2023-24 Prediction League; Game 10 v Stockport County (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

V

Stockport County

2023/24 Prediction League Game 10 v The Stopfordians

Starter for Ten; in his first season at the Etihad (2022/23), Alf-Inge Haaland’s little lad Erling Braut Haaland scored, according to the stats, some 52 goals in all competitions – PrawnSandwich League, Champignons League, FA Cup and EFL Cup ….......... 50 in a season has, of course, been done before (Dixie Dean did 63 in 1927/28), but it hasn’t been done often; nine times between Dixie and The Hulk …... so George Camsell Middlesbrough), Joe Payne (Luton), Terry Bly (Posh), Steve Bull (twice for Wolves) …......but none of those were playing in the Top Tier of the League when they hit the big 5-0 …...... actually, between Dean and Haaland it’s only been done once by a player playing in the first division/Premiership; so who was the only top division striker in those 95 years to hit 50 goals for the season?

And it has to be said that, for the second time in three games, we didn’t cover ourselves in Collective Glory with our predictions for the PL when we went to Tranmere …... The Paggering at Prenton Park came after only two players predicted we’d lose there, with five for the draw and 13 for a Stanley win; consequently, OssyKid and Taypot each got four PL points for the defeat, and each picked up a bonus one – OK for our no goals, and Taypot for their two ….... three of the five drawmongers went for 1-1, so scored nowt; two – Watchdog and Div3North – each got one bonus point, in both cases for their two goals; everyone else got zip, because no-one thought we’d fire a blank, and no-one but the above three thought they’d score twice ….

Must do better. See me!

Second Starter for Ten, then; Alex – sorry, Sir Alex – Ferguson (no relation of Fergie, I believe) managed Man U from 6th November 1986 until 19th May 2013- 26 years, 6 months and 13 days; but who did he replace as the Boss of The Theatre of Dreams?

Stockport was recorded as "Stokeport" in 1170. The currently accepted derivation of the name is Old English “port”, a marketplace, with “stoc”, a hamlet (but more accurately a minor settlement within an estate); hence, a marketplace at a hamlet. Older derivations include stock, a stockaded place or castle, with port, a wood, hence a castle in a wood. The castle probably refers to Stockport Castle, a 12th-century motte-and-bailey first mentioned in 1173.

Other derivations are based on early variants such as Stopford and Stockford. There is evidence that a ford across the Mersey existed at the foot of Bridge Street Brow. Stopford retains a use in the adjectival form, "Stopfordian", for Stockport-related items, and pupils of Stockport Grammar School style themselves Old Stopfordians. "Stopfordian" is used as the general term for people from Stockport, in the same way that someone from London would be a Londoner.

Stockport has never been a sea or river port as the Mersey is not navigable there; in the centre of Stockport the river has been culverted and the main shopping street, Merseyway, built above it. It’s an industrial town 7 miles south-east of Manchester, 9 miles south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and 12 miles north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey. Dominating the western approaches to the town is Stockport Viaduct; built in 1840, its 27 brick arches carry the mainline railways passing through the town over the Mersey.

Since the start of the 20th century Stockport has moved away from being a town dependent on cotton and its allied industries to one with a varied base. It makes the most of its varied heritage attractions, including a national museum of hatting, a unique system of World War II air raid tunnel shelters in the town centre, and a late medieval merchants' house on the 700-year-old Market Place. In 1967, the Stockport air disaster occurred, when a British Midland Airways C-4 Argonaut aeroplane crashed in the Hopes Carr area of the town, resulting in 72 deaths among the passengers and crew.

Famous Stopfordians include the Thinking Man’s Crumpet (Dame Joan Bakewell), Liam Broady (tennis), Peter Barkworth (actor), Peter Butterworth (“Carry On …”), Tess Daly (Strictly), Phil Foden (footballist), Claire Foy (“The Crown”), the late Sarah Harding (“Girls Aloud”), Ricky Hatton, Wendy Hillier, Adam le Fallover, Jason Manford, John Mayall ….. the list goes on (I haven’t met any of them); Fred Perry got the Freedom of the Borough in 1934; Stockport is twinned with Béziers in France, Dodge City in the US of A, and Heilbronn in Germany (where’s Dave gone?)

Another Sfor10, then …….. to the best of my knowledge, only one football manager has ever been sacked on Christmas Day; said manager's son - better known than the Dad - said

“I was nine or ten years of age, and my father was sacked on Christmas Day. He was the manager of Rio Ave, the results had not been good, he lost a game on December 22 or 23. On Christmas Day the telephone rang and he was sacked in the middle of our lunch. So I know all about the ups and downs of football”

So who was the more famous son?

Stockport County Football Club were formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers and renamed Stockport County in 1890 (after the County Borough of Stockport) They’ve played in blue and white kits since 1914; their original colours were red and white. The club is nicknamed "The Hatters" after the town's former hat-making industry, and has played at Edgeley Park since 1902.

