The All-Time Scottish Football Hot Potato

[10menwent2mow]

I feel sorry for Spud 6, knowing it was doomed no matter what going into the last day.

[craigkillie]

Potato 7 (1938-1947)

Potato number 7 lasted a long time, but a relatively small number of matches due to the inconvenient intervention of World War II. It straddled two and a bit seasons either side of the war, visiting 14 different clubs before reaching a brand new resting place in 1947.

The opening day of the 1938/39 season saw Kilmarnock handed the potato after a humbling 9-1 defeat to Celtic in Glasgow. They would hold on to it for a few weeks before sending it to Perth thanks to a win over St Johnstone. Saints quickly moved it on to Albion Rovers who held it for 9 matches, the joint longest spell it had with any club. It would move on to Queen of the South, Raith Rovers and Celtic before returning to the Rovers. Hibs would then hold on to it for 7 weeks, before a brief spell with Celtic, who passed it on to Queen's Park on the penultimate weekend of the season. The Spiders were doomed to relegation, but on the final day they kept the potato alive by beating Queen of the South 2-0.

The 1939/40 campaign had a series of short spells with the potato. Queen of the South passed it to Hibs on the opening day, and they very quickly gave it to Clyde, who moved it on to St Johnstone for a couple of weeks. On the 2nd September, a day after Germany invaded Poland, St Johnstone beat Aberdeen 3-0 at Muirton Park to pass the potato to the Dons. They would hold on to it for almost 7 years - the Scottish League suspended operations on the outbreak of war, and wouldn't return until 1946.

When football finally did return in August 1946, the Dons immediately beat Third Lanark 3-0 to send the potato to Glasgow. It wouldn't leave the west of the country again. Thirds had it for a few weeks before sending it to Maryhill with Partick Thistle, but Thistle immediately moved it on to St Mirren. Saints held it for a few weeks before Kilmarnock took hold, but they were able to offload it to Queen's Park, who had been reinstated to the top flight following the war. The Spiders kept the potato for 9 matches, but were eventually able to send it to Glasgow rivals Clyde for a few weeks. It was ultimately given to Hamilton Academical a few weeks before the end of the season, and they failed to offload it before ending a miserable season bottom of the league with just 11 points.

 

Potato 7's journey:

Spoiler

club	start_date	games
Kilmarnock	1938-08-13	4
St Johnstone	1938-09-03	2
Albion Rovers	1938-09-14	9
Queen of the South	1938-11-12	4
Raith Rovers	1938-12-10	6
Celtic	1939-01-07	1
Albion Rovers	1939-01-25	2
Hibernian	1939-02-11	7
Celtic	1939-04-08	1
Queen's Park	1939-04-10	2
Queen of the South	1939-04-29	1
Hibernian	1939-08-12	1
Clyde	1939-08-19	2
St Johnstone	1939-08-26	1
Aberdeen	1939-09-02	1
Third Lanark	1946-08-10	5
Partick Thistle	1946-08-31	1
St Mirren	1946-09-04	4
Kilmarnock	1946-11-09	4
Queen's Park	1946-12-07	9
Clyde	1947-01-18	3
Hamilton Academical	1947-02-15	5

 

Total number of matches with Potato 7:

Spoiler

team	games
Queen's Park	11
Albion Rovers	11
Kilmarnock	8
Hibernian	8
Raith Rovers	6
Third Lanark	5
Queen of the South	5
Hamilton Academical	5
Clyde	5
St Mirren	4
St Johnstone	3
Celtic	2
Partick Thistle	1
Aberdeen	1

 

Full set of results for Potato 7:

Spoiler

date	holders	opponents	venue	score
1938-08-13	Kilmarnock	Celtic	A	1-9
1938-08-20	Kilmarnock	Hibernian	H	0-1
1938-08-24	Kilmarnock	Celtic	H	0-0
1938-08-27	Kilmarnock	Motherwell	A	2-5
1938-09-03	Kilmarnock	St Johnstone	H	1-0
1938-09-10	St Johnstone	Raith Rovers	H	1-2
1938-09-14	St Johnstone	Albion Rovers	H	4-0
1938-09-17	Albion Rovers	Hibernian	H	0-1
1938-09-24	Albion Rovers	St Mirren	A	1-1
1938-10-01	Albion Rovers	Celtic	H	1-8
1938-10-08	Albion Rovers	Third Lanark	A	0-4
1938-10-15	Albion Rovers	Motherwell	H	3-4
1938-10-22	Albion Rovers	Queen's Park	H	1-3
1938-10-29	Albion Rovers	Hamilton Academical	A	1-2
1938-11-05	Albion Rovers	Rangers	H	2-7
1938-11-12	Albion Rovers	Queen of the South	H	2-1
1938-11-19	Queen of the South	Hamilton Academical	A	0-1
1938-11-26	Queen of the South	Aberdeen	H	1-1
1938-12-03	Queen of the South	Rangers	A	1-4
1938-12-10	Queen of the South	Raith Rovers	H	4-2
1938-12-17	Raith Rovers	Albion Rovers	H	1-1
1938-12-24	Raith Rovers	Third Lanark	H	2-2
1938-12-31	Raith Rovers	Falkirk	A	1-6
1939-01-02	Raith Rovers	St Johnstone	H	5-6
1939-01-03	Raith Rovers	Hibernian	A	1-2
1939-01-07	Raith Rovers	Celtic	H	4-0
1939-01-25	Celtic	Albion Rovers	H	4-1
1939-01-28	Albion Rovers	Third Lanark	H	2-4
1939-02-11	Albion Rovers	Hibernian	A	2-1
1939-02-25	Hibernian	Ayr United	H	2-3
1939-03-08	Hibernian	St Johnstone	A	1-2
1939-03-11	Hibernian	Falkirk	A	1-1
1939-03-18	Hibernian	Arbroath	H	1-1
1939-03-28	Hibernian	Partick Thistle	A	0-4
1939-04-01	Hibernian	St Mirren	A	0-0
1939-04-08	Hibernian	Celtic	H	1-0
1939-04-10	Celtic	Queen's Park	A	2-1
1939-04-22	Queen's Park	Kilmarnock	A	0-3
1939-04-29	Queen's Park	Queen of the South	H	2-0
1939-08-12	Queen of the South	Hibernian	H	2-1
1939-08-19	Hibernian	Clyde	H	3-2
1939-08-23	Clyde	Falkirk	A	2-4
1939-08-26	Clyde	St Johnstone	H	2-0
1939-09-02	St Johnstone	Aberdeen	H	3-0
1946-08-10	Aberdeen	Third Lanark	A	3-0
1946-08-14	Third Lanark	Queen of the South	A	1-4
1946-08-17	Third Lanark	Heart of Midlothian	A	1-4
1946-08-21	Third Lanark	Greenock Morton	H	1-4
1946-08-28	Third Lanark	Rangers	A	1-8
1946-08-31	Third Lanark	Partick Thistle	H	4-1
1946-09-04	Partick Thistle	St Mirren	H	3-0
1946-09-07	St Mirren	Greenock Morton	H	1-1
1946-09-14	St Mirren	Rangers	A	0-4
1946-11-02	St Mirren	Motherwell	A	2-4
1946-11-09	St Mirren	Kilmarnock	H	3-1
1946-11-16	Kilmarnock	Motherwell	A	1-2
1946-11-23	Kilmarnock	Third Lanark	H	0-2
1946-11-30	Kilmarnock	Celtic	A	2-4
1946-12-07	Kilmarnock	Queen's Park	A	1-0
1946-12-14	Queen's Park	St Mirren	A	2-3
1946-12-21	Queen's Park	Partick Thistle	H	2-6
1946-12-25	Queen's Park	Celtic	A	0-1
1946-12-28	Queen's Park	Motherwell	A	0-1
1947-01-01	Queen's Park	Third Lanark	H	0-0
1947-01-02	Queen's Park	Hibernian	A	1-3
1947-01-04	Queen's Park	Falkirk	A	1-3
1947-01-11	Queen's Park	Celtic	H	1-3
1947-01-18	Queen's Park	Clyde	A	5-2
1947-02-01	Clyde	Aberdeen	A	1-2
1947-02-08	Clyde	Heart of Midlothian	H	0-2
1947-02-15	Clyde	Hamilton Academical	A	2-1
1947-03-22	Hamilton Academical	Queen of the South	H	2-3
1947-04-07	Hamilton Academical	Third Lanark	A	1-2
1947-04-12	Hamilton Academical	Rangers	A	1-4
1947-05-14	Hamilton Academical	Aberdeen	A	0-3

 

Final resting places of all potatoes:

Spoiler

Potato 1 - Vale of Leven
Potato 2 - Dumbarton
Potato 3 - Clydebank [1914]
Potato 4 - Dundee United
Potato 5 - Dunfermline Athletic
Potato 6 - Greenock Morton
Potato 7 - Hamilton Academical

 

Total number of matches with all potatoes:

Spoiler

Queen's Park	135
Clyde	121
Kilmarnock	107
Hibernian	94
Third Lanark	84
St Mirren	82
Dundee	72
Greenock Morton	71
Partick Thistle	69
Airdrieonians [1878]	66
Aberdeen	66
Falkirk	57
Heart of Midlothian	47
Raith Rovers	44
Dumbarton	41
Ayr United	40
Hamilton Academical	39
Motherwell	38
Albion Rovers	31
Vale of Leven	25
Queen of the South	24
St Johnstone	23
St Bernard's	23
Celtic	22
Clydebank [1914]	20
Rangers	19
Dunfermline Athletic	19
Abercorn	19
East Fife	17
Port Glasgow Athletic	14
Leith Athletic [1887]	14
Renton	13
Cowdenbeath	12
Dundee United	10
Arbroath	7
Bo'ness	5
Alloa Athletic	3
East Stirlingshire	2

 

Total number of spells in possession of all potatoes:

Spoiler

Clyde	36
Hibernian	34
Dundee	33
St Mirren	32
Queen's Park	32
Kilmarnock	31
Third Lanark	28
Airdrieonians [1878]	25
Aberdeen	25
Partick Thistle	23
Heart of Midlothian	23
Greenock Morton	22
Falkirk	22
Motherwell	18
Hamilton Academical	15
Rangers	12
Celtic	12
Dumbarton	11
Ayr United	10
Raith Rovers	9
St Johnstone	8
St Bernard's	8
Albion Rovers	8
Leith Athletic [1887]	7
Queen of the South	6
Cowdenbeath	6
Clydebank [1914]	6
Dunfermline Athletic	5
Port Glasgow Athletic	4
Abercorn	4
Dundee United	3
Arbroath	3
Vale of Leven	2
Renton	2
East Fife	2
East Stirlingshire	1
Bo'ness	1
Alloa Athletic	1

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by craigkillie

[craigkillie]

Potato 8 (1947-1948)

Potato number 8 was one of many around this time which had only a brief existence, lasting just a single season and visiting nine different clubs along the way. A real potato diversity is starting to develop - for eight potatoes we now have eight different resting places.

The opening day of the 1947/48 season featured two separate 5-2 scorelines - Rangers beat Third Lanark at Ibrox and Motherwell beat Queen's Park at Hampden. Due to Queen's Park's defeat being at home, they took the potato, and would hold on to it for five weeks before beating St Mirren 3-0 at home. It would also change hands in each of the next three weeks - Saints immediately passed it on to Rangers with a 2-1 win in Paisley, then the Gers beat Airdrie 3-0 at Ibrox, before Airdrie beat Aberdeen at Broomfield. The Dons held on to the potato for a couple of weeks, after drawing with Hearts they sent it back to Glasgow with a 6-0 victory over Queen's Park.

