2020/21 Prediction League; Game 28 v Northampton Town (home)

Div3North · 05-02-2021, 00:59

Accrington Stanley

v

Northampton Town

2020/21 Prediction League Game 28; v The Cobblers' Last (home)

Los Zapateros (shoemakers) are somewhat in La Mierda in the GreasyPole Places; discuss!

In fact, so much in La Mierda are they that there are strong rumours coming out of the PTS Academy Stadium (Sixfields to you) that this Saturday they'll play in their change strip of brown trousers ...............

With the Norman conquest of England, Northampton rose to national significance: its geographical location in the centre of England made it a valuable strategical point for government and a convenient meeting place for political, social, ecclesiastical and military events. Northampton Castle is thought to have been built by Simon de Senlis, who became the first Earl of Northampton around 1084. It was originally an earth and timber stockade construction, later rebuilt in stone. The castle became an occasional royal residence from the reign of King Henry I in 1130 until that of King Richard II, and King John regularly stayed at the castle, and even moved The Treasury there in 1205. 32 Parliaments were held there - the last in 1380. It's very near the old Centre of the UK, but that's been reallocated to Fenny Drayton - the other end of the M69

The club was founded on 6 March 1897 by a group of local school teachers at a meeting at The Princess Royal Inn, Wellingborough Road, which became the town's first professional football club. Their first choice of name was "Northampton Football Club", but after objections from the town's rugby club, the new club was called Northampton Town Football Club. They spent two seasons in the Midland League before joining the Southern League in 1901–02, and led by player-manager Herbert Chapman they were champions of the Southern League in 1908–09 and thus played Newcastle in the Charity Shield (lost 2-0)

In 1919–20 Town conceded a club record 103 goals; despite that, they were allowed to join the Football League for the following season as part of Division Three (South). They played to a record crowd of 18,123 against Plymouth on Boxing Day.

Northampton, you might remember, were promoted three times in the five years 1960 to 1965. Starting the 1960–61 season in the Fourth Division, they reached Division 3 in 3rd place; they finished 1961/62 in 8th, then in 1962/63 they won Div 3 (with a home record of W16 D6 L1) ...........In 1963/64 they finished 11th, and in 1964/65 they finished 2nd to Newcastle .......... 1965/66 was their one and only sojourn in the Top Tier, and they went down again at the end of the season, two points behind Fulham

They drew twice with Arsenal in that heady season in Div One, did Villa over twice, and drew at home to Liverpool; they also lost 6-1 at Blackburn and at Leeds, 5-0 at Liverpool, 6-2 at Man U and 6-2 at Stoke .... they won 10, drew 13 and lost 19, for 33 points .......... but they weren't bottom of the table that year; someone finished the season with 20 points; Starter for Ten - who went down from Division One that season bottom of the heap, with The Cobblers in 23rd?

Much will get more (or feed a fat pig), the HorrorTumbling carried on; in 66/67 they TrapDoored in last but one (above Bury) into Div 3 again, and in 67/68 they ended up 17th; but it wasn't over yet, because in 1968/69 they returned to base (Div 4), above Hartlepool, Crewe and Oldham .......... and they've apparently never been in the Championnat since .......... from Div 4 to Div 1 and back again in less than ten years!

Last season they finished 7th in Covid League Two, and tore Exeter to shreds in the Playoff Final .... Their season to date for 20/21 is currently P24 W6 D5 L13, GF20 and GA40 .... away it's W3 D2 L7 .......Between 12th September and 1st December they won 5 (Swindon and Fleetwoof at home, and away at Wigan, Shrewsbury and Burton) ......... by then they were 16th in the table ...... sadly, since then they've won once (Gillingham at home) drawn 2 and lost 6 ..... 5 points from the last possible 27; you'd think Keith Curlew might be twitching .........

Four left in the Transfer window; CMF Chris Lines and LB Joe Martin went to Stevenage, RMF Nicky Adams to Oldham, and Congolese DMF Christopher Missilou to Swindon ...four loans in but no ProperSignings

We went to theirs on 14th December 2020 and took the points with a 2nd minute goal from Jon Russell; their leading League goal scorer is Danny Rose with four .... the best stats from the Brizzle game (I thought) were our shot tally (23), shots on target (11) and corners (12) ..... and some fine footwork for a couple of the goals

Best they did in the cups etc was the Troffy, where they got to 2021, when it all went wrong, 2-0 at MK Dons .... And who noticed that the Donuts have acquired Will Grigg (who may or may not be on fire) ....... And odds-on favourite to replace Jason Tindall at Boscombe is apparently John Terry (1-2)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 6th February ........... this is a run to keep going, chaps ... and the team who were relegated with (but below) Northampton from Div 1 back in the day was ....... drum roll ........ Blackburn Rovers!

Good luck to everyone! ....... Take the vaccine when it comes (I had mine and it didn't hurt a bit)! ...... Stay safe and keep well! ....... And thanks for playing!