2021/22 Prediction League; Game 9 v Morecambe FC (away)

Div3North · 23-09-2021, 22:19

Morecambe FC

V

Accrington Stanley

2021/22 Prediction League Game 9; v Les Crevettes (away)

Hands up if you remember Welsh GK Andrew Gerald Dibble - known to his mates as Officer Dibble? In his 24 year career (1982 - 2006) he played, including loans, for 19 sides (two of them twice), which included Man City (116 league games), Wrexham (83) and the Stanley in 2005/06 (seemingly 2 games in all, but also GK coach, which makes him partly responsible for Ian Dunbavin) .... in the course of 1997 & 1998 he played for - well, signed for - The Blades (twice), Rangers, Luton, Middlesbrough, Altrincham and Barry Town, playing 11 games in total (7 of them for the Jocks) during those two years ....... Personally I never see the point in sitting on the bench for months and years, but there it is ....

I mention Officer Dibble not just for nostalgia reasons, but also because, from recent research, he appears on the face of it to have been the victim of one of the worst travesties of refereeing ever ............. 2002, in a howling gale, playing for Stockpot against Gillingham (finished up as a 3-3 draw); he conceded a penalty just before half time, and was booked; second half he put the ball down for a goal kick but the wind blew it away, so he went to fetch it and put it back; referee decided he was time wasting, booked him again, and sent him off ...... Ye Voodoo Gods of Football, where are you when revenge is reasonably called for?

And on the subject of penalties - and this one's going to be a pub quiz classic for years, and is your Starter for Ten; name the PrawnSandwich player who was subbed on after 93 minutes and 58 seconds so that he could take a penalty his team had just been awarded; the opponents' GK hadn't saved a pen in 7 years (21 pens), and the Intended Penalty Taker's success rate at that time was was 84.4% (27 out of 32); he took the penalty - the only time he touched the ball in the game - on 94 mins 48 seconds ..... and the Keeper saved it!

And the Managerial Cull has started again, I see; Chris Hughton sacked by Notts Forest, who were stone bottom of Le Championnat until Derby went into administration, wiping off their 10 points won so far, leaving them bottom on -2 (6 behind NF), and with Wycombe now threatening to sue for manipulation (in effect) ........... Hughton is replaced by Steve Cooper, recently "let go" after not getting Swansea promoted twice in the last two seasons .... Second of all to get the chop was Harry Kewell, who led Barnet into seven games this season -

"In enterprise of martial kind, when there was any fighting
He led his Regiment from behind, he found it less exciting
But when away his Regiment ran, his place was at the fore, O!
That Celebrated, Cultivated, Underrated Nobleman, The Duke of Plaza Toro"

- drawing two and losing five, scoring seven (that's the team, not Kewell) and conceding 19, which leaves them poised nicely above Dover Athletic (on -9 points) and looking forward to the GreasyPoling into the Bananarama South which could be coming up come May 22

Special K has also, in his time, managed Crawley Town, Notts County, and Oldham (who conceded just the seven goals to Brentford in the EFL Cup this week), but not to any great acclaim ..... or any acclaim at all, come to think of it ....... At Crawley he won 18 of 57, surviving from May 2017 to August 2018; he was at Notts Co for 74 days between August and November 2018, winning 3 of 14, before the Old Heave-Ho got him from The Rear (as opposed to 'in the rear'); and at Oldham he lasted from 1st August 2020 until 7th March 2021, eventually winning 11 and drawing 6 of 32 ...... and he must be one of few Aussie-born players to have played for a Turkish League side (the then reigning Turkish Süper Lig champions Galatasaray, from 2008-2011) ...... and the band played 'Waltzing Matilda'

And if you're wondering - or even if you aren't - why the Australian Ladies' Soccer team is now called "The Matildas", read on; it seems that before 1995, the nickname for the women's team was just "The Female Socceroos", a derivative of the male squad. In 1995 the Australian Women's Soccer Association ran a naming competition for the distaff team, and out of five names, the popular vote chose "Matildas", from the song "Waltzing Matilda". The players themselves didn't approve of the name, however, and took years to "adopt" it ...........Good thing it wasn't the Dingos ........... Or the Kangeroos ................. or the Wobblies - errrr, Wallabies

And Requiescat in Pace to one of my boyhood heroes - Lord Jimmy Greaves of Goalpoaching, who died this week aged 81; to those of my generation (which is most of you, I think) he was an iconic legend, with a swerve like Nijinski, acceleration like Donald Campbell's Bluebird, and the striking speed of a King Cobra - and he was a real character to boot ......... and I'm so glad he (eventually) got his World Cup Winner's medal ............

