[Div3North]

Carlisle United FC

V

Accrington Stanley

2015/16 Prediction League; Game 30 v Carlisle (away)

So; Teddy Sheringham – ex Man U and a “virgin” Manager - went, then, consigned to the growing pile labelled “ex Football League managers” as predicted (by me!) a few short weeks ago; Stevenage Chairman Phil Wallace said;

• "Teddy came in having to work on a lower budget than we've had before and the lack of available funds has made it difficult to get the players he'd like. He's given it his all but it hasn't worked and now we have to thank him for his efforts and move on." adding .....

• "Normally we'd have one or two major ops on key players in a season but we've had more this season than the last three combined. Teddy has had the worst luck I've seen in the 16 years I've owned the football club,"

......but he still sacked him! ……… Next out the door? Got to be ex Man U and “virgin” Manager Gary Neville, surely? Not won a League game at Valencia since he was appointed, and his side stuffed 7-0 by Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, Suarez getting four and Messi the other three. As well as there being a “#Nevilleveteya” twitter campaign (it means “Neville Out”), ex Valencia keeper Santiago Canizares said:

• "I expected the coach's resignation, as well as some apologies. I may be ignorant, but I'm surprised he hasn't. I thought he was honest."

Ouch! Watch the TV for Gary’s imminent return to Sky punditry, and Phil’s equally imminent return to his attempt to claim the title of the Most Boring Footie Summariser In The World ……….. Not all ex players make great Managers, of course; Preston in their time had Sir Bobby Combover, as well as Brian Kidd, Nobby Stiles (who also managed the Baggies) and Alan Ball’s Dad (who played as an inside forward for Bolton Boys Federation before stepping up (or was it moving down?) to join a post-war Southport)

We should, of course, have played Carlisle on Boxing Day, so now we meet them twice in 10 days (the re-arranged game at the WhamBamThankYouMa’am Stadium is on Tuesday 16th February) …….When I opened the thread for that game they were 5th (P22 W10 D7 L5 Pts 37); now they’re 13th (P25 W10 D9 L6 GF43 GA40 Pts 39), although to be fair they’re within 4 points of the five sides above them, with either 2, 3 or four games in hand, and 3 points above Morecambe (whose 1-1 draw v PaulCookUnited on Tuesday featured a first-ever career goal from GK Barry Roche in the 934th minute; he described it as "better than sex" or something (actually, he said "better than saving a penalty", which certainly ain't as good as sex) and Notts County. Their last ten League games have involved them in a 4-4-2 situation; won 4 (Notts Co 3-0, Crawley 3-1 and Yeovil 3-2 (all at home) and Luton 4-3 away – 13 goals scored!), two home draws (a Desmond with Pompey and half a Desmond with York, plus another half-Desmond and a goalless at Oxford and Barnet respectively), and 2-0 defeats at home to Plymouth and away to BrizzleRov ….. overall home League record is therefore W6 D4 L3, and away it’s W4 D5 L3

If you look back at the thread from 26th December (or wait a few days for it to be bumped) you’ll see that they went out of the League Cup to Liverpool on pens at Anfield, and the PaintyThingy 1-0 at Port Vale; they’d got to Round 3 of the FA Cup, and a home tie with Yeovil, which they only managed to draw; they then won the replay 5-4 on pens after a 1-1, which gave them Everton away in Round 4, and a comfortable beating (if you can have a comfortable beating?) 3-0, meaning they lost in two Cup competitions to the Merseyside Giants in the same season; hope they made some money out of it (speaking of which, did you know that Rod Stewart made a donation of £10,000 to the club after the flooding (and contrary to gossip, it wasn’t to secure the carp-fishing rights during any future flooding of the pitch!) …….. £10,000 is a drop in the ocean (!) to Rod, but it was still a generous gesture ………)

Little movement in the transfer market; MF Gary Dicker (29) signed for Killies, whose next Manager might apparently be Billy Davies (ex PNE, Derby, Notts Forest and Motherwell); I don’t know what they paid, but since he was out of contract in the summer it likely wasn’t more than a small handful of bawbees, or a couple of haggis (maybe a breeding pair?), or something …….They brought in various on loan, including Bury’s ex-Everton Hallam Hope (who – I think – has gone back after his 93 days were served – sorry, up); most recently, Brandon Comley, a 20-year old MF, arrived on a Youth loan from QPR ………….just think of the jokes I could have got in if his last name had been spelled “Comely” and he were plug-ugly (which I’m sure he isn’t!). Finally, they ProperSigned Shrews ex Bolton, Torquay, Forest Green and Crewe defender Mark Ellis (27)

Goals they score for fun; ignoring the five they put past hapless Welling Utd in the FA Cup Round 2, they’ve scored four twice (Cambridge 4-4 and Luton 4-3), and three five times (3-2 at Hartlepool, and at home to both Barnet and Yeovil, 3-1 at home to Crawley, and 3-0 at home to Notts Co) ……..if you add their 9 cup games (16 scored, 10 conceded) to the League results, you come up with P34 GF59 GA50, or slightly over three goals for the viewing public in every singe game they’ve played this season ….. Leading scorers (see the Christmas thread) are still Jabo Ibehre (14, but now way behind Simpson from Leyton Orient – who, you might have seen – have just signed Nicky Hunt from the Stags)), Charlie Wyke (8) and Derek Asamoah (7) (which means none of them have scored in the last five weeks ……….)

Deadline for entries ……blah blah blah …….. 3.00 pm Saturday ….blah blah blah …… They’re a side who seem to be either very good or not very good, as opposed to being very average like some are …….Great chance, though, to consolidate our position by taking – I won’t be greedy – four points from the two fixtures. Yes, lads? Good on you! Keep up the “shots per game” average, too; don’t shoot, you won’t score ………….

Good luck to everyone! ………… Keep the Faith (but not the Carp!) ……And thanks for playing!