Accrington Web - 2020/21 Prediction League; Game 14 v Shrewsbury Town (away)

Shrewsbury Town

Accrington Stanley

2020/21 Prediction League Game 15; v The Pointy-Nosed Furry Things (away)

Thing about football, of course, is the team spirit; the camaraderie; the shared enjoyment; the Musketeer approach (“One for All and All for One”) ....... and of course, although it's a physical contact sport, it isn't an inherently dangerous sport........ unless, of course, you’re Churchill Owici – a defender for a local team in Tumanun, a village in Uganda - who earlier this year put through his own net during a game to which he had turned up under the influence of alcohol …......... His team mates weren’t best pleased - well, he was never going to be Man of the Match - but (slightly unnecessary, this) after the game they set on him and beat him to death ............. Or there was Colombian International defender Andrés Escobar Saldarriaga, who played in the 1994 World Cup; in Colombia's second group match against the USA Escobar stretched to block a cross from US midfielder John Harkes and deflected the ball into his own net. The US ended up winning 2–1.

After their involvement in the World Cup ended, Escobar decided - against advice - to return to Colombia. Five days after the game he went to a bar in Medellín with some friends, and then to the El Indio nightclub. Around 3:00am, Escobar was in the car park, in his car, when three men appeared. Two of them produced guns, and Escobar was shot six times; it was reported that the killers shouted "¡Gol!" after every shot, once for each time the commentator had used the word during the broadcast. The group then drove away , leaving him to bleed to death. ..........

Or then there was Italian RW Italo Alaimo, who, in 1967, was in the middle of a medical prior to signing for Novara from Reggina when he was electrocuted while dismounting from an exercise bike used as part of the tests; three employees of the Ospadale Maggiore (where the medical took place) were later charged with negligent homicide ..... Or 19-year old Mozambique-born CB Estevao Alberto Gino of Atletico Mineiro de Tete (which I think means “Over ‘ere son, on me ‘ead” - from the French "tete", meaning "head") who was killed when attacked by a crocodile ......... I presume they’d have been allowed a substitute (player, not crocodile), but the report doesn’t say …................ Makes you think, though, innit?

So; this week’s Starter for Ten;
1. Which famous footballer said, “Reaching the penalty box and not getting in a shot on goal is like dancing with your sister”?
2. Discuss .........

I seem to be spending the whole of my time writing “RIPs” at the moment, and frankly 2020 can feck off right now ….. latest additions to the Roll of Honour (and may they indeed Rest in Peace) are ex Liverpool, Spurs and England GK Ray Clemence (of whom much, rightly, has been reported – another Legend), and one that might have slipped under the radar, that being ex-Baggies and Man U left half (remember them?) Maurice Setters ........ Setters – a Doncaster lad who managed the Rovers when his playing career ended - started out at Exeter, spent five years at West Brom, and was signed for £30k by Matt Busby as a replacement for Wilf McGuinness, staying for five years at the Theatre of Dreams (Manchester Branch) and playing 150+ games before moving on to Stoke, then Coventry via the Cleveland Stokers, then the Addicks (briefly) ........

Three years as Manager at Belle Vue ended in the sack and a successful claim for unfair dismissal, and then he linked up with Jack Charlton at Sheff Wednesday and later with the Republic of Ireland … When Big Charlton resigned as Ireland manager in 1995 the Footie Association of Ireland seems to have assumed Setters would follow him out of the door, so they did; however, he continued to turn up to work (as assistant manager of the national team and manager of the under-21 team). Setters was sacked, but issued another claim for unfair dismissal (you'd have thought they’d have learned not to mess with him after the Doncaster sacking ….). Wor Jackie (Charlton, not Milburn) appeared at the tribunal to support Setters, and the FAI eventually settled the claim. Setters suffered from Alzheimer's from around 2016, and died in Doncaster Royal Infirmary on 22 November. And if you want a bit of trivia, it appears he was Bobby Charlton’s best man when Sir Bobby married Norma ….

