11
1989/90	Stenhousemuir	10
1990/91	Kilmarnock & Montrose	11
1991/92	Arbroath & East Stirlingshire	7
1992/93	Stranraer	7
1993/94	Kilmarnock & Berwick Rangers	6
1994/95	Falkirk	8
1995/96	Greenock Morton	8
1996/97	Dundee United	9
1997/98	Arbroath	8
1998/99	Dundee & Dumbarton & Alloa Athletic	6
1999/00	Ross County	8
2000/01	Berwick Rangers	7
2001/02	Partick Thistle & Livingston	10
2002/03	Brechin City	9
2003/04	Greenock Morton	7
2004/05	Stranraer	9
2005/06	Gretna	10
2006/07	Gretna	10
2007/08	Motherwell	7
2008/09	Dumbarton & Arbroath	7
2009/10	Cowdenbeath	9
2010/11	Livingston	10
2011/12	Arbroath	9
2012/13	Alloa Athletic	9
2013/14	Rangers	10
2014/15	Rangers & Queen's Park	8
2015/16	Heart of Midlothian	10

[craigkillie]

For what it's worth, I also calculated which team had regressed the most in each season - the winners of the "Biggest Losers" trophy are listed below.

Season	Biggest Losers	Drop
1890/91	Cowlairs	(last)
1891/92	Cambuslang	7
1892/93	Dumbarton	6
1893/94	Abercorn	8
1894/95	Cowlairs	8
1895/96	Motherwell	6
1896/97	Dumbarton	10
1897/98	Abercorn & Airdrieonians	5
1898/99	Abercorn	5
1899/00	Airdrieonians	4
1900/01	Motherwell	7
1901/02	Abercorn	7
1902/03	Hamilton Academical	4
1903/04	Hibernian	9
1904/05	Heart of Midlothian & St Bernard's	5
1905/06	Kilmarnock & Hibernian	6
1906/07	Partick Thistle	9
1907/08	Clyde & Arthurlie	9
1908/09	Falkirk	7
1909/10	St Mirren & Ayr Parkhouse & Port Glasgow Athletic	5
1910/11	Port Glasgow Athletic	8
1911/12	Albion Rovers	9
1912/13	Partick Thistle	13
1913/14	Motherwell	11
1914/15	Dundee United & Raith Rovers & Clyde & Third Lanark	8
1915/16	Hibernian	9
1916/17	Ayr United	11
1917/18	Airdrieonians	11
1918/19	Dumbarton	8
1919/20	Heart of Midlothian & Partick Thistle	8
1920/21	Clydebank [1914]	15
1921/22	Heart of Midlothian	16
1922/23	Vale of Leven	12
1923/24	Alloa Athletic	16
1924/25	Bathgate	13
1925/26	Hibernian & Broxburn United	13
1926/27	Heart of Midlothian	10
1927/28	Greenock Morton	19
1928/29	King's Park	12
1929/30	St Johnstone	11
1930/31	St Mirren	10
1931/32	Montrose	9
1932/33	Leith Athletic	16
1933/34	St Mirren	10
1934/35	Queen of the South	13
1935/36	Clyde	8
1936/37	Dundee United	7
1937/38	Dundee & Dunfermline Athletic	10
1938/39	Greenock Morton	12
1946/47	St Johnstone	17
1947/48	Greenock Morton	8
1948/49	Partick Thistle & Cowdenbeath & Clyde	8
1949/50	Albion Rovers	11
1950/51	Dunfermline Athletic	7
1951/52	Queen's Park	9
1952/53	Motherwell	8
1953/54	Dundee United & Queen's Park & Arbroath	7
1954/55	Partick Thistle	6
1955/56	Hamilton Academical & Clyde	10
1956/57	Queen of the South	10
1957/58	Albion Rovers	12
1958/59	Queen's Park	18
1959/60	Airdrieonians	11
1960/61	Arbroath	12
1961/62	Stenhousemuir	12
1962/63	Stirling Albion & Montrose	10
1963/64	Raith Rovers	10
1964/65	Montrose	11
1965/66	Third Lanark	14
1966/67	Queen of the South	6
1967/68	Motherwell & Hamilton Academical	7
1968/69	Aberdeen	10
1969/70	Forfar Athletic	12
1970/71	Alloa Athletic	10
1971/72	Albion Rovers	11
1972/73	Stranraer	9
1973/74	East Fife	8
1974/75	Raith Rovers	7
1975/76	Dunfermline Athletic & Clyde & Berwick Rangers	8
1976/77	St Johnstone	11
1977/78	Stranraer	7
1978/79	Alloa Athletic	7
1979/80	Queen of the South	13
1980/81	Arbroath	10
1981/82	Stirling Albion	9
1982/83	East Stirlingshire	14
1983/84	Dunfermline Athletic & Queen's Park	10
1984/85	St Johnstone	15
1985/86	Greenock Morton & Dumbarton	7
1986/87	Alloa Athletic	6
1987/88	Dumbarton	9
1988/89	Dumbarton	12
1989/90	Queen of the South	10
1990/91	Albion Rovers	12
1991/92	Stenhousemuir	9
1992/93	Montrose	13
1993/94	Cowdenbeath	14
1994/95	Aberdeen	7
1995/96	Stranraer	8
1996/97	Dumbarton	9
1997/98	Dumbarton	11
1998/99	Partick Thistle	9
1999/00	Hamilton Academical	11
2000/01	Clydebank [1965]	7
2001/02	Greenock Morton & Queen's Park	11
2002/03	Livingston	6
2003/04	Alloa Athletic & Arbroath	8
2004/05	Partick Thistle & Ayr United & East Fife	9
2005/06	Dundee & Raith Rovers	7
2006/07	Stranraer	10
2007/08	Forfar Athletic	10
2008/09	Berwick Rangers	9
2009/10	Livingston	14
2010/11	Clyde	10
2011/12	Stirling Albion	10
2012/13	Dunfermline Athletic	9
2013/14	Greenock Morton	8
2014/15	Motherwell	9
2015/16	Cowdenbeath	9

