So, with the passing of Jack Charlton, another of that select group, English footballers to have won a World Cup, has gone.

Not the most cultured of players, unlike his brother Bobby, Jack was said to have thought when he learned of his England call-up that they’d picked the wrong Charlton. His position at centre-half though, has not historically been the preserve of the cultured. In his club career at Leeds United he had big shoes to fill, taking over from the Gentle Giant, John Charles, after his transfer to Juventus. In all he appeared for Leeds 629 times – a club record unlikely to be surpassed.

As a manager I remember him leading Middlesbrough to promotion to the top flight before spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United but it was as manager of the Republic of Ireland international team that he made his greatest mark, taking them to a World Cup quarter-final in 1990. Four years later they had a famous 1-0 win over Italy (who went on to reach the final) in New York.

John (Jack) Charlton: 8/5/1935 – 10/7/2020. So it goes.

Or leaving St Petersburg (as it is again.) I liked the alliteration though.

I snatched these through the coach window on the way back to the ship’s berth.

An old bridge over a waterway:-

This one I realised later is on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt at the Anichkov Bridge over the River Fontanka and I had photographed it from the street:-

A Fire Station:-

This is the bridge almost hidden behind the building under construction I photographed from the ship’s prow:-

And this is the one between the ship and the Zenit Arena (aka Krestovsky Stadium) – see same link above:-

Bridge and Krestovsky Stadium:-

Krestovsky Stadium/Zenit Arena plus part of the bridge, also two blurred birds:-

Well, no.

But today’s the day that would have been. Sons were due to play Montrose at home but of course have not played at all for eight weeks.

Goodness knows when we’ll see a Sons team on a pitch again.

It won’t be in July, as is normal for a pre-season, that’s for sure.

Normally at this time on a Saturday I’m composing a post on how well Sons have done that day. (Or not as the case may be.)

I wonder when I’ll do that again.

It’s not even like a close season (a normal close season) when you know exactly when you can go to a game again. Football (lower league football, with crowds; without crowds is a total non-starter) will be one of the last things to return to normal. The risk with even small numbers of people in anything resembling close proximity for 90 minutes plus added time is just too great.

Still, the club seems to be looking ahead as it’s already planning what next season’s home strip will be. (There might not be a next season, of course.) None of the choices is very appealing. If not a white strip with black and gold trimmings/bands/stripes I wish we could at least have a black and gold strip, instead of yellow; but at our level beggars can’t be choosers and we can only go with what strip manufacturers offer.

The crowd funding campaign has reached over £18,000 but is still about £6,500 short of its target.

Worrying times.

The view from the MS Magellan’s bow in dock at St Petersburg. New building construction with bridge behind:

The view towards the city. Flats. We were told most Russians live in flats. All sorts of folks in similar flats in the same block. Only the insides would let you know how well off anyone is:-

Gazprom Tower:-

This breaks the height restriction on buidlngs in St Petersburg. They let it go because it was way out of town and, well, Gazprom. Closer view:-

Krestovsky Stadium, or Zenit Arena, home of Zenit St Petersburg FC. This was a venue for games at the 2018 Football World Cup. Modern bridge in front with cruise terminal building in foreground:-

This was the nearest thing I saw in St Petersburg to an Art Deco building:-

Peter the Great statue, photographed through coach windows so the statue is difficult to make out; a modern building behind.

A touch of the new (and temporary) and the old.

Fifa 2018 World Cup fan park:-

Reverse of fan park + canal and bridge:-

Main road aspect:-

Contrast that with this typically Russian building right beside the fan park:-

But just over the road from that:-

The stunning Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood:-

The church’s peculiar name arises because it was built as a memorial over the spot where Tsar Alexander II had been assassinated. Unfortunately it was swathed in scaffolding last May.

Church on the Spilled Blood, St Petersburg, from Field of Mars:-

In these dark days of no football and nothing to light up (or darken) Saturday afternoons, thoughts can easily turn to gloom.

This is especially so since there is a real prospect that without an income stream for what would have been the remainder of the season many clubs – Sons included – could struggle to survive.

In a generous gesture the staff and players have already agreed to defer half the wages they were due, which will go some way to ease the financial pressures on the club.

However that was always unlikely to be enough. To enable fans to play a part in (with hope) tiding the club over scary times, a crowdfunding page has been set up for them – and others – to contribute towards helping Dumbarton FC as a club through a difficult time.

Yes, I have already donated.

Home of Rochdale AFC. The stadium is known as the Crown Oil Arena due to sponsorship.

View from Willbutts Lane:-

Pearl Street stand:-

From bend in Pearl Street, Pearl Street stand to right, main stand to left:-

Turnstiles at Sandy Lane stand and turnstiles for Main stand west:-

From Sandy Lane:-

Willbutts Lane stand from main stand:-

Pearl Street stand from main stand:-

Sandy Lane stand/enclosure from main stand. This end is terraced rather than containing seating:-

Main stand from Sandy Lane End:-

Rochdale AFC’s mascot, Desmond the Dragon, with young fans:-

I’ll have a worry free afternoon tomorrow now that Scottish football has been suspended till further notice.

(It would have been worry free anyway since we were all but safe from relegation.)

Who knows what will happen now though?

The coronavirus outbreak apparently won’t peak for weeks yet -long after this season ought to have finished. How will the clubs at our level manage without the income they would have derived from their remaining home games? (In our case four.) Could we even see clubs folding? Most players’ contracts run out at season’s end in May; could they be asked to play on beyond their terms? Footballers also tend to take their holidays in May and June will they be available to play then? (Mind you they might not be able to go on holiday if countries are in lock-down.) What will be done about promotion and relegation? Will the season be declared null? How fair would that be on teams expecting promotion? Will next season even start on time? These are utterly unprecedented times.

But public protection must be the over-riding consideration. Large gatherings of people are certainly to be avoided for the moment to prevent any possible transmission that might have taken place.

*For any non-Scot reading this an explanation of this post’s title is at the online Scots dictionary.

Links Park is the home of Montrose FC. Its entrance is at the end of Wellington Street, just off a park with the same name as the ground:-

Southwest Corner:-

Stand from southwest:-

West Terracing:-

Links Park from northwest corner, showing main stand:-

From northeast corner:-

Stand from northeast corner:-

Stand:-

Stand from southeast corner:-

West and north terracing from southeast corner:-