The Spiders held on to the potato for two weeks before thumping Queen of the South 7-0 at Hampden, allowing the potato to spend Christmas in Dumfries. After three weeks, Queens thumped Dundee 5-2, and the potato headed to the City of Discovery for three weeks over new year before they battered Clyde 7-0. The Bully Wee hurriedly got rid of the potato with a win over St Mirren, who then immediately passed it back to Queen's Park with an emphatic 6-1 win. The Spiders only had it for two weeks before it was passed on to Aberdeen, who immediately gave it to Morton, who themselves sent it back to Queen's Park.

As you might imagine from a team who had the potato so often, Queen's Park were rock bottom of the table, so them picking it up with just three matches remaining wasn't promising for the longevity of the potato. A 3-0 defeat to Falkirk ensured their relegation with two matches to spare, but there were still two chances for them to offload the potato. In the first of these, they gave the potato a stay of execution with a 2-1 victory over Airdrie, but unfortunately that defeat left the Diamonds three points adrift at the bottom with two games remaining. Their fate was sealed with a 2-1 defeat to Rangers in their second last game of the season, but they still had a chance to save the potato when they faced Morton in their final game. They led 1-0 going into the final ten minutes, but unfortunately a late Morton equaliser buried the potato.

Potato 8's journey:

Spoiler

club	start_date	games
Queen's Park	1947-08-13	5
St Mirren	1947-10-18	1
Rangers	1947-10-25	1
Airdrieonians [1878]	1947-11-01	1
Aberdeen	1947-11-08	2
Queen's Park	1947-11-22	2
Queen of the South	1947-12-06	3
Dundee	1947-12-27	3
Clyde	1948-01-10	1
St Mirren	1948-01-17	1
Queen's Park	1948-01-31	2
Aberdeen	1948-03-13	1
Greenock Morton	1948-03-20	1
Queen's Park	1948-04-03	2
Airdrieonians [1878]	1948-04-20	3

 

 Total number of matches with Potato 8:

Spoiler

team	games
Queen's Park	11
Airdrieonians [1878]	4
Queen of the South	3
Dundee	3
Aberdeen	3
St Mirren	2
Rangers	1
Greenock Morton	1
Clyde	1

 

Full set of results for Potato 8:

Spoiler

date	holders	opponents	venue	score
1947-08-13	Queen's Park	Motherwell	H	2-5
1947-08-27	Queen's Park	Celtic	A	0-4
1947-09-20	Queen's Park	Third Lanark	A	2-4
1947-09-27	Queen's Park	Partick Thistle	A	1-5
1947-10-04	Queen's Park	Hibernian	H	2-3
1947-10-18	Queen's Park	St Mirren	H	3-0
1947-10-25	St Mirren	Rangers	H	2-1
1947-11-01	Rangers	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	3-0
1947-11-08	Airdrieonians [1878]	Aberdeen	H	2-1
1947-11-15	Aberdeen	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-1
1947-11-22	Aberdeen	Queen's Park	H	6-0
1947-11-29	Queen's Park	Rangers	H	1-4
1947-12-06	Queen's Park	Queen of the South	H	7-0
1947-12-13	Queen of the South	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	3-3
1947-12-20	Queen of the South	Partick Thistle	A	0-4
1947-12-27	Queen of the South	Dundee	H	5-2
1948-01-01	Dundee	Aberdeen	H	0-0
1948-01-03	Dundee	Rangers	A	1-2
1948-01-10	Dundee	Clyde	H	7-0
1948-01-17	Clyde	St Mirren	H	3-2
1948-01-31	St Mirren	Queen's Park	H	6-1
1948-02-14	Queen's Park	Dundee	H	0-1
1948-03-13	Queen's Park	Aberdeen	H	3-1
1948-03-20	Aberdeen	Greenock Morton	H	2-1
1948-04-03	Greenock Morton	Queen's Park	A	3-0
1948-04-10	Queen's Park	Falkirk	A	0-3
1948-04-20	Queen's Park	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	2-1
1948-05-01	Airdrieonians [1878]	Rangers	H	1-2
1948-05-05	Airdrieonians [1878]	Greenock Morton	A	1-1

 

Final resting places of all potatoes:

Spoiler

Potato 1 - Vale of Leven
Potato 2 - Dumbarton
Potato 3 - Clydebank [1914]
Potato 4 - Dundee United
Potato 5 - Dunfermline Athletic
Potato 6 - Greenock Morton
Potato 7 - Hamilton Academical
Potato 8 - Airdrieonians [1878]

 

Total number of matches with all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	games
Queen's Park	146
Clyde	122
Kilmarnock	107
Hibernian	94
Third Lanark	84
St Mirren	84
Dundee	75
Greenock Morton	72
Airdrieonians [1878]	70
Partick Thistle	69
Aberdeen	69
Falkirk	57
Heart of Midlothian	47
Raith Rovers	44
Dumbarton	41
Ayr United	40
Hamilton Academical	39
Motherwell	38
Albion Rovers	31
Queen of the South	27
Vale of Leven	25
St Johnstone	23
St Bernard's	23
Celtic	22
Rangers	20
Clydebank [1914]	20
Dunfermline Athletic	19
Abercorn	19
East Fife	17
Port Glasgow Athletic	14
Leith Athletic [1887]	14
Renton	13
Cowdenbeath	12
Dundee United	10
Arbroath	7
Bo'ness	5
Alloa Athletic	3
East Stirlingshire	2

Total number of spells in possession of all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	times
Clyde	37
Queen's Park	36
St Mirren	34
Hibernian	34
Dundee	34
Kilmarnock	31
Third Lanark	28
Airdrieonians [1878]	27
Aberdeen	27
Partick Thistle	23
Heart of Midlothian	23
Greenock Morton	23
Falkirk	22
Motherwell	18
Hamilton Academical	15
Rangers	13
Celtic	12
Dumbarton	11
Ayr United	10
Raith Rovers	9
St Johnstone	8
St Bernard's	8
Albion Rovers	8
Queen of the South	7
Leith Athletic [1887]	7
Cowdenbeath	6
Clydebank [1914]	6
Dunfermline Athletic	5
Port Glasgow Athletic	4
Abercorn	4
Dundee United	3
Arbroath	3
Vale of Leven	2
Renton	2
East Fife	2
East Stirlingshire	1
Bo'ness	1
Alloa Athletic	1

 

[The Other Foot]

I feel you passed over Aberdeen's 7 year tenancy of the Hot Potato too quickly. It's a remarkable achievement by the Dons, and I'd be very surprised if anyone can beat it. 

[Aim Here]

Now I need to know what happened to potatoes 9-31. Did any potatoes actually end up going down with a dead club like Third Lanark, or Rangers? Whose trophy cabinet contains the most potatoes over the entire history of Scottish fitba? Did the potato ever form part of a trophy double or even treble?

 

[resk]

2 hours ago, The Other Foot said:

I feel you passed over Aberdeen's 7 year tenancy of the Hot Potato too quickly. It's a remarkable achievement by the Dons, and I'd be very surprised if anyone can beat it. 

I reckon it justifies a third star on our shirts TBH.  

[craigkillie]

Now I need to know what happened to potatoes 9-31. Did any potatoes actually end up going down with a dead club like Third Lanark, or Rangers? Whose trophy cabinet contains the most potatoes over the entire history of Scottish fitba? Did the potato ever form part of a trophy double or even treble?
 

Find out all that and more on this thread. Eventually.

[PauloPerth]

@craigkillie Magnificent effort.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

It was a bit disrespectful of Aberdeen to hoard the potato during the time of rationing.

[craigkillie]

Potato 9 (1948-1949)

Potato 9 was another short-lived one, yet again only lasting for one season before calling it a day. Across the season it haunted the trophy rooms of nine different clubs, but ultimately it joined potatoes 7 and 8 in Lanarkshire.

The opening day of the 1948/49 season saw East Fife lose 5-2 to reigning champions Hibernian on their flag day (if there were flag days back then) and take a hold of the new potato. They had it for a couple of weeks before beating Falkirk, who then held it for a couple more weeks before thumping Morton 5-1 at Brockville. Morton also got rid of it at the second attempt, beating Queen of the South at Cappielow, before Queens sent it back to Renfrewshire with St Mirren the following week. Saints sent it up the road to Glasgow with Partick Thistle a fortnight later, and Thistle would become the first team to have potato 9 for more than two weeks, though it was only a three-week spell before they travelled across Glasgow to face Third Lanark and left it behind at Cathkin Park following a 3-2 win.

If the first half of the season was characterised by lots of short spells, then the second half was the complete opposite. Thirds had the potato for four matches over Christmas and New Year before sending it down the road to Greenock by beating Morton 1-0. The Ton spent the season (unsuccessfully) battling relegation, and their spell of six matches with the potato didn't help their case, but they did eventually pass it on to Hearts with a 4-2 win at Tynecastle. The Jam Tarts only held it for a couple of weeks before they thumped Albion Rovers 7-1 to send the potato to Coatbridge. The 1948/49 Rovers were one of the most wretched sides in top flight history, winning just three matches all season (funnily enough two of these were early season potato matches v Falkirk and Morton), and they suffered six defeats, five of them heavy ones, to ensure that the potato went down with them.
 

Potato 9's journey:

Spoiler

club	start_date	games
East Fife	1948-08-14	2
Falkirk	1948-08-21	2
Greenock Morton	1948-09-01	2
Queen of the South	1948-10-30	1
St Mirren	1948-11-06	2
Partick Thistle	1948-11-20	3
Third Lanark	1948-12-11	4
Greenock Morton	1949-01-03	6
Heart of Midlothian	1949-03-12	2
Albion Rovers	1949-04-02	6

 

Total number of matches with Potato 9:

Spoiler

team	games
Greenock Morton	8
Albion Rovers	6
Third Lanark	4
Partick Thistle	3
St Mirren	2
Heart of Midlothian	2
Falkirk	2
East Fife	2
Queen of the South	1

 

Full set of results for Potato 9:

Spoiler

date	holders	opponents	venue	score
1948-08-14	East Fife	Hibernian	A	2-5
1948-08-18	East Fife	Motherwell	H	0-1
1948-08-21	East Fife	Falkirk	A	2-1
1948-08-28	Falkirk	Albion Rovers	A	0-2
1948-09-01	Falkirk	Greenock Morton	H	5-1
1948-10-23	Greenock Morton	Albion Rovers	A	1-2
1948-10-30	Greenock Morton	Queen of the South	H	2-1
1948-11-06	Queen of the South	St Mirren	H	3-2
1948-11-13	St Mirren	Rangers	H	0-2
1948-11-20	St Mirren	Partick Thistle	H	4-2
1948-11-27	Partick Thistle	Motherwell	H	1-1
1948-12-04	Partick Thistle	Celtic	H	1-2
1948-12-11	Partick Thistle	Third Lanark	A	2-1
1948-12-18	Third Lanark	Dundee	A	1-1
1948-12-25	Third Lanark	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-1
1949-01-01	Third Lanark	Queen of the South	A	1-2
1949-01-03	Third Lanark	Greenock Morton	H	1-0
1949-01-08	Greenock Morton	Celtic	H	0-0
1949-01-15	Greenock Morton	Dundee	A	1-3
1949-02-12	Greenock Morton	Queen of the South	A	1-2
1949-02-26	Greenock Morton	Hibernian	H	2-3
1949-03-05	Greenock Morton	Falkirk	H	0-1
1949-03-12	Greenock Morton	Heart of Midlothian	A	4-2
1949-03-19	Heart of Midlothian	Aberdeen	H	1-1
1949-04-02	Heart of Midlothian	Albion Rovers	H	7-1
1949-04-09	Albion Rovers	Greenock Morton	A	0-3
1949-04-15	Albion Rovers	Clyde	H	1-2
1949-04-18	Albion Rovers	Rangers	A	1-3
1949-04-23	Albion Rovers	East Fife	A	1-5
1949-04-30	Albion Rovers	Rangers	H	1-4

