2014 Prediction League; Game 6 v Tranmere Rovers (home)

Div3North · 04-09-2014, 00:11

Accrington Stanley

V

Tranmere Rovers

2014/15 Prediction League; Game 6 v Tranmere Rovers (home)

This week’s starter for ten; what is the claim to fame of the Rovers’ former player Harold Bell? Answer – he played in every Third Division North game for them from the first one after the end of WWII until 30th August 1955, a total of 401 consecutive appearances (still a record) ……….

You might have thought that the 1881/2 side “Tranmere Rovers Cricket Club (Association Football Section)” would be the logical fore-runners of today’s Rovers ……..and you’d be wrong!

“Our” Tranmere Rovers were formed in 1884 out of two local cricket teams – Lyndhurst Wanderers and Belmont, and for the first season they played (friendlies) as Belmont FC – a good choice of name, given the alternative, changing their name the following year (85). They were founder members of the (then newly-formed) Third Division North in 1921, finishing their inaugural season 18th (of 20) with 29 points from 38 games, above Halifax Town and Rochdale, and immediately below Barrow, Nelson and Wigan Borough

, improving the next year (when Nelson won the Division

) to 16th – 32 points – and above such football giants as Southport, Barrow, Ashington and Durham City

. To their credit, they’ve remained in the League ever since, although never in the top tier – their best ever finish being 4th place in the First Division (tier 2) in 1992-3, which was the first of three consecutive appearances in the Play-offs for the Premier League.

Quiz facts you need to learn might well include (1) that they won the highest-scoring English League game (on Boxing Day 1935) when they beat Oldham 13-4

and (2) that their list of former managers includes John Aldridge (also a player there in his time), plus John Barnes, Les Parry, Ronnie Moore – twice – who was fired back in April for what I saw him recently describe as “a £1.00 bet” – yeah, right!

– and a certain Ron Yeats . Ron (“The Colossus”) - now 76 - was appointed in 2009 as “an Honorary Scouser”

by the then Lord Mayor of Liverpool, and he had a career which included 96 league appearances for Dundee Utd (better than being a slaughterman, which is what he had been), 358 for THE Liverpool team of the 60s, and 97 as player-manager at Prenton Park; Everton fans apparently used to have a song which went, “We hate Bill Shankly

and we hate St John, But most of all we hate Big Ron”. Typical of Yeats, he decided that he needed a Consultant to assist him during his time as manager, and so one was appointed; Shankly – the man who gave Yeats his nickname in the first place!

They dumped us out of the Associate Members Cup in 2008 – 9 by a score of 1-0

; they did it again in 2011 – 12 by the same score

; in between, we beat them 5-3 on penalties in 2010 – 11 after a 1-1 draw, only to withdraw from the competition 6 weeks later when it came to light that we’d played Razor Ray Putterill while he was under a ban

………… Putterill – who many thought was a talent wasted

– most recently played for Hyde Utd (one game in 2012-13), and then moved to Formby, for whom it seems he only played one as well; it appears that he’s currently without a club ……………Anyway, back to Tranmere; in addition to the AM Cup, they also put us out of the FA Cup (Round 1) in 2008 – 09 (1-0 after a goal-less draw at our place), and then they did the same again (also by 1-0) last season

. That means that we’ve played them 6 times in Cup competitions in 6 years, and that we’ve drawn 2

(0-0 and 1-1) lost four (all by 1-0)

, and scored just one goal

(in the game which we forfeited!) ………….. You might think – Wynonie

in particular – that a 6-0 prediction may be excessively optimistic ………………..or plain stupid!

We have played them in the League, but not since 1960; we lost 3-1 at home, and 5-1 away. The year before – 58/59, the season when the great Billy Wright

retired, as his Wolves side won the First Division title, scoring 110 goals in 42 games (four goals x 4, 5 goals x 5, two 6s and a seven); Man U paid a record fee of £45,000 for Sheff Wed’s inside forward (“Dad, what’s an inside forward ……”) Albert Quixall

; the Fourth Division came into being; and Worcester City put Liverpool out of the FA Cup 2-1 – we won 3-1 at home, but we managed to lose the reverse fixture 9-0, although in fact, we were only 8 points apart at the end of that season.

Seven players left in the summer as they came down to League Two; one went on loan; two more were released; Ryan Lowe

– 35, and a veteran of Shrewsbury, Chester, Crewe, Bury, Sheff Wed and MK Dons – re-signed for the Shakers; defender Ash Taylor (24) moved to Aberdeen; Northern Irish GK Jason Mooney (25) went to York; and Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro (26, striker) – ex Toulouse, FC Brussels, Grimsby and Rochdale – signed on the dotted for Shrewsbury ………………In came, by my count, at least 14 new faces; Fleetwood, Plymouth, Macclesfield striker George Donnelly (26) most recently (this week); Slovakian GK Peter Brezovan (35) – after playing for 6 sides in his native land (none of whose names I can spell, let alone pronounce

), and then Swindon, Brighton and Pompey, signed at the same time; Exeter’s MF Matt Gill, now 33, joined as player-coach; defender Michael Ihiekwe (21) arrived from Wolves; Scottish MF Marc Laird (28), of Millwall, Leyton Orient and Southend fame appeared and stayed; defender Clayton Donaldson (25) – ex Walsall, Port Vale and Grimsby – signed on non-contract terms on 4th August, played once, and was gone again within the fortnight

; oh, and one Kayodi Odejayi left the New York Stadium for the bright lights of the Wirral

………. There were others, but since I haven’t heard of most of them, you likely haven’t either …………….

At the moment they lie 11th; P5 W2 D1 L2 F8 L7, with 7 points; they’re behind Cambridge and Plymouth on GD, and 3 points off the play-offs; the wins were against Wycombe (away) 2-0 and Morecambe (home) 2-1, thereby ending their winning run of 4 games

; the draw was 1-1 against York; the defeats were 2-1 at Shrewsbury, and 3-2 at home to Cheltenham. As anyone who has lost to Shrewsbury and Cheltenham will tell you – won’t we

– there’s no shame in losing to two decent sides! They’re already out of the League Cup (so who isn’t?

), losing at home 1-0 to Notts Forest, now managed by Psycho , of course; they play in Round Two of the TinPot, having got a bye in Round One (draw is this Saturday). Their Leading scorer is Cole Stockton, with 3 of their eight goals overall; five others, including one Mr Bell-Baggie , have one each.

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 6th September ……….It isn’t as if we can’t score – clearly we can; what we can’t do, at the moment, is to protect a lead

– we’ve been ahead in each of our last three games and not won any of them ……….So ………… If that’s going to change, why not change it now?

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