[Radford]

Since reconstruction (actually, since 1960) no team has regressed as much as the Saints team that were relegated in successive seasons in the mid-eighties, then. Relegated in ninth from the Premier Division in 1984, then finished bottom of the 14-team First Division the next year.

[Ranaldo Bairn]

Interesting times for Dumbarton between 1986 and 1998.

[HibeeJibee]

I suppose it's difficult to decide how to measure this. Cowdenbeath are potentially on the cusp of 3 successive relegations, and going from surviving in what is now the Championship for a couple of seasons running to plunging into Lowland League.

It'd take them 3yrs but it'd be a spectacular fall from grace.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

That's a hell of a jump for Morton after the war.

List of winners:

Clyde            9
Greenock Morton     9
Heart of Midlothian     6
Kilmarnock        6
Airdrieonians        5
Alloa Athletic        5
Arbroath         5
Cowdenbeath        5
Motherwell        5
Albion Rovers        4
Ayr United        4
Dundee            4
Falkirk            4
Montrose        4
Partick Thistle     4
Queen's Park        4
Queen of the South    4
St Mirren        4
Stranraer        4
Dumbarton        3
Dundee United        3
East Stirlingshire     3
Stenhousemuir        3
Third Lanark        3
Aberdeen        2
Berwick Rangers        2
Brechin City        2
Clydebank        2
Gretna            2
King's Park        2
Livingston        2
Meadowbank        2
Raith Rovers        2
Rangers         2
Stirling Albion        2
Dunfermline Athletic    1
East Fife        1
Hamilton Academical    1
Hibernian        1
Linthouse        1
Port Glasgow Athletic    1
Ross County        1
St Johnstone        1
Annan            0
Celtic            0
Edinburgh City        0
Elgin            0
Forfar            0
Inverness Caley Thistle    0
Peterhead        0

Being a Forfar Fan looks dull eh?

[HibeeJibee]

In terms of Morton after the war - you have to remember they had 7yrs of intervening wartime football which isn't considered in that stat.

In 1938-39 they'd finished 12th out of 18 in the lower tier. They were 15th when the 1939-40 SFL season was abandoned after 4 games.

However they recovered as the war progressed - finishing 5th in the SFL Eastern Division then 10th, 9th, 2nd, 8th, 7th and 10th in the Southern League.


On the resumption of peace-time football they were then controversially parachuted into the upper tier and finished 6th. Hence 26-place jump on 1938-39.

Indeed the only Scottish-based player who played in UK v Rest of Europe - "the Match of the Century" - at Hampden in May 1947 was Billy Steel of Morton.

[vikingTON]

On 4/29/2017 at 21:21, HibeeJibee said:

On the resumption of peace-time football they were then controversially parachuted into the upper tier and finished 6th. Hence 26-place jump on 1938-39.

Scottish football clearly needed a strong Morton in its top flight. Bigger than Rangers. 

[HibeeJibee]

 I suppose you could make that argument.

It's quite interesting how things were carved-up, actually.


When the war broke out the league system was 20-18. Upon abandonment there was a few weeks of no competitive games due to air raid fears, and then SFL moved to Eastern and Western divisions of 16 each. Five clubs were turned away - Montrose, Brechin, Forfar, Edinburgh City, East Stirlingshire and Leith. Most of them had finished in the bottom places at the end of 1938-39 but King's Park (13th) were reprieved and Brechin (10th) excluded instead .

There was a title playoff at Hampden. Cowdenbeath quit halfway through. There was an SFA War Emergency Cup in place of the Scottish Cup. At the end of the season the SFA and SFL went into abeyance.