 

Final resting places of all potatoes:

Spoiler

Potato 1 - Vale of Leven
Potato 2 - Dumbarton
Potato 3 - Clydebank [1914]
Potato 4 - Dundee United
Potato 5 - Dunfermline Athletic
Potato 6 - Greenock Morton
Potato 7 - Hamilton Academical
Potato 8 - Airdrieonians [1878]
Potato 9 - Albion Rovers

 

Total number of matches with all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	games
Queen's Park	146
Clyde	122
Kilmarnock	107
Hibernian	94
Third Lanark	88
St Mirren	86
Greenock Morton	80
Dundee	75
Partick Thistle	72
Airdrieonians [1878]	70
Aberdeen	69
Falkirk	59
Heart of Midlothian	49
Raith Rovers	44
Dumbarton	41
Ayr United	40
Hamilton Academical	39
Motherwell	38
Albion Rovers	37
Queen of the South	28
Vale of Leven	25
St Johnstone	23
St Bernard's	23
Celtic	22
Rangers	20
Clydebank [1914]	20
East Fife	19
Dunfermline Athletic	19
Abercorn	19
Port Glasgow Athletic	14
Leith Athletic [1887]	14
Renton	13
Cowdenbeath	12
Dundee United	10
Arbroath	7
Bo'ness	5
Alloa Athletic	3
East Stirlingshire	2

Total number of spells in possession of all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	times
Clyde	37
Queen's Park	36
St Mirren	35
Hibernian	34
Dundee	34
Kilmarnock	31
Third Lanark	29
Airdrieonians [1878]	27
Aberdeen	27
Greenock Morton	25
Partick Thistle	24
Heart of Midlothian	24
Falkirk	23
Motherwell	18
Hamilton Academical	15
Rangers	13
Celtic	12
Dumbarton	11
Ayr United	10
Raith Rovers	9
Albion Rovers	9
St Johnstone	8
St Bernard's	8
Queen of the South	8
Leith Athletic [1887]	7
Cowdenbeath	6
Clydebank [1914]	6
Dunfermline Athletic	5
Port Glasgow Athletic	4
Abercorn	4
East Fife	3
Dundee United	3
Arbroath	3
Vale of Leven	2
Renton	2
East Stirlingshire	1
Bo'ness	1
Alloa Athletic	1

 

[craigkillie]

Potato 10 (1949-1951)

Unlike the previous two, Potato 10 would finally make it past the end of the first year (just), but unfortunately it didn't survive the difficult second season. Across its two years the potato visited 12 different clubs, including an incredible run where it changed hands for nine matches in a row. In the end, it would find its way to a tenth different resting place.

The opening day of the 1949/50 campaign saw Raith Rovers lose 6-0 at home to Hibernian and take ownership of the potato, which they would hold on to for seven matches before finally passing it to newly promoted Stirling Albion, for whom it was their first taste of potato. They would be able to offload it after one match, but this would simply be a warm up for a much longer association with the potato a few weeks later. After spending some time with Third Lanark and Dundee, it returned to Stirling on Christmas Eve, and they would hold on to it for 15 matches, which was the longest run since Partick Thistle held Potato 3 for 16 matches in 1909. Unsurprisingly, the Binos (or the Yo-Yos as they would soon be known around that time for their penchant for bouncing between the divisions) finished rock bottom and were relegated, but their final act was to beat Partick Thistle 2-1 on the final day of the season to keep the potato alive.

The start of the 1950/51 season would see the hot potato living up to its name, with it being passed on in each of the first eight matches, first to Raith Rovers and then on to Third Lanark, Falkirk, Partick Thistle, Rangers, Third Lanark (again), Airdrie and St Mirren. Saints were the first club to blink, holding on to it for three games before giving Partick Thistle another shot thanks to a 2-1 win in Paisley. It would then have brief spells with Airdrie, Morton and St Mirren before making its first trip to Edinburgh with Heart of Midlothian. Hearts were able to quickly send it down whatever was there before the M8 to Glasgow with Clyde, and the relegation threatened Bully Wee would hold on to the potato for five weeks before beating a Falkirk side who were bottom of the table. Falkirk had two matches to go - in the first one they comprehensively lost 4-1 to Partick Thistle, but even worse was to come in what most be one of the least known, but most suspicious matches in Scottish football history.

Heading into the final game of the season, Falkirk were already doomed to relegation with 18 points. Ahead of them, five clubs were still fighting against the drop - Airdrie, Third Lanark and Morton all had 22 points, and ahead of them St Mirren and Clyde had 23. At that time, goal average* rather than goal difference was the deciding factor, and Airdrie had the poorest of the three teams tied for that second bottom spot - theirs was 0.62 compared to 0.71 for Morton and 0.75 for Third Lanark. Clyde and St Mirren also had better goal averages. The Diamonds knew that if the sides above them all picked up results, their only hope was to win and win big.

Fortunately, the worst side in the league were on their way to Broomfield. Airdrie raced into a 3-0 lead by half-time, but if people were able to hear the scores from other grounds in those days (and I have no idea if they could), then they'd have found out that Third Lanark and Morton were both winning too, so they would have to rack up the goals in the second half. And rack them up they did, finishing up with a scarcely believable 11-1 scoreline (ELEVEN-ONE). However, with Third Lanark beating Aberdeen 2-0 and Morton earning a only slightly less unlikely 5-0 win over Motherwell, both clubs still finished with a better goal average than the Diamonds. Fortunately for them, however, Clyde lost to Celtic and were therefore relegated alongside Falkirk and their deceased potato.

*goals scored divided by goals conceded

 

Potato 10's journey:

Spoiler

club	start_date	games
Raith Rovers	1949-09-10	7
Stirling Albion	1949-10-29	1
Third Lanark	1949-11-05	6
Dundee	1949-12-17	1
Stirling Albion	1949-12-24	15
Partick Thistle	1950-04-29	1
Raith Rovers	1950-09-09	1
Third Lanark	1950-09-16	1
Falkirk	1950-09-23	1
Partick Thistle	1950-09-30	1
Rangers	1950-10-07	1
Third Lanark	1950-10-14	1
Airdrieonians [1878]	1950-10-21	1
St Mirren	1950-10-28	3
Partick Thistle	1950-11-18	2
Airdrieonians [1878]	1950-12-09	3
Greenock Morton	1950-12-30	1
St Mirren	1951-01-01	1
Heart of Midlothian	1951-01-02	2
Clyde	1951-02-03	5
Falkirk	1951-03-24	3

Total number of matches with Potato 10:

Spoiler

team	games
Stirling Albion	16
Third Lanark	8
Raith Rovers	8
Clyde	5
St Mirren	4
Partick Thistle	4
Falkirk	4
Airdrieonians [1878]	4
Heart of Midlothian	2
Rangers	1
Greenock Morton	1
Dundee	1

 

Full set of results for Potato 10:

Spoiler

date	holders	opponents	venue	score
1949-09-10	Raith Rovers	Hibernian	H	0-6
1949-09-17	Raith Rovers	Falkirk	A	1-1
1949-09-24	Raith Rovers	East Fife	H	4-4
1949-10-01	Raith Rovers	Celtic	A	2-2
1949-10-08	Raith Rovers	Partick Thistle	H	1-3
1949-10-15	Raith Rovers	St Mirren	A	0-2
1949-10-22	Raith Rovers	Motherwell	A	1-1
1949-10-29	Raith Rovers	Stirling Albion	H	2-0
1949-11-05	Stirling Albion	Third Lanark	A	4-2
1949-11-12	Third Lanark	Raith Rovers	A	1-1
1949-11-19	Third Lanark	Celtic	A	1-2
1949-11-26	Third Lanark	Hibernian	H	0-2
1949-12-03	Third Lanark	East Fife	A	1-3
1949-12-10	Third Lanark	Partick Thistle	A	1-5
1949-12-17	Third Lanark	Dundee	H	1-0
1949-12-24	Dundee	Stirling Albion	H	4-1
1949-12-31	Stirling Albion	St Mirren	H	1-3
1950-01-02	Stirling Albion	Falkirk	A	1-1
1950-01-07	Stirling Albion	Hibernian	A	1-4
1950-01-14	Stirling Albion	East Fife	H	1-1
1950-01-21	Stirling Albion	Queen of the South	A	1-3
1950-02-04	Stirling Albion	Raith Rovers	H	1-2
1950-02-18	Stirling Albion	Celtic	A	1-2
1950-03-04	Stirling Albion	Rangers	H	0-2
1950-03-18	Stirling Albion	Heart of Midlothian	A	2-5
1950-03-25	Stirling Albion	Clyde	H	1-2
1950-04-01	Stirling Albion	Hibernian	H	3-5
1950-04-08	Stirling Albion	Motherwell	H	1-4
1950-04-14	Stirling Albion	Third Lanark	H	0-2
1950-04-22	Stirling Albion	Aberdeen	A	2-6
1950-04-29	Stirling Albion	Partick Thistle	H	2-1
1950-09-09	Partick Thistle	Raith Rovers	H	5-2
1950-09-16	Raith Rovers	Third Lanark	H	4-0
1950-09-23	Third Lanark	Falkirk	H	2-1
1950-09-30	Falkirk	Partick Thistle	H	2-1
1950-10-07	Partick Thistle	Rangers	H	2-1
1950-10-14	Rangers	Third Lanark	H	2-1
1950-10-21	Third Lanark	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	1-0
1950-10-28	Airdrieonians [1878]	St Mirren	H	2-0
1950-11-04	St Mirren	Motherwell	A	0-4
1950-11-11	St Mirren	Rangers	H	0-2
1950-11-18	St Mirren	Partick Thistle	H	2-1
1950-12-02	Partick Thistle	Celtic	H	0-1
1950-12-09	Partick Thistle	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	2-1
1950-12-16	Airdrieonians [1878]	Dundee	A	0-3
1950-12-23	Airdrieonians [1878]	Aberdeen	A	1-1
1950-12-30	Airdrieonians [1878]	Greenock Morton	H	2-0
1951-01-01	Greenock Morton	St Mirren	H	5-2
1951-01-02	St Mirren	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-0
1951-01-20	Heart of Midlothian	Rangers	A	1-2
1951-02-03	Heart of Midlothian	Clyde	H	4-0
1951-02-17	Clyde	East Fife	H	1-1
1951-03-03	Clyde	Motherwell	H	1-2
1951-03-10	Clyde	Rangers	A	0-4
1951-03-17	Clyde	Raith Rovers	A	1-4
1951-03-24	Clyde	Falkirk	H	3-1
1951-03-31	Falkirk	Partick Thistle	A	1-4
1951-04-28	Falkirk	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	1-11

 

Final resting places of all potatoes:

Spoiler

Potato 1 - Vale of Leven
Potato 2 - Dumbarton
Potato 3 - Clydebank [1914]
Potato 4 - Dundee United
Potato 5 - Dunfermline Athletic
Potato 6 - Greenock Morton
Potato 7 - Hamilton Academical
Potato 8 - Airdrieonians [1878]
Potato 9 - Albion Rovers
Potato 10 - Falkirk

 

Total number of matches with all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	games
Queen's Park	146
Clyde	127
Kilmarnock	107
Third Lanark	96
Hibernian	94
St Mirren	90
Greenock Morton	81
Partick Thistle	76
Dundee	76
Airdrieonians [1878]	74
Aberdeen	69
Falkirk	63
Raith Rovers	52
Heart of Midlothian	51
Dumbarton	41
Ayr United	40
Hamilton Academical	39
Motherwell	38
Albion Rovers	37
Queen of the South	28
Vale of Leven	25
St Johnstone	23
St Bernard's	23
Celtic	22
Rangers	21
Clydebank [1914]	20
East Fife	19
Dunfermline Athletic	19
Abercorn	19
Stirling Albion	16
Port Glasgow Athletic	14
Leith Athletic [1887]	14
Renton	13
Cowdenbeath	12
Dundee United	10
Arbroath	7
Bo'ness	5
Alloa Athletic	3
East Stirlingshire	2

 

Total number of spells in possession of all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	times
Clyde	38
St Mirren	37
Queen's Park	36
Dundee	35
Hibernian	34
Third Lanark	32
Kilmarnock	31
Airdrieonians [1878]	29
Partick Thistle	27
Aberdeen	27
Greenock Morton	26
Heart of Midlothian	25
Falkirk	25
Motherwell	18
Hamilton Academical	15
Rangers	14
Celtic	12
Raith Rovers	11
Dumbarton	11
Ayr United	10
Albion Rovers	9
St Johnstone	8
St Bernard's	8
Queen of the South	8
Leith Athletic [1887]	7
Cowdenbeath	6
Clydebank [1914]	6
Dunfermline Athletic	5
Port Glasgow Athletic	4
Abercorn	4
East Fife	3
Dundee United	3
Arbroath	3
Vale of Leven	2
Stirling Albion	2
Renton	2
East Stirlingshire	1
Bo'ness	1
Alloa Athletic	1

 

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by craigkillie

[craigkillie]

Potato 11 (1951-1952)

Potato 11 was another one-season wonder. It visited nine different clubs, and changed hands 10 times before once more being the victim of an untimely relegation. Again, it was a brand new club which took the potato into their trophy room, meaning that there were 11 different deceased potatoes in the hands of 11 different clubs.

