2020/21 Prediction League; Game 26 v Hull City (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

v

Hull City AFC

2020/21 Prediction League Game 26; v Heligoland (home)


Heligoland is a small archipelago in the North Sea .......... Hull isn't ..... Discuss

Today's theme is "that wasn't supposed to happen" ...... we weren't supposed, over the course of eight days, to lose three times, scoring none and conceding eight ............... And mighty Roma ("Associazione Sportiva Roma", variously nicknamed "I Giallorossi" (The Yellow and Reds"), La Lupa ("The She-Wolf", presumably in tribute to Romulus and Remus's mother), or "La Magica" (The Magic One) had a bit of a 'mare against Spezia in the Coppa Italia ...

"Spezia" are actually "Spezia Calcio" ("spezia" means "spice" and "calcio" means "football" - so "Spicy Football"), known as The Little Eagles, based in Liguria, and currently, for the first time ever, in Seria A ..... and the Spice Boys went 2-0 up, but Roma levelled to force ET ..... and within two minutes of ET starting, Roma were down to nine men, Mancini getting a second yellow, and GK Pau Lopez being red-carded when he "made a mess of a clearance and took out a Spezia forward in the process" ........ and manager Paolo Fonseca did what you would do in that situation - took off an outfield player and put his bench-warmer goalie on ......... except that they'd already made the permitted five substitutions, and that was the sixth .... but it didn't actually matter, because Spezia scored twice in ET to go through 4-2 ....

And Real Madrid (as opposed to Fake Madrid) have got problems at the Bernabeu ....... drawn away in the Copa Del Ray (their FA Cup) to third-division side Club Deportivo Alcoyano (who live in and around Valencia), they went one up, but the Segunda Division B side equalised on 80 mins to force ET ....... and on 110 mins CDA's Lopez Olivan got a second yellow and an Early Siesta With No Tea ............ and on 115 mins, Alcoyano tucked away the winner - the 5th time in the past 20 years that Madrid have gone out to a third-tier side (think Wrexham v Arsenal, Sutton v Coventry) in a competition that they've only won twice in the last 28 years .............

Zinedine Yazid Zidane ("Zizou") is "under pressure", according to the local Spanish Press, and despite having 73% of the possession, 26 shots (11 on target) to CDA's 5 (3), and 9 corners to 4, they skidded nose-first downhill on the banana skin, with one newspaper asserting that, "Zidane's flower has wilted forever" ............ I'm not entirely sure about that (maybe that's a question to ask his wife Mme Veronique Zidane?) or maybe it loses something in the translation, and to top it off, he's just tested positive for Coronavirus, it's reported, but anyway ...... this week's Starter for Ten; who scored the winner?

And in other news this week, you might have seen that Cardiff, having terminated Neil Harris for losing six in a row, look like appointing Mick McCarthy; and the Bananarama North and South have been suspended for two weeks (to do with finance), and the Highland League has been suspended, it looks, until at least the end of January ............ and Newport keeper Tom King scored their goal in a half-Desmond at Cheltenham on Tuesday, with a goal kick which was "picked up in the wind" (how lyrical!) and flew over Josh Griffiths' head into the net, breaking the World Record for the longest goal scored in a competitive game ..... the old record (91.9 metres, or if you want it in pounds, shillings, and pence, 301' 6") was held by Stoke's GK Asmir Begovic against the Saints in 2013 ........ King Tom's goal measured 96.01 metres (315 feet), which - if you think about it - is nearly the length of a football pitch ......... amazing!

I was flicking through lists of nicknames of top division European Clubs (as you do) recently, and there are some real classics out there; Atletico Madrid are "Los Colchoneros" (The Mattress Makers); Eibar are "Los Armeros" (The Gunsmiths), Espanyol are "Los Periquitos" (The Budgerigars) and Villareal are "El Submarino Amarillo" (The Yellow Submarine) .... In Italy, most nicknames relate to shirt colours, but Genoa are "I Grifone" (The Griffin), Bologna are "I Veltri" (The Greyhounds), Fiorentina are "I Viola" (The Purple One), and Juventus - which means "youth" - are "La Vecchia Signora" (The Old Lady) ... Germany offers 1.FC Koln, known as "Die Geissbocke" (The Billy Goats), Hertha Berlin are "Die Alte Dame" (another Old Lady), Augsburg are "Die Fuggerstadter" (Residents of the Fugger City) - perhaps DaveInGermany can help me out with that one! - and Borussia Monchengladbach are "Die Fohlen" (The Foals) .......... and in England we have Cherries, Seagulls, Eagles, Foxes, Magpies, Hornets, Wolves and Canaries - so we're obviously very into flora and fauna!

