2020/21 Prediction League; Game 17 v Wigan (away)

[Div3North]

Wigan Athletic

V

Accrington Stanley

2020/21 Prediction League Game 17; v The EddieWaringUpAndUnders (away)


Once again I start with an In Memoriam - what IS going on?; this time for Italian legend Paolo Rossi, of Vicenza and later Juve, who died of cancer on Wednesday aged 64 .......... in his spare time he co-founded Status Quo - no, sorry, that was Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi ....... Paolo - one of only three players ever to win the World Cup, the Golden Boot (leading scorer) and Golden Ball (player of the tournament) at the same time (he also won the Balloon Door ..... erm, Ballon d'Or ..... in the same season (1982) as the European Player of the Year) ............. Starter for Ten, then; who were the other two?

But he nearly didn't make it to Spain that year, having been caught up in the 1980 Totonero Scandal (they had another one in 1986, apparently; and doesn't TotoNero mean "All Black"?). This TotoNero, though, was a match-fixing scandal of some proportions, involving the Presidents of Bologna and Milan (AC) being banned, 20 players being banned for periods of between 6 years and 3 months, and both AC Milan and Lazio being relegated from Serie A to Serie B ......... Paolo got three years, reduced to two on appeal, and just made the bus to Y Viva in Espana

And 64 isn't an age, these days; 70 is the new 50. He'll probably be best remembered for his hat-trick against Brazil in the 82 World Cup QF which gave the Azzurris a 3-2 win ........... and they're called the Azzurris ("The Blues") because the National Team, way back, adopted shirts in the colour of their then Royal House ("Casa Savoia", or "The House of Savoy") rather than, as is more usual, the National Flag (can you see the Italians playing in Green, White and Red? Me neither) ............. Riposare in Pace, Paolo

And while we're doing Italy, did you see the Covid Lockdown story from Como? It seems that this man had an argument with his wife, left the house to cool off, and ended up walking 280 miles, from Como in the North to Fano on the Adriatic Coast, where the local Fuzz found him wandering aimlessly and cold on a coastal highway. They challenged him for Breach of Lockdown Curfew, found that he was reported missing, contacted his wife to come and collect him, and then fined him 400 Euros for his trouble! #BetYouWon'tBeGettingAnyHelloFolksAndWhatAboutTheW orkersTonight!#NeverArgueWithAWoman .......

"Unbeaten in Eight"; golly gosh, you chaps; Play Up School!

The name Wigan has been dated to at least the 7th century, and originally meant "village" or "settlement". It may also have been linked with Tre (meaning homestead), to give an original name of Trewigan. The name of the town has been recorded variously as Wigan in 1199, Wygayn in 1240, and Wygan in numerous historical documents. It was once in Lancashire, until some thieving bast*rd moved in into GM .... Genetically modified Wigan!

And yes, there is a Wigan Pier .... and a Wigan Kebab, which apparently consists of a buttered barm cake with a pie as the filling. Oh yum! And did you know that Wigan is home to the annual World Pie Eating Championship, usually held at Harry's Bar on Wallgate? The competition's been held since 1992, and in 2006 a vegetarian option was added (WHAT?) Wiganers are actually sometimes referred to as "pie-eaters"; the name is said to date from the General Strike, when Wigan coal miners were starved back to work before their counterparts in surrounding towns and so were forced to metaphorically eat "humble pie". And still on the culinary front, Wigan is well known as the home of Uncle Joe's Mint Balls; where the rest of Uncle Joe lives isn't clear ......

Soccer struggled to take hold in Wigan; non-league clubs Wigan County (1897-1900) and Wigan Town (1905-1908) both folded within a few years of their creation; Wigan Borough emerged from amateur side Wigan United in 1920 and became the town's first Football League side in 1921 as founder members of the Third Division North, although they left the League and folded in 1931, to be replaced a year later by Wigan Athletic.

They did the rounds of the non-League Leagues, and eventually finished in second place in the Northern Premier League in the 1977–78 season, behind winners Boston United; as Boston's ground and facilities didn't meet the Football League criteria whereas Springfield Park did, Wigan were put forward for election to the league.

