On this day in 2013
The Scottish Premiership is founded
When the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League merged, they formed the Scottish Professional Football League. Its top division would thereafter be known as the Scottish Premiership, and the old First Division renamed the Scottish Championship.
Scottish Professional Football League chief executive Neil Doncaster told the BBC, “The new league set-up reflects very much the recommendations Henry McLeish made in his report for the future of Scottish football.”
Better funding for Scottish football
The new structure incorporated more than just the Scottish Premiership of the top 12 teams. Below it were three lower divisions of 10 teams each. One of the aims of the new body created through the merger was to allow better funding for teams in those lower divisions.
Celtic topped the table in the Premiership’s first season – and in the six seasons that followed. Only in 2020 – 21 season was the club’s run broken, when Rangers knocked it into second place.
Yesterday…
Malcolm MacLeod, head of Ordnance Survey, dies in Edinburgh
Malcolm Neyone MacLeod was director general of Ordnance Survey and oversaw the retriangulation of Great Britain.
Glasgow Central Station receives its first trains
Glasgow Central Station is Scotland’s busiest railway station. It was operated by the Caledonian Railway and opened in 1879.
Tomorrow…
Heavy rainfall caused the River Dee to break its banks and flood Strathspey, killing eight people and making more than 500 homeless.
King James II is killed by an exploding cannon
Scotland’s King James II was killed by an exploding cannon at the Battle of Roxburgh Castle in August 1460.
