2020/21 Prediction League; Game 22 v Portsmouth FC (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

v

Portsmouth FC

2020/21 Prediction League Game 22; v The Tubular Bells (home)

Oh the joy of the New Year's Honours List .... literally hundreds of very deserving people being rewarded for years of doing thing that mostly I don't understand; "Hermione Lacknickers, for Services to Oblidob" ..... but this year we've made some strides to remedying a National Travesty ..........and I refer to the 1966 World Cup Squad

22 players were picked; fifteen of them played in the tournament (the Final team plus Terry Paine, John Connelly, Ian Callaghan and Jimmy Greaves); seven didn't get a game (Ron Springett, Peter Bonetti, Jimmy Armfield, Gerry Byrne, Norman Hunter, Ron Flowers and George Eastham) ..... and for forty years or so, only the eleven who played the final had Winners' Medals (remedied in 2009, although getting your gong at Downing Street from Gordon Brown probably doesn't compare to climbing up to the Royal Box and getting it from HM the Queen)

Bobby Moore was awarded an OBE in June 67; Gordon Banks got one in June 70; George Eastham got his in June 73; and Jack Charlton in June 74 .... Bobby Charlton got his Knighthood in June 94, and Geoff Hurst got his in June 98 .... Terry Paine got an MBE in January 77, as did Martin Peters in 1978, and George Cohen, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles, Alan Ball, Roger Hunt and Jimmy Armfield in 2000 (Armfield's being upgraded to a CBE in 2010 ......... 14 of 22

For five of the other 8, it's sadly too late; John Connelly died in October 2012, Ron Springett in September 2015, Gerry Byrne in November 2015, and both Peter Bonetti and Norman Hunter in April 2020 ....... and that leaves three ........ and two things occur to me; Ron Flowers and Jimmy Greaves are now to get MBEs, but Ian Callaghan still gets nothing, it seems (explain that if you can?); and why - given the stellar career he had (124 goals in 157 games for Chelsea, 220 in 321 for Spurs, 13/38 for the Hammers, 9/12 for AC Milan and 44/57 for England) - didn't Jimmy Greaves - the standout striker of his generation - get a knighthood too?

And we're still firing Managers, I see; Tony Pulis (10 games, 45 days @ the Owls); and Jake Buxton (appointed in a cost-cutting exercise at Burton when Nigel Clough resigned) who got 225 days and 26 games (W2 D10 L14) .... and Paul Hurst has gone back to Grimsby, having been there between March 2011 and October 2016 before he took the Shrewsbury job (19 months), then the Ipswich job (sightly under 5 months - 15 games (one win)) and - on the rebound - the Scunthorpe job (eight and a half months and 38 games (12 wins))

And of course it'll soon be FA Cup Round Three Day (Marine v Spurs - remember?) .......... and by chance I've discovered a fantastic-looking website called "fchd.info" ("football club history database") which has shed loads of stuff ..... all I've looked at so far is the history of the FA Cup from 1871 to date, which gives all the ties from every year, and in later years includes the Qualifying Rounds, replays etc etc) - so, for example, you could look up every season in which the Stanley in one of its guises entered, who they played, what the scores were, and so on

As a 'forinstance', I looked at the very first contest; 1871-72 .... there were 13 entries ............ in the First Round Hampstead Heathens (seriously!) got a bye, the Royal Engineers and Wanderers (who eventually contested the Final) got walk-overs, as Reigate Priory and Harrow Chequers scratched, Barnes beat the Civil Service 2-0, Maidenhead beat Marlow 2-0 (both those clubs still exist), and Clapham Rovers beat Upton Park 3-0 away .... Hitchen and Crystal Palace - not the current one - drew 0-0 and both went through to Round 2, and Queens' Park (Scottish teams were allowed to enter until 1888) and Donnington School couldn't agree a date, so they both went through as well ......... so three teams went out and 10 went through ... and of the five matches in Round 2, Donnington School scratched so Queen's Park went through, and Hampstead Heathens beat Barnes 1-0 in a replay (no replays in Round One, but a replay in Round 2?)

