Accrington Web - 2019/20 Prediction League; Game 35 v Bolton Wanderers FC (away)

Bolton Wanderers

Accrington Stanley

2019/20 Prediction League; Game 35 v Bolton Wanderers (away)

The Trotters won the FA Cup in 1923, 1926, 1929 and 1958, beating West Ham United, a Distillery-full of White Horse and a crowd of 126,047 by 2-0 (David Jack + 1), Man City 1-0 (David Jack), Pompeii 2-0 and Ten-Man Man U (2-0, goals by Naughty Lofthouse); they’ve spent 73 seasons in the Top Tier, but never won the Premiership, or even the Football League – that’s the Football league that Sky hi-jacked for £obscene. The Football League began in 1888 with twelve teams; this week’s Starter for Ten, then, is this …………….. How many of those twelve sides came from Lancashire?

First winners of the League (unbeaten, a feat that took 115 years to be repeated) were PNE, who also won the cup; you’ll all know that Accrington were also founder-members, finishing 7th of 12, with 6 wins, 8 draws (one of them by 5-5!) and 8 defeats, scoring and conceding 48, and getting 20 points – half of Preston’s League-winning total ………………. Accrington in those days played at Thorneyholme Road, home for the previous 10 years of Accrington Cricket Club; the Football Club’s first-ever home League game was against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 6th October 1888 in front of 4,000 fans, and finished 4-4 (the 5-5 draw had already happened, away at Blackburn) …………..

Accrington survived as a League club until the end of the 1893/94 season, when they finished bottom of the table and then lost the promotion/relegation “Test Match” against the Blades; rather than be relegated to Division 2, they resigned from the League …………… I understand that the area where the pitch was is now tennis courts, but I stand to be corrected ………. What is certain, though, is that the Home Internationals started that same season, and saw Scotland pip England to the title by winning 3-2 at the Kennington Oval ………… and your second Starter for Ten; who scored both England’s goals against the Scots that season (after 15 and 17 minutes)? ……….. and as a clue, since not all of us were around then (Cashy?) he had – or may have had - a famous brother called Bertie …….

During the English Civil War, the people of Bolton – not, of course, then part of Greater Manchester (or Lesser Manchester, come to that) - were Puritans, and so supported the Roundhead cause. A Parliamentary garrison in the town was attacked on 28 May 1644 by Prince Rupert's Royalist army with troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby – before he inherited the title he was known as Lord Strange; the attack, which came to be known as the Bolton Massacre – resulted in 1,500 deaths, 700 being taken prisoner and the town being plundered (if not pillaged). At the end of the Civil War, Lord Derby was tried as a traitor and condemned to death. When his appeal for pardon to Parliament was rejected, he attempted an escape but was recaptured, and on 15 October 1651 he was executed for his part in the massacre outside Ye Olde Man & Scythe Inn.

You’d have to say that that’s a brilliant name for a Hostelry, which is understandably one of 700 or so Listed Buildings in the town and surrounds …….but of greater significance, perhaps, is that it’s one of the oldest inns in the world, having been established in 1251 and rebuilt in 1636, and that fact – given the damage there must have been in the attack back in 1644 – is probably why they posthumously executed the Leader of the Away Team, as a warning ………………. Millwall fans please take note; they have long memories in Bolton! And for the same reasons, I’d not fancy Stanley being drawn away to Roma in the Champions’ League either!

Bolton has a University (which I imagine started out life as a Poly), is the home town of Amir Khan the boxer, according to a survey of the British Association for the Advancement of Science is home to the friendliest people in Britain – “Boltonians” (really?), is the home of the Octagon Theatre, has often been used as a setting for film and television drama - Le Mans Crescent has featured as a London street in the Jeremy Brett version of Sherlock Holmes, a Russian secret service building in the 1990s comedy series Sleepers and in Peaky Blinders in 2014; the 1990s BBC drama Between the Lines (known, you’ll remember, as “Between the Sheets”) filmed an episode in Victoria Square, and Bill Naughton’s comedies “The Family Way” and “Spring and Port Wine” were both filmed there ………… it was also the victim of a Zeppelin attack in 1916, when 26 bombs were dropped, causing damage valued at £2-3s-6d (four times what the cost would have been in Morecambe!)