They'd always been "very keen" to make the League structure; stats show that they made 34 unsuccessful applications for election, including one controversial but headline-making application in 1972 to join the Scottish League Second Division

The problem with that was simple; Wigan's more than 100 miles away from Scotland. A match at Brechin, who were in the Second Division, would require a 600-mile round trip. The Scottish League was hardly welcoming. Between 1931 and 1974, only one club – Clydebank in 1966 – was admitted. Wigan's chances were slim and their bid was rejected. South Shields, also in the Northern Premier League, were turned down at the same time, although, then known as Gateshead United, they tried again two years later, but lost out to Ferranti Thistle, who became Meadowbank Thistle, before relocating to Livingston.

There was no automatic promotion to the Football League until 1987, and at that time a club had to be 'voted out' of the League to allow a non-league team to be promoted in their place. At the end of the 1977–78 season, Southport finished second-bottom of the old Fourth Division, and faced near neighbours Wigan for their place in the league. The first round of voting was tied, with both clubs receiving 26 votes. After a tense re-vote which Wigan won 29–20, Southport lost their place in the Fourth Division and Wigan Athletic became an English League club on 2 June 1978

History records that they reached the Premier League in 2005. They were relegated in 2013 (although they won the FA Cup the same season), and although they GreasyPoled again in 2015, they were re-promoted again in 2016, staying there until Sale, Administration (during which they managed to beat Hull 8-0!), (?) Asset stripping - who knows?, and PointsDeduction (just enough to send them down the Helter Skelter), plunged them into League Un at the end of last season ........... And non-league football returned to the town in 2005 with the formation of Wigan Robin Park; sadly, that club folded in 2015.

But for the deduction (12 points), they'd have finished last season 13th on 59 points; as it was, and with hardly any players left and all sorts of rumours, they were had over big-time, and left to rot ............. 25 players were sold, sacked or screwed; among the Dear Departed were Josh "Don't Sign Anything" Windass , now at The Owls, and Gary Roberts, now at Bala Town; LW Anthony Pilkington and CB Danny Fox went to East Bengal, striker Kieffer Moore to Cardiff, Jenson Weir to Brighton, RW Jamal Lowe joined Swansea, French CB Cédric Kipré signed for the Baggies (in French, Les Baggies) .... and so it went ........... By the way, did you know that the French Government banned fireworks displays on Bastille Day? Apparently, the last time they had a Municipal Display of rockets, roman candles, bangers and Catherine wheels, the entire Montmartre Army Garrison surrendered to a passing coach-load of Czech tourists .............

To replace Les Disparus they ProperSigned five (all freebies), being AMF Dan Gardner from SalfordMoneybags, Nigerian-born RW Viv Solomon-Otabor from CSKA Sofia (probably them getting revenge for having signed Alan Pardew), RB Josh Clarke from Brentford (Bradley Walsh's old team), striker Will Keane from Ipswich, and they rescued CB Nathan Cameron from Macclesfield; they also LoanSigned four, but I've never heard of them, so don't propose to bore you ......

And such is the flip side of Karma that after the indignities and injustices of the summer, and due a little fortune, they're currently 24th of 24 in the League; at home, their record is W1 D2 L4 GF7 GA10, and away, it's W2 D0 L6 GF4 GA12, for an overall record of P15 W3 D2 L10 GF11 GA22 for 11 points ........ they're behind the Pointy-Noised Furry Things on GD (-8 plays -11), a point behind Burton, 4 points behind Oxford, and five points and a couple of goals behind Swindon, Brizzle, and the Doodles ....... wins over Pompey 2-1 and Slumberland 1-0 away, and Donnie 1-0 at home (so they can beat the good stuff and lose to the cr*p - bit like we used to be before we started beating everybody) .... They (rather embarrassingly) lost 3-2 aet at home to Chorley in Round One of the FA Cup, 3-2 at Fleetwood in Round One of the shinywindowsleasingthepaintpot.com Cup, and failed to get out of their group in the Troffy ..........Joe Garner has 6 goals in all comps, Tom James has 3, and Kal Naismith 2 .... we've only played them once, in the group stages of the FL Trophy back in 2017, and we duffed them up 4-0 .... goals by Edwards (Jonathan, not Lord Sunbeds, who now plays for The Crows (Royston Town)), Érico Henrique Esteves de Sousa - now of Darlington (x2), and Mekhi Leacock-McLeod (now with Haringey Borough) .... how transient is fame?