Airdrieonians were the first holders of the potato, losing 4-0 to Third Lanark on the opening day of the 1951/52 season. The Diamonds didn't hold on to it for long, beating Hearts 2-0 the following week, before they passed it on to Celtic a fortnight later. Celtic immediately handed it to Morton who kept it in Greenock for three matches before they offloaded it to Motherwell. The Steelmen only had the potato for a couple of weeks before they handed it over to Dundee, who held on to it for six games before they managed to hand it to Stirling Albion as an early Christmas present.

Stirling ensured that the potato would be first footing in Methil by beating East Fife 3-2 the following week. The New Year scheduled was packed in those days, and the Fifers lost a derby to Raith Rovers on New Year's Day, then lost 2-1 to Aberdeen the following day, before finally beating Rangers 2-1 on the 5th January. The Gers beat Airdrie a week later, and the Diamonds would keep it for a fortnight before thumping Stirling Albion 6-3 at Annfield. The Binos were embroiled in a relegation battle, and when they took on the potato they were already three points adrift at the foot of the table with seven games still to play. The pressure of the potato weighed heavily on them, and they would fail to win any of those seven, picking up just two draws along with five defeats.

 

Potato 11's journey:

Spoiler

club	start_date	games
Airdrieonians [1878]	1951-09-08	1
Heart of Midlothian	1951-09-15	2
Celtic	1951-09-29	1
Greenock Morton	1951-10-10	3
Motherwell	1951-10-27	2
Dundee	1951-11-10	6
Stirling Albion	1951-12-22	1
East Fife	1951-12-29	3
Rangers	1952-01-05	1
Airdrieonians [1878]	1952-01-12	2
Stirling Albion	1952-01-26	8

 

Total number of matches with Potato 11:

Spoiler

team	games
Stirling Albion	9
Dundee	6
Greenock Morton	3
East Fife	3
Airdrieonians [1878]	3
Motherwell	2
Heart of Midlothian	2
Rangers	1
Celtic	1

 

Full set of results for Potato 11:

Spoiler

date	holders	opponents	venue	score
1951-09-08	Airdrieonians [1878]	Third Lanark	A	0-4
1951-09-15	Airdrieonians [1878]	Heart of Midlothian	H	2-0
1951-09-22	Heart of Midlothian	Hibernian	H	1-1
1951-09-29	Heart of Midlothian	Celtic	A	3-1
1951-10-10	Celtic	Greenock Morton	A	1-0
1951-10-13	Greenock Morton	Hibernian	A	0-1
1951-10-20	Greenock Morton	Raith Rovers	H	1-4
1951-10-27	Greenock Morton	Motherwell	A	2-1
1951-11-03	Motherwell	St Mirren	A	0-3
1951-11-10	Motherwell	Dundee	H	2-1
1951-11-17	Dundee	Queen of the South	H	0-0
1951-11-24	Dundee	St Mirren	A	1-1
1951-12-01	Dundee	Hibernian	H	1-4
1951-12-08	Dundee	East Fife	H	3-4
1951-12-15	Dundee	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	3-4
1951-12-22	Dundee	Stirling Albion	H	4-1
1951-12-29	Stirling Albion	East Fife	H	3-2
1952-01-01	East Fife	Raith Rovers	H	0-1
1952-01-02	East Fife	Aberdeen	A	1-2
1952-01-05	East Fife	Rangers	H	2-1
1952-01-12	Rangers	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	1-0
1952-01-19	Airdrieonians [1878]	Queen of the South	A	2-4
1952-01-26	Airdrieonians [1878]	Stirling Albion	A	6-3
1952-02-02	Stirling Albion	Raith Rovers	H	1-2
1952-02-16	Stirling Albion	Celtic	A	1-3
1952-03-01	Stirling Albion	Rangers	H	1-5
1952-03-08	Stirling Albion	Greenock Morton	H	1-1
1952-03-12	Stirling Albion	Aberdeen	A	0-6
1952-03-15	Stirling Albion	Heart of Midlothian	A	2-5
1952-03-22	Stirling Albion	Third Lanark	H	3-3

 

Final resting places of all potatoes:

Spoiler

Potato 1 - Vale of Leven
Potato 2 - Dumbarton
Potato 3 - Clydebank [1914]
Potato 4 - Dundee United
Potato 5 - Dunfermline Athletic
Potato 6 - Greenock Morton
Potato 7 - Hamilton Academical
Potato 8 - Airdrieonians [1878]
Potato 9 - Albion Rovers
Potato 10 - Falkirk
Potato 11 - Stirling Albion

 

Total number of matches with all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	games
Queen's Park	146
Clyde	127
Kilmarnock	107
Third Lanark	96
Hibernian	94
St Mirren	90
Greenock Morton	84
Dundee	82
Airdrieonians [1878]	77
Partick Thistle	76
Aberdeen	69
Falkirk	63
Heart of Midlothian	53
Raith Rovers	52
Dumbarton	41
Motherwell	40
Ayr United	40
Hamilton Academical	39
Albion Rovers	37
Queen of the South	28
Vale of Leven	25
Stirling Albion	25
St Johnstone	23
St Bernard's	23
Celtic	23
Rangers	22
East Fife	22
Clydebank [1914]	20
Dunfermline Athletic	19
Abercorn	19
Port Glasgow Athletic	14
Leith Athletic [1887]	14
Renton	13
Cowdenbeath	12
Dundee United	10
Arbroath	7
Bo'ness	5
Alloa Athletic	3
East Stirlingshire	2

 

Total number of spells in possession of all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	times
Clyde	38
St Mirren	37
Queen's Park	36
Dundee	36
Hibernian	34
Third Lanark	32
Kilmarnock	31
Airdrieonians [1878]	31
Partick Thistle	27
Greenock Morton	27
Aberdeen	27
Heart of Midlothian	26
Falkirk	25
Motherwell	19
Rangers	15
Hamilton Academical	15
Celtic	13
Raith Rovers	11
Dumbarton	11
Ayr United	10
Albion Rovers	9
St Johnstone	8
St Bernard's	8
Queen of the South	8
Leith Athletic [1887]	7
Cowdenbeath	6
Clydebank [1914]	6
Dunfermline Athletic	5
Stirling Albion	4
Port Glasgow Athletic	4
East Fife	4
Abercorn	4
Dundee United	3
Arbroath	3
Vale of Leven	2
Renton	2
East Stirlingshire	1
Bo'ness	1
Alloa Athletic	1

 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Great thread, good work craigkillie. I'm hoping Clyde's clever tactical decision to avoid playing in the top flight since the Bay City Rollers split up will save us from topping the Hot Potato Table of Shame.

Edited August 25, 2021 by Bully Wee Villa

[deej]

All I do in my thread is check the results of last week, fixtures for next week, and think up new ways to take the piss out of St Mirren.

 

This is incredible work @craigkillie

[topcat(The most tip top)]

On 20/08/2021 at 10:01, The Other Foot said:

I feel you passed over Aberdeen's 7 year tenancy of the Hot Potato too quickly. It's a remarkable achievement by the Dons, and I'd be very surprised if anyone can beat it. 

Which  raises more stats questions

List the longest runs of holding  the  potato by number of days?
List the longest runs of holding  the  potato by number of matches?
The  longest runs for each club?
Which  club has  offloaded at the first attempt the most often?

[topcat(The most tip top)]

14 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

Great thread, good work craigkillie. I'm hoping Clyde's clever tactical decision to avoid playing in the top flight since the Bay City Rollers split up will save us from topping the Hot Potato Table of Shame.

Third Lanark have avoided it by even more drastic means

 Livingston & Aberdeen's strategy of improving their stats by not actually existing in the 19th century is a cunning move as well

 

[craigkillie]

Which  raises more stats questions

List the longest runs of holding  the  potato by number of days?
List the longest runs of holding  the  potato by number of matches?
The  longest runs for each club?
Which  club has  offloaded at the first attempt the most often?

I'll answer any questions like this at the end, whenever that is.

[craigkillie]

Potato 12 (1952-1958)

Potato 12 would become the first potato to last more than two seasons since Potato 5 back in the early 1930s. It would visit 22 different clubs and change hands 61 times across a six year spell, never spending more than eight matches with a single club. At the end, the final resting place of the potato would be with yet another new club - we have still not had any club take in a second dead potato.

The opening day of the 1952/53 season saw Clyde take possession of the potato after being thumped 7-1 by East Fife, who would go on to have a club record 3rd place finish - Clyde themselves recovered to finish 5th. Queen of the South had a six game spell in charge of the potato early in the season, but would avoid holding it again for another three and a half years. Partick Thistle had it for five matches at the turn of the year, amazingly they recorded 2-2 draws in each of their first four defences, before finally beating Motherwell 4-2 to get rid of it. Surprisingly, Celtic had a four game run in March and April - this postwar period was perhaps the poorest in their history and they finished the season in 8th. The potato was never in any real danger of being relegated in 1952/53, and finished the season with Raith Rovers.

The change in season led to a rare potato double header - Raith lost to Hibs on the final day of the 1952/53 season, but their first potato defence of 1953/54 was also against Hibs and this time they beat them. The potato wouldn't move around a lot in this campaign - an eight match spell with Hamilton Accies was immediately followed by two seven match spells with Raith and Airdrie. After a brief spell away, it found itself back with an already doomed Airdrie ahead of their final two matches of the season - they lost heavily to Queen of the South, but then on the final day with the potato seeming doomed they picked up a surprise 2-0 win over Rangers at Broomfield. The potato finished the season with the Ibrox club - amazingly Hibs were involved in another double header with them in the last game of 1953/54 (a 2-2 draw) and the first of 1954/55 (a 1-1 draw).

Barring a team going out of business, the potato was guaranteed to survive 1954/55, since the league was expanding from 16 to 18 teams for the following season. That was good news for Stirling Albion, who had an utterly abject season, which included an eight match potato run - this was ended with a win over Raith Rovers, one of just two victories in the whole season, and they avoided any further spells by the good fortune of the fixture list. The potato finished the season with St Mirren, who had a seven match run covering the end of 1954/55 and the start of 1955/56. Stirling Albion weren't much better in 1955/56, and had a six match run early in the season but again avoided any further potato matches before being relegated. The new year saw Dundee hold on to the potato for six matches, before it eventually finished the campaign with Falkirk - who held it for eight matches across this season and the next, with a run containing 8-3, 6-1 and 5-4 defeats.

