2019/20 Prediction League; Game 4 v Shrewsbury Town (home)

Div3North · 12-08-2019, 22:36

Accrington Stanley

V

Shrewsbury Town

2019/20 Prediction League; Game 4 v Shrewsbury (home)

In 1403 the Battle of Shrewsbury was fought about 3 miles north of the centre of the town (making it, for those purposes, an away fixture, without VAR). With enormous good sense, the match was arranged for a small village called – no, seriously - Battlefield; it was played between King Henry IV’s All Stars and Henry (Tottenham) Hotspur-Percy’s XI, with the King’s team emerging victorious. So memorable was the game that it was later celebrated in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Act 5. I have no idea what was celebrated in Acts 1-4 inclusive

The town was apparently at the height of its commercial importance in the late Middle Ages (14th and 15th Centuries), mostly due to the wool trade, but once the sheep started to wander off it all went downhill ……………. and so, probably, did the sheep ……….. Moving on, during the Civil War the town was a Royalist stronghold, and only fell to the Parliamentary Forces (led by Abbott Johnson Corbyn) when some sneaky bastard unlocked the back door at the St Mary’s Water Gate (also, for obvious reasons, known as the Traitor’s Gate) when no-one was looking …………. Because of the “Ordnance of No Quarter” (“For you the War is Over! Stick your head on this block of wood for a moment …….”) a dozen Irish prisoners were selected to be killed by the drawing of lots ……………… “Rock, paper, scissors” …………… not, you may think, a place you’d be all that keen to visit ………………

To be fair – well, unfair - the Royalists did get their own back by chopping the heads off some Parliamentary prisoners at Oswestry - Abbott, Johnson, Corbyn, Sturgeon, 90% of the DUP and the negotiators of Brexit (we should be that lucky …………………..) Actually, the Ordnance was a genuine decree from 1644; it read, “... no quarter shall be given hereafter to any Irishman, nor any Papist whatsoever born in Ireland, who shall be taken in hostility against the Parliament ... every officer that shall be remiss or negligent in observing the tenor of this ordinance shall be reputed a favourer of that bloody rebellion in Ireland”. Hard times!

So there you are – a potted history of Shrewsbury …… their footie team was founded in 1886 out of the wreckage for Shrewsbury Wanderers (sounds like something out of Robb Wilton), and joined the Big Boys in 1950 (we beat them twice in their first season (50/51), winning 1-0 away and 2-0 at home); they’ve been in the second, third and fourth tiers, and also the Bananarama (2003/04, when they won the Playoff Final by beating Aldershot 3-0 on pens after a half-Desmond – and interestingly, both semis and the final that season were decided on spot kicks!); they played at Gay Meadow between 1910 and 2007 (there were several replays to that game, so it took a while) and then moved to the New Meadow (known as the “Montgomery Waters Meadow” for sponsorship purposes, apparently), which is a UEFA Category 4 stadium; a Cat 4 stadium can host certain games in the Champions League or the Europa League; the problem is that although the MWM has a capacity of 9875 (Cat 4 minimum is 8,000), no stadium with a capacity under 30,000 has hosted a Europa League Final, and no stadium with a capacity less than 60,000 has staged a UEFA Champions League Final, so Barcelona v PSG isn’t coming to Shropshire any time soon ….. The Shrews’ highest place in Division 2 was 8th, in 1983/84 and again the following year, before the slid down the Greasy Pole of Oblivion in 1988/89, being regulated after only winning eight games all season (although they did draw 18 – shades of Sinderland last year!)

They finished last season in 18th place, two points above the Demon Drop, with a record of 12 wins, 16 draws and 18 losses; they struggled all season, actually – the highest they ever got was 13th (for one game!); they beat us 1-0 in October (that was the game where Conor Ripley threw a complete shedder on 16 minutes and walked the Walk of Red Shame – and he isn’t starting for PNE; he’s been on the bench twice, kept out of the starting XI by Amber Rudd, who balances her sporting interests with her day job as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) ……………. We stuffed them in the return fixture on Boxing Day, though; 2-1, goals by Jordan Clark and Billy Whizz ….. they managed to beat Salford, Scunthorpe and Stoke in the FA Cup before Wolves hunted them down and devoured them (Gerrit? Wolves? Hunted them down? Oh, suit yourselves!) in a replay 3-2 (after a Gay Meadow Desmond, which is like a Gay Gordons only with more grass), they lasted one game in the EFL Cup, and bowed out of the Troffy on penalties to Portly Vale in Round Three