And while I’m doing trivia, who saw that Alan Pardew has been appointed as Technical Director of Bulgarian side CSKA Sophia? I’m not sure how good his Bulgarian is, but in the hope it may be useful to him, “Bolen kato papagal” is “sick as a parrot”, “Ograbeni sme” is “we were robbed!”, and – to reflect the fact that they lost 1-0 at home to Young Boys of Berne in the Europa League last night (Thursday) - “Kakvo iskash da kazhesh, uvolnen sŭm?” is “What do you mean, I’m fired?”

Things you don't (want to) know about Shrewsbury;

1. The forerunner of Private Eye was a school magazine edited by, among others, Richard Ingrams and Willie Rushton at Shrewsbury School in the mid-1950s

2. Charles Joseph John Hart, the 6' 5" GK who won four Golden Gloves awards in five seasons with Man City and then couldn't get a game to save his life, was born and played there

3. Ian Hunter (aka Ian Patterson), the lead singer of the 1970s pop group Mott the Hoople, lived at 23a Swan Hill in the town centre, and the 1980s pop group T'Pau was formed in the town (the band's vocalist Carol Decker was born and educated in the town, but the Israelites weren't)

4. Shrewsbury, being almost entirely encircled by the River Severn, has nine bridges across the river

5. From the late 1990s, the town experienced severe flooding problems from the Severn and Rea Brook. In the autumn of 2000 large parts of the town were underwater, notably Frankwell, which flooded three times in six weeks. The new Frankwell flood defences were completed in 2003, and more recently flooding has been less severe, and the defences have generally held back excess water from the town centre areas; however, the town car parks are often flooded in the winter, which reduces trade in the town (coronavirus has the same effect)

6. The town was targeted by the IRA in 1992. They planted three bombs, one of which detonated within the grounds of Shrewsbury Castle causing severe damage to the regimental museum of the Shropshire Light Infantry, estimated to be in the region of £250,000, and many irreplaceable artefacts were lost; a second bomb detonated in the Darwin Shopping Centre but was put out by the sprinkler system before any major damage was caused.

7. The town was the early capital of the Kingdom of Powys, known to the ancient Britons as Pengwern, signifying "the alder hill"

8. Shrewsbury has traditionally been known as the "Town of Flowers", a mention incorporated in many of the signs on major roads into the town, although this was replaced in 2007 with "The birthplace of Charles Darwin".

Shrewsbury Town was formed in 1886; they moved to Gay Meadow in 1910. Centuries before the club occupied the site, Gay Meadow was known locally for the fairs, carnivals and circuses which took place there. The origin of the name isn't entirely clear, although it's widely believed to related to its use for entertainment purposes - an alternative suggestion is that the land was originally owned by the Gay family. In 1740, stuntman Robert Cadman attempted to 'fly' across the River Severn using a rope attached to St Mary's Church at one side and a tree at Gay Meadow some two hundred feet below. Tragically for Cadman, (and probably also for the people who had to clean up after) the rope broke, and he plunged to his death. Second Starter for Ten; what service did local coracle-maker Fred Davies provide to the club during some of their Gay Meadow days?

You'll maybe remember that they joined the Football League on expansion in 1950, elected to the Third Division North alongside Scunthorpe and Lindsey United, as they then were; their first match was actually against The Iron, and at the end of their first season they finished 20th, with 37 points from 46 games; we were 23rd but re-elected; New Brighton finished 24th and weren't - they were replaced by Workington (who finished bottom in 51/52 but were re-elected) ...... and in the 1950/51 season we beat the Shrews 2-0 at ours, and 1-0 at theirs (our only away win!) ...........we also lost 5-0 at Mansfield, 6-2 at Rotherham, 7-0 at Gateshead and 9-1 at Lincoln!

In 1958/59 they were promoted to the Third Division, staying there for 15 years; they GreasyPoled to Division Four in 73/74, but went straight back up in 74/75, runners-up behind Mansfield; in 1978/79 they won Division Three by a point from Watford and Swansea, and went up to, and stayed in, Division Two - their highest placing - for ten years; in 1979/80 they finished a respectable 13th of 22. They were relegated at the end of 1988–89.

