Accrington Web - 2019/20 Prediction League; Game 10 v Blackpool FC (home)

Accrington Stanley

Blackpool FC

2019/20 Prediction League; Game 10 v The Rock Suckers (home)

It’s taken nearly ten years, but at last I’ve had an offer from a member of the PL (who for the sake of anonymity we’ll call leylandii) of a Starter for 10; apparently his Dad sometimes used to devise pub quizzes, and this was a Footie Favourite; so …………………… “Before they moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2006, what was the correct name of Arsenal’s previous home ground?” (possible clue - think Fleetwood)

Blackpool is a dump: discuss …………………… I worked there for several years; I know of what I speak ………

As a town, it has many claims to fame; one is the tuppence laugh and scratch “hotels” – actually ten quid a night, all the diseases (and vermin) you can catch, and the sheets changed once a year whether they need it or not; then there’s the Tower, The Golden Mile, The Pleasure Beach, The Beggars (in Blackpool it isn’t “can you spare a quid for a cuppa tea?” (to which my answer would have been, “where can you get a cuppa for a quid these days?”, it’s “have you gorra tenner for some heroin?” ……….. and the transient lifestyle of the people, and the worst public health records and shortest life expectancy anywhere, and Frank Randle ……………. The vulgar, anarchic Frank Randle (if you’ve never heard of him it’s worth looking him up), who was throughout his career constantly at odds with Harry Barnes, the local Chief Constable, and the Watch Committees of every town he played …….. he and his team were once invited to take tea with the Mayor; Randle – sober for once (he and Josef Locke used to drink for England (and, in Locke’s case, Ireland)) – politely and publicly thanks the Mayor for inviting them and sets off to enter The Town Hall, to be stopped by the Mayor with the words, “This is my lady wife”; Randle looked her up and down and said, ”Well that’s your f*ckin’ fault old pal” ……… And just don’t set me off on the subject of Glasgow Fortnight!

They ended last season in 10th place with a record that read W 15 D 17 L 14 with a GD of -2 (50 plays 52) and 62 points; they were never worse than 20th (after game 3) and never better than 7th; their 14 losses were evenly split home and away; we drew 1-1 at theirs (Hughes with our goal on 90+3 – and have you noticed how many games are getting 6, 7 or 9 minutes “added time”) and lost the postponed return fixture 2-1 (Armstrong after 23 mins, with Ev sent off on 83 for tossing back a bottle that had been “introduced to the playing area” (as in “chucked at him”) …………. They went out of the FA Cup in Round 3, 3-0 to the Arsenal-by-the-Sea (Happy Days!), reached the 4th Round of the EFL Cup where they went out 2-1 to ……………… Arsenal-not-by-the-Sea, and failed to make it out of the Group Stages of the EFLChampionsLeague

They sacked off eight players at the end of the campaign (30th June): defender Donervon Daniels, midfielders John O'Sullivan, Finlay Sinclair-Smith and Chris Taylor, and forwards Max Clayton, Mark Cullen and Chris Long all left to play for Free Agency FC (it’ll be summat to do with Brexit!), and forward Scott Quigley joined Barrow on a free. At that time the Manager was Terry McPhillips …………. In exchange he signed five on Frees – Jamie Devitt from Carlisle, CB Ryan Edwards (ex Blackburn, Morecambe and Plymouth) , ex Pompeii and Tranmere RMF Ben Tollitt (reminds me of the apocryphal Scottish Folk Singers Ben Doun and Phil McCavity), Tanzanian striker Abdillahie ‘Adi’ Yussuf (once of Burton, Lincoln, Oxford City, Mansfield, Crawley, Grimsby and Barrow) and LW Sulaiman Borbor (Sullay) Kaikai from Palace, lots of loans, and NAC Breda………………. And then he resigned!

The next day (6th July) brought the return of Simon Greyhound, who’d managed the club in 2008 and then left for Leeds ……………. It wasn’t that he didn’t fancy Terry Yacky’s signings, you’ll understand (you know what I mean!), but in no time flat Jamie Devitt was out on loan to Bratfud, Ben Tollitt was at Wrexham (isn’t it. Look you. Eisteddfod.) and Adi Yussuf was at Solihull No-Moors …………….. “Nice to have met you lads; we’ll be in touch!” ………………… Mick the Miller (Simon G) then paid good money for two strikers (Ryan Hardie from Rangers and Joe Nuttall from Blackburn), and also brought in LB Calum McDonald from Derby and LW Sean Scannell from Bratfud on frees ….. loans in to date number four; GK Jak Alnwick from Rangers, CBs Rocky Bushiri (there’s a film in there somewhere) from ‘Nickers off ready ….’), and Ben Heneghan from the Blades (or was it Hen Beneghan?); somebody’s Husband, a LB also from Norwich …………… Oh, and Devitt, Tollitt and Yussuf never played a game between them before they got the Bums’ Rush ……….. Sic transit Gloria Swanson!

Their season started ok; wins over Brizzle (2-0), Southend (3-1 away, and they’ve got ANOTHER winding up petition, apparently) and Oxford (2-1) had them second in the League; a Desmond at Gillingham and a half-Desmond at home to Pompeii – surprisingly – had them still in 3rd place, and then a 2-3 at Coventry and a 0-3 at home to the PhoneyWombles dropped them to 9th; and then on Tuesday they raped and pillaged Doncaster – well, they pillaged them for sure, but the rest might be sort of speculation – and saw a Gnaduillet goal on 90+3 put a dirty smudge in Donnie’s “Matches Lost” column where there hadn’t been one before ………… P9 W4 D3 L2 GF13 GA11 for 15 points and 5th place (on GD) behind the Old Possums ………….. and they went out of the EFL Cup 4-2 on pens at home to Macclesfield at the first Hurdle! Leading scorers are Gnaduillet with 6, Kaikai (3) and Delfouneso (2)

And after 32 years (did I mention raping and pillaging?) the Club has a new owner and its fans back ………….. they would like to thank the Oystons very sincerely. For leaving. Not that they had any choice, it would seem.

Form teams at this point are Ipswich and the Posh with 13 points from their last 5 games; Coventry have 11, Sunderland and Donnie have 10 and Wycombe have 8 ………..Raggedy-arsed Ragamuffins (I had one of them in McDonalds – very nice!) are Bolton and Southend with 1 point from 15, the Wombles have 2, Tranmere 3, and Stanley, Oxford and Rochdale have 5

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which – according to a post from Cashy on another thread - is 3.00pm today (Friday 20th September); a recount was ordered after it was realised that the Troublesome Bluebird of Senility had flown up Cashy’s nose, and the game was moved back to Saturday 21st September, KO at 3.00 ………………………

We’ve had some good results against the Tangos, and we could well make something out of this – especially if we stop hitting the woodwork or Row Z. That said, we’re only 8 points and a few goals off the Playoff places; never looked at it that way, did you? And Blackpool’s other big Claim to Fame that I did miss out is Funny Girls, who I first saw dancing “Swine Fever” on the Royal Variety …………………. Really good! ……………….. Still don’t understand where they put ‘em, but there it is ……………… Or not! …………………… Oh yes it is

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

And the Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, London – the one before the current one - was called, correctly ……………………………………… The Arsenal Stadium :o

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