2013 Prediction League; Game 3 (Bury FC away)

Div3North · 15-08-2013, 23:20

Bury FC

V

Accrington Stanley

2013/14 Prediction League – Game 3; v Bury (away)

Season 1998/99; Glenn Hoddle famously “removed” as England manager for some very non-PC comments

; goalkeeper Jimmy Glass keeps Carlisle in Division 3 (now League 2) by scoring the goal after 3 mins 50 secs of 4 minutes “Fergie time”

that beat Plymouth, relegating Scarborough to the Conference

; Bury were in Division One (Championship), managed then by the modest, reasonable and self-effacing referee-lover Neil Warnock

(other well-known managers include Martin Dobson and Bob Stokoe) ………….Bristol City finish 24th, with 42 points; Oxford finish 23rd on 44; four teams have 47 ……………… QPR have a goal difference of -9 (52/61); Pompey have -16 (57/73); Bury have -25 (35/60); Port Vale have -30 (45/75) …..So ……..Relegated to Division Two that year were …………… Bristol City, Oxford and …………. Bury

; they went down because that was the one (and only) season where relegation was decided, if points were level, by goals scored, not goal difference ; Bury were the only team it ever happened to, because the following year it went back to goal difference. I wonder what Neil had to say about that?

Bury were formed in 1885 by one Aiden Arrowsmith, as a result of a meeting between Bury Wesleyans FC and Bury Unitarians FC (“Eh oop, Jed Arkwright, there’s trouble at t’mill”

), and they do have another, rather better record to their name………. After 119 consecutive years in the Football League, they’re the only team to have scored 1,000 goals in each of the top four Divisions

(achieved in August 2005) ………….. Their best ever finish (1925/6) was 4th in the old First Division ………….. and don’t forget that they also won the FA Cup in 1900 (beating Southampton 4-0

) and again in 1903, beating Derby 6-0

(still the record Final win) and not conceding a single goal in the entire competition …………… They haven’t been in the First Division (however named) since 1929, but hey! We can’t talk …………..

Their financial problems of recent time are well chronicled, and I think – given the relationship between the clubs and the fans – that we’re delighted they survived

……………..However, the fall-out was that 16 players were released back in May, after their relegation was confirmed, including defender Mark Hughes (now at Morecambe), GK Cameron Dale Belford (playing at Tamworth for his Dad

), 30 year-old forward Craig Fagan (Birmingham, Colchester, Hull, Derby and Bradford, currently without a club), and striker David Healy (34) (Man U, PNE, Leeds, Fulham, Sunderland and Rangers, plus Northern Ireland’s leading international goalscorer with 36 in 95 games)

. Skipper and central midfielder Steven Schumacher signed for Fleetwood, central defender Joe Skarz went to Rotherham; Euan Holden and Tom Soares, having been released, were then re – signed; 40 year-old Efe Sodje,

a Nigerian international defender who played 212 games in 5 years at Gigg Lane (actually, apparently, “the Gigg Lane Stadium”), scoring a remarkable 18 times, also moved on. They only had 8 players left, who included striker Shaun Harrad, and ex-Baggie midfielder David Worrall, who played on loan for us a few years back …………And one of those 8 who remained under contract (Shane Byrne, a 20 year-old MF, once of the Foxes) left this week “by mutual consent”

Obviously they had to fill the ranks, which they did (if you count re-signings) with at least 19 signings

, which included two ex-Reds (MF Andy Proctor , now 30, and winger Aidan Chippendale (21)); also signed up were CF Marlon Jackson (22) from Hereford, once of Bristol City; Rwandan striker Jessy Reindorf – 22 – who flew in from Union Royale Namur in Belgium (bet he gets called “Reindeer” before Christmas

); Barnsley MF John Rooney (22) – Our Wayne’s Little Brother

– signed, having previously been at Everton, Macclesfield, New York Red Bulls and Orlando City; attacking MF Ashley Grimes (26) arrived from Millwall via Rochdale; LB and new Captain Gareth Roberts (35), who started in the FA Youth Cup-winning Liverpool side alongside Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher, before moving on to Panionios (I thought you got those in a Greek Takeaway?), Tranmere, Doncaster and Derby; on loan have come Jordan Sinnott, a 19 year-old CMF from Huddersfield, Blackburn striker Anton Forrester (19), RB Shaun Beeley from Fleetwood, and the Owls’ Danny Mayor (22) ………..

Naturally, it takes time for a whole new dressing-room full to gel, and the Shakers’ start to the season hasn’t been the most auspicious; they managed to do it unto Crewe in the CapOne Cup (3-2, Proccie in the starting line up, with goals from Shaun Beeley, Shaun Harrad from the spot and Richard Hinds) giving them an eminently lose-able Second Round tie at Carrow Road, Norwich

……..In the League, though, they started with a 2-0 home defeat to Snakefield

, both goals coming in the second half, before succumbing again by the dreaming spires of Oxford last Saturday (2-1, Tom Soares equalising Danny Rose’s early strike for Oxford, only for ex-Miller Johnny Mullins to win it for the home side with 8 minutes to go) ………….. P2 L2 F1 A4 Pts0

– 22nd place, above Plymouth by virtue of having at least scored

(which Plymouth haven’t, yet

), and above Hartlepool - who haven't scored either

- by virtue of a better goal difference (-3 to -4; t’riffic!)

We don’t have a brilliant record against them since we came back into the League in 2006 (by the way, did you know we’re the only team to have played in League Two every season since 2006/7?

); it actually took us 8 attempts to beat them, finally managing it at their place on 5th September 2009, when two goals by Tangerine Bobby Grant

in the last 7 minutes gave us the points; our only other win in 10 attempts was, oddly, in 2010/11 – the season they went up – when Joe Jacobson got the only goal at our place; P10 W2 D2 L6 F10 A17. Pants, really ………………..

The deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 17th August 2013. Whatever else you may say about us this season – and I, for one, thought we deserved our point against Pompey

, and I also thought Murph meant to chip the keeper for his first goal

(are you aware he’s joint leading scorer in the whole of League Two?) – we can stick the ball in the net; our only goalless game was the defeat at Barrow; otherwise we’ve scored 20 goals in all, or 4 in 3 in League and Cup ……….. Wishing Bury no ill, you’d have a flutter on us to win this one, I think………….Eh Rob?

Good luck to everyone ……………….Remember; passion overcomes logic

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