2020/21 Prediction League; Game 34 v Swindon Town (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

v

Swindon Robins FC

2020/21 Prediction League Game 34; v Swindon Spartans (home)

Do you ever wonder - I know I do - where some football teams manage to get their names from? We're used to "Alexandra", "Stanley", "Villa" and so on; but how about Swindon's "other" team - Swindon Supermarine?

They play in the Southern League Premier Division South, at what used to be Hunt's Copse (nice!) .... The club was established in 1992 as a merger between two local clubs in the Hellenic Football League, Supermarine F.C. and Swindon Athletic F.C. Supermarine F.C. was originally set up in 1946 from the Supermarine Aircraft Company Social Club, being originally called Vickers Armstrong and later Vickers FC: Swindon Athletic F.C. was established in 1968 and known as Penhill for 20+ years ..... so, nothing to do with salt water or submarines ............ "Manchester United 12 Vickers-Armstrong 0"

And your First Starter for Ten; which former Stanley player played on loan for Swindon Supermarine in 2013, scoring 6 times in ten appearances?

Swindon Town was founded as Swindon AFC in 1879, becoming Spartans the next year, before finally settling as Swindon Town in 1883. They turned professional in 1894 as a founding member of the Southern League, and in 1910–11 they won the Southern League Championship, earning them a Charity Shield match with the Football League champions Manchester United; it was played on 25 September 1911 at Stamford Bridge, United winning 8–4, and some of the proceeds of the game were later donated to survivors of the Titanic.

They were elected into the Football League in 1920, winning their first-ever game 9-1 - a fact I mention only to appease the Luton-haters in our midst, because that was who they beat .......... They finished that first season 4th in Div 3, with 21 wins, 10 draws and 11 losses .... they were to remain in the third tier for 43 years, finally securing promotion into the Second Division in 1962–63.

They did "Uppies and Downies" over a lot of seasons; they finished the (old) Second Division (now le Championnat) season 1989/90 in 4th place, 11 points behind Leeds and the Blades, and 6 behind Newcastle, but in the Playoffs; they saw off Blackburn 2-1 at home and away, and did for 6th placed Sunderland 1-0 in what was apparently a rubbish match in the Playoff Final; however, as a result of lots of financial shenanigans (undisclosed payments and the like) they finished up relegated instead of promoted (Sunderland went up and came straight down the year after) ....... in fact, they were relegated two divisions, but that was reduced on appeal

Player-managed by Glenn Hoddle, they made the playoffs again in 1992/93, this time in 5th; they beat Tranmere 3-1 and 2-3 (5-4 on aggregate), and met 6th-placed Leicester in the Final; after 53 minutes they were 3-0 up; after 69 minutes it was 3-3; and on 84 mins Hoddle played a 50-yard pass to Steve White in the box, who made the most of being the meat in the sandwich between two defenders, fell over, and won a penalty from David Elleray which Paul Bodin converted (under the cross bar, of course). This time they did go up to the PL, and four days later Glenn Hoddle was appointed player-manager at Chelski, being replaced in Wiltshire by former side-kick John Gorman

To put it politely, their one-season sojourn in the Warm Sandwiches - sorry, Prawn Sandwiches - wasn't a great success; they did the double over QPR (1-0 at home and 3-1 away), and also beat Coventry 3-1, Southampton 2-1, and Spurs 2-1 (all at home), managed a HomeDesmond against Man U, and lost 2-0 and 3-1 to Chelsea .......... at the end of the season they had 5 wins, 15 draws, 22 defeats, and had conceded 100 League goals (still a record, I believe), GreasyPoling ten points behind Oldham with a total of 30 .... the next season they went down to Division 2 (3rd tier). There followed two administrations and various winding-up petitions, and finally - in 2006 under Iffy Onuora - they went down to League Two (tier 4)

Second Starter for Ten, then; what permanent record did Swindon achieve as a result of that 2006 relegation?

And - to paraphrase Ol' Blue Eyes - "Managers, we've had a few" .... five (including two caretakers) in 2006; four in 2008 (including David Byrne twice as Caretaker); four in 2011 (also including two CTs); four in 2013 (including one double-act): four in 2015; four in 2008; and three in 2020 ..... Currently they have Eustace (Useless) Harridan, err Sheridan.....

They topped League Deux at the foreshortened end of Covid Season 2019/20 with 21 wins, 6 draws and 9 losses in their 35 games played (soixante-neuf points and no mucky comments, merci), giving them a PPG figure of 1.92 ... and I've been watching "Spiral" ("Engrenages") in French with subtitles on BBC I-Player recently; when I was a spotty French student, "merde" was "sh1t", and "baiser" was to kiss ....... but not any more, apparently ............. Google Translate! Look it up! Mon Dieu!

