Accrington Web - 2017/18 Prediction League; Game 10 v Port Vale FC (away)

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2017/18 Prediction League; Game 10 v Port Vale FC (away)

Port Vale FC

Accrington Stanley

2017/18 Prediction League; Game 10 v Port Vale (away)

One win (1-0 at Walsall in their penultimate game of last season), one draw (0-0 at Fleetwood in their final game) and five defeats in their last seven games overall (all five without scoring a single goal) cost 21st-place Port Vale their League One status at the death by one point and some goals to Gillingham, and ended their four year tenure; Manager Bruno Ribeiro’s tenure had ended on Boxing Day (not the traditional Christmas Box, I’d have to say) when he resigned after a 1-0 home defeat (by Walsall, ironically), having had just one win in the previous eight ............. Michael Brown replaced him, but couldn’t save the Valiants from the Slide Down the Greasy Pole of Oblivion, winning just five times in 23 in the League ....

They released 13 players on 1st July; two more MutuallyConsented, four rejected new contract offers and two left on free transfers – a staggering 21 departures ........... among the frees was CMF Sam Foley, who joined the Cobblers; Portuguese AMF Paolo Tavares returned home and signed with second-tier C.D. Cova da Piedade; those who rejected new offers included Chris Eagles (still out of work as far as I know), plus CB André Stéphane Bikey-Amougo (whose career has included clubs in Greece (Panaetolikos Gymnastikos Philekpaideutikos Syllogos), Russia (FC Shinnik Yaroslavl and Lokomotiv Moscow) and England (Reading, Burnley, Middlesborough and Charlton) who went to back to India, this time to Jamshedpur; JJ Hooper went to Grimsby (one of few to stay in the League), GKs Sam Johnson went to Halifax, Deniz Mehmat (to Dundee Utd) and Harry Pickering to the Vegans; RB Ben Purkiss went to Swindon and LB Scott Tanser to St Johnstone ................ ten of the leavers are still recorded as free agents, and only four still play in League Two.

Having overseen that dismantling, Mr Brown set about re-filling the dressing room, bringing back Local Hero CF Tom Pope from Bury, and adding CB Joe Davis (once a famous snooker and billiards world champion) from Fleetwood, Burton’s GK Sam Hornby, LB and former PFA Secretary :D Graham Kelly from the Blades. MF Christian Montano from BrizzleRov, RB Lawrie Wilson from Bolton, ex Stanley loanee David Worrall from Millwall, Grimsby CB Gavin Gunning and Tyrone Barnett from Wimbledon Common; to be safe, he added another GK, this time Bury’s Rob Lainton, and a pair of CMs in Stevenage’s Michael Tonge and Donnie’s Harry Middleton

Their preseason started brilliantly, with wins by 6-0 at Kidsgrove and 8-0 at Newcastle (Town, sadly, not United) .......... after that they didn’t win again until the opening game of the season, when they did Crawley 3-1 away; they then lost six in a row in the League, scoring in only one of those 6; they also lost 1-4 at Leeds in the EFL Cup, and drew 0-0 at Oldham in the EFL Troffy (although they did win the shoot out 4-2) ........... things may be on the up (although I wouldn’t put your mortgage on it) since they haven’t lost in two (1-1 at home to FGR and 1-1 away at Yeovil) to occupy, currently, 22nd spot with a record of P9 W1 D2 L6 GF7 GA13 for 5 points – ahead of Chesterfield and the Vegans on GD (-6 plays -11 and -12) .......... seven scored is joint worst (alongside Chesterfield), but eight sides have conceded more, including Wycombe, Carlisle and Crewe (14), Grimsby and Colchester (16), Chesterfield (18) and Forest Greens (22) ................ One win in seven led to the Valiants and Michael Brown “parting company” (as in, “You’re Fired”); joint temporary replacements as Vale Manager are David Kelly (assistant manager in his time at Tranmere (with Ray Matthias), Neil Warnock (Blades), PNE, Derby and Notts Forest (Billy Davies), Walsall (Dean Smith) and Scunthorpe (Mark Robbins), and Chris Morgan (ex player, whose career began at Hoyland Common Falcons) who holds the record for the most sendings-off while playing at both Barnsley and Sheffield United (six reds at each) .................. leading scorer is 19 year-old forward Dan Turner with 3, Michael Tonge having 2 (plus a shoot-out penalty) ............ head to head shows that both sides have won at home and lost away, save for 2012 when the Fortress CrownCrowd saw a Desmond; otherwise we’ve won 2-0 and 3-0 at home; away, we’ve lost 0-1, 1-4 and 0-3

Their name is one of the few in the League not to come from a geographical location (town etc); Port Vale is apparently a reference to the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey canal; they were founded in 1876, and were founder members of the old Second Division in 1829, and of the Fourth Division in 1958 ......... they’ve never reached the top flight (their nearest was finishing 5th in the Second Division), and hold the record for the club with the most seasons in the Football League without reaching the top tier (105!) .......... probably their best known player was Roy Sproson, who played 842 games; their most expensive signing was Gareth Ainsworth, who they bought from Lincoln for £500,000 in 1997, selling him for £2,000,000 just over a year later to Wimbledon; their record League win was 9-1 against Chesterfield in 1932; famous managers include a Pratt (David), a Moody – sorry, Mudie (Jackie) - and one Stanley Matthews – the only footballer my wife has ever heard of ..........which is a hell of a claim to fame!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Tuesday 26th September ...............dropping a point on Saturday only lost us one place in the table, which was fortunate ......... we aren’t scoring as freely over the last couple of games, so we hope that Kayden’s injury on Saturday wasn’t too bad .......when was the last time we had a striker with 6 in the first 9 games of the season?

Good luck to everyone! .............Keep the Faith! ............And thanks for playing!

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