James Peter Greaves MBE played for Chelsea, Milan, Spurs, West 'Am and Barnet ............. 382 goals in 579 games, plus the best-ever strike rate for England (44 in 57) ........... And your second Starter for Ten, then; which was the first English team to win a major European football competition, and who scored their first goal in the Final?

In 1846, the Morecambe Harbour and Railway Company was formed to build a harbour on Morecambe Bay, close to the fishing village of Poulton-le-Sands, and a connecting railway. By 1850, the railway linked to Skipton, Keighley and Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and a settlement began to grow around the harbour and railway to service the port, and as a seaside resort. The settlement expanded to absorb Poulton and the villages of Bare and Torrisholme, and began to be referred to as "Morecambe", possibly after the harbour and railway - or possibly as the answer to the question, "How did your Yorkshire advertising campaign for seaside holidays go?" "Oh, more came". In 1889, the new name was officially adopted.

Morecambe was a thriving seaside resort in the mid-20th century. It was home to the largest Pontins resort in the country (which closed in 1993 - Pontins, not the Country!). While Blackpool attracted holiday-makers predominantly from the Lancashire mill towns, Morecambe had more visitors from Yorkshire (due to its railway connection) and Scotland. Mill workers from Bradford and further afield would holiday at Morecambe, with some retiring there - including the Music Hall and Radio comedian Albert Modley - and to some, Morecambe became known as "Bradford on Sea". Between 1956 and 1989, it was also the home of the now-shamed Miss Great Britain beauty contest.

However the town suffered a decades-long decline after a series of incidents that damaged tourism and thus the local economy. Two piers were lost (no, Piers, not Peers): West End Pier was partly washed away in a storm in November 1977, and the remnants were demolished in 1978; and Central Pier, damaged by fire in 1933, was removed in 1992. In 1994, "The World of Crinkley Bottom" attraction in Happy Mount Park closed only thirteen weeks after opening, and the ensuing "Blobbygate" scandal led to a legal battle between Lancaster City Council on one side and TV star Noel Edmonds and Mr Blobby on the other. The closures of Bubbles, Morecambe's swimming pool, and the Frontierland fairground soon followed. It's to be hoped that Eden 2 will improve the visitor numbers, and that tea at the restored art deco Midland Hotel (which I did hear costs an absolute mint) may Revive The Town's Fortunes

Notable people from Morecambe include John Eric Bartholomew OBE, Tyson Fury, Dame Thora Hird, Nobel prize-winning biologist Peter J. Ratcliffe, and the Radford family - reputedly the UK's largest family, consisting of Sue and Noel Radford, who as of September 2020 had 22 children and 6 grandchildren ........... the 1960 film of The Entertainer, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright, was filmed there, as were two series of the ITV show "The Bay" (3rd series planned, unfortunately) ........ and Morecambe was mentioned in an episode of Ronnie Barker's "Porridge" first broadcast in 1973:

"... Fletchers's old woman said she wasn't returning, cos she was going to live with that Maltese ponce in Morecambe."

Plus, of course, Colin Crompton's reference that,

"They don't bury their dead in Morecambe, they stand them up in bus shelters with a bingo ticket in their hand"

Football dates back to the turn of the 20th Century in Morecambe, but Morecambe FC wasn't formed until 7th May 1920, following a meeting at the West View Hotel; they joined the Lancashire Combination for the 1920/21 season, and at the end of the first season the club moved grounds to Roseberry Park; a handful of years later, after the purchase of the ground by the then-President, J.B. Christie, the ground's name was changed to Christie Park in his honour. Christie bequeathed the ground to the club in 1927 and also helped incorporate the club into a Limited Company with a share capital of £1,000. The rest of the 1920s and the whole of the 1930s saw a constant struggle to keep football alive on the North West coast, with poor results on the field and little or no revenue off the field.