The Quarters featured Queen's Park (who got a bye to the semis), Royal Engineers (who beat the Heathens 3-0) and a Goalless Desmond between Wanderers and Palace (who both went through) ... both semis were goalless - one was replayed (Engineers beat Palace 3-0), but Queen's Park couldn't afford to make the trip to London for their replay, and so Wanderers went through by default ............. and promptly beat the Royal Engineers 1-0, with a goal from Morten Betts - who played under a pseudonym, having previously been a member of Harrow Chequers

And with that site in mind, your Starter for Ten; in 1945/46 season, Accrington Stanley met Manchester United in Round 3, and they drew 2-2. There was no replay of that Desmond, but Man U beat the Stanley 5-1 to advance to Round 4 ..... Explain ............

Portsmouth - formerly known as Pompeii - took its name from a track on then 19-year old Mike Oldfield's LP "Tubular Bells", released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. It's a port city, primarily built on Portsea Island in Hampshire, and is known colloquially (but I don't know why) as Pompey, a nickname shared with HMNB Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Football Club. It's the UK's only island city, situated 70 miles south-west of London and 19 miles south-east of Southampton. At the last census (2011) the population was recorded as 205,100.

Pompey's history can be traced back to Roman Britain. A significant naval port for centuries, it has the world's oldest dry dock, and Portsmouth was England's first line of defence during the 1545 French invasion. By the early nineteenth century, the world's first mass-production line was set up in the Dockyard's Block Mills, which made it the world's most industrialised site, and hence the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It was the most heavily-fortified town in the world and was considered "the world's greatest naval port" at the height of the British Empire. The Palmerston Forts were built around Portsmouth in 1859 in anticipation of another invasion from continental Europe.

King Richard I ("Coeur de Lion") granted Portsmouth market town status on 2 May 1194 with a royal charter and a coat of arms, "a crescent of gold on a shade of azure, with a blazing star of eight points". On 21 April 1926, Portsmouth was elevated from town to city status. Its motto is seemingly "Heavens Light Our Guide", a reference to the star and crescent-moon emblem

And the Chimers live there! (Hi Chris!)

The football club was formed in 1898, although there were various predecessor clubs from 1883 ..... I've done the founding history before, but briefly it was founded on 5 April 1898 at 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth as "The Portsmouth Football and Athletic Company Ltd", with John Brickwood - later "Sir John Brickwood, 1st Baronet Brickwood of Portsmouth" as its chairman. The company directors were Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert Dibble and Grubb, plus a Solicitor called Mr Pink, who was Mayor of Portsmouth in 1904/05 .......... And there's a Blue Plaque on the wall of 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth (Alderman John E. Pink's solicitors' office building) commemorating the founding on 5 April 1898.

Portsmouth is one of only five English football clubs to have been champions of all four tiers of the professional English football pyramid, (after Wolves, Burnley, Preston North End and Sheffield United). In addition, it's also one of only two English football clubs to have been champions of five professional divisions including the former regional Football League Third Division South championship in the 1923–24 season. (Wolverhampton Wanderers also share this distinction, having won all four divisions, plus a Football League Third Division North title win, coincidentally in the same 1923–24 season as Portsmouth won the respective South division). They won the First Division in 1948/49, and retained it in 1949/50, and won the FA Cup in 1938/39 and 2007/08, and were Runners-Up three times

They ended Covid Season 2019/20 in 5th, one of three sides (Oxford and Fleetwoof being the others) on a PPG figure of 1.71 ......... they drew both legs of their semi-final in the Playoffs against Oxford, 1-1 each time ...... the extra time to the second game brought no more goals, but the shoot-out went Oxford's way, 5-4 - Cameron McGeehan (on loan from Barnsley) missing his spot-kick; he now plays as a midfielder for Belgian First Division A club Oostende, which is probably related to the missed penalty, but I can't be sure ....and if he wants to stay there next season, given the Brexit Rules, he'll probably have to apply for Belgian Neutrality, or something ...... But I can't be sure of that either ....... we smacked them round the head and shoulders at the Wham just before Christmas 2019, goals from CharlieDion and two from the Bishop of Wham - plus an OG - giving us a 4-1 win (the return game didn't happen)

And by the way, who knew that the League Table would be, if necessary, decided by: 1) Points per game; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Wins; 6) Away goals; 7) Penalty points (sec 9.5); 8) 12-point sending-off offences?

