2020/21 Prediction League; Game 40 v Oxford United (away)

Div3North · 03-04-2021, 23:09

Oxford United

v

Accrington Stanley

2020/21 Prediction League Game 40; v Foxtrot Oxford (away)

"Confíteor Deo omnipoténti et vobis, fratres, quia peccávi nimis cogitatióne, verbo, ópere et omissióne: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa."

As was politely pointed out, I fell into error (through not looking right down to the bottom of the page) with the answer to Starter for Ten number Two in the last thread - The Stanley's Highest-Ever position in the Football Pyramid ..... I said it was 5th, in 1921/22 - which - prior to WWII - was correct, but I didn't notice that the post-war seasons were in a separate paragraph further down the same page, confirming that we finished 2nd, 3rd, 3rd and 2nd in the four seasons leading to the Creation of Div 3 and Div 4 (I was too young at the time, and anyway I lived in Essex) ..... And with my thanks for pointing out the error, and remembering that God loves A SmartArse, here are two Starters for Ten specifically referable to those four seasons

"Let's hang on to what we've got
Don't let go, girl, we've got a lot
Got a lot of love between us
Hang on, hang on, hang on to what we've got"

between 1954/55 and 1957/58 ...

(1) In the two seasons (54/55 and 57/58) in which we finished 2nd - remembering it was only one promoted team from Div3N and one from Div 3S - which teams beat us to the promotion spot (and how many points were we behind them), and

(2) What was remarkable about our full-season playing record over each of those four seasons?

And on the subject of Troublemakers (oh, wasn't I?) may I introduce you to Alexandra Cringus, former Chairman of Romanian Fourth-tier side Steaua Nicolae Balcescu, who was the man who nearly created the perfect remedy for preventing pitch invasions and the like at Football Grounds?

The Romanian Fourth Division is (or was around 2003) best described as "rough and ready" - think Roma fans with attitude ... Back then Steaua Nicolae Balcescu (Nick B was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution) found themselves in a quandary: Romanian League bosses were threatening the club with expulsion following a series of pitch invasions and violent outbreaks. What was the club to do? Perimeter fencing? Increased stewarding? Not quite.

Cringus came up with the innovative concept of creating a moat surrounding the pitch, packed with fully-grown crocodiles.

"This is not a joke," insisted Cringus. "We can get crocodiles easy enough and feed them on meat from the local abattoir. The ditch is planned to be wide enough that no one could manage to jump over it. Anyone who attempted to do so would have to deal with the crocs. I think that the problem of fans running on to the pitch will be solved once and for all."

You don't say.

And what of players tumbling off the field and into the watering hole? Cringus planned to create the moat far enough from the pitch in order to prevent said calamity, yet not forgetting about the crocs; electric pipes were to be installed in the water as to keep it heated during cold weather. Sadly - some may think - the Local Authorities rejected the scheme, although I suspect Sepp Blatter would have been in favour, provided he got his cut ..........

And I thought, I have to say, that I'd heard most reasons for Managers resigning/being sacked, but Dinamo Zagreb's former boss Zoran Mamic came up with a new one on me a little earlier this year, resigning his position in the week that Zagreb played the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie against Spurs, who were 2-0 up after the home leg ......

He resigned because the Supreme Court in Croatia had, on the Monday, confirmed his four-year eleven month prison sentence for fraud, and he was on his way to Clink (they did reduce it by 3 months, which was no great comfort) .... his resignation announcement included;

"Although I don't feel guilty, I resign as I said before I would do if the sentence was confirmed. I wish all the good luck to the club"

He and his brother and a former club director and a taxman had been convicted of embezzling £13 million from the club by siphoning off money from transfer fees, and of tax evasion of £1.38 million .... at one point Luka Modric (Spurs, Real Madrid) was also charged with perjury arising from the same case, but the charges were dropped..... and to make it even worse, Zagreb beat Spurs 3-0 on the following Thursday to go through to the last 8 ... A cake with a file in it would be most welcome, I understand ....