The 1956/57 saw the potato change hands a few times early in the season, before it embarked on a series of longer spells with clubs. It spent five games with Airdrie, four with St Mirren, eight each with East Fife and Dunfermline Athletic and then four with Queen's Park. The Spiders defeated Raith Rovers on the final day of the season to ensure the potato spent the summer in Kirkcaldy. The 1957/58 season was much more egalitarian, with the potato changing hands fairly regularly throughout the season. However, come January it came into the possession of Queen's Park, who had an awful season, conceding over 100 goals and picking up just nine points. After seven defeats and a draw, it looked like they would be taking the potato down with them, but they managed to pick up a surprise 3-2 win over Clyde with four games to go, and looked to have kept the potato alive. But fate is a cruel mistress - Clyde immediately passed the potato on to Kilmarnock, and after a 1-1 draw with Raith Rovers they travelled to Hampden on the final day of the season with the future of the potato lying in the balance. Killie won 2-1, and that was that for Potato 12 after six years.

1957/58 would prove to be the last time (to date) that Scotland's oldest club played in the top flight. At this point, they had held the potato for more matches than any other club - a total of 159 games, which was 28 clear of their nearest "challengers" Clyde. However, many of the clubs below them would have over 60 years to catch up. It looks particularly ominous for top flight mainstays like Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Hibernian, who have already had over 100 matches in possession of a potato.

 

Potato 12's journey:

Spoiler

club	start_date	games
Clyde	1952-09-06	2
Partick Thistle	1952-09-20	1
Queen of the South	1952-09-27	6
Heart of Midlothian	1952-11-08	2
Motherwell	1952-11-22	2
Falkirk	1952-12-13	2
Partick Thistle	1952-12-27	5
Motherwell	1953-02-14	2
Raith Rovers	1953-03-07	1
Airdrieonians [1878]	1953-03-14	1
Celtic	1953-03-18	4
St Mirren	1953-04-11	1
Raith Rovers	1953-04-25	2
Hibernian	1953-09-05	2
Hamilton Academical	1953-09-26	8
Raith Rovers	1953-11-28	7
Airdrieonians [1878]	1954-01-09	7
East Fife	1954-03-20	1
Partick Thistle	1954-03-27	1
Airdrieonians [1878]	1954-03-31	2
Rangers	1954-04-24	4
East Fife	1954-10-02	4
Dundee	1954-11-06	3
Stirling Albion	1954-11-27	8
Raith Rovers	1955-01-29	1
Motherwell	1955-02-12	1
Partick Thistle	1955-02-26	1
East Fife	1955-03-05	2
Motherwell	1955-03-12	3
St Mirren	1955-03-29	7
Heart of Midlothian	1955-10-29	1
Stirling Albion	1955-11-05	6
East Fife	1955-12-17	3
Raith Rovers	1956-01-02	1
Queen of the South	1956-01-07	1
Clyde	1956-01-14	1
Dundee	1956-01-21	6
Partick Thistle	1956-03-24	2
Heart of Midlothian	1956-04-02	3
Falkirk	1956-04-16	8
Airdrieonians [1878]	1956-10-06	1
Aberdeen	1956-10-13	1
Ayr United	1956-10-20	1
Airdrieonians [1878]	1956-10-27	5
St Mirren	1956-12-01	4
East Fife	1956-12-29	8
Dunfermline Athletic	1957-02-23	8
Queen's Park	1957-04-16	4
Raith Rovers	1957-04-30	1
Third Lanark	1957-09-07	3
Kilmarnock	1957-10-05	1
East Fife	1957-10-12	2
Dundee	1957-10-26	1
Queen of the South	1957-11-02	4
Hibernian	1957-11-30	1
Third Lanark	1957-12-07	3
Motherwell	1957-12-28	2
Hibernian	1958-01-02	4
Queen's Park	1958-01-25	8
Clyde	1958-04-12	1
Kilmarnock	1958-04-16	2
Queen's Park	1958-04-30	1

 

Total number of matches with Potato 12:

Spoiler

team	games
East Fife	20
Airdrieonians [1878]	16
Stirling Albion	14
Raith Rovers	13
Queen's Park	13
St Mirren	12
Queen of the South	11
Partick Thistle	10
Motherwell	10
Falkirk	10
Dundee	10
Hamilton Academical	8
Dunfermline Athletic	8
Hibernian	7
Third Lanark	6
Heart of Midlothian	6
Rangers	4
Clyde	4
Celtic	4
Kilmarnock	3
Ayr United	1
Aberdeen	1

 

Full set of results for Potato 12:

Spoiler

date	holders	opponents	venue	score
1952-09-06	Clyde	East Fife	A	1-7
1952-09-13	Clyde	Queen of the South	A	1-3
1952-09-20	Clyde	Partick Thistle	A	5-1
1952-09-27	Partick Thistle	Queen of the South	A	1-0
1952-10-04	Queen of the South	Third Lanark	A	0-5
1952-10-11	Queen of the South	East Fife	H	0-1
1952-10-18	Queen of the South	Celtic	A	1-1
1952-10-25	Queen of the South	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	1-2
1952-11-01	Queen of the South	Rangers	A	1-3
1952-11-08	Queen of the South	Heart of Midlothian	H	4-2
1952-11-15	Heart of Midlothian	Aberdeen	A	0-3
1952-11-22	Heart of Midlothian	Motherwell	H	3-1
1952-12-06	Motherwell	Queen of the South	A	1-3
1952-12-13	Motherwell	Falkirk	H	2-1
1952-12-20	Falkirk	Celtic	H	2-3
1952-12-27	Falkirk	Partick Thistle	A	3-0
1953-01-01	Partick Thistle	Clyde	A	2-2
1953-01-10	Partick Thistle	Rangers	A	2-2
1953-01-17	Partick Thistle	Heart of Midlothian	H	2-2
1953-01-31	Partick Thistle	Raith Rovers	A	2-2
1953-02-14	Partick Thistle	Motherwell	H	4-2
1953-02-28	Motherwell	Clyde	A	2-3
1953-03-07	Motherwell	Raith Rovers	H	2-1
1953-03-14	Raith Rovers	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	3-0
1953-03-18	Airdrieonians [1878]	Celtic	A	1-0
1953-03-21	Celtic	East Fife	A	1-4
1953-03-28	Celtic	Hibernian	H	1-3
1953-04-04	Celtic	Dundee	A	0-4
1953-04-11	Celtic	St Mirren	H	3-2
1953-04-25	St Mirren	Raith Rovers	H	3-2
1953-04-29	Raith Rovers	Hibernian	A	1-4
1953-09-05	Raith Rovers	Hibernian	H	4-0
1953-09-19	Hibernian	Heart of Midlothian	A	0-4
1953-09-26	Hibernian	Hamilton Academical	H	4-1
1953-10-03	Hamilton Academical	Dundee	H	2-3
1953-10-10	Hamilton Academical	Aberdeen	A	1-5
1953-10-17	Hamilton Academical	Stirling Albion	H	0-1
1953-10-31	Hamilton Academical	Falkirk	A	2-2
1953-11-07	Hamilton Academical	Queen of the South	H	0-5
1953-11-14	Hamilton Academical	Rangers	A	1-8
1953-11-21	Hamilton Academical	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-5
1953-11-28	Hamilton Academical	Raith Rovers	H	2-1
1953-12-05	Raith Rovers	Aberdeen	A	0-2
1953-12-12	Raith Rovers	Clyde	H	3-4
1953-12-19	Raith Rovers	Hibernian	A	0-5
1953-12-26	Raith Rovers	Dundee	H	1-2
1954-01-01	Raith Rovers	East Fife	A	1-1
1954-01-02	Raith Rovers	St Mirren	H	1-2
1954-01-09	Raith Rovers	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	2-1
1954-01-16	Airdrieonians [1878]	Rangers	A	0-3
1954-01-23	Airdrieonians [1878]	Aberdeen	H	1-3
1954-02-20	Airdrieonians [1878]	Stirling Albion	A	1-2
1954-02-27	Airdrieonians [1878]	St Mirren	H	1-3
1954-03-10	Airdrieonians [1878]	Dundee	A	0-1
1954-03-17	Airdrieonians [1878]	Celtic	H	0-6
1954-03-20	Airdrieonians [1878]	East Fife	H	3-2
1954-03-27	East Fife	Partick Thistle	A	1-0
1954-03-31	Partick Thistle	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	6-3
1954-04-10	Airdrieonians [1878]	Queen of the South	A	2-6
1954-04-24	Airdrieonians [1878]	Rangers	H	2-0
1954-04-26	Rangers	Hibernian	A	2-2
1954-09-11	Rangers	Hibernian	H	1-1
1954-09-18	Rangers	Celtic	A	0-2
1954-10-02	Rangers	East Fife	A	7-2
1954-10-16	East Fife	Heart of Midlothian	H	0-2
1954-10-23	East Fife	Aberdeen	A	1-4
1954-10-30	East Fife	Clyde	H	0-3
1954-11-06	East Fife	Dundee	H	4-1
1954-11-13	Dundee	St Mirren	H	0-1
1954-11-20	Dundee	Hibernian	A	1-3
1954-11-27	Dundee	Stirling Albion	A	2-0
1954-12-04	Stirling Albion	Partick Thistle	A	3-3
1954-12-11	Stirling Albion	East Fife	A	0-5
1954-12-18	Stirling Albion	Motherwell	H	1-3
1954-12-25	Stirling Albion	Aberdeen	H	3-4
1955-01-01	Stirling Albion	Falkirk	A	1-3
1955-01-03	Stirling Albion	Clyde	H	1-4
1955-01-08	Stirling Albion	Queen of the South	A	2-3
1955-01-29	Stirling Albion	Raith Rovers	H	2-1
1955-02-12	Raith Rovers	Motherwell	H	3-2
1955-02-26	Motherwell	Partick Thistle	A	1-0
1955-03-05	Partick Thistle	East Fife	A	2-0
1955-03-09	East Fife	Dundee	A	1-1
1955-03-12	East Fife	Motherwell	H	4-2
1955-03-19	Motherwell	Celtic	A	0-1
1955-03-26	Motherwell	Dundee	H	0-2
1955-03-29	Motherwell	St Mirren	A	1-0
1955-04-09	St Mirren	East Fife	A	1-6
1955-04-16	St Mirren	Raith Rovers	H	0-2
1955-04-22	St Mirren	Heart of Midlothian	A	1-1
1955-09-10	St Mirren	Raith Rovers	A	2-2
1955-09-24	St Mirren	Kilmarnock	A	1-1
1955-10-15	St Mirren	Aberdeen	H	0-3
1955-10-29	St Mirren	Heart of Midlothian	H	3-1
1955-11-05	Heart of Midlothian	Stirling Albion	H	5-0
1955-11-12	Stirling Albion	Partick Thistle	H	2-4
1955-11-19	Stirling Albion	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	0-4
1955-11-26	Stirling Albion	Queen of the South	A	0-4
1955-12-03	Stirling Albion	Celtic	H	0-3
1955-12-10	Stirling Albion	St Mirren	A	2-5
1955-12-17	Stirling Albion	East Fife	H	2-1
1955-12-24	East Fife	St Mirren	H	1-1
1955-12-31	East Fife	Partick Thistle	A	2-2
1956-01-02	East Fife	Raith Rovers	H	3-0
1956-01-07	Raith Rovers	Queen of the South	H	3-1
1956-01-14	Queen of the South	Clyde	H	5-2
1956-01-21	Clyde	Dundee	H	4-1
1956-02-11	Dundee	Raith Rovers	A	1-1
1956-02-25	Dundee	Kilmarnock	H	1-1
1956-03-03	Dundee	Falkirk	A	1-3
1956-03-10	Dundee	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	1-3
1956-03-17	Dundee	Celtic	A	0-1
1956-03-24	Dundee	Partick Thistle	H	3-0
1956-03-31	Partick Thistle	Hibernian	H	1-1
1956-04-02	Partick Thistle	Heart of Midlothian	H	2-0
1956-04-07	Heart of Midlothian	Aberdeen	A	1-4
1956-04-11	Heart of Midlothian	Clyde	A	2-2
1956-04-16	Heart of Midlothian	Falkirk	H	8-3
1956-04-21	Falkirk	Dunfermline Athletic	H	0-1
1956-04-25	Falkirk	Clyde	H	1-2
1956-04-30	Falkirk	Celtic	A	0-1
1956-09-08	Falkirk	Hibernian	A	1-6
1956-09-15	Falkirk	Ayr United	H	2-3
1956-09-22	Falkirk	Dunfermline Athletic	A	1-2
1956-09-29	Falkirk	St Mirren	H	4-5
1956-10-06	Falkirk	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	3-2
1956-10-13	Airdrieonians [1878]	Aberdeen	A	3-2
1956-10-20	Aberdeen	Ayr United	A	6-1
1956-10-27	Ayr United	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	4-1
1956-11-03	Airdrieonians [1878]	Queen of the South	A	3-3
1956-11-10	Airdrieonians [1878]	Partick Thistle	H	0-1
1956-11-17	Airdrieonians [1878]	East Fife	A	2-4
1956-11-24	Airdrieonians [1878]	Dundee	A	1-2
1956-12-01	Airdrieonians [1878]	St Mirren	H	4-1
1956-12-08	St Mirren	Celtic	H	0-2
1956-12-15	St Mirren	Hibernian	A	1-1
1956-12-22	St Mirren	Partick Thistle	A	0-2
1956-12-29	St Mirren	East Fife	H	3-1
1957-01-01	East Fife	Raith Rovers	A	1-4
1957-01-02	East Fife	Motherwell	H	1-2
1957-01-05	East Fife	Queen of the South	A	2-4
1957-01-12	East Fife	Kilmarnock	H	0-0
1957-01-19	East Fife	Aberdeen	A	0-1
1957-01-26	East Fife	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-3
1957-02-09	East Fife	Falkirk	A	3-4
1957-02-23	East Fife	Dunfermline Athletic	A	4-1
1957-03-02	Dunfermline Athletic	Dundee	H	1-1
1957-03-06	Dunfermline Athletic	St Mirren	A	2-3
1957-03-09	Dunfermline Athletic	Queen of the South	A	2-3
1957-03-16	Dunfermline Athletic	Aberdeen	H	1-3
1957-03-23	Dunfermline Athletic	Ayr United	A	1-2
1957-03-30	Dunfermline Athletic	Partick Thistle	A	0-3
1957-04-13	Dunfermline Athletic	Celtic	H	0-1
1957-04-16	Dunfermline Athletic	Queen's Park	A	3-1
1957-04-19	Queen's Park	Ayr United	A	4-4
1957-04-22	Queen's Park	Rangers	H	4-6
1957-04-27	Queen's Park	Kilmarnock	A	0-1
1957-04-30	Queen's Park	Raith Rovers	H	1-0
1957-09-07	Raith Rovers	Third Lanark	H	4-2
1957-09-21	Third Lanark	Queen's Park	H	1-3
1957-09-28	Third Lanark	Falkirk	H	3-5
1957-10-05	Third Lanark	Kilmarnock	A	4-2
1957-10-12	Kilmarnock	East Fife	A	2-1
1957-10-19	East Fife	Falkirk	A	1-4
1957-10-26	East Fife	Dundee	H	3-1
1957-11-02	Dundee	Queen of the South	H	2-1
1957-11-09	Queen of the South	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-4
1957-11-16	Queen of the South	East Fife	H	0-3
1957-11-23	Queen of the South	Motherwell	A	2-4
1957-11-30	Queen of the South	Hibernian	H	3-0
1957-12-07	Hibernian	Third Lanark	H	4-0
1957-12-14	Third Lanark	Queen of the South	H	2-3
1957-12-21	Third Lanark	Rangers	A	1-5
1957-12-28	Third Lanark	Motherwell	H	4-2
1958-01-01	Motherwell	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	1-4
1958-01-02	Motherwell	Hibernian	H	3-1
1958-01-04	Hibernian	Aberdeen	H	0-1
1958-01-11	Hibernian	Rangers	A	1-3
1958-01-18	Hibernian	Falkirk	H	3-3
1958-01-25	Hibernian	Queen's Park	A	2-1
1958-02-22	Queen's Park	Rangers	A	1-5
1958-03-05	Queen's Park	Aberdeen	H	2-5
1958-03-08	Queen's Park	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-4
1958-03-15	Queen's Park	Raith Rovers	A	1-3
1958-03-22	Queen's Park	Dundee	H	2-7
1958-04-02	Queen's Park	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	2-2
1958-04-07	Queen's Park	Celtic	A	1-5
1958-04-12	Queen's Park	Clyde	A	3-2
1958-04-16	Clyde	Kilmarnock	H	3-2
1958-04-26	Kilmarnock	Raith Rovers	H	1-1
1958-04-30	Kilmarnock	Queen's Park	A	2-1