Ten left in the Summer; CB Christian Burgess joined Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium; striker Bradley Lethbridge went to Bognor Regis Town of the Isthmian League Premier Division (whose record victory is 24–0 v Littlehampton, in the West Sussex Senior League in 1913–14, and record defeat was 0–19 v Shoreham in the same League, seven years earlier); GK Luke McGee went to Vegan Greenpeace, CB Matt Casey to Gosport Borough; Brett Pitman to Swindon; LB Brandon Haunstrup joined Killies (one of the oldest teams in the World, it appears - like Sheffield FC, and Notts Co and so on); and someone went to Porchester (which I initially mis-read as "The Dorchester", which is quite a career move) .....

They've only ProperSigned four, one of whom is Callum Johnson and three of whom aren't (ex Norwich CB Sean Raggett, Wigan LW Michael Jacobs and striker Jordy Hiwula-Mayifuila from Coventry) .... plus two LoanSigned, they being English LB Cameron Pring (not to be confused with Cameron Pringles from the Crisps Family) from Bristol Citties, and Rasmus Nicolaison from FC Midtjylland (whose nickname is "Ulvene", which means "The Wolves"), current champions of the Danish Superliga

Current record at home is W4 D3 L3 GF14 GA8, and away isW6 D2 L1 GF18 GA7, giving them an overall of P19 W10 D5 L4 GF32 GA15, for 35 points and 2nd place ..... although Hull have 34 points and Donnie have 33, and both have a game in hand on Pompey (whose last two games have been Covid-postponed, as you know) ..They're at Bristol C in the FA Cup Round 3 next Sunday (10th), having done Ipswich 3-2 aet and King's Lynn 6-1 .... in the Milk Cup they beat Stevenage 3-1 on pens after a 3-3, and then lost 4-0 at Brighton, and in the Troffy they're through to Round 3 and go to the Posh on Tuesday 12th January (so they could be out of two competitions in 60 hours if they lose at Bristol and Peterborough ....) Leading goal scorers (all competitions) are John Marquis with 10, and Ronan Keating - no, sorry, Curtis - plus Marcus Harness and Tom Naylor, all with 6

Deadline for entries (weather, Covid, Brexit, Boris and the Good Lord permitting) is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 2nd January 2021 .............. and it would be nice to have some Proper Footie to watch ............ and the reason that the Stanley didn't replay their 2-2 draw against Man U in 1945/46 FA Cup but did play them again (losing 5-1) is that - and I truly didn't know this - the Rounds from 3rd to Quarter Final were played on a two-legged basis ............ as far as I know, the only time that happened; so the Desmond was only the First Leg of the tie! Well you live and learn, n'est-ce pas?

Good luck to everyone! ....... Take the vaccine when it comes! ...... Stay safe and keep well! ....... And thanks for playing!

[Taypot]

Stanley 0 Portsmouth 2 (if it goes ahead)

[cashman]

2-1 stanley if its on

[choirboy]

If the match is played on Saturday 2nd January then for me it will be.....
Stanley 2 - 2 Portsmouth.

[MikeA]

1-1 please

[LongLostSon]

Stanley 4 Pompey 1 (revenge for Jan '59 at their place)

[andyd]

Game off

[cashman]

just seen it on bbc fixtures

[Div3North]

Since I mentioned the sacking of Jake Buxton by Burton (para 5 of the opener), I probably should report their re-appointment of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who was manager at the Pirelli Stadium in 2014/15

He might just prove to be the right man at the right time