2020/21 Prediction League; Game 24 v Gillingham FC (home)

Div3North · 14-01-2021, 23:37

Accrington Stanley

v

Gillingham FC

2020/21 Prediction League Game 24; v The Priestfielders (home)

This week's Starter for Ten; which professional football team in our Fair Isles plays its home games at the Tony Macaroni Arena (more correctly, but not as entertainingly, the Almondvale Stadium)?

And a big "Well Done" to Chris Wilder and His Blades, which sounds like an old Variety Act, who eventually - after 18 attempts and 186 days - won a League game (1-0 against the Toon on Tuesday, courtesy of a Billy Sharp penalty in the second half), and thereby increased their points total by 150% from 2 to 5 .... en route, they've acquired the record for the worst-ever start to a top-flight season in England, having won once, drawn twice, and lost fifteen times, with a GD of -20 (actually better than the Baggies' on -28) ... they're three points behind WBA (who have a game in hand), six behind Fulham (who have three games in hand), and nine points and a shed load of goals behind Brighton in 17th ...... and they were also the last top-flight side in any of Europe's top five Leagues to win a game this season ....

Can they save themselves? Well, the lowest points figure that a side has ever stayed up with is West Brom's 2004/05 total of 34, followed by Hull (2008/09), the Hammers (2009/10) and Villa (2019/20) all with 35, and Bradford in 1999/2000, with 36 ....and the Baggies won 6, Hull and WHU 8, and Villa and Bratfud 9 - and Sheffield United have won one....... and IF - big IF - 34 points does it again, they'll need to get 29 more points from their final 20 games (or 1.45 per game); and their next three are Spurs, Man U and Man City ....... so if we do go up this season, write "Bramall Lane, Sheffield" in your diaries ....... Mwwwwahahahah ......

And if you were impressed by Crawley's demolition of Leeds, spare a thought for Mighty Mighty Bayern Munich, who were kicked out of the German Cup by Division Two side Holstein Kiel, 6-5 on penalties after Ein Desmond, Nicht War? where Kiel (3rd in Div 2) equalised with a 95th minute header (highlights are on BBC Football European Football page)

Going back to The Worst Start Ever, and adding Deutschland Overalls to the story, have any of you - except DaveinGermany (Hiya Dave, and a Frohes Neues Jahr, mein freund! - Wie geht's?) - ever heard of Tasmania Berlin? Well, they hold the record for the Worst Season Ever in the Bundesliga (31 games without a win), although until Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, commonly known as FC Schalke 04, Schalke 04, or abbreviated as "S04" (and managed by ex-Spurs boss Christian Gross - their fourth manager this season!) beat Hoffenheim 4-0 on Saturday, they were on course to equal that record, and bearing down on Derby County's 32-game winless run in 2007/08 ...

In 1965, Berlin's only Bundesliga side, Hertha BSC, was relegated for breaking the league's player salary rules. The German FA wanted to keep a club from Berlin in the top tier for political reasons: Karlsruher SC and FC Schalke 04 avoided going down because the League was increased in size ... but someone had to replace Hertha ..... Neither first or second in the regional league got the nod, leaving 3rd place Tasmania 1900 (predecessor of the current side) to pick up the ball and run (as it were) - just two weeks before the start of the 1965/66 season

Despite a season-opening 2–0 win over Karlsruher SC, they went on to become the worst team in league history — in a 34-game season they won only twice, scored only 15 goals while conceding 108, and finished the season in last place with 8 of a possible 68 points. The only team not to beat them was 1. FC Kaiserslautern (who managed only two draws (0–0 and 1–1) against them, and the goalless Desmond was Tas's only away point.

And they set a huge pile of records on the way ..... fewest points collected in a season (8): fewest wins in a season: (2 - tied by Wuppertaler SV in 1974–1975): most defeats in a season (28): only team without an away win: longest winless streak: 31 games (14 August 1965 – 21 May 1966): most home defeats in a season (12): most consecutive home losses: most consecutive losses (10): worst ever goals for-and-against (15–108): fewest ever goals for a team's leading scorer (4 by Wulf-Ingo Usbeck); until 1993, most minutes played without scoring a goal (831 minutes): smallest ever crowd at a Bundesliga game: 827 (15 January 1966 against Borussia Mönchengladbach) after crowds of 81,500 at their first home game and 70,000 at their second ... and the fans love it, and the club treasure it, and they really didn't want Schalke to spoil their moments in the sun, even if it was 55 years ago ....... and the Blades thought they had problems!

Thing about a Gillingham is that they're like buses - you don't see one for months, and the two come along more or less together ....... we met at theirs on 15th December and did them 2-0 (the Bishop of Wham - great goals against Charlton by the way, Your Erminense - and The Wanderer hitting the net for us) ............ they haven't ProperSigned anyone yet since then, although they LoanSigned Southampton's CMF Callum Slattery today (14th) .... and although they won their next game 4-1 at Rochdale, they've lost the three since that, so they're on a run of one win in six, which has dropped them from 11th to 14th ............ and speaking of the Rochdoodles, did you see that they followed Saturday's 3-3 at home to Crewe with a 4-4 at Charlton (4-2 up at half time!), which has lifted them out of the GreasyPole spots on GD

No EFL sackings for the last ten days (Paul Cook appears to be 4/5 favourite for the Owls' job, and Tim Cahill 5/4 for Joey Barton's former chair) ....... League One form teams are the Shrews (17th) and Oxford (9th), both with 13/15 points, followed by Donnie on 12, Crewe on 11 and Lincoln, Pompey and us on 10 .... six points cover the top 9 in League Two (Carlisle atop the heap), and Gloucester top the Bananarama North (34 points from 17) from Chester (27 from 16) and Fylde (27 points from 14) ........ and Torquay are running away with the Bananarama Proper, eight points clear ...

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 16th January ..... and the Tony Macaroni Arena (named after a pizza and pasta restaurant chain, much to the annoyance of the home fans - who thought the Club were taking the Pizza) is the home ground of SPL club Livingston (known as The Lions, or "Livi") - founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle, renamed Meadowbank Thistle (1974-1995), and when they moved to Livingston (just off the M8 to the South, between Edinburgh and Glasgow) they adopted the town as the name, and Dumped the Thistle ..... and Fort William's 10-0 thrashing by Brora in the Highland League has been roundly trumped by Fraserburgh FC's 13-1 demolition of Turriff United - so there's hope for them yet!

And by the way; after two Gillinghams in a month, watch out for two Hulls in a week - but at least they don't have a Nice Mr Evans as Manager! Only one things to say, really ..................... 7-4! And I was there! And the goals are on FB!

And if anyone wants a mnemonic to help them remember the order of the planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (accepting that Pluto isn't technically a planet any more) - from the Sun (which I could never remember), may I recommend "My Very Energetic Mouse Jumped Straight Up Nelly's Pants" .......... just a thought!

Good luck to everyone! ........... Take the Jab and Keep the Faith! ..... And thanks for playing!