2014 Prediction League; Game 17 v Carlisle United (away)

Div3North · 11-11-2014, 22:48

Carlisle United

v

Accrington Stanley

2014/15 Prediction League – Game 17; v Carlisle Utd (away)

In 1904 Shaddongate United

changed their name to Carlisle United; and Lo! they were admitted unto the Lancashire Combination (provided, apparently, that they agreed to play all their visiting teams’ travel expenses for the first two years, since they resideth not in Lancashire

) ………. And it came to pass that they got pretty p155ed off with that in short order

, moving to play in the North Eastern League, and then moving to Brunton Park in 1909. They were admitted to the old Third Division North in June 1928, replacing Durham City, who failed the re-election test with only 11 votes

. Carlisle’s first league game was against – you couldn’t make this up! – us, and they won 3-2

. The Bastards

. We were probably upset, but Hartlepool were probably even more upset the week after, when the Cumbrians (or the Blues, if you’d rather) beat them 8-0

– still their record win. They finished their debut season in 8th place with 46 points from 42 games, and 86 goals scored (Bradford City won the League with 128 scored!) and 77 conceded ……Ashington let in 115, and were unsurprisingly booted out of the League come re-election time. League One was won by “The Wednesday”. In 1929/30 they were 15th, with 39 points, GF 90 and GA 101 (Port Vale conceded 103, Stockport 106 and Darlington 108); League One was won by Sheffield Wednesday ………..so what’s in a name?

They plugged away in the League with not a lot of fame and fortune; highlight of the post-War years may well have been the appointment of one Bill Shankly as Manager (who moved on to manage, amongst others, Workington

(didn’t know that, did you?

)) before doing an average-ish job at Anfield for a year or two. I reckon if they’d kept Billy Liddell in the first team they might have had some success

– you’ll win nothing with kids!

1973/74 saw them promoted to the First Division; 1974/75 saw them win their first three games to go top of the League, although eventually they were relegated (despite a double over Everton, plus other good home wins). The good times rolled, and the bad times replaced them, and by 1991/2 they were bottom of the pile - 92nd of 92 - but were saved through the expulsion of Aldershot from the League, apparently due to bankruptcy. They survived until 2003/4, although they were never better than 22nd in any of the seasons from 1997/8, and eventually they fell into the Conference, only to beat us home and away (2-1 and 2-0) and bounce straight back up. The Bastards!

Their claim to fame is mainly the Football League Trophy, which they won twice (1997, beating Colchester 4-3 on pens after a goalless draw, and 2011, seeing off Brentford 1-0); for the record, they lost in the final in 1995, 2003, 2006 and 2010 as well ………….So; what else might come up in a Pub Quiz? Famous ex players include Stan Bowles, Ivor Broadis, Chris Balderstone, Peter Beardsley – the bloke who makes Muffin the Mule sound intelligent

– Graham Kavanagh, Pop Robson (“The Bald Assassin”

, variously of Chelsea, Sunderland, West Ham and Newcastle), Bill Shankly, who played there in 1932/3, making 16 appearances, before moving on to PNE, for whom he played between 1933 and 1949, and a certain Tom Aldred (5 appearances between 2008 and 2010); they were relegated last season, winning just one of their last 15; and don’t forget GK Jimmy Glass’s last-kick-of-the-game goal from a corner which relegated Scarborough.

14 departed in the summer – the customary blood-letting of relegated teams; best known of a mediocre bunch were forward Lewis Guy (29), once of Donnie, MK Dons and St Mirren, who left for the fleshpots of Gateshead

(I went there once; it was shut!

), plus French defender Pascal Chimbonda (Wigan, Spurs, Blackburn, Donnie, Sunderland, QPR and Market Drayton Town

(?) – who’s now either at Oikonomos Tsaritsani or – more conceivably – at French Ligue 2 side AC Arles-Avignon (“Turn left at the Bridge, squire”

). Also departing the joys of Cumbria was Dean Bouzanis

, who seems to have gone back home to Western Sydney Wanderers. They propersigned several, from whom you might have heard of Anthony Sweeney (ex Hartlepool), Doncaster’s Billy Painter and Swindon’s Troy Archibald-Henville, plus 38 year-old Derek Asamoah, who knows every blade of grass at Northampton, Mansfield, Lincoln, Chester, Shrewsbury, Nice, Hamilton, and some of the pitches in Bulgaria and South Korea; since, they’ve loansigned def Connor Brown (28 – Oldham, ex Blades); Burnley def Tom Anderson (21); Bolton striker Georg Iliev (19); and FB Hayden White, also 19, and also from Bolton and, once, of the Owls.

To answer Chimer’s

question ("Hello, Chimer old mate"), we last met in the Football League in 1960/61, losing 3-1 away but winning 1-0 at ours; before that it was 1957/8 (3-2 win at home, 6-1 defeat away). We’ve actually had some high-scoring games over the years; 4-4 in 1952; 4-6 in 1938 (away); 5-3 at home in 1931; 7-3 loss away in 1930, and a 7-2 win on New Year’s Day 1930. We don’t, of course, talk about the various Cup games since 2006 …………..

They won once in this season’s Cup competitions – 3-1 against us at ours in the Football League Trophy, before losing on penalties (5-4) to Tranmere in Round 2 after a 1-1 draw; they left the League Cup 2-0 at home to Derby, and the FA Cup 2-1 at Posh; they have the second-worst goal difference in the Division (-10, beaten only by Hartlepool’s -15); their overall record is P16 W4 D3 L9 F20 A30 for 15 points and 22nd place; they didn’t win until their 10th game

, and enjoyed it so much that they won their 11th and 12th as well, by which time they’d hit the heights of 20th, with 12 points ……..their wins have come against Tranmere (1-0), Hartlepool (3-0), Stevenage (3-0 away) and Oxford (2-1); the sides they have beaten lie 23rd, 24th, 16th and 19th in the League

; their home record is W3 D2 L3. 25 goals in 20 games isn’t ever going to get you promoted; their leading scorers are 20 year-old home-grown MF Brad Potts (don’t get excited, ladies) with 5; MF Kyle Dempsey (home-grown) has 5; striker Mark Beck (20) – yet another Brunton product - has 3, three more (including ex Millwall and Liverpool striker David Amoo) have two each ………………

Deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 15th November. A win here would be useful, methinks; cats and pigeons .............They have some injury problems just at the moment (Troy A-H) …………. Go Stanley! Go Coley! Go DAV007 (isn’t it quiet at the moment on the forum?)

Good luck to everyone

…………..Keep the Faith! ………….. And thanks for playing!