The formation of the Football Club I dealt with in the thread for the first game between us back in November - the one where we scored a Goodman (“sevvENNN”) ………… interestingly, as badly as they’re playing, they’re only five points behind Sarfend with two games in hand and a less-bad GD (-39 plays-47). In the Transfer Window, Manager Keith ExRochdaleButWhoIsn’t Hill brought in some Marquee signings, such as striker Muhhamadu Faal from Enfield Town, CMF George Thomason from Longridge Town, AMF Will Buckley (previously unemployed), Rochdale CB Ryan Delaney and CMF Jacob Mellis from the Stags, and LoanSigned another five, including Kean Bryan from the Blades, Unkeen Bryan from Sheff Wed (ok, I made him up) and Toto Nsiala from Ipswich ………….. and he hasn’t been sent off (yet!) in nine games!

Bolton’s season hasn’t been a Classic ………… at home, W4 D7 L5 GF17 GA23; away, W1 D1 L13 GF8 GA41, for an overall P31 W5 D8 L18 GF25 GA64, 23 points (of which they had to pay back the Bank 12) and 23rd place ……………… they’ve been 23rd every week but one – and that was the week before Bury were Expunged, when Bolton sat 24th …………. But for the deduction they’d have been above Sarfend by 7 points with 11 to play (Sarfend) or 13 (The Trotters – which begs the questions as to what happens to the rest of the pig?) …………. The away win, by the way, was at Brizzle, and the away draw was a goalless Desmond at Slumberland …………. Home victims have been Fleetwood 2-1, the MKDonkeys 1-0, Southend 3-2 and Tranmere 2-0 – so, Fleetwood apart, the teams lying 22nd, 21st and 17th …………and four of their five wins came in a seven-game spell between late October and Christmas, when they also took a point off the Wombles, as well as losing 1-0 to the Posh and getting a Goodman Shellacking from us ………….. they’ve taken four points from their last eleven games, failed to score 14 times and kept just seven clean sheets, four of those in goalless Desmonds

Looking at “Who’s Up, Who’s Down and Who’s Dead in the Water” we find that Bolton and Sarfend have no points in their last five games, Lincoln have two, the Wombles have three, Rochdale, Brizzle, Ipswich and Shrewsbury have four and Burton have five …………. At the sharp end, Fleetwood, Sunderland and Coventry have 13 points from their last five, Posh have 12, Rotherham and Gillingham have 11, Oxford 10, Wycombe, Pompey and the Stanley have 9, and then it’s 25/1 the Field ……… The Pigs’ Trotters went out of the FA Cup 1-0 at home to PlyMouth in Round One, the EFL Cup 5-2 at Rochdale, also in Round One, and the Troffy in the Group Stages despite putting Man City u12s to the sword (3-1) …….. they’ve scored, altogether, 32 in 37 games, and leading scorers (League only) are Daryl Murphy with 8 and Joseph Dodoo and Dennis Politic with four each …………. Tranmere’s win 3-2 at the Shrews on Tuesday keeps them in touch - just (five points behind the Wombles with a game in hand but a worse GD)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 29th February ………… this one and the next one – if not “Must Win” – are certainly “If We Win We’re Pretty Much There” games ………..but if you look at the table, there are 6 teams who’ve won fewer than we have, seven sides who’ve lost more than us, and nine sides with more “drawers, pairs of” than we’ve got, 14 who’ve scored fewer than us, and five who’ve concede the same or more………. So statistically we’re not clear of “Second Season Syndrome” yet, but it’s looking good, even if we do keep losing games we should win, or at least take something from ………

And the answer to the Starters for Ten; there were six Lancashire sides in the original Football league (Accrington, Blackburn – the team in the 5-5 draw - Bolton, Burnley, Everton and PNE) – the other six being from the Midlands – Aston Villa, Derby, Notts County, Stoke, West Brom and Wolves ………….. and the England brace were scored by Billy Bassett (true as I’m riding this bike) – and he wasn’t even among the top 13 goal scorers in the league that year, four of whom (including Accrington’s Alexander Barbour) were Scots! ……………….. So now you know! PNE played at Deepdale, Everton played at Anfield, Stoke at the Victoria Ground, Notts County at Trent Bridge, Burnley at Turf Moor and Wolves at Dudley Road – “Dudley” being pronounced “Dudd-lie” …………….. Yow cumin?

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

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