We've played Hull lots of times over the years (but only twice in our current guise); in 1935/36 they played in sky-blue shirts and were relegated with 20 points, 5 wins, ten draws and 27 defeats - 13 points from safety; in 1936/37 we played them in Div3North, losing 1-0 at home but winning 3-0 away; in 37/38 we lost 2-0 at home and drew 0-0 away; in November 1948 we met in the FA Cup First Round and we lost 3-1; in 1958/59 we played in Div 3, losing 4-2 away and 1-0 at home; in August 2015 we met in the League Cup, and the 11v11 website records show that Hull won 2-2 (?????); and last Tuesday we ventured to Hull and back and got a bit trounced 3-0 .......... my focus is on the away game on 9th January 1937 ... Three-nil!

They've LoanSigned Birmingham MF Dan Crowley since just before we last met, plus Cardiff's Northern Irish international winger Gavin Whyte (57 goals in 234 club career games and a former Ulster Footballer of the Year) .... and they beat Pompey 4-0 away on Saturday, which might make us feel a bit better ..... and The Don has gone on loan to Fleetwoof (who are signing and sending out all sorts of people, it seems) .... and 2011/12 loanee at the Wham Jayden Stockley has been loaned by PNE to Charlton, who've won 2, drawn 5 and lost 4 of their last 11 in the League, having salvaged a 90th-minute Desmond at home to Swindon, who wasted a two-goal lead ......... and if you look at the Bananarama National table, 3 points cover from Notts Co (8th with 24 points) down to Wealdstone in 17th with 21, or if you prefer, 8 points separate Altrincham in 5th (27 pts) and Eastleigh Spitfires in 18th (20 points) - and Barnet, currently managed by Tony Currie's nephew Darren, are 22nd of 23 (Macclesfield were expunged, you'll remember, but before the season began, so no-one lost owt - except Macclesfield) on 9 points, and are 8 points and 22 goals from safety

In August 2013, Hull City AFC owner Assem Allam announced that the club had re-registered as "Hull City Tigers Ltd," and that the team would be marketed as "Hull City Tigers"; a Prawn Sandwich spokesman said, "We have not been informed of a change in the name ... They will still be known as Hull City as far as the Premier League is concerned" (ie "no you won't") ..... Mr Allam had claimed, "the shorter the name the more powerful it is," and said that he disliked the word "City", as it's "too common" and a "lousy identity". He apparently told The Guardian "in a few years many clubs will follow and change their names to something more interesting, and I will have proved I am a leader," adding that if he were the owner of Man City, he'd change their name to "Manchester Hunter." .......... it hasn't happened so far, of course, but it's comforting to know they aren't all locked up yet ...

And just going back to the Roma keeper "taking out" a Spezia attacker, it was heart-warming to read that the Chorley Manager - Jamie Vermiglio, known to his players as '(Please) Sir' - "enlivened a typically English FA Cup tie" by yelling "nothing wrong with that" when two Wolves players went down under "agricultural challenges" ..... a huge "Well done" to Chorley, but 100 lines each ("I must not miss the goal when I have the ball in their penalty area") ...

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 5.30pm on Tuesday 26th January (what a stupid time to play football!) ... It would be really nice to win this time ...... actually, it'd be really nice just to score this time (especially if they don't - which has only happened twice in the League this season, whereas they've kept 11 clean sheets) ... At this moment they're Top Dogs in the League Table, level on 45 points with Lincoln (who have a game in hand) and with a +20 GD (40 scored) against the Gargoyles' +15 ........ they've got 11 points from their last 5, but Oxford have 15/15, Lincoln 13/15 and Donnie have 12/15 .......... so make that 200 lines!

And CD Alcoyano's winner against Real was slipped in - could only happen in Spain, this ........ by Casanova! Nice to see him still scoring at his age ..... in interview after the game he was said to have observed, "I can still enjoy sex at 76 ........... which is good, because I live at 75 and it's only a short walk ..."

Mwawawahahahaha ...........

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

[cashman]

Stanley 1-0

[Taypot]

Stanley 0 Hull 2 (regretfully)

[AccyMad]

A very hopeful 1 - 1 draw please

[Tommy McQueen]

Stanley 1;Hull 2

[Tom D]

Stanley win 2 1

[ossy kid]

Stanley 0-1 Hull

[Watchdog]

Accrington Stanley to win this 2-1 please

[monkey hanger]

stanley 1 hull 3.

[MikeA]

1-1 please

[Outback Ozzy]

Sadly i think Hull will win this one as they have a very good away record, ask Portsmouth fans. So sadly 3-1 to Hull please

[DaveinGermany]

2-0 to the Stanley please D3N.


As to the "Fuggers" they were a merchant family 14-1500's lots of fingers in lots of pies all around the world & as you'd expect some shady background dealings lots of money to places of power for a bit of backscratching.


They were the main power in Augsburg at the time & brought lots of commerce to the city hence the name "Fugger Stadt", they pretty much owned it.

[Stevie R]

3-0 to Hull please

[mab]

Accrington Stanley 2 - 1 Hull city Please for me 🎊

[Kiwi John]

1-0. To STANLEY.