 

Final resting places of all potatoes:

Spoiler

Potato 1 - Vale of Leven
Potato 2 - Dumbarton
Potato 3 - Clydebank [1914]
Potato 4 - Dundee United
Potato 5 - Dunfermline Athletic
Potato 6 - Greenock Morton
Potato 7 - Hamilton Academical
Potato 8 - Airdrieonians [1878]
Potato 9 - Albion Rovers
Potato 10 - Falkirk
Potato 11 - Stirling Albion
Potato 12 - Queen's Park

Total number of matches with all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	games
Queen's Park	159
Clyde	131
Kilmarnock	110
Third Lanark	102
St Mirren	102
Hibernian	101
Airdrieonians [1878]	93
Dundee	92
Partick Thistle	86
Greenock Morton	84
Falkirk	73
Aberdeen	70
Raith Rovers	65
Heart of Midlothian	59
Motherwell	50
Hamilton Academical	47
East Fife	42
Dumbarton	41
Ayr United	41
Stirling Albion	39
Queen of the South	39
Albion Rovers	37
Dunfermline Athletic	27
Celtic	27
Rangers	26
Vale of Leven	25
St Johnstone	23
St Bernard's	23
Clydebank [1914]	20
Abercorn	19
Port Glasgow Athletic	14
Leith Athletic [1887]	14
Renton	13
Cowdenbeath	12
Dundee United	10
Arbroath	7
Bo'ness	5
Alloa Athletic	3
East Stirlingshire	2

 

Total number of spells in possession of all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	times
Clyde	41
St Mirren	40
Queen's Park	39
Dundee	39
Hibernian	37
Airdrieonians [1878]	36
Third Lanark	34
Kilmarnock	33
Partick Thistle	32
Heart of Midlothian	29
Aberdeen	28
Greenock Morton	27
Falkirk	27
Motherwell	24
Raith Rovers	17
Rangers	16
Hamilton Academical	16
Celtic	14
Queen of the South	11
Dumbarton	11
Ayr United	11
East Fife	10
Albion Rovers	9
St Johnstone	8
St Bernard's	8
Leith Athletic [1887]	7
Stirling Albion	6
Dunfermline Athletic	6
Cowdenbeath	6
Clydebank [1914]	6
Port Glasgow Athletic	4
Abercorn	4
Dundee United	3
Arbroath	3
Vale of Leven	2
Renton	2
East Stirlingshire	1
Bo'ness	1
Alloa Athletic	1

 

[craigkillie]

Potato 13 (1958-1965)

After several short-lived potatoes after the war, we now had our second long-lasting one in succession. Third Lanark would become the 13th different club to hold a dead potato in their trophy room. This potato would go on a seven year odyssey, changing hands 81 times and visiting 23 different clubs along the way.

The opening day of the 1958/59 season saw Dunfermline Athletic lose 6-2 to Hearts at Tynecastle to become the first owners of Potato 13. The Pars would suffer another two four-goal defeats before being able to pass it on to Falkirk, before it quickly moved on to Hibs, Clyde and Dundee. It then had a lengthy but enthralling seven game spell with Stirling Albion, including a 7-3 defeat, a 5-2 defeat and two 3-2 defeats. They kept it for Christmas but sent it to Raith Rovers for the New Year, who kept it for five games before a series of short visits to other clubs. Near the end of the season it made its way to mid-table Partick Thistle, but the potato was at risk on the final day as Thistle faced a Dunfermline side who were in the relegation places on goal average. Fortunately for the potato, but unfortunately for the integrity of Scottish football, Dunfermline recorded an "unlikely" 10-1 victory to keep themselves in the top flight and also keep the potato in the league.

1959/60 saw newly promoted Arbroath take the potato from the Pars on the opening day, but they immediately beat Stirling Albion and didn't see it again despite being relegated at the end of the campaign with just 15 points. It would change hands a few times in the autumn before landing with Third Lanark for six matches over Christmas and New Year, and then Ayr United for a further six matches into spring. It wrapped up the season with brief spells at various clubs, but was never at serious risk of going down as it finished the seaon with mid-table Raith Rovers.

This potato would become incredibly familiar with Kirkcaldy - spending nine different spells with Rovers for a total of 42 matches. It left Kirkcaldy for Dundee on the opening day of 1960/61, but was soon back for a five game spell in the autumn. Clyde then took it to Glasgow for six matches, before it circulated around several clubs over the winter, eventually surfacing in Dunfermline for four games. It had brief spells with Partick Thistle and Airdrie before making its way back to Raith on the final day of the season, again without any serious risk of going down. Raith kept the potato for the first five matches of 1961/62, but then they thumped St Mirren 4-0 to set off a spell where it changed hands 12 times in 21 matches before returning, inevitably, to Raith in February. After three games with Raith it moved briefly to Third Lanark and Hearts before finishing the season safely in the hands of mid-table Motherwell.

Motherwell kept a hold of it for the first couple of games of 1962/63, then there was a brief spell at Airdrie before it returned to, you've guessed it, Raith Rovers. This time around, Rovers were something of a lost cause - they held the potato from September through to January, a run of 15 matches, before finally passing it on to St Mirren with one of just two victories they managed all season. The potato wandered around Scotland for the remainder of the season, before showing up with Queen of the South with four games to go. After they lost to Clyde, the potato looked in danger since their next match was against Raith Rovers, but the Kirkcaldy side battled to a draw and the potato went on to finish the season in Dumfries, with Queens finishing 3 points clear of relegation.

The Doonhamers held on to the potato for a few weeks at the start of 1963/64, taking their run to eight matches in total, before they were able to offload it to Airdrie. The Diamonds lost 7-1 and 9-1 in their next two matches, but then beat Third Lanark 1-0 to get rid of it. It would have a series of short spells with clubs through the autumn before making its way to Falkirk in January, where it would hang around for seven matches. The Bairns eventually sent it on to Dundee United, before it kicked around various clubs for a few weeks, most of them in the top half. Interestingly, the potato would finish the season with champions Rangers, who lost 1-0 to St Johnstone on the final day.