Trivia again; on 22 December 1990, Gary Shaw scored the quickest-ever Shrews hat-trick – 4 minutes and 32 seconds – against Bradford City at Valley Parade. At the end of 1991–92, three years after relegation to the Third Division, the club slid into the Fourth – the first time since 1975 - and in 2002/03 they plummeted into the Bananarama, but they won the Play-off Final in 2003/04 - beating Aldershot 3-0 on penalties after a half-Desmond, their hero being GK Scott Howie, who saved all three of the Shot's kicks - to return to the League after one year. They were FA Cup Quarter Finalists in 1979 and 1982, League Cup Semi-Finalists in 1961, won the Welsh Cup 6 times and lost in the final three other times, and they were Runners-Up (ie second) in the Shinywindowsleasingthepaintpot.com Trophy in 1961 and 2018

Last season they finished 15th in League One, with 41 points from 34 games (PPG of 1.21); they beat us 3-2 at the Wham with three goals in the last 13 minutes after we'd been 2-up (the Bishop of Wham and Celine Dion), but we did them 2-0 away, with goals from Robert Grant and Clicker ....... seven left, including DMF Romaine Vincelot (I quite like his lettuces) who joined Stevenage, AMF Josh Laurent to Reading, CB Omar Beckles, who turned down a new contract and signed for Crewe (must like trainspotting), and Luke Ward, who joined Bromsgrove Sporting - presumably for the Night Life! They ProperSigned five - Irish RW Josh Daniels, striker Rekeil Pyke ("Stupid Boy!"), CF Leon Clarke from the Blades, Bournemouth LB Charlie Daniels, and Marc Pugh, a LW from QPR

The new season - how shall I put this? - (a) hasn't been kind to them or (b) has shown they're rubbish ............ at home, P6 D3 L3, scored 7 let in 10; away, P7 won 1 (1-0 at the Wombles), D3 L3, GF 7 GA 11, for an overall P13 W1 D6 L6 GF13 GA21 for 9 points and a spot in the Doom Zone (23rd, one point and 3 goals better of than Wigan ........ Doing OK Academically in the FA Cup (beat Cambridge 2-0 away, and play Oxford City today in Round 2); went out of the EFL Cup in a seven-goal thriller at Awesome Park to Middlesbrough in Round Un, and play Lincoln in the second round of the Troffy sometime next month ........ leading scorers (all competitions) are Shaun Whalley, Brad Walker and Aaron Pierre, each with 2 .... and as we all know, Sam Ricketts got the bullet from the Hot Chair, replaced instantly by Steve Cotterill, one time manager of Sligo, Cheltenham, Stoke, Burnley, Notts County, Pompey, Notts Forest, Bristol Citti and Brum - who must be good if that many teams want to employ him ......... Innit? And @JohnTerry is odds on for the Derby job, according to the Bookies; not sure what WayneandColleen will think about that!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is - I think - now 7.45 on Wednesday 2nd December, although the Beeb are still showing 7.00pm (so we'd better call deadline as 7.00 pm too ....)

And from the Second Book of Samuel, Chapter 1 verse 20;

“Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph”

We’ve won four and drawn one of our last five in the League (Form Team!), and haven’t conceded a goal in those five (apparently the last time we did that was 2005); we’ve won six, drawn one and lost one of our last eight in the League, smiting down Rochdale, the Wombles, Fleetwoof, the Cobblers, Swindon, and Crewe …. The BBC website match report from the Crewe game says we extended our unbeaten League run to six games (they can’t count, or they must have included Barrow in the Trophy), and the Sky Sports report says that we’re, “closing on the top six with games in hand” …...............

Ssssssshhhhhhh! Perhaps no-one will notice we’re around until it’s Too Late to Stop Us! And for sure we don’t want any daughters of the uncircumcised triumphing!

And the quote about dancing with your sister comes from Diego the Cheat (RIP anyway, Diego) - a brilliant player at his best, but with some issues (including handling the ball) ........... and Fred Davies used to sit, on match days, in his coracle, on the River which flowed past the ground, and retrieve the balls that were kicked over the stand during games and finished up in the drink ............probably saved them a fortune over the years ......

Good luck to everyone! .......... Stay safe and keep well! ............ And thanks for playing!

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