They shed a shed load in the summer; 13 left – Aaron Amadi-Holloway to Brisbane Roar (whose complete team must be ex-pats by now); forward Lee Angol went to the Orient, GK Steve Arnold left for the Cobblers (but not for Six Million Dollars; oh, hang on, that was Austin …..), defender James Bolton joined Pompey, MF Sam Jones went to Harrrogate, someone went to work for Airbus UK (apprenticeship, I suppose), three went to Free Agent FC (including Doug Loft), one went to Cyprus, one to the Iron, one to Newport, and GK Reice Charles-Cook signed for Macc …………….

Six ProperSigned; Ethan Ebanks-Landell from Wolves; def Aaron Pierre from Grenada via the Cobblers; Daniel Udoh, a forward from Telford (and Nigeria); Joe Murphy (GK) from Bury – and hands up who hasn’t got someone from last year’s Bury team (apart from us); they LoanSigned Steve Morison from Millwall on 1st July and ProperSigned him on 8th August (???) ……………. And Most of All, They Gave Us Love ………… RB Donald Love, a Scot from Sunderland ………………. And speaking of them, what possessed skipper George Honeyman – who I thought played well against us – to move to Hull for a reported £400k?

They began with a useful win by the odd goal in one at home to Pompeii, and last Saturday they were holding MKD to a goalless Desmond until 90+3, when MKD scored ……………… P2 W1 L1 GF1 GA1 Pts3 (at this moment) gives them 12th place (better than the whole of last season (see above)) - although bear in mind that I’m writing this before they play Rochdale on Saturday 17th, so that might have changed by the time we meet them…………….. They play Rotherham on Tuesday 13th in the EFL Cup, and their Troffy Group has Portly Vale, Macclesfield and Newcastle u7s ……………..

Famous managers – they’ve had a few ("but then again, too few to mention"); Harry Potts, before he got the job with the Dingles; Harry Gregg; Arthur Rowley Jr (known as “The Gunner” because of an explosive left foot shot), younger brother of the Red Devils’ Jack Rowley, and holder of the record for the most goals in the history of English league football, scoring 434 from 619 league games; Asa Hartford; John Bond; Chic Bates (three times), Mickey Mellon and his current Asst Manager at Tranmere, one Michael Jackson …………… no, the other one …….. Former players include current and former top-flight managers David Moyes, Nigel Pearson, Gordon Lee, David Pleat and Gary Megson, plus Jimmy Quinn, Mickey Thomas, and Neville Southall ….. Current manager is Sam Ricketts; the club’s nicknames include, it’s claimed, The Shrews (how original), Salop (hmm) and The Blues – not to be confused with the Dolly Blues, which is Lancaster City ………….. and I believe they’ve disposed of the coracle(s) that they used to use to fish the balls out of the river when someone skied a shot at Gay Meadow

They’ve won the Shropshire Senior Cup a record 66 times, but then the only competition is from AFC Telford, The New Saints, and a team representing Whitchurch Airport …………….. The New Saints are actually The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club , and play in the Cymru Premier, which they’ve won a record thirteen times – including the past eight seasons ………….. but they’ve a way to go to catch the Shrews’ record in the SSC……………. Record attendance at the Greenhous Meadow is 10,210 v Chelsea in a League Cup game in 2014 ………..it’s just coming up the 125th anniversary of their biggest-ever non-league League win (12-1 against Hereford City in 1894) ………….. Arthur Rowley scored 38 goals in season 1958/59 (what would you give for a striker who could do that now?) ……. And their Kit Manager is Scott Carson, but not, I think, the same one who keeps goal for Derby County

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Tuesday 20th August 2019 …………… Frank Lampard’s season didn’t start too well, did it? And Romelu Lukaku started his Inter Milan career by scoring four in an 8-0 trouncing, but that was of Seria D “minnows” Virtus Bergamo ……. And I’ve never seen so much money being paid for people I’ve never heard of as was spent in the last Transfer Window …………£1.4 billion by the PrawnSandwiches, was it? I wonder how many of the names we’ll remember in 12 months?

So on with the Main Event – getting our season off to a flyer …………. I reckon this one’s winnable; main question is how many of our twelve new players are going to get a kick? Or a goal? Or a slice of orange at half time?

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