HibeeJibee

Tight wins by Armadale, Dalkeith and Edinburgh South up top... while Bo'ness Athletic devastated Newburgh. Edinburgh College keep on falling plus Burntisland and Coldstream enter top half.

Dunipace swatting aside St Andrews the day's interesting result... other members of top 5 all won; everybody in bottom 5 lost; those 6 between will be glad of points, helping keep heads above 14th.

Interesting and perhaps telling day... at times Broxburn behind and Jeanfield ahead, equally Glenrothes were winning with Hill of Beath and Tynecastle losing; in end Broxburn extend lead, and gaps from bottom mostly widen. Kinnoull visit HV tomorrow.

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/highland-league/6353806/brora-rangers-v-keith-in-highland-league-switched-to-golspie/ https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/highland-league/6353859/buckie-looking-at-venue-alternatives-after-banks-o-dee-call-off/ Buckie saying Wednesday's tie (also v BoD) in Aberdeenshire Cup R1 similarly unlikely to happen. They're now looking to follow Brora and find other ground(s)... not so easy with Deveronvale's floodlights being knackered and lots of other clubs having lots of games but Forres, Keith, Lossiemouth and Rothes presumably possibles. Having managed just 14 league games (and played only 2 midweeks) in opening 6 months of season... both Brora and Buckie now have to fulfil 20 (about 10 midweek) in closing 2.5 months.

Edinburgh trams and the mystery of the crumbling tenement - BBC News The first sign there was something wrong came in early December. At a residents' meeting in the block of flats in Edinburgh's Newhaven, one of the neighbours told the others about a 3cm crack that had appeared on the external wall of their bay window. An independent engineer was asked to come and take a look at the damage. He told the city council he was concerned and the following week every one of the 12 flats received a letter saying the local authority would have to put up scaffolding at some point to make sure the building was safe. Christmas came and went, the year turned, and that that was the last the residents heard about it. Until Monday evening, when they were told the building was no longer safe and they had to leave immediately. A dozen households were made homeless in Monday's evacuation. They were given an hour to leave, with council officials going from door to door breaking the bad news. The main road outside has been completely closed and none of them has been allowed to return. Also affected are the three businesses that take up the ground floor of the corner block - a laundrette, a takeaway and a pub. They had no idea there were any issues with the building until Monday, when staff were given 10 minutes to clear the bar. Emergency scaffolding is due to go up this weekend then further inspections will be carried out to see whether it is safe for the families to return. In the meantime, the road outside remains closed to traffic and pedestrians - but the trams continue to run.

Meanwhile in Banffshire…

Indeed :

Next try Wed 7th Feb. Brora now have 23 games to play in 23 dates (Sat + Wed)... assuming they lose to Cove on Tuesday... in practice Aberdeenshire Cup Final will surely move off Sat 20th Apr buying another 7 days for league games.

Graham's had his way and Womens PL Cup Final has indeed been moved onto Sunday 24th. It'll be interesting to see if this means Challenge Cup Final is now Saturday afternoon or an evening.

For those with an eye upon South East & West of Scotland Cup-Winners' Shield... Strathclyde Cup Final is this Sunday (Neilston v Drumchapel at Broadwood); Alba Cup SFs are Sat 17th Feb (Lochar v Upper Annandale / Lochmaben v Nithsdale).

... while losers host Edinburgh South - in league (if Kennoway) or King Cup R2 (if St Andrews).

Earlier today Strathspey v Brora was put back onto tomorrow night. Howling gale maybe keeping pitch dry?!

Though both Sturgeon and Leitch destroyed all messages, their WhatsApp discussions on Pub-gate/St Johnstone postponement intervention during those strange Aug 2020 days have been recovered from another party. For her Aberdeen were: "a complacent abomination" He felt: "I think postponing rewards bad behaviour" and: "cancelling and forfeiting points much more appropriate"

Getting in a right muddle on blanket indoor mask rules. Claims "there was nuance" e.g. no mask was fine if "standing politely" (who knew?). Here he is coaching then Health Secretary on get-arounds... 5 months before the requirement was abolished in Scotland:

Mens teams mostly play Saturdays but SPFL + SFA + pyramid authorities would never countenance part-time/amateur clubs saying they couldn't play on other days - let alone so for a cup final.

