2017/18 Prediction League; Game 11 v Forest Green Rovers (away)

Div3North · 27-09-2017, 20:00

Forest Green Rovers

V

Accrington Stanley

2017/18 Prediction League; Game 11 v Forest Green (away)

According to one site I saw, one of Forest Green Rovers’ nicknames is “The Green Devils” – which is a bit like the old Man U “Red Devils”, except that they aren’t completely ripe yet ..........I assume ………… they’re also called “The Green” (as in “The moon shone on the Village Green, It also shone on Nell, Was she drawing water?” …. And that’s enough of that, I think)…….. I rather liked “Vegan Greenpeace United” when I saw that one …………… any better offers?

The club was formed, it seems, in 1889, by Rev EJH Peach; the suffix “Rovers” was adopted four years later; they were in and out of all sorts of local Leagues over many years, and at one time “absorbed” another team known at Nailsworth Thursday (we could have a League, couldn’t we – Sheffield Wednesday, Nailsworth Thursday, Stevenage Friday, Blackpool Allweekend ………) At one point in their early history they were Nailsworth and Forest Green United, which isn’t the snappiest of titles, and in 1968 they were one of the founders of the Gloucestershire County League, moving in 1975 to the Hellenic League Premier Division (which was a league covering an area including Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, southern Buckinghamshire, southern Herefordshire, western Greater London, and northern Wiltshire, plus the outskirt of Athens, large areas of the Greek Isles, and much of Mesopotamia (away games were a problem! – ok, I made that last bit up)) To move on to things we might – some of us – recall, they were in the Southern League from 1982 to 1998 (for three years they played as Stroud FC) and in 1998 they gained promotion to the Conference; they finished in the relegation places in 2004/05 and in 2009/10, but were saved from the Slide Down The Greasy Pole by Northwich Victoria and Salisbury City respectively being booted out for ground and financial issues ………….the only person I can think of with more reprieves than FGR was John Henry George Lee (aka John Babbacombe Lee) who was famous in the mid 1880s as “The Man They Couldn’t Hang” after three attempts to despatch him on the gallows all failed ………….FGR reached the play-offs in 2014/15 (losing 3-0 on aggregate to BrizzleRov) and in 2015/16 and 2016/17 (see “promoted” below)

Mark Cooper – son of Terry Cooper and Dad of VGU’s CMF Charlie Cooper (who they/he signed from Birmingham in the summer – nepotism still rules ok!) – climbed on board as Manager in May 16; he’d been short term Manager at Notts County from March and had saved them by reaching the points target set, which would have triggered him a long-term contract; he turned that down, opting for the green fields (and Devils) of rural Gloucestershire – FGR having just reached the 2016 Bananarama Conference Play-off Final, which they promptly lost 3-1 to Grimsby in front of 17,198 at Wembley (they must have rattled in a space like that) ………… last season they were promoted to the EFL for the first time after they beat Dagenham and Greenbridge 3-1 in the Semis, and Tranmere 3-1 in the Playoff Final ……….

Nine of the promotion squad left over the summer, three as free agents (= “Here’s your P45”), five to non-League (including MFs Marcus Kelly and Sam Wedgbury (known to his mates as “Wedgie”, I’d expect) who both went to Wrexham, and CB Ethan Pinnock - whose name I typed with extreme care - who joined Matty P at Dickie Bird’s beloved Barnsley for £undisclosed (which, being Yorkshire, probably wasn’t a very large £undisclosed; short arms, deep pockets ……..)

They brought in ten, notable among whom was 33-year old defender Mark Roberts (once of the Stanley, but that was 9 years ago), plus LB Scott Laird from the Iron, CB Lee Collins from Mansfield, CMs Reece Brown and Charlie Cooper from Brum (see “nepotism” above), striker Luke James from the Posh and DMF Isaiah Osbourne (not related to Ozzie as far as I know) from Walsall ……….. they’ve topped up with some loans as well, from Chelsea, West Brom, Forest (Notts), Wolves and Liverpool ….