From 1940-41 to 1944-45 a 16-team Southern League operated containing the 6 Glasgow clubs, 4 Lanarkshire club, 2 Renfrewshire clubs, Dumbarton, Hearts, Hibs and also Falkirk. They established a sectional League Cup to pad-out the season, and a Summer Cup in place of the Scottish Cup.

From 1941-42 to 1944-45 an 8-team North-Eastern League operated containing the remaining 3 Fife clubs, Aberdeen and Dundee United... St Bernards and Leith also participated in the first year, while Arbroath and Dundee participated in the last year which had 10-teams. (Those numbers don't add-up to 8 or 10: the rest of the places were taken by reserve XIs). It was played in two half-seasons with a knockout League Cup at the end of each.

In 1945-46 the NEL was absorbed by the Southern League. Dumbarton (13th), Albion Rovers (15th) and Airdrie (16th) were demoted into a second level... note that St Mirren (14th) got reprieved and Dumbarton demoted ... and their places filled by Aberdeen of NEL plus Kilmarnock and QotS. Those 3 demoted sides, 6 remaining NEL clubs and Ayr, Alloa, Stenhousemuir, Cowdenbeath and St Johnstone formed a 14-team lower tier. There was a Victory Cup in place of the Scottish Cup.


By the time the war finished St Bernards and King's Park were defunct.

In 1946-47 the SFL was resumed on a 16-16-10 basis... the new 'C' division contained the 6 clubs excluded in 1939, a new club called Stirling Albion, and reserve XIs to make up the numbers. 'A' and 'B' divisions were the same as those of the Southern League the previous season. Scottish Cup also resumed.

This meant the following divisional anomalies compared to when the war broke out:

* Albion Rovers, Alloa, Arbroath, Ayr, Cowdenbeath and St Johnstone were in tier 2 instead of tier 1
* Morton and Queen's Park were in tier 1 instead of tier 2
* Brechin, East Stirlingshire, Edinburgh City, Forfar, Leith and Montrose were in tier 3 instead of tier 2

[King Kebab]

So that was actually a quadruple we won in 1948!!!

Angusfifer will be going tonto at the news!!!

 

[Cardinal Richelieu]

So who actually played for these teams during the War, considering most men of playing age would have been called up?

[AsimButtHitsASix]

I think most footballers were kept at home to keep playing exhibition games and keep the spirits up were they not?

[Cardinal Richelieu]

6 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

I think most footballers were kept at home to keep playing exhibition games and keep the spirits up were they not?

Really? Time for me to get down the park and brush up on my footballing skills so I can avoid the call-up to WWIII then!

[HibeeJibee]

Just because men had been called-up didn't mean they were confined to barracks 24/7. Also remember that after Dunkirk the only British Army in the field was in North Africa, then in Burma after the Japanese joined in. Though from 1943 Italy was invaded and from 1944 France etc. which curtailed some competitions (e.g. Inter-Allied Services Cup). It was also common for footballers to become Physical Training instructors for new recruits.

Many men were also in reserved occupations... shipbuilding, coalmining, munitions, certain administrative and transport jobs. Indeed there were accusations (particularly in Glasgow) that clubs deliberately wangled their players into these sort of jobs or into the Auxiliary Fire Service, Air Raid Precautions and similar. Take the starting XIs of OF at the outbreak of war for example - according to Bob Crampsey's book out of those 22 players only 3 ended-up in uniform.

As noted all SFL football stopped for several weeks due to fears of air raids, gas attacks etc., and many grounds were shut and severe capacity restrictions introduced. Friendlies and lots of local cup-ties were played - some of them will never have had such big crowds or attention since. It was claimed the Glasgow clubs "prolonged" this interregnum to complete their lucrative Glasgow Cup on Saturdays. In mid-October 1939 the SFL 'Eastern' and 'Western' divisions began as outlined.

Full-time players were not allowed and a maximum wage of £2 + £1 bonuses per week for part-time players. Guest players were permitted - and a thriving market grew-up of talented English First Division players appearing for lowly clubs they were stationed nearby... England set their limit at £1.10s, and there were cases of players travelling from Northumberland or Cumbria. Bill Shankly played for King's Park, Matt Busby for Hibs and Stanley Matthews for Airdrie, Morton and Rangers. Accusations of brown envelope payments circulated, and eventually the guest system had to be more closely regulated. St Mirren were caught red-handed, fined and 5 out of 7 directors banned.


Junior football ran throughout the war - e.g. the Junior Cup was not put into abeyance. However gradually the numbers of teams contracted substantially. Amateur football very considerably stopped but not entirely: Edinburgh City for example dropped from SFL into the Lothian Amateur League.

Internationals continued. There was a great deal of representative and forces football to raise money. At the top level in some respects more football was played than in peacetime.