In 1995/96 they made it to the Bananarama; fast forward through to the Sammy McIlroy years; in November 2005 Sammy was appointed caretaker following Jim Harvey's health issues; at the end of the season 2005/06 they made the playoffs, losing 4-3 to Hereford. The following season, they were promoted to the FL for the first time (captained by Jimbo Bentley) after winning the Conference Playoff Final 2-1 against Exeter City 2–1 (20 May 2007 - goals by Gary Thompson and Danny Carleton), following their semi-final victory over York City ........... Their very first League game was a Goalless Desmond against Barnet (who are getting a few mentions this week!); they also did PNE (2-1 - goals by Bentley and David Artell) and Wolves 3-1 in the League Cup that first season .........

And last season they made it! League One!

14 left the club, including RW Carlos Mendes Gomez (to Luton), CB Nat Knight-Percival to Tranmere, striker AJ Leitch-Smith to Altrincham (LMF Ben Pringle (of the Crisps Dynasty) also made the same journey); striker Jordan Slew went to FC Halifax Town, DMF Yann Songo'o went to Bratfud and one John O'Sullivan had the very good sense to join the Stanley; oddly, 14 new ones arrived, including CB Scott Wootton from the Argyle, striker Jonathan Obika from St HelenMirren, LW Arthur Gnahoua from Bolton and former RoI u21 international striker Courtney Duffus from Bromley .......... five loans in, including Burnley's Adam Phillips, who I think many of us would have liked back ......

After two games of the season they were in the PlayOff places, following a Desmond at Ipswich and a 2-0 win over Shrewsbury .... it didn't last, sadly for them, and the're currently 16th with a record of P8 W3 D1 L4 GF12 GA11 and 10 points ........ their results are following a pattern, too - win one, lose two - and they won their last game, so we should be ok! Apart from the Shrews, they've done the Owls 1-0 and Crewe away 3-1 ....... In the EFL Cup they won 2-1 at Blackburn and then lost 2-4 at home to PNE, and in the Troffy they lost 1-0 at home to Everton u5s, and have Carlisle and Hartlepool still to play ......... Leading scorers are Cole Stockton with 8 and the aforementioned Monsieur Phillips with 3

Head to head over the seasons gives us the advantage; if you ignore the time they beat us 2-0 in the Johnston's P1ssPotPaintPot Trophy, they've won 2 - August 15 and August 16 - there have been 6 draws, and we've won 14 ...... We did the double in 2017/18 (promotion season), 2-1 away and 1-0 at home (goals at the Globe by Billy Whizz on 31 and Clicker on 92, before Crybaby Ellison got one back on 95), and the goal at Fortress Wham by Billy Whizz again, with a 45th-min penalty ......... Mwahahahahah!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 25th September ............... time was, of course, when we were assured of at least six points every season, but just maybe that's not the case now; Derek Adams got them promoted last season and promptly left for Bratfud, who are currently 9th in League Two, outside the Play Offs on GD .... new manager is Stephen Robinson, who knows how to suffer, having managed Oldham and Motherwell, and who used to be a NI International (now and then) and made a career at Bournemouth (now managed by Scott Parker, of course), PNE and Luton .......... and The Globe isn't The Globe, it's the Mazuma Stadium ............. anyone know what a Mazuma actually is? Answers on a postcard to The Prediction League, via Chimer

And Mark Noble of West Ham was the failed penalty-taker when his spot-kick was saved by David de Gea who "sprang to his left", leaving Man U to win the game 2-1 .....

And Spurs broke England's duck when they won the European Cup-Winners' Cup on 15th May 1963, beating the reigning champions Atlético Madrid 5-1 at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam; Spurs were managed by Bill Nicholson - and their first goal was scored by - of course - Jimmy Greaves on 16 minutes ........... Greavesie got two, Terry Dyson got two, and John White the other; White - a Scottish international inside forward - was tragically killed by a lightning strike on a golf course in July of the following year, aged 27 ..........

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

COYR!