If clash is an issue why is the women national cup final to move, not the men regular league game? Why can't your players get time off for a national final - part-time/am men clubs don't just play Saturdays? (EDIT: indeed exactly the same scenario applies in reverse to the Challenge Cup whose final is invariably on a Sunday and most finals at non-league and amateur level are Friday or Sunday).

"the corporate director remarked 'plausible deniability is my middle name!' ".. "the Deputy MO, later Chief Medical Officer of Scotland, replied that he deleted at the end of every day to which his Clinical Adviser replied crying with laugher and thumbs up emojis"... "hope this isn't FOI-able!"... ""remember this is FOI recoverable: use clear chat"...

... skittling Wick v Brora.

That would be sensible... this season St Johnstone and Hibs brought forward their game from New Year to League Cup Final weekend? Of course half or more of the division is often involved in QFs tbf. Tbh you could argue that has been the case for a while... this year our League Cup groups start same weekend as Euro 2024 final - with our 5th placed side entering EL just 1.5 weeks after that.

Womens League Cup Final on Saturday and SPFL Trust Trophy on Sunday of an international weekend is very sensible. Gets more exposure but each avoids rest of the womens and mens cards respectively. Graham's plea for it to be moved; the fact they want to move the cup final (not a run-of-the-mill mens league game); and extra claim it must be on Sunday as some Partick women have Saturday jobs - also seems to run against recent efforts to treat the womens game professionally and on a par IMO? Nobody in the mens game would have suggested moving a cup final or even a regular league game as 1 person was double-booked... nobody would say their club had difficulties play matches outside of Saturday afternoon (indeed finals-wise only Scottish Cup's usually is). Issue having arisen, it just seems decidedly odd the "go to" is wanting a national cup final rescheduled - not rescheduling a regular league game. It'll be interesting to see which priority prevails. EDIT: btw if BBC don't obtain rights to Netherlands v Scotland friendly, then I could yet see them riding to rescue by choosing Arbroath v Partick for Friday night TV, to solve the womens issue.

Winter break abolished: SPFL confirms 2024-25 season starts on 3 August with no Premiership winter break - BBC Sport Key dates for Season 2024/25 | SPFL Rare outbreak of common sense... no justification for sitting about, jetting off abroad or playing friendlies while having to cram midweeks in either side. It also felt like a lot of Premiership sides were rusty in Scottish Cup over the weekend, albeit that's a boon to lower-league sides. With part of what was QF midweek being taken by UEFA, interestingly every round of the League Cup will now be played on weekends; this could mean a very stop-start opening half of season for some Premiership clubs (especially any eliminated in groupstage)... Sat 03 Aug Sat 10 Aug Sat 17 Aug no league games (League Cup R1) Sat 24 Aug Sat 31 Aug Sat 07 Sep no league games (international break) Sat 14 Sep Sat 21 Sep no league games (League Cup QFs) Sat 28 Sep Sat 05 Oct Sat 12 Oct no league games (international break) Sat 19 Oct Sat 26 Oct Sat 02 Nov 2 to 4 league games cancelled (League Cup SFs) Sat 09 Nov Sat 16 Nov no league games (international break) Sat 23 Nov Sat 30 Nov Sat 07 Dec Sat 14 Dec 1 or 2 league games cancelled (League Cup Final) Sat 21 Dec Sat 28 Dec

Airdrie v Hearts Inverness CT v Hibs Kilmarnock v Brora/Cove Partick v Livingston St Mirren v Celtic cannot be Friday 9th Aberdeen v Bonnyrigg Morton v Motherwell Rangers v Ayr Utd cannot be Monday 12th due to adjacent Premiership games