Some final snippets... midweek football was banned to protect factory production. King's Park's ground was destroyed in bombing. Rugby Park was requisitioned hence Killie closed.

[microdave]

 

On 4/28/2017 at 12:56, Ranaldo Bairn said:

Interesting times for Dumbarton between 1986 and 1998.

Three relegations and two promotions culminating in finishing bottom of the 3rd division in 1997/98. 

[nelsjfc]

[emoji38] I suppose you could make that argument.

It's quite interesting how things were carved-up, actually.


When the war broke out the league system was 20-18. Upon abandonment there was a few weeks of no competitive games due to air raid fears, and then SFL moved to Eastern and Western divisions of 16 each. Five clubs were turned away - Montrose, Brechin, Forfar, Edinburgh City, East Stirlingshire and Leith. Most of them had finished in the bottom places at the end of 1938-39 but King's Park (13th) were reprieved and Brechin (10th) excluded instead .

There was a title playoff at Hampden. Cowdenbeath quit halfway through. There was an SFA War Emergency Cup in place of the Scottish Cup. At the end of the season the SFA and SFL went into abeyance.


From 1940-41 to 1944-45 a 16-team Southern League operated containing the 6 Glasgow clubs, 4 Lanarkshire club, 2 Renfrewshire clubs, Dumbarton, Hearts, Hibs and also Falkirk. They established a sectional League Cup to pad-out the season, and a Summer Cup in place of the Scottish Cup.

From 1941-42 to 1944-45 an 8-team North-Eastern League operated containing the remaining 3 Fife clubs, Aberdeen and Dundee United... St Bernards and Leith also participated in the first year, while Arbroath and Dundee participated in the last year which had 10-teams. (Those numbers don't add-up to 8 or 10: the rest of the places were taken by reserve XIs). It was played in two half-seasons with a knockout League Cup at the end of each.

In 1945-46 the NEL was absorbed by the Southern League. Dumbarton (13th), Albion Rovers (15th) and Airdrie (16th) were demoted into a second level... note that St Mirren (14th) got reprieved and Dumbarton demoted ... and their places filled by Aberdeen of NEL plus Kilmarnock and QotS. Those 3 demoted sides, 6 remaining NEL clubs and Ayr, Alloa, Stenhousemuir, Cowdenbeath and St Johnstone formed a 14-team lower tier. There was a Victory Cup in place of the Scottish Cup.


By the time the war finished St Bernards and King's Park were defunct.

In 1946-47 the SFL was resumed on a 16-16-10 basis... the new 'C' division contained the 6 clubs excluded in 1939, a new club called Stirling Albion, and reserve XIs to make up the numbers. 'A' and 'B' divisions were the same as those of the Southern League the previous season. Scottish Cup also resumed.

This meant the following divisional anomalies compared to when the war broke out:

* Albion Rovers, Alloa, Arbroath, Ayr, Cowdenbeath and St Johnstone were in tier 2 instead of tier 1
* Morton and Queen's Park were in tier 1 instead of tier 2 [emoji33]
* Brechin, East Stirlingshire, Edinburgh City, Forfar, Leith and Montrose were in tier 3 instead of tier 2

Saint's history book suggests that the
demotion was a unofficial "punishment" for giving up football so early in the war. It's clear the decision led to the club's worst (bar a spell mid 80's) era since becoming a league side.

[HibeeJibee]

It's also interesting to see what happened during WWI. There was no promotion and relegation at that time, of course, just election.

At the end of 1914-15 the Second Division was put into suspended animation - some clubs shut down, others joined regional leagues. At the end of 1916-17 Aberdeen, Dundee and Raith resigned due to travel difficulty and Clydebank were elected to make a round 18 clubs. On the resumption of peace-time football in 1919-20 those 3 clubs all rejoined and Albion Rovers were elected to make a round 22 clubs.

First Division clubs - who held almost all voting powers in SFL - then refused to allow Second Division to restart and did so for 3yrs: until a rival Central League forced them to compromise for 1921-22, restarting with all 16 Central League clubs, both clubs from the Scottish Alliance (Arbroath & Forfar) and 2 from the Western League (Johnstone & Vale of Leven).

At the season's end 22-20 became 20-20 with bottom 2 clubs - Clackmannan and Dundee Hibs - dropping out of SFL. Following year Dundee Hibs were re-elected and East Stirlingshire demoted into a new Third Division formed by all Western League clubs (except Hurlford), Brechin, Clackmannan, Dumbarton Harp, Mid-Annandale and Montrose.


One of the oddities is that because SFL continued throughout WWI player appearances, titles and so on are considered official. Yet WWII's are not: despite 1939-40 being under SFL auspices.

[craigkillie]

This season's winners were Rangers, who gained 10 league places, and the losers for the second straight year were Cowdenbeath, who dropped 11 spots.