Accrington Web - 2018/19 Prediction League; Game 40 v Fleetwood Town (home)

Accrington Stanley

Fleetwood Town

2018/19 Prediction League; Game 40 v Fleetwood (home)

I’ve never understood the logic which says “We’ve seven games left, we’re in a relegation dogfight – so we’ll sack the Manager!” What kind of crazy scheme is that, unless you believe unswervingly in the Law of New Management, which is the one that says “when a new manager is coming in to a Football Club, all the players will suddenly and miraculously become 50% better players overnight” .................. Well, the Night of the Long Knives hit League One, with Stuart McCall being Culled in Bratfud (who sit an uncomfortable 24th, 6 points off safety with 7 to play and a GD of -24) and Chris Powell being given a Long Walk Off a Short Pier When the Tide’s In (another saying from my youth!) in Southend (20th, but only on GD from Hapless Walsall)............ plus, of course, Yeovil’s Darren Way in League Two – Yeovil (22nd on 36 points from 39 games) are trying very hard, it seems, to keep Macclesfield (34 from 38) in the EFL next season at their own expense .................. Powell, as the Last Out The Door, is the 39th Manager to go this season ................... which means that 53 Clubs haven’t sacked their manager (unless some club has sacked two); is this a record?

The town of Fleetwood – which may or may not go back to Roman times - has a recorded population of some 26,000; it’s located 8 miles north of Blackpool, on the western side of the mouth of the River Wyre. The town itself is on a peninsula, almost 2 miles wide, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea, to the north by Morecambe Bay and to the east by the River Wyre. Access to Fleetwood is thus restricted, and for many years there were only two roads into and out of the town. It would appear, then, that if we can block those two roads effectively, we may never have to go there again …………….. If you look up “Fleetwood” on t’interweb you’re presented with a list of the Finest Local Attractions, the prime amongst which is seemingly Farmer Parr’s Animal World – which probably tells you what most of you needed to know ………..

In Victorian times the plans to promote the Town (not in football terms, of course) were considerably dented by the advances made by Blackpool as the pre-eminent NW Coastal resort; the demise of the fishing industry following the Cod Wars with Iceland (personally I never shop there anyway, but that’s a different issue) in the 1960s cost the town 8,00 jobs, and left the largest local employer as Lofthouses, who make Fisherman’s Friend cough sweets – very popular in Germany and Japan I gather, which is a bit of a worrying axis; they lost their ferry route to the Isle of Man in about 1961 and their train station in the Beeching Cuts of 1966, ICI Hillhouse in 1999, and the Stena Line container service to Larne in 2010 …………… against that, the town was the backdrop for an episode of “Hetty Wainthropp Investigates” in 1996, hasn’t flooded since 1977 (much of it is at or a tad below sea level), and it boasts the only functioning lighthouse in the United Kingdom built in the middle of the street - the Decimus Burton-designed Pharos Lighthouse ……………………. Oh, and John Lennon spent summers there as a boy, staying with his cousin …………………On balance, I think my original idea was the best – block off the two roads in and out, establish a customs border, and declare it as an Outreach Part of the People’s Republic of Blackpool …………………And this week’s starter for ten is “Who played Hetty Wainthropp”?

Off the back of a 14th-place finish last season (W16 D9 L21 GF59 GA68 Pts 57) they appointed Joey Bad-Boy as manager in the summer ............. shaping his squad, they’ve done some deals since we last played them (and probably placed a few bets as well!) ........... in September they added Scottish MF Ross Wallace from Sheffield Wednesday (which isn’t in Scotland, by the way) and RB Ryan Taylor from Atletico de Kolkata (which isn’t in Scotland either – it’s in West Bengal ............ in the January Transfer Window they ProperSigned Darlington Forward Harvey Saunders (Darlington Backward didn’t have any for sale), RB Macauley Southam-Hales from Barry Town United isn’t it; look you; Eistedfodd, and Burnley striker Michael Fowler (wasn’t he in Eastenders?), all of whom cost £nothingtodowithyou, and none of whom has a Wikipedia page .............. oh, the shame!

They terminated five; Cian Bolger got their goal against us chez eux back in September, and his reward for that was a transfer to Lincoln GreenImps; striker Chris Long joined Blackpool, Michael Donohue signed for FC United of Solskjaer (who are in the GreasyPole positions in the Bananarama North, five points from safety with 6 to play, although that may not necessarily be all his fault); GK Matt Urwin signed on at Chorley (who are still looking good for promotion back to Tier 5); and one Bobby Grant signed on the dotted for Wrexham – presumably because no-one else wanted him ........One loan in – Harry Souttar, a CB from Stoke; shed-loads of loans out, but no-one you’ll have heard of ............ actually, most of them haven’t even heard of themselves (except maybe RB Gethin Jones, who joined Mansfield and reputedly sang three choruses of “Men of Harlech” while he signed ........... yes, he’s another one (Person of Welsh Origin, that is)

On 15th September we went for a Sniff of the Briny (no, not the Chippie – Fleetwood Fish Market); we were one down on 37 (goal by Cian – as in “I’ll be Cian you, in all the old familiar places” - Bolger) and level again on 68, courtesy of Sean McCantgetacornerpastthefirstdefender; games between us have been pretty even-stevens over the seasons .............. Current away form for the CodPieces is W6 D4 L9 GF21 GA18; at home they stand W8 D6 L5 GF28 GA23, for a Mrs Overall of P38 W14 D10 L14 GF49 GA41 Pts52 and just hanging on to the coat tails of the main peloton in 11th place. ................ and actually – apart from the first game of the season – they’ve never been higher in the table than 6th (games 4 – 7) or lower than 13th; since the turn of the year they’ve won 5, drawn 4 and lost 4 – wins at the Wombles (3-0), Bratfud (1-0), Burton (also 1-0) and at home to Charlton (1-0) and Plymouth (2-0) ............. so the reality is, in 2019, if you score against them you won’t lose! They were already out of the EFL Cup when we last met; in the FA Cup they rampaged through Alfreton Town (Bananarama North) 4-1away, positively slaughtered Guiseley (also B_n_ n_ r_m_ N_r_h – one place above FC United)) 2-1, before falling at home to the Might of the Wombles (3-2 in Round 3); the EFLTroffy saw them remain in the group at the end of the group stage ............ Leading scorers are PaddyWaggon-Madden with 18 and Shed Evans – sorry, Ched Evans .......with 14

Form side this week is Pompey, with 12 points from their last five games (W4 L1). The other four of the Top Dogs are all on 11 points from their last five (W3 D2) ................ at the arse-end of the table, Southend have 1 point from their last five games, as do Wycombe; the Stanley, Scunthorpe and the Bantams have 3 points from a possible 15 (W1 L4), with Walsall and Shrewsbury on 4/15 ................ The CodHeads have W2 D1 L2 of their last five

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 30th March ..................... Since 20th October – five months and 24 games – we’ve won four times, and only once on a Saturday (Plymouth 3-0 on 22nd December) ............. from those 24 League games we’ve taken 18 points, scored 22 and conceded 41, and failed to score 11 times (we actually didn’t score a League goal in the whole of January!) ............. and it needs to stop, don’t we think? ............. Thought we did ............... Come on you Reds! ................. and it was Patricia Routledge, who probably never thought to see her name in a Prediction League thread opener!

Good luck to everyone! ................. Keep the Faith! ............... And thanks for playing!

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