2014/15 Prediction League - Game 32 v Cheltenham Town (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

V

Cheltenham Town

2014/15 Prediction League; Game 32 v Cheltenham (home)


When you’re sliding inexorably towards the yawning chasm of relegation , and you’re currently the worst-performing team in League Two, it won’t necessarily help your cause to slag off your previous manager, plus some his predecessors, as “very bad appointments” . Your problem’s going to be that everybody will remember that it was you who appointed them , and if you keep on making “Very Bad Appointments” someone, somewhere, may decide that you’re a Very Bad Chairman , and that you and your Board of Directors couldn’t organise a Social Function in a Brewery ……

Thus Paul Baker, Chairman of Cheltenham Town, on the recent departure of Manager Paul Buckle after 79 days in the job with an overall record of 1 win, 5 draws and 7 losses ;

• "There's no question that we made a big mistake with the last appointment. Chairmen and directors will get these decision right and wrong, and it was a bad decision. The board are going to meet again on Monday.

"We need to make sure this next appointment becomes part of the ethos of what Cheltenham Town is all about. If you look at the very bad appointments, Martin Allen, Paul Buckle and one or two others , they've had no affiliation with this football club."

Amen to that, Mr Baker; the Conference is chock-full of People with Affiliation ……….

No doubt you’ll have seen that they’ve now appointed what the BBC described as “the team that oversaw their defeat to Bury on Saturday”, which isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement ; Russell Milton – previously the Youth team coach, who played over 200 games for the Robins - and retired former CB Steve Elliott (he “retired” because Paul Buckle released him in late January ) will run the show until May; Milton has never been a full-time first team managerial role, and Elliott, as far as I can tell, has no managerial or coaching history. Accordingly they’re now looking for a third (“experienced”) figure to act as wet-nurse – sorry, advisor – to the new Dynamic Duo ; former Chelts , Brizzle Rovers and Colchester boss John Ward is one of various names mentioned. I have to say that having a pool of three managing the team, picking the squad and deciding the tactics sounds like (a) management by Committee (“We’ve decided we want you to take the penalties, by two votes to one” ) and (b) a recipe for an even bigger lash-up than they’ve got now . Good luck, Guys – starting this Saturday!

Of their last ten League games, Cheltenham have won one (2-1 at Oxford – their lucky team - on 3rd January), drawn two (Luton and Morecambe, both 1-1 at home) and lost seven ; their total of five points in those 10 games is the worst in the League , worryingly quite a distance behind Mansfield, Oxford and Cambridge (all with 9 points), Accie with 10, Hartlepool and Pompey with 11, and York and Carlisle with 12; at the end of November (Paul Buckle’s first game in charge) they broke a four game losing streak with a point against Lucky Oxford, and were 17th, with 23 points from 19 games; their next game was a 1-0 loss at home to Dover of the Conference in the Second Round of the FA Cup (having put our red-hot Swindon 5-0 in Round One – surely Fluke of the Day ); since then they’ve taken 7 points in all from a possible 36 , and are 23rd, with an overall record of P31 W7 D9 L15 GF27 GA47 Pts30 ……… 27 goals scored is the third worst in the Division; Hartlepool have 24 and Mansfield have 25 ……….As Frankie Howerd’s Soothsayer used to say in “Up Pompeii”, “Woe, woe and thrice woe” ……………

At the end of January – as well as getting rid of Elliott – they brought in a few new’uns; forward Eliot Richards (23) came in from Tranmere, where he lasted half a season before he was released ; Scottish-born striker Denny Johnstone (20), once with Celtic (where he scored nul points ) and who belongs to Brum but has been on loan at Macclesfield is now on loan in Gloucestershire; Wes Burns, also a forward and also 20, joined on loan from Bristol City; and MF Jordan Wynter (21), who got jersey number 63 in the Arsenal squad but never got it dirty , and who didn’t make the cut at Bristol City after his 3 games there either, left Bristol for Gloucester, which is a bit like leaving Accie for Burnley . Most recently Mathieu Manset (25) – Hereford, Reading, some team in China , some other team in Switzerland , Carlisle, Coventry, some Belgian mob , and Walsall – arrived to find out if his passport was still valid for this Country ..............

I mentioned their FA Cup (Non-) run above; the other Cups didn’t provide them much better fare; in the Carling they lost 2-0 at Brighton in Round One; in the PaintyThingy they did beat Very Lucky Oxford 2-0 at home, but then they didn’t beat Bristol City at home by 1-3. They played us in the second game of the season (managed then by Mark Yeates) and won 2-1 at home, which would have been 2-2 if Kal Naismith hadn’t dinked a 93rd minute penalty over the bar ; at that moment they were 5th (P2 W2 Pts 6) and we were 19th (P2 L2 Pts 0) ...........In all, they’ve scored 35 goals (5 of them against Swindon, and 13 times they’ve scored nil ) and conceded 54 ; their leading scorers (according to their own website stats) are three MFs; Matt Richards has 3, Joe Hanks has 2, and Zack Kotwica has two. Too. Don’t know who got the rest, but they must have left since ....................

If you look at the front page of their website, it contains a quote from Paul (Chairman) Baker, which reads,

• “We’re all in this together”

Too right you are, old son – but whose fault is that?

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm this Friday evening, 20th February. Even the pessimists and doom-mongers (you know who you are! ) must fancy us to win this one ..............Surely? I bet Wynonie does, anyway ........How are the new pills doing, Steve?

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

[JIMSLAD]

3=0 to Stanley please

[LongLostSon]

surely 4 - 0 to Stanley

[DaveinGermany]

2-0 to the Stanley please D3N.

[Revived Red]

I hope we are not being too optimistic, but I'll go with the flow and say Stanley 3 Cheltenham 0, please D3N. I have to say that I am not over keen on Cheltenham with their arrogant, snobby fans, violent steward, and lines of police to greet us.

[Redash]

3-1 to The Stanley please.

[accybeme]

Stanley 1 Cheltenham 0 please

[cashman]

3-1 Stanley fer me.

[deeayess]

2 1 Stanley please, hopefully I don't jinx it.

[DAV007]

5-0 to the Stanley.

[ossy kid]

Stanley 2 - 0 Chelts

[Stevie R]

2 each please

[AccyMad]

4 - 2 to Stanley please, El Tel hat-trick & one from Piero ��

[smobile]

6-1 Stanley

[Exile on Spencer St]

On the basis that, according to current league standings, Southend are a good team and Cheltenham not, the Voodoo Gods of Football dictate a 1-1 draw.