2020/21 Prediction League; Game 31 v Crewe (away)

Div3North · 21-02-2021, 17:43

Crewe Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

V

Accrington Stanley

2020/21 Prediction League Game 31; v La Princesse de Creu

Headline of the week, without argument, comes from the Crewe website's piece on their 2-1 defeat at Swindon on Saturday; the Robins' winner from substitute Scott Twine came on 90+3 (Donnie salvaged a point in a 3-3 draw with Hull by hitting the net on 90+12)...... whoever wrote the piece (perhaps in a bit of a rush) clearly thought the Alex should have won (they had 68% of the play, but one fewer shot and one fewer "on target" shot), because the game summary ran;

"Crewe Alexandra should have three points this afternoon, looked like having to settle for one, but ended up with none with Swindon Town’s substitute Scott Twine scoring from a rebound in stoppage time. The Alex were left to rue a plethora of missed opportunities all afternoon with Mikael Mandron denied the match ball at least. It came back to haunt us big style."

"Plethora of missed opportunities"? Excellent bit of writing... but if you're using posh words you need to get them right ... and the award-winning headline didn't, declaring loudly but inaccurately that

"Twine hits stoppage time winner for Swindon but Alex left to rue a glutton of missed chances"

NB tonight's homework - check the meanings of "glut" and "glutton" .....

William I led the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. Confiscation of lands by the conquerors led to resistance and dissent for many years, and Cheshire, as a remote part of the kingdom, provided the Normans with stiff resistance. In 1069 the final attempt at resistance was comprehensively put down, and Saxon landlords had their property confiscated and their lands passed to Norman Lords. Edwin (Earl of Mercia) attempted another rebellion in 1071, but was betrayed and killed.

The Domesday survey of 1086 records that most of the lands in Cheshire were by then "wasta", or wasteland, or "abandoned or useless lands"; prior to the conquest, the lands had been fertile. Chester was sieged in 1070 and eventually sacked, largely demolished and devastated. And hands up if you knew that there's a crater on Mars named after the town of Crewe, plus a town in Nottoway County, Virginia, United States (population 2,326 at the 2010 census)? Or that Crewe is twinned with Mâcon in France, Bischofsheim, near Mainz, Germany, and Dzierżoniów in Poland; Dzierżoniów (until 1946 Rychbach, in Germany) is a town located at the foot of the Owl Mountains in southwestern Poland

There also used to be both a Baron and a Marquess of Crewe ..... "Baron Crewe, of Crewe in the County of Chester", was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom created on 25 February 1806 for the politician and landowner John Crewe, the family being descended from Sir Ranulph Crewe (1558–1646), Speaker of the House of Commons and Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. The title became extinct on the death of his son, the third Baron, in 1894. The Marquess of Crewe was a title created in 1911 for the Liberal statesman Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Earl of Crewe; his two sons both predeceased him and the title became extinct on his death in 1945.

So; this week's Starter for Ten; (1) where does Crewe United FC play its football? and (2) which world-famous footballer played his last match (in 1995) - a charity game - for them on their Park?

Crewe Alexandra FC was formed in 1877 as the football division of Crewe Alexandra Cricket Club, named - as you all know - after Princess Alexandra. They joined the Football Alliance league in 1889, becoming founding members of the Football League Second Division in 1892; however they failed re-election after finishing bottom of the division in 1895–96. They were invited to join the newly created Football League Third Division North in 1921, where they spent the following 37 years; after three consecutive last-place Third Division North finishes, they were put into the newly formed Fourth Division in 1958/59, and went on to achieve their first promotion after finishing third in 1962–63. Immediately relegated, they were promoted again in 1967–68, but again lasted just one season in the Third Division.