Famous managers of the Latics over the years include Allenby C Chilton, who sounds like the detective in an Agatha Christie novel, but was actually a member of the post-war Man Utd team, playing centre half; he was club captain during the 1953–54 season, and having missed just 13 games in nine seasons at United and with 175 consecutive appearances to his name, he asked to be rested from first team action in early 1955; he was replaced by Mark Jones, one of the rising Busby Babes, and never returned to first team action, moving to Grimsby as player-manager in March 55 ..... moral? If you're in, stay in (a bit like tantric sex)......... Also on the list are ex-PNE James Low "Jimmy" Milne, Bratfud and Man City LB Sam Barkas, who won five caps for England and was captain for three of them, ex-Blackpool inside left Allan Brown, Gordon Milne (son of Jimmy), Larry Lloyd, Bruce Rioch, Steve Bruce, Roberto Martinez and Paul Cook

Their highest-ever finish was 10th in the PL (2006); biggest league win is this summer's 8-0 rout of Hull; most League appearances is 317 by Kevin Langley, most League goals is 70 (Andy Liddell, between 1998 and 2003), and their record transfer fee paid was £6.5 million for Mauro Boselli from Estudiantes in August 2010 ............. might be me, but I don't remember him .......... and in the 1953–54 season, Wigan played an FA Cup match against Hereford United in front of a crowd of 27,526 at Springfield Park – a club record, and also a record attendance for a match between two non-league teams at a non-league ground (their DW Stadium record is 25,133 v Man U in the PrawnSandwich League in May 2008)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 12th December ............ I have a bit of a soft spot for Wigan, who I watched back in the 60s as rivals to Altrincham (I also watched Stalybridge Celtic, but that's a completely different story); that said, I'd like us to keep The Winning Run going ............ I was never one to decline the chance to kick a man when he's down!

And the other two men, apart from Signor Rossi - who of course also rode motorbikes - to win two Balloons each to adorn their World Cups were Brazilian Garrincha (no, it's not a sexy haircut ...or an anything else of the sort) and Argentina's Mario Kempes (Mario Alberto Kempes Chiodi), who played for 11 clubs over 24 years, including River Plate and Valencia, playing 555 games and scoring 300 times

Good luck to everyone! .......... Stay safe and keep well! ............ And thanks for playing!

[StanleyJosh]

Wigan 2 Accrington Stanley 1

[AccyMad]

2 - 1 to Stanley please

[andyd]

Stanley 3-0 Wigan

[cashman]

2-0 stanley

[MikeA]

2-0 Stanley, please

[DaveinGermany]

2-0 to the Stanley please D3N.

[monkey hanger]

stanley 2 wigan 2.

[Watchdog]

1-1 draw please

[Taypot]

Wigan 2 Stanley 3

[Chimer]

Stanley are historically not very good at kicking men when they are down , Kai Naismith might just come back to haunt us .... and isn't Leam Richardson still caretaker-managing them?

But the faith needs to be kept, and providing the boys remember where the goals are it's gotta be 3-0 Stanley

[Tom D]

1-0 win for stanley please

[choirboy]

Wigan 1-2 Stanley for me please.

[andyd]

Originally Posted by Chimer

Stanley are historically not very good at kicking men when they are down , Kai Naismith might just come back to haunt us .... and isn't Leam Richardson still caretaker-managing them?

But the faith needs to be kept, and providing the boys remember where the goals are it's gotta be 3-0 Stanley

Naismith out injured so he will be haunting the empty stands.

[LongLostSon]

Stanley 1 Wigan 2
hurling me sel off back doorstep is another option