Rangers would end up holding the potato for five matches at the start of 1964/65, a sign of things to come as they would go on to finish a distant 5th. They finally got their first win by beating Airdrie 9-2. The Diamonds then had the potato for six matches before offloading it to Third Lanark who then quickly gave it to St Mirren, before it was soon back in Glasgow with Partick Thistle. The Jags held the potato for six games through Christmas and New Year before finally handing it over to Aberdeen, but the Dons immediately returned it to Glasgow by beating Third Lanark. Thirds were rock bottom, but still had 13 matches remaining to keep the potato alive - unfortunately they would go on to lose all 13 of them and thus end the life of Potato 13. Potato 13 really would prove to be unlucky for Third Lanark, because they were out of business within two years.

 

Potato 13's journey:

Spoiler

club	start_date	games
Dunfermline Athletic	1958-08-20	3
Falkirk	1958-09-27	1
Hibernian	1958-10-04	1
Clyde	1958-10-11	1
Dundee	1958-10-18	3
Stirling Albion	1958-11-08	7
Raith Rovers	1958-12-27	5
Partick Thistle	1959-02-07	1
Heart of Midlothian	1959-02-18	1
Raith Rovers	1959-02-21	1
Airdrieonians [1878]	1959-02-28	3
Celtic	1959-03-10	2
Partick Thistle	1959-03-21	5
Arbroath	1959-08-19	1
Stirling Albion	1959-09-05	4
Raith Rovers	1959-10-03	3
Clyde	1959-10-24	1
Aberdeen	1959-10-31	2
Third Lanark	1959-11-14	6
Ayr United	1960-01-01	6
Dunfermline Athletic	1960-03-01	3
Celtic	1960-03-19	1
Motherwell	1960-03-21	2
Raith Rovers	1960-04-16	3
Dundee	1960-08-24	3
Clyde	1960-09-24	1
Motherwell	1960-10-01	1
Raith Rovers	1960-10-08	5
Clyde	1960-11-12	6
Airdrieonians [1878]	1960-12-24	1
Third Lanark	1960-12-31	2
Celtic	1961-01-07	1
Aberdeen	1961-01-14	1
Ayr United	1961-01-21	1
Dunfermline Athletic	1961-02-04	4
Partick Thistle	1961-03-13	2
Airdrieonians [1878]	1961-03-25	4
Raith Rovers	1961-04-22	6
St Mirren	1961-09-30	1
Aberdeen	1961-10-07	2
Falkirk	1961-10-21	2
Raith Rovers	1961-11-04	1
Kilmarnock	1961-11-11	3
Aberdeen	1961-12-02	2
Rangers	1961-12-23	1
Kilmarnock	1961-12-30	2
Airdrieonians [1878]	1962-01-10	2
Motherwell	1962-01-17	3
Raith Rovers	1962-02-03	3
Third Lanark	1962-02-28	2
Heart of Midlothian	1962-03-17	2
Motherwell	1962-04-02	5
Airdrieonians [1878]	1962-09-08	2
Raith Rovers	1962-09-22	15
St Mirren	1963-01-02	2
Aberdeen	1963-02-16	1
Heart of Midlothian	1963-03-09	1
Falkirk	1963-03-13	3
Hibernian	1963-03-27	3
Dundee	1963-04-08	1
St Mirren	1963-04-13	2
Queen of the South	1963-04-27	8
Airdrieonians [1878]	1963-09-21	3
Third Lanark	1963-10-12	3
Motherwell	1963-11-02	1
East Stirlingshire	1963-11-09	3
Third Lanark	1963-11-30	4
Hibernian	1963-12-28	2
Falkirk	1964-01-02	7
Dundee United	1964-02-29	1
Kilmarnock	1964-03-11	2
Celtic	1964-03-21	1
Motherwell	1964-03-28	1
Kilmarnock	1964-04-01	2
St Johnstone	1964-04-18	1
Rangers	1964-04-29	5
Airdrieonians [1878]	1964-09-26	6
Third Lanark	1964-11-07	2
St Mirren	1964-11-21	2
Partick Thistle	1964-12-05	6
Aberdeen	1965-01-16	1
Third Lanark	1965-01-27	14

Total number of matches with Potato 13:

Spoiler

team	games
Raith Rovers	42
Third Lanark	33
Airdrieonians [1878]	21
Partick Thistle	14
Motherwell	13
Falkirk	13
Stirling Albion	11
Dunfermline Athletic	10
Kilmarnock	9
Clyde	9
Aberdeen	9
Queen of the South	8
St Mirren	7
Dundee	7
Ayr United	7
Rangers	6
Hibernian	6
Celtic	5
Heart of Midlothian	4
East Stirlingshire	3
St Johnstone	1
Dundee United	1
Arbroath	1

Full set of results for Potato 13:

