Accrington Web - 2015/16 Prediction League; Game 25 v Mansfield Town (away)

Mansfield Town

Accrington Stanley

Prediction League 2015/6; Game 25 v Mansfield Town (away)

Twelve games in to the season and the Stags are sitting fourth; six wins, four draws and just two losses (one to Luton, one to us) – 22 points, and a GD of +11; they’d put 4 past Crawley (4-0 at home), and past Dagenham (4-3 away), and 3 past Newport (3-0 at home); they only failed to find the net three times – both defeats (1-0, twice) and a goalless draw at home to Plymouth – and had kept five clean sheets .............and then it started to go wrong; they lost four of the next seven, winning two (Hartlepool at home and Yeovil 1-0 away) and drawing 0-0 with Pompey; seven games, seven points; their last three – everything in December – have been half-Desmond draws ........from a healthy fourth, they’re now 11th, with a record of P23 W9 D8 L6 GF31 GA21 for 35 points .........they’ve been rubbish in the Cups as well; they went out in the First Round every time; 4-1 at the Owls in the Capital One, 3-1 at the currently manager-less (Moniz didn’t last that long then .......) Notts County in the PaintyThingy, and 2-0 to Oldham in a replay after a 0-0 (which is about the only time Oldham have won recently ............); mid-term report? Could do better!

Ricardo Moniz, for the purists, was appointed on a three-year contract, but lasted slightly less than a quarter of that time; better, though, than Yilmaz Vural, who was appointed as Manager (Head Coach) of Turkish side Genclerbirligi. He was appointed on Wednesday of last week, coached the side to a 2-0 defeat against the bottom side in the league, had the temerity to ask for a couple of signings in the near future, and was sacked on Tuesday this week; six days! Mind you, he is – sorry, was - the club’s fifth Head Coach of this season (which began in mid August), and their 51st since 1981 ........makes managing in England look like a job for life! This week’s starter for ten, then, is; how many Managers have lost their jobs in the Football League (not the Premiership) so far this season? The answer is an incredible 25! Nine each in the Championship and League One, Martin Ling at Swindon (after 53 days) being the latest there, although he resigned for health reasons (probably sick of hearing he was going to be sacked!), and seven in League Two ............and you don’t have to be in the bottom three, either .......... Wayne Burnett at the Daggers (23rd), John Still at Luton (14th), Paul Sturrock at Yeovil (24th), Richard Money at Cambridge (10th), Russ Wilcox at York (22nd), Terry Butcher at Newport (20th) and Moniz at Notts County (15th) .........you’d struggle to believe that they all deserved to go!

Adding the Cup games to the League ones, they’ve played 27 games, scored 33 and conceded 30 ............leading scorers are striker Matt Green (28), in his second spell with the Club, having also played for Newport, Cardiff, Torquay, Oxford and Birmingham, who has seven; Craig Westcarr (Notts Forest, Cambridge, Kettering, Notts County, Chesterfield, Walsall – who were apparently looking at Adam Murray when their Manager’s job came vacant – and Pompey) has four, and so does 6’ 5” defender Ryan Sirous Tafazolli (24) .......his Wikipedia page contains this gem;

• Towards the end of the 2014–15 season, Tafazolli made forty-two appearances ..........

...........makes you wonder how many he’d have made if it wasn’t just “towards the end of the season”!

We beat them, you’ll remember, 1-0 at our place on 18th August, with a goal by Sean McConville (our first win of the season) .........if you read the thread for that game carefully you’ll have remembered that we haven’t lost to them in the League since we came back up;

• Last season we did the double over the Stags – 1-0 at their place (Luke Joyce with a 10th min penalty) and 2-1 at ours (Conneely and Gornell in the second half); in 2013/14 we drew 1-1 at home and won 3-2 away; in 2007/8 we won both games (1-0 home, 2-1 away) and in 2006/7 we did them 3-2 at our place, and drew 2-2 away …….played 8 W6 D2 L0; the last time they won against us in the League was 25th March 1961, when we went down 4-1 at home

I don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to work out how we lost at Northampton on Monday ............. 9 corners to their three; eighteen shots (4 on target, downgraded from the original number given (5)) to their 5 (1 on target, dammit!); and 8 fouls against their 13 .........Hands up who’s fed up of the opposition’s GK keep picking up Man of the Match? I haven’t seen it be won by the same person so much since Paul Mullin left for Morecambe – and I’ll swear he won it twice when he wasn’t even playing!

Their kit man – who doubles as Head Groundsman – is Michael Merriman (“Ho ho ho”!); they won the old Div 4 in 1974/75, and the old Div 3 in 1976/77, the Conference in 2012/13 and the Football League Trophy (“The PaintyThingy”) in 1986/87 , beating Bristol City 5-4 on penalties after a half-Desmond – one of BR’s missed penalties having been taken by a certain Keith Curle (who moved to Reading that same summer of 87, which might have been cause or might have been effect!) .......their record win was 9-2 against Rotherham in 1932, and their record defeat was by Reading, 7-1, in – would you believe it – 1932! Famous ex players include Stewart Barrowclough, who went on to have a long career opposite Ronnie Barker in “Porridge!” , Aidy Boothroyd, Colin Calderwood, Neville Chamberlain (no, seriously – brother of Mark, and uncle of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain); Bob Ledger (I know his brother, Saint), Charlie Mitton – ex Man U, then of Independiente Santa Fe (which led to his nickname being “The Bandit of Bogota”), then Fulham; Scottish defender Sandy Pate (who they named the club bar after in 2009, and whose brother was known as “Shiny”); and – continuing the Man U theme – Albert Scanlon – one of the Busby Babes, who survived the Munich crash..........hands up if you remember him!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on the first Saturday of next year (Jan 2nd). Good to see Matty Pearson’s new 2½ year contract, and to read that others will follow ...........we really are going places, just at the moment, and they’re all in the right direction!

Good luck to everyone! ........ Keep the Faith! .......... A very Happy New Year from Chimer and from me to each and every one of you, and to all at the Stanley! .......... and thanks for playing!

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