They got rid of no less than 18 players in the summer and through to February; Irish striker Eoin Doyle and RW Lloyd Isgrove (no, nor have I) went Trottering; MF Keshi Anderson joined Blackpool; CMF Danny Rose (there are 3 or 4 Danny Roses about) went to Grimsby and likely wishes he hadn't, given where they are now; CB Joe Romanski signed for Zagłębie Lubin in the Polish Ekstraklasa (Div 1, I think); GK Luke McCormick went back to Plywood Albion for the third time; and various others went to Slough, Charlton, Swansea, Barrow, Hungerford and Bath .....They brought in Kieran Freeman, who they got for nowt, on 7th January, and sold him to Swansea for £undisclosed on 2nd February(which is a nifty bit of business!), and signed GK Joe Fryer on 10th September before releasing him again on 7th January .... You'll 'appen recognise the names of incoming players AMF Jack Payne (about whom I always do the Band Leader joke), and LW Joel Grant from Plymouth; striker Brett Pitman from Pompey is about the only other "name" .... Loads of loans, in and out, including (in) Man U GK Matěj Kovář, who you might have guessed is not a true-born Englishman...

The bottom of League One is tighter than a D's A ....... the bottom 7 - still 7 points adrift of the peloton - are covered by 5 points; Wigan 27 from 32; Rochdale 28/32; Northampton 29/32; Wombles 29/30; Brizzle (who we play on Tuesday) 30/31; Swindon 31/32; and Burton - who are at last putting it together) 31/30. Swindon are OK at home (W7 D1 L9 GF19 GA25) but cr*p on the road (W2 D3 L10 GF19 GA33), giving them P32 W9 D4 L19 GF38 GA58 and 31 points; the only other side to have lost 19 is Wigan, and they're 15th on goals scored ... we went to the County Ground in Novenber and won 3-0 (OG, His Reverence The Bishop of Wham, and The Wanderer with the goals) ... 6 League wins from 23 since Sheridan arrived ....

They went out of the FA Cup to Darlington at home (2-1) in Round Un; they left the EFL Cup in the same round, 1-3 to Charlton; and they didn't get out of their Trophy Group by virtue of only beating Vegan Greenpeace (who can now drink their shirts at half time, I was reading ...) Leading scorers are Brett Pitman (7), Hallam Hope (once of Everton, if I recall) with 4, and Diallang Jaiyesimi and Tyler Smith with the same

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 6th March. Good to see that Seamus's Red was rescinded on appeal (if that was worth a Red, I'm the Pope), but the damage was done .... hope Baxter's OK, and that this time we can perhaps get the rub of the green ... And the Swindon Supermarine loanee who score 6 in ten in 2013 and played for us later was Kayden Jackson, and the permanent record that Swindon established was to be the first side which had played in the Premier League to be relegated right down to League Two (been done before, of course (Cobblers and Swansea that I remember) but not since the Prawn Sandwiches started being handed round!)

And RIP to Ian St John; you were one of the very best, Saint ...

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

[AccyMad]

2 -:0 to Stanley please, our luck's gotta change soon

[cashman]

2-0 stanley fer me also.

[Stevie R]

2-0 to Stanley please

[Div3North]

Originally Posted by AccyMad

2 -:0 to Stanley please, our luck's gotta change soon

Originally Posted by cashman

2-0 stanley fer me also.

Originally Posted by Stevie R

2-0 to Stanley please

CHIMER!

Two hours in and already suspicious prediction patterns

[monkey hanger]

if i was a betting man i wouldn,t put anything on this game. who will be less tired. risk a stanley 2 swindon 1.

[Watchdog]

Stanley to win 2-1 please

[andyd]

Stanley 2-2 Swindon.

[MikeA]

2-1 Stanley, please

[Tommy McQueen]

Stanley 3 Swindon 1

[ossy kid]

Stanley 1-0 and, from last week, Who scored the goal?

[Chimer]

Originally Posted by Div3North

CHIMER!

Two hours in and already suspicious prediction patterns

Spotted that! 2-0 Stanley for me then .......

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by Div3North

CHIMER!

Two hours in and already suspicious prediction patterns

You can add me to the list of usual suspects too.


2-0 to the Stanley please D3N.

[Div3North]

Originally Posted by ossy kid

Stanley 1-0 and, from last week, Who scored the goal?

I did. Spring 1960. Barlow Moor CPS v Oswald Road CPS. AND I hit the bar (which was square - if it’d been round the shot would have come down at an acute angle, hit the goalie and gone in!)

[Tom D]

3-1 win for Stanley please