The Alex spent 20 years struggling in the fourth tier, forced to apply for re-election on seven occasions, before their fortunes revived under manager Dario Gradi, who secured promotion at the end of the 1988–89 campaign. Relegated after two seasons, they were again promoted in 1993–94 and after two unsuccessful play-offs they won the 1997 Second Division play-off final, beating Brentford 1-0 with a team including Dele Adebola and Danny Murphy, to win a place in the second tier after an absence of 101 years. They spent eight of the next nine seasons in the First Division / Championship, and recorded their highest-ever league finish in 1997–98 (11th in Tier Two). Did you know they also made the Semi-Finals of the FA Cup (albeit it was in 1887/88) losing 4-0 to PNE? .... also in the FA Cup that season were the Footballing Gods of Shankhouse, Swifts, Great Bridge Unity, Llangollen Town, Davenham, Chirk, Higher Walton, Lockwood Brothers, Bootle and Birmingham Excelsior, to name but a few ....

They ended Covid season 2019/20 in 2nd place in League Two with a PPG rating of 1.86 and a record of P37 W20 D9 L8 GF67 GA43 and 69 points .... Over the summer they signed two ex-Stanley players, one of whom was Offrande Zanzala and one of whom wasn't (Omar Beckles, who signed for us from Aldershot and stayed the one season) ..... they also signed Mikael Yann Mathieu Mandron (ex Colchester and Gilligham), plus Luke Murphy from Bolton and Donervan Daniels from Luton ...............nine left the club between July and Christmas (including Nicky Hunt, South African GK Dino Visser, now at Portly Value (who also poached Walsall and ex Brizzle Manager Darrell Clarke this last week), striker Lewis Reilly, now at Chorley, and CMF James Jones, now of Lincoln ......... after the New Year they also parted company with Offrande Jolynold Serge Zanzala (to Carlisle, where I think he's only made one appearance so far) .......... so two Old Stanleyans in, and two out, one of whom is the same as came in ..........

After 14 games this season they were 14th - W5 D1 L8 ... then they hit a bit of form, winning five and drawing five of the next ten, to climb to 7th, but their last five have only had one win (1-0 at the Shrews), one draw and three defeats .. currently P29 W11 D7 L11 GF37 GA37 for 40 points and 14th place again ....... Leading League scorers are Oliver Finney (who has just suffered a broken leg, sadly) with 7, Mikael Mandron and Oliver Dale with 6 each, and Charlie Kirk with five ............ in the FA Cup they beat Bolton 3-2 before losing 2-1 aet at Cheltenham; in the Tinpot Milk Cup they succumbed to a dose of the Lincoln Greens at home (2-1); and in the Troffy they lost to Hull in Round three.

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.00pm on Tuesday 23rd February ...... We met Crewe at ours in November, and took the points 1-0 (The Bishop of Wham on 59); they're a home side, on results - P14 D7 D4 L3, whereas on the road its W4 D3 L8 ............ Current form team, believe it or not, are the MK Donuts (13 points from their last 5), with the Posh and Blackpool on 12/15, and Burton have won three of their last four, but might be starting their run-in a tad late .... the bottom 7 are getting cut adrift (7 points between the Shrews in 17th and the Rochdoodles in 18th) ......

Crewe's largest League win is 8–0 vs Rotherham United in October 1932, and their worst loss is 1–11 against Lincoln City in September 1951 .... most appearances is by Tommy Lowry (the painter) with 482 between 1965–77, most goals overall is Bert Swindells with 137 (1927–37), and they once made £6 million pounds when the sold Wonderkid Nick Powell to Man U in 2012 ..... and Crewe United FC play in Intermediate A Division of the Mid-Ulster Football League in Northern Ireland; the club hails from Glenavy in County Antrim. And the famous player - and they don't get a lot more famouserer than him - who played his last game in Northern Ireland for Crewe United in 1995 at Crewe Park in a Charity game was .......... George the Best!

And the Best of the Best Quotes include:

"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered."

"I once said Gazza's IQ was less than his shirt number and he asked me: "What's an IQ?"

"In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol - it was the worst 20 minutes of my life."

(On David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't head a ball, he can't tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right."

"They say I slept with seven Miss Worlds. I didn't. It was only four. I didn't turn up for the other three."

Showoff!

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