Accrington Web - 2021/22 Prediction League Game 42; v Fleetwood Town (away)

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2021/22 Prediction League Game 42; v Fleetwood Town (away)

Fleetwood Town

Accrington Stanley

2021/22 Prediction League Game 42; v Fleet Air Arm

Oh, the heady days of the Man of the Match ............. voted the best player by some numpty sponsors who know nothing about football, to the annoyance of the fans who think they do know something about football ...... but have you ever wondered whether - in the few minutes after the announcement (usually around the 89th minute) to the final whistle - the whole thing has ever gone TU on the Chosen One?

Thanks to pundits either not paying enough attention or at the very least playing it safe, there are plenty of players who’ve been handed the gong having done little more than spend much of the 90 minutes struggling to get a touch of the ball, only to poke home a key goal. However, for a fine example of TU To The Winner, let's look at one of the great games (and sliding doors moments) in English football history.

Vince Bartram was announced as Man of the Match for Gillingham against Manchester City in the 1999 third tier play-off final with 89:30 on the clock and the Gills 2-0 up: so far, so good.

But ...........

Within 20 seconds, Kevin Horlock pulled a goal back for City, and on 90+5 mins Paul Dickov got the equaliser. Goalkeeper Bartram – who was Dickov’s best man, incidentally – didn’t save a single penalty in the ensuing shootout either, which City won 3-1 (despite Dickov’s penalty hitting both posts and coming back to him). Hero to zero in six minutes - and there must be others ............ Anyone?

And while we're on Awards and Rewards, and your Starter for Ten; what is the shortest 'career duration' of a player at one club which led to that player being granted a Testimonial?

And a second Starter for Ten; the current Fleetwoof squad includes three players who have played for Stanley in the last ten years; but who are they?

I'm not doing The History of Fleetwood Town again, you'll be pleased to hear ............... But the history of their Managers makes interesting reading (bearing in mind that they only won the Bananarama in 2011/12 and the EFL League Two playoffs in 2013/14), beating York 1-0 in the semis and Burton 1-0 in the Playoff Final, the goal coming from Antoni Sarcevic - now of Stockpot County, who are running off with the Banarama themselves this season

Managers from those times (not counting Chris Lucketti's two interim appointments and Simon Wiles's 26 days in January 2021, also as caretaker) shows in the ten years 2012 - 2022 they've had eight managers, Mickey Mellon lasting four years, Graham Alexander nearly three, Stephen Pressley almost ten months, Uwe Rosler nineteen months, John Sheridan just over three months, Joey BadBoy two and a half years, Simon Grayson ten months and current incumbent Stephen Crainey (to date) four months ........... but then, Andrew Pilley - Chairman and Owner of The Cods since 2004 - is a very interesting character (you can read all about him - if you're bothered - in Wikipedia) .............. I tried to work out what's happening to his current Court case, but it's impossible to say from the available information: watch this space

We met four times in League Two - two wins each, three times in the FL Troffy (won three), and six times in League One (W2 D2 L2); most recently we met on 4th December 2021, and we stuffed them out of sight (5-1), goals from Hamilton (2), Bishop (2) and Coyle.

Mwahahahahaha!

They've won once in their last 14 (3-1 at Crewe), drawn 7 and lost six ....... their record to date is P40 W8 D14 L18, with a GD of -15, for 38 points and 19th place, eight points and some goals behind Lincoln, and at the top of the Bottom Six Midden, but a long way short of being out of trouble

Their record League win is 13-0, but it should be noted that was against Oldham Town in the North West Counties League Division Two in 1998 .......... worst defeat v Bradford City (9-0) in the First Round of the FA Cup in 1948/49 ......... and they've never gone beyond Round 3 of the FA Cup ......... most appearances record held by Nathan Pond (498 between 2003 and 2018), although the most FL appearances is Alex Cairns (200) ...... record FL goal scorer is Paddy Madden's 43 (Madden is now at Stockpot, with Sarcevic)

Stockport top the Bananarama with 79 points from 35; seeded (places two and three) are Wrexham (71/35) and FC Halifax Town (70/36); next four are Solihull No-Moors (I think the local Council is planning on building some moors if they get FL status), TwistySpires United, Notts Co and Grimsby - what price two former League sides coming back up? Auto promotion spots from League Two are Vegan Greenpeace Utd (78/39), Exeter (71/39) and Portly Value (69/40) ....... Bottom of Le Championnat are Posh (27/40), Derby (28/40) and the LambChops (29/39) ... Reading are fourth-bottom on 37 points

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 9th April ........ Tuesday's total of 21 entries in the Prediction League (we started, you'll remember, with 70+) is obviously tribute to the turn-off power and effect of my drivel over the years, despite Chimer's erudition in resulting each week .......... Note to self - Must Try Harder!

And on the Starters for Ten; the time-honoured tradition of The Testimonial is usually reserved for players who have reached a decade at a particular club, but not always: Norman Clarke made four league and one League Cup appearance for Sunderland in the 1962-3 season before injury cut his career short aged 21. He was awarded a testimonial on 28 September 1966 when 11,000-plus spectators watched a 6-6 draw against a ‘Charlton XI’ (Jimmy Montgomery playing on the wing for Sunderland and scored two, Jack Charlton played in goal). Clarke returned to Ireland where he continued playing for Ballymena United, and later scouted for Liverpool.

But the winner, as I believe, is Norwich's John O'Neill, who was granted a testimonial despite playing a little over half an hour (in total) for Delia Whereareya Smith's Los Canarios.

“John O’Neill, the Northern Irish centre-half, suffered a career-ending injury on his City debut in 1987 (after a decade at Leicester and a short spell at QPR). Norwich gave him a testimonial, even though he only played 34 minutes for them before allegedly having his knee rearranged by John Fashanu. Gary Lineker, then at Barcelona, scored a hat-trick in an 8-2 victory for O’Neill’s Select XI.

Fashanu later agreed to pay £70,000 in an out-of-court settlement after a high-profile court case in 1994 (during which O’Neill’s expert witness was Ken Aston, referee for Italy and Chile’s notorious “Battle of Santiago” at the 1962 World Cup). The sting in the tail, though, was that O’Neill was left with £150,000 of legal costs to find."

And the former Stanley players now at Highbury are Toto Nsiala (2011/2013), Brad Halliday(2015/16), and Callum Johnson (2017/2020) - but you all knew that!

So once more; Good luck to everyone! ............. Keep the Faith! ............ And thanks for playing!

COYR!

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