To prove what a tough old life it is, their season so far reads P10 W1 D2 L7 GF10 GA25 for 5 points and 24th place, below Chesterfield and Port Vale on “whose GD is the worst” (theirs is, by -15 against -12 and -7); only three teams (Vale, Chesterfield and Morecambe) have scored fewer (8, 9 and 9); no-one has conceded more, the next worst being Yeovil’s 23 and Chesterfield’s 21, plus a couple of teams on 18………… the solitary win was at home, 4-3 against Yeovil, the winner coming in the 79th minute from Omar Bugiel (a German striker of Lebanese descent); the draws were a Desmond (from 2-0 up) at home to Barnet on opening day and a 1-1 at Port Vale in game 9; they’ve also exited the EFL Cup, 0-1 at home to the MK Dons aet (did you see AFC Wombles are being “invited to explain” why they never refer to MK Dons by including the “Dons” part of their name?) ……….. and it could get tougher before it gets easier …………..Oh Joy, Oh Rupture – sorry, Rapture)

In June 2011, the club began work on making the stadium environmentally friendly following the arrival of new owner and green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince. They apparently have an entirely organic pitch, and in December 2011, 180 solar panels were installed on the roof of the stand, helping the club generate 10% of its electricity needs. The following year they seemingly introduced the first robot lawn mower to be used in the UK onto their playing surface; it uses GPS technology to guide it round the pitch without the need for human intervention, and gathers power from the solar panels at the stadium. They're said to have plans for a 5,000 seat stadium to be built in the Eco Park complex beside Junction 13 of the M5 (8 ½ miles northwest of Nailsworth); the design is for the stadium to be made almost entirely of wood ....... You have to feel sorry for the fans, though, who’ll never experience the joys of standing in mixed fluids on the floor of the Gents, or queuing up for a burnt burger – two of the things that make our football what it is .......................... crap!

Obviously (!) we haven’t met in the League yet; Yeovil currently hold the title as the only team to have lost to VGU in competitive League action .............it would be nice if we didn’t decide, even by default, to share that honour with them! The Vegans won the FA Vase in 1981/82, and the Hellenic League in the same season, beating Piraeus 28-4 in the final match (no they didn’t, I made that up too ...............) Their highest (Non-League) League win was 8-0 against Fareham in the Southern League in the 1990s, and against Hyde Utd in the Conference in 2013 (but then, everybody beat Hyde 8-0 that year!) .....among their list of famous players is defender John David Hardiker (35), also of Morecambe (twice) Stockport and Bury, who gets a mention only because I know his Dad!

Knowing that there’s nothing like a good quote to get the fans on board, the BBC local radio interviewed Isaiah Osbourne (see above) who made his debut in Tuesday’s 0-3 loss to Cambridge ................... he says that Forest Green must "stay calm" (personally, with only 5 points gained and 25 goals conceded already (which would be 115 over a full season) I think I’d be inclined to panic) .............his take is that

• "The little mistakes are costing us at the moment, but hopefully the gaffer will get it right soon", adding "I've been in this situation plenty of times - with Nottingham Forest, Blackpool and Scunthorpe. The best thing to do is to stay calm - you can't let anything get to you”

• He finished, "We do look good at times going forward - we've got to out and play with our hearts."

You might to better playing with your feet Isaiah, but we get your drift .........

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 30th September ............ Actually, you know, this thing about having a colour in the middle of your name could catch on …………… Lincoln Green City? Manchester SkyBlue City? Mansfield YellowandBlue Town? Accrington RedWithWhiteTrim Stanley? Peterborough PinkWithaBijouCappedSleeveandMatchingSocks United? Got a whole new trend going on here, methinks! And especially so when half the crest/badge on your shirt features a unicorn!

And AFC Fylde are away at Leyton Orient on Saturday; how unbelievable is that?

Good luck to everyone! ................. Keep the Faith! (I nearly predicted a 2-1 win at Port Vale, but I changed my mind .................) ................... And thanks for playing!