• Arbroath’s 2nd place finish in last season’s cinch Championship was their highest league position in 58 years. The Red Lichties finished as the 14th best side in Scotland – the last time they topped this was with a 13th place finish in the top flight in 1973/74. Amazingly, as recently as 2015/16 they finished 2nd bottom of the entire SPFL – only relegated East Stirlingshire finished below them in cinch League 2 that season.
• Forfar Athletic will be looking to go one better after finishing 2nd in cinch League 2 last season. Gary Irvine’s side missed out on promotion after a narrow defeat to Annan Athletic in the play-offs. This will be the Loons’ ninth season in the fourth tier of Scottish football – they won the division in its inaugural season in 1994/95 and have also secured four top 2 finishes in this league.
• Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst will be hoping to add to the 2 Scottish league titles he won as a player as he kicks off his first full season in the hotseat at Ibrox. Rangers finished 2nd in the cinch Premiership last season but did win the Scottish Cup as well as reaching the Europa League final. The Light Blues kick off their season away to Livingston, who they defeated 3-0 at Ibrox in their opening fixture last season.
• Alloa Athletic will be playing in cinch League 1 for a 2nd consecutive season following their 5th place finish last time around. The Wasps finished the season strongly following the appointment of Brian Rice in February, but ultimately finished six points short of the play-offs. Their last spell at this level saw them gain promotion after just 2 years in the division, and they will be hoping for a repeat this time around.
• TV games: 2 of this weekend’s cinch Premiership fixtures will be live on Sky Sports. You can watch Livingston v Rangers at 12 noon on Saturday followed by Celtic’s flag day at home to Aberdeen at 4:30pm on Sunday. Highlights of all the cinch Premiership matches will be available on Sportscene on the BBC Scotland channel at 7.30pm on Saturday and 7.15pm on Sunday.