They first joined the Football League in 1900 but had to seek re-election in 1904. They were not re-elected and spent one season outside the competition before they returned for the 1905–06 season. County then played in the Football League continuously for 106 years until 2011, mostly in the lower divisions. The team won their first league championship in 1922, the newly created Third Division North. Two league championships followed in 1937 (Third Division North) and 1967 (Fourth Division). The 1990s was the team's most successful period, when Stockport competed in the First Division (Tier 2) for five seasons and reached the League Cup semi-finals in 1996–97. They also made four appearances at Wembley during this period, two in the Football League Trophy and two in the Football League play-offs, but lost every time.

After financial difficulties in the early 2000s, the club fell back down the divisions, and were relegated out of the Football League at the end of the 2010–11 season, followed by relegation to the Bananarama North in 2012–13. They stabilised on and off the pitch in the following seasons, and won promotion to the fifth tier in 2018–19. In 2021–22, County topped the National League, securing promotion back to the EFL after an 11-year absence; Oldham and The Iron (now in real problems, it seems) went the other way. In their first season back in League Two, Stockport finished 4th and reached the 2023 EFL League Two play-off final, losing 5-4 on pens after an half-Desmond to Carlisle United at Wembley Stadium.

Famous past players include Mike Flynn, Jim Gannon, Danny Bergara, Brett Angell, Dave Jones and goal-poacher Len White, whose career took in Newcastle (153 goals in 269 games), Huddersfield and Rotherham; Managers include Jimmy Meadows, Walter Galbraith, Eddie Hopkinson, Mike Summerbee, Asa Hartford, and my favourite-ever GK, Bert Trautmann

They finished last season in fourth place, largely because they only lost twice in the second half of the season; four points behind the three auto teams, and three ahead of Carlisle, winning 22 and drawing 13; in the play-offs they did the Salford Moneybags 3-1 on penalties after a Desmond, but they lost the Final - also on penalties - to Carlisle, 5-4. Eight players left in the summer, including Ben Barclay, who left us for them in 2021 but only contrived 11 games there before joining Carlisle, RB Chris Hussey who went to Walsall, striker Scott Quigley who joined Eastleigh Spitfires (well, if Leigh Leopards can do it, why not Eastleigh?), and five others, who went variously to Morecambe, the Wombles, Kerry, Altrincham and nowhere …… seven came in (all for free), including AMF Nick Powell - ex Crewe, head-hunted by Man U (where he played three times between 2012 and 2016, Wigan and Stoke

Season to date has them 9th (P9 W4 D2 L3 GF17 GA12) for 14 points, one point and three places above us ………. last time out they tanned Wrexham’s hides 5-0, and they’ve also beaten Barrow at home 1-0, and the Wombles and the McDonuts away (both 2-1), and they haven’t lost in their last four ……… and that - if you missed it - was the third time Wrexham have conceded five in the League this season, and it’s still only September!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday the last of September …………… Not any easy one to call, this, although I have a decent feeling (but that’s enough of my dreams and aspirations)

And as for the Starters for Ten; the last 50-goal man in the top Division prior to Erling Braut was Tom “Pongo” Waring (who I mentioned last week) playing for Villa in 1930/31 - and thank you to Greger for reminding me that Pongo played for the Stanley in the 1938 season, scoring 10 in 22 games; Waring was nick-named “Pongo” after a famous cartoon of the times, it seems, that being “Pongo the Pup”; he scored 243 League goals in 363 games for five different sides …… And Sir Alex replaced Big Ron Atkinson after five years in the hot seat ……… and the more famous son whose Dad was sacked on Christmas Day was The Special One - José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix

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

[AccyMad]

Tough game, especially with our current injury situation but they're only 1 point ahead of us & I reckon by 5pm (ish) tomorrow we'll be 2 points ahead of them

2 - 1 to Stanley please

[Lord Stiffupperlip]

After last week, an optimistic 1-1

[MikeA]

1-0 Stanley, please

[Taypot]

Stanley 0 Stockport 0

[choirboy]

Stanley 2-1 Stockport for me please.

[Watchdog]

Accrington Stanley to win 3-2 please

[Greger]

A slightly optimistic 2-2 draw.

[Chimer]

2-1 Stanley for me too

[teach]

1-1 for me please

[ossy kid]

Stanley 1-2 Stockport

[Kiwi Johnny]

A stupid result,3-3...

[Div3North]

They haven’t lost in four, and we’re a bit “patched up”, so I fear - factoring in their 5-0 drubbing of Wrexham -

Stanley 1 County 3

[andyd]

Stanley 1-1 Stockport

[VALAIRIAN]

Not having a clue who will play for us, is not helping matters........

I just think we will have a mish-mash of a team, with some players playing with injuries?!?!?!?!

Stanley 2-4 Stockport