Oxford (away) ..... not our happiest place overall; indeed, they've been a bit of a hoodoo side generally in the past (as in Hoodoo Gods of Football) - it took us ten games (League and FA Cup) to beat them (2-1 away in April 14); currently the scores on the doors say that League-wise they've won 7, we've won 5, and 5 have been draws ............ they finished last season 4th, with a PPG of 1.71 and 60 points - the same as Pompey and Fleetwoof; they saw off Pompey over the two-legged semi, two half-Desmonds being followed by a 5-4 penalty shoot out win; they were level with Wycombe after 78 mins of the Final, but a Joe Jacobson penalty on 79 mins sealed it for the ChairPeople (who are on their way back down after The Great Adventure, it seems) ...........

Since we last played them and lost 1-4 at home on 26th September (our goal from the spot by Ryan Cassidy to make it (briefly) 1-1, and a Red for Dion) they've signed two; CB Luke McNally from St Pat's in Ireland, and Jordan Obita, a LB From Reading on a free ..... they sold the said Mr Obita eleven weeks later (to Wycombe) and made a profit on the deal; they also free-transferred LB Kevin Bercoe (wasn't he the Speaker of the House of Commons?) to Salford MoneyBags, and MF Malachi Napa left for Woking .... 15 games in to this season they were still in the GreasyPole spots; from 15th December they could do no wrong, suddenly hitting form and winning 9 of 10 on the run (single defeat by Donnie 3-2 away), and suddenly they're up to 7th ..... then another slump, with 3 wins, four draws and 5 losses out of their last 12 played (won 2 lost 4 of their last 6), and they're 11th, on P38 W16 D8 L14 GF52 GA 46 for 56 points .......... their home record, if you want it, is W9 D4 L5 ......... and of course they were embarrassingly stuffed 2-0 by the TransMeerkats in the semis of the Troffy in mid February ........ and dont forget the Incidents in the Tunnel at Sunderland last game, where they also had Mark Sykes dismissed for two yellows, Karl Robinson sent to the stands for 'having words' with Tea Kettle, and a 94th minute goal to seal things for the Moggies .... and Hull nicked a win from a draw at Crewe with a 91st-minute Wilks goal, and second placed Posh stole two points with an 89th minute winner from Jonson Clarke-Harris ............ and that's how you get into the automatic promo spots!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Bank Holiday Monday, 5th April .... Just checked to make sure we haven't got any Kettles in the Middle at Oxfud (Ref is Ollie Yates) .... and don't forget to cheer for Rebecca Welch as she refs the Harrogate v Portly Vue game ......... and the side ahead of us in Div3N in 1954/55 was Barnsley (we were 4 points behind them), and in 1957/58 we were pipped by Scunthorpe and Lindsey United, who had a seven point advantage (66 to 59) .... and if you had the League tables in front of you, you'd see that in each of those four season (54/55 to 57/58 inclusive) we played 46 games, and we won 25 of them .....

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

AccyMad · 04-04-2021, 09:56

Here's hoping Oxford are still in turmoil after the events in their game v Sunderland & too wound up to play well - with that in mind, I'll go for a 2 - 2 draw please

Tommy McQueen · 04-04-2021, 12:37

And also referee Ollie Yates has had Oxford three times ,Karl Robinson has called for him to br sacked,don’t know if that will work in our favour,anyway here goes

Oxford 1 Stanley 3 pleasen

cashman · 04-04-2021, 12:51

1-0 stanley will do me.

Div3North · 04-04-2021, 13:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy McQueen

And also referee Ollie Yates has had Oxford three times ,Karl Robinson has called for him to br sacked,don’t know if that will work in our favour,anyway here goes

Oxford 1 Stanley 3 pleasen

Yates had Bolton v Colchester on Good Friday. Might be interesting to look at the stats