Spoiler

date	holders	opponents	venue	score
1958-08-20	Dunfermline Athletic	Heart of Midlothian	A	2-6
1958-09-13	Dunfermline Athletic	Aberdeen	A	0-4
1958-09-20	Dunfermline Athletic	Motherwell	H	0-4
1958-09-27	Dunfermline Athletic	Falkirk	A	2-0
1958-10-04	Falkirk	Hibernian	A	3-2
1958-10-11	Hibernian	Clyde	H	2-1
1958-10-18	Clyde	Dundee	H	3-2
1958-10-25	Dundee	St Mirren	A	2-2
1958-11-01	Dundee	Celtic	H	1-1
1958-11-08	Dundee	Stirling Albion	H	3-0
1958-11-15	Stirling Albion	Partick Thistle	H	1-1
1958-11-26	Stirling Albion	Motherwell	H	2-5
1958-11-29	Stirling Albion	St Mirren	A	2-3
1958-12-06	Stirling Albion	Dunfermline Athletic	A	2-3
1958-12-13	Stirling Albion	Celtic	A	3-7
1958-12-20	Stirling Albion	Hibernian	H	0-3
1958-12-27	Stirling Albion	Raith Rovers	H	2-1
1959-01-01	Raith Rovers	Dunfermline Athletic	H	2-2
1959-01-03	Raith Rovers	Dundee	A	0-2
1959-01-21	Raith Rovers	Hibernian	A	2-4
1959-01-24	Raith Rovers	Third Lanark	H	2-4
1959-02-07	Raith Rovers	Partick Thistle	A	3-1
1959-02-18	Partick Thistle	Heart of Midlothian	H	2-1
1959-02-21	Heart of Midlothian	Raith Rovers	H	2-1
1959-02-28	Raith Rovers	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	3-0
1959-03-04	Airdrieonians [1878]	Stirling Albion	A	0-0
1959-03-07	Airdrieonians [1878]	Partick Thistle	H	1-2
1959-03-10	Airdrieonians [1878]	Celtic	A	2-1
1959-03-18	Celtic	St Mirren	A	0-1
1959-03-21	Celtic	Partick Thistle	H	2-0
1959-03-28	Partick Thistle	Dundee	A	2-3
1959-04-08	Partick Thistle	St Mirren	A	3-4
1959-04-11	Partick Thistle	Hibernian	H	2-2
1959-04-18	Partick Thistle	Dunfermline Athletic	A	1-10
1959-08-19	Partick Thistle	Arbroath	H	2-0
1959-09-05	Arbroath	Stirling Albion	H	4-3
1959-09-12	Stirling Albion	Clyde	H	1-1
1959-09-19	Stirling Albion	Kilmarnock	A	0-2
1959-09-26	Stirling Albion	Heart of Midlothian	H	2-2
1959-10-03	Stirling Albion	Raith Rovers	A	1-0
1959-10-10	Raith Rovers	Ayr United	A	0-4
1959-10-17	Raith Rovers	Partick Thistle	H	1-2
1959-10-24	Raith Rovers	Clyde	H	3-1
1959-10-31	Clyde	Aberdeen	H	7-2
1959-11-07	Aberdeen	Motherwell	A	1-3
1959-11-14	Aberdeen	Third Lanark	H	3-1
1959-11-21	Third Lanark	Motherwell	H	1-4
1959-11-28	Third Lanark	Arbroath	A	1-2
1959-12-05	Third Lanark	Clyde	H	2-3
1959-12-12	Third Lanark	Rangers	H	0-2
1959-12-19	Third Lanark	Dundee	A	1-2
1960-01-01	Third Lanark	Ayr United	A	3-2
1960-01-02	Ayr United	Motherwell	A	3-3
1960-01-09	Ayr United	Rangers	H	2-4
1960-01-16	Ayr United	Arbroath	A	1-1
1960-01-23	Ayr United	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-1
1960-02-06	Ayr United	Raith Rovers	A	0-2
1960-03-01	Ayr United	Dunfermline Athletic	A	4-3
1960-03-05	Dunfermline Athletic	Partick Thistle	A	0-2
1960-03-12	Dunfermline Athletic	Dundee	H	2-2
1960-03-19	Dunfermline Athletic	Celtic	H	3-2
1960-03-21	Celtic	Motherwell	A	2-1
1960-03-26	Motherwell	Third Lanark	H	3-3
1960-04-16	Motherwell	Raith Rovers	H	2-1
1960-04-27	Raith Rovers	Kilmarnock	H	0-2
1960-04-30	Raith Rovers	Heart of Midlothian	H	2-2
1960-08-24	Raith Rovers	Dundee	H	2-1
1960-09-10	Dundee	Aberdeen	H	3-3
1960-09-17	Dundee	Dundee United	A	1-3
1960-09-24	Dundee	Clyde	H	4-1
1960-10-01	Clyde	Motherwell	H	1-0
1960-10-08	Motherwell	Raith Rovers	H	2-1
1960-10-15	Raith Rovers	Dundee United	H	0-2
1960-10-22	Raith Rovers	Aberdeen	H	0-3
1960-11-02	Raith Rovers	Rangers	A	0-3
1960-11-05	Raith Rovers	Celtic	H	2-2
1960-11-12	Raith Rovers	Clyde	H	1-0
1960-11-19	Clyde	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-1
1960-11-26	Clyde	Third Lanark	H	2-4
1960-12-03	Clyde	St Johnstone	A	2-2
1960-12-10	Clyde	Dunfermline Athletic	A	2-2
1960-12-17	Clyde	Hibernian	H	3-3
1960-12-24	Clyde	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	2-0
1960-12-31	Airdrieonians [1878]	Third Lanark	H	4-1
1961-01-02	Third Lanark	Ayr United	H	3-3
1961-01-07	Third Lanark	Celtic	A	3-2
1961-01-14	Celtic	Aberdeen	A	3-1
1961-01-21	Aberdeen	Ayr United	H	3-1
1961-02-04	Ayr United	Dunfermline Athletic	H	4-1
1961-02-18	Dunfermline Athletic	Rangers	H	0-0
1961-03-04	Dunfermline Athletic	Dundee	A	1-4
1961-03-06	Dunfermline Athletic	Third Lanark	H	2-3
1961-03-13	Dunfermline Athletic	Partick Thistle	H	2-1
1961-03-18	Partick Thistle	Celtic	H	1-2
1961-03-25	Partick Thistle	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	3-2
1961-04-08	Airdrieonians [1878]	Ayr United	A	2-2
1961-04-10	Airdrieonians [1878]	Dunfermline Athletic	H	0-1
1961-04-12	Airdrieonians [1878]	Dundee	H	2-4
1961-04-22	Airdrieonians [1878]	Raith Rovers	H	1-0
1961-04-29	Raith Rovers	St Johnstone	H	1-3
1961-08-23	Raith Rovers	St Johnstone	H	1-1
1961-09-09	Raith Rovers	Hibernian	A	2-3
1961-09-16	Raith Rovers	Dunfermline Athletic	H	2-2
1961-09-23	Raith Rovers	Partick Thistle	A	2-3
1961-09-30	Raith Rovers	St Mirren	H	4-0
1961-10-07	St Mirren	Aberdeen	H	3-2
1961-10-14	Aberdeen	Heart of Midlothian	H	0-2
1961-10-21	Aberdeen	Falkirk	A	1-0
1961-10-28	Falkirk	Kilmarnock	A	0-2
1961-11-04	Falkirk	Raith Rovers	A	2-1
1961-11-11	Raith Rovers	Kilmarnock	A	3-2
1961-11-18	Kilmarnock	Stirling Albion	A	2-2
1961-11-25	Kilmarnock	Dunfermline Athletic	H	2-2
1961-12-02	Kilmarnock	Aberdeen	H	4-2
1961-12-16	Aberdeen	Dundee United	H	1-3
1961-12-23	Aberdeen	Rangers	A	4-2
1961-12-30	Rangers	Kilmarnock	A	1-0
1962-01-06	Kilmarnock	Celtic	A	2-2
1962-01-10	Kilmarnock	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	4-2
1962-01-13	Airdrieonians [1878]	Aberdeen	A	1-1
1962-01-17	Airdrieonians [1878]	Motherwell	H	2-1
1962-01-20	Motherwell	Dunfermline Athletic	A	1-2
1962-01-22	Motherwell	Celtic	A	1-1
1962-02-03	Motherwell	Raith Rovers	H	3-0
1962-02-10	Raith Rovers	Rangers	H	1-3
1962-02-24	Raith Rovers	Dundee United	A	2-4
1962-02-28	Raith Rovers	Third Lanark	H	4-3
1962-03-03	Third Lanark	Rangers	A	1-3
1962-03-17	Third Lanark	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-0
1962-03-24	Heart of Midlothian	Raith Rovers	H	0-1
1962-04-02	Heart of Midlothian	Motherwell	A	2-1
1962-04-07	Motherwell	Falkirk	A	2-4
1962-04-21	Motherwell	Kilmarnock	H	0-2
1962-04-23	Motherwell	Celtic	H	0-4
1962-08-22	Motherwell	Queen of the South	H	1-2
1962-09-08	Motherwell	Airdrieonians [1878]	A	4-1
1962-09-15	Airdrieonians [1878]	Heart of Midlothian	A	1-6
1962-09-22	Airdrieonians [1878]	Raith Rovers	H	8-1
1962-09-29	Raith Rovers	Celtic	H	0-2
1962-10-06	Raith Rovers	Hibernian	A	0-1
1962-10-13	Raith Rovers	Aberdeen	A	0-10
1962-10-20	Raith Rovers	Clyde	H	1-1
1962-10-27	Raith Rovers	Dundee United	A	1-8
1962-11-03	Raith Rovers	Falkirk	H	1-3
1962-11-10	Raith Rovers	Kilmarnock	A	1-3
1962-11-17	Raith Rovers	Partick Thistle	H	2-3
1962-11-24	Raith Rovers	Queen of the South	A	1-5
1962-12-01	Raith Rovers	Heart of Midlothian	H	0-3
1962-12-08	Raith Rovers	Motherwell	H	2-5
1962-12-15	Raith Rovers	Rangers	A	2-4
1962-12-22	Raith Rovers	Dundee	H	2-4
1962-12-29	Raith Rovers	Third Lanark	A	1-2
1963-01-02	Raith Rovers	St Mirren	A	2-1
1963-01-05	St Mirren	Motherwell	A	1-1
1963-02-16	St Mirren	Aberdeen	A	1-0
1963-03-09	Aberdeen	Heart of Midlothian	H	2-1
1963-03-13	Heart of Midlothian	Falkirk	H	5-0
1963-03-16	Falkirk	Motherwell	A	1-4
1963-03-23	Falkirk	Rangers	H	0-2
1963-03-27	Falkirk	Hibernian	H	3-1
1963-03-30	Hibernian	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	0-2
1963-04-06	Hibernian	Celtic	A	0-2
1963-04-08	Hibernian	Dundee	A	3-1
1963-04-13	Dundee	St Mirren	H	5-1
1963-04-20	St Mirren	Clyde	H	1-2
1963-04-27	St Mirren	Queen of the South	H	4-0
1963-05-04	Queen of the South	Clyde	H	2-2
1963-05-11	Queen of the South	Raith Rovers	A	1-1
1963-05-15	Queen of the South	Hibernian	H	0-4
1963-05-18	Queen of the South	Rangers	A	1-3
1963-08-21	Queen of the South	Celtic	A	0-4
1963-09-07	Queen of the South	Dunfermline Athletic	H	1-2
1963-09-14	Queen of the South	East Stirlingshire	A	0-4
1963-09-21	Queen of the South	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	3-1
1963-09-28	Airdrieonians [1878]	Aberdeen	H	1-7
1963-10-05	Airdrieonians [1878]	Dundee United	A	1-9
1963-10-12	Airdrieonians [1878]	Third Lanark	H	1-0
1963-10-19	Third Lanark	Heart of Midlothian	H	0-2
1963-10-24	Third Lanark	St Mirren	A	0-1
1963-11-02	Third Lanark	Motherwell	H	3-1
1963-11-09	Motherwell	East Stirlingshire	H	4-1
1963-11-16	East Stirlingshire	Dunfermline Athletic	H	0-2
1963-11-26	East Stirlingshire	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	1-2
1963-11-30	East Stirlingshire	Third Lanark	A	2-1
1963-12-07	Third Lanark	Falkirk	A	2-2
1963-12-14	Third Lanark	Dunfermline Athletic	A	0-3
1963-12-21	Third Lanark	Kilmarnock	H	1-2
1963-12-28	Third Lanark	Hibernian	H	1-0
1964-01-01	Hibernian	Heart of Midlothian	H	1-1
1964-01-02	Hibernian	Falkirk	A	4-1
1964-01-04	Falkirk	Celtic	A	0-7
1964-01-17	Falkirk	Heart of Midlothian	A	1-4
1964-02-01	Falkirk	Rangers	H	0-1
1964-02-08	Falkirk	Kilmarnock	A	2-9
1964-02-19	Falkirk	St Mirren	A	0-0
1964-02-22	Falkirk	Aberdeen	H	2-3
1964-02-29	Falkirk	Dundee United	H	2-1
1964-03-11	Dundee United	Kilmarnock	H	2-1
1964-03-14	Kilmarnock	Rangers	A	0-2
1964-03-21	Kilmarnock	Celtic	H	4-0
1964-03-28	Celtic	Motherwell	A	4-0
1964-04-01	Motherwell	Kilmarnock	H	2-0
1964-04-04	Kilmarnock	Dundee	A	1-2
1964-04-18	Kilmarnock	St Johnstone	H	4-1
1964-04-29	St Johnstone	Rangers	H	1-0
1964-08-19	Rangers	Dunfermline Athletic	H	0-0
1964-09-05	Rangers	Celtic	A	1-3
1964-09-12	Rangers	Partick Thistle	H	1-1
1964-09-19	Rangers	Dundee	A	1-4
1964-09-26	Rangers	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	9-2
1964-10-03	Airdrieonians [1878]	Falkirk	H	2-2
1964-10-10	Airdrieonians [1878]	Clyde	A	3-4
1964-10-17	Airdrieonians [1878]	Dunfermline Athletic	H	3-4
1964-10-24	Airdrieonians [1878]	Dundee United	H	3-3
1964-10-31	Airdrieonians [1878]	Celtic	A	1-2
1964-11-07	Airdrieonians [1878]	Third Lanark	H	2-1
1964-11-14	Third Lanark	Hibernian	A	0-5
1964-11-21	Third Lanark	St Mirren	H	2-1
1964-11-28	St Mirren	Dunfermline Athletic	H	1-4
1964-12-05	St Mirren	Partick Thistle	H	4-1
1964-12-12	Partick Thistle	Celtic	H	2-4
1964-12-19	Partick Thistle	Hibernian	A	1-2
1965-01-01	Partick Thistle	Clyde	A	1-4
1965-01-02	Partick Thistle	Rangers	H	1-1
1965-01-09	Partick Thistle	Falkirk	A	2-2
1965-01-16	Partick Thistle	Aberdeen	H	2-1
1965-01-27	Aberdeen	Third Lanark	H	3-1
1965-02-13	Third Lanark	Partick Thistle	H	0-3
1965-02-17	Third Lanark	Dundee United	H	1-2
1965-02-27	Third Lanark	Falkirk	H	1-2
1965-03-06	Third Lanark	St Johnstone	A	0-5
1965-03-13	Third Lanark	Airdrieonians [1878]	H	0-4
1965-03-20	Third Lanark	Hibernian	H	0-2
1965-03-22	Third Lanark	Dunfermline Athletic	A	0-8
1965-03-27	Third Lanark	St Mirren	A	1-2
1965-04-03	Third Lanark	Celtic	A	0-1
1965-04-10	Third Lanark	Dunfermline Athletic	H	1-2
1965-04-17	Third Lanark	Dundee	A	1-6
1965-04-23	Third Lanark	Rangers	H	0-1
1965-04-28	Third Lanark	Motherwell	H	0-2

 

Final resting places of all potatoes:

Spoiler

Potato 1 - Vale of Leven
Potato 2 - Dumbarton
Potato 3 - Clydebank [1914]
Potato 4 - Dundee United
Potato 5 - Dunfermline Athletic
Potato 6 - Greenock Morton
Potato 7 - Hamilton Academical
Potato 8 - Airdrieonians [1878]
Potato 9 - Albion Rovers
Potato 10 - Falkirk
Potato 11 - Stirling Albion
Potato 12 - Queen's Park
Potato 13 - Third Lanark

 

Total number of matches with all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	games
Queen's Park	159
Clyde	140
Third Lanark	135
Kilmarnock	119
Airdrieonians [1878]	114
St Mirren	109
Raith Rovers	107
Hibernian	107
Partick Thistle	100
Dundee	99
Falkirk	86
Greenock Morton	84
Aberdeen	79
Motherwell	63
Heart of Midlothian	63
Stirling Albion	50
Ayr United	48
Queen of the South	47
Hamilton Academical	47
East Fife	42
Dumbarton	41
Dunfermline Athletic	37
Albion Rovers	37
Rangers	32
Celtic	32
Vale of Leven	25
St Johnstone	24
St Bernard's	23
Clydebank [1914]	20
Abercorn	19
Port Glasgow Athletic	14
Leith Athletic [1887]	14
Renton	13
Cowdenbeath	12
Dundee United	11
Arbroath	8
East Stirlingshire	5
Bo'ness	5
Alloa Athletic	3

Total number of spells in possession of all potatoes:

Spoiler

team	times
Clyde	45
St Mirren	44
Airdrieonians [1878]	43
Dundee	42
Third Lanark	41
Hibernian	40
Queen's Park	39
Kilmarnock	37
Partick Thistle	36
Aberdeen	34
Heart of Midlothian	32
Falkirk	31
Motherwell	30
Greenock Morton	27
Raith Rovers	26
Rangers	18
Celtic	18
Hamilton Academical	16
Ayr United	13
Queen of the South	12
Dumbarton	11
East Fife	10
St Johnstone	9
Dunfermline Athletic	9
Albion Rovers	9
Stirling Albion	8
St Bernard's	8
Leith Athletic [1887]	7
Cowdenbeath	6
Clydebank [1914]	6
Port Glasgow Athletic	4
Dundee United	4
Arbroath	4
Abercorn	4
Vale of Leven	2
Renton	2
East Stirlingshire	2
Bo'ness	1
Alloa Athletic	1

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by craigkillie

[Aim Here]

Oh my. Unlucky potato 13 goes down and takes Third Lanark out of existence entirely. Can't get any more of a portentous omen than that.

Coupled with the potatoes going to Vale of Leven, and two dead iterations of Airdrieonians and Clydebank, that's a whopping 4 potatoes out of 13 going to dead clubs, and Scottish football clubs don't die THAT often. Except if they're called Clydebank, of course.

That's a fantastically high hit-rate. It's almost as if the potato has been the invisible hidden hand controlling Scottish fitba' all along.