2023-24 Prediction League; Game 34 v Crawley Town (home)

Div3North · 22-02-2024, 23:31

Accrington Stanley

V

Crawley Town

2023/24 Prediction League Game 34 v Crawley Town (home)

So who’d want to own a Football Club, really? We’ve been extraordinarily lucky to have had so many years (so far) from a devoted owner, who loves the club and has done so much for it to balance the books and get the best stadium and team he can afford …….. so thank you, Sir Andy

I’m not on Twitter (don’t understand it), and “X” was a categorisation of adults-only films, but I have seen what has gone up on FaceBook, quoted from “The Sun” ……. And Sir Andy isn’t a happy man – and he’s entitled; there is a “million pound hole”; prices have to increase across the board (understandably, he’s not going to bail out another million pound loss), and there are some troubling comments regarding “value for money” multiple injuries, surgery on players, and some – if I read it right – who cost the club a packet but have hardly set foot on the pitch in anger ………… He doesn't seem to be convinced that we've simply had an unforeseeable unlucky run of injuries. If I had the money – which I don’t – I’d find something – anything – better to spend it on than a Club In Trouble

Speaking of which, Nuneaton Borough have gone or are going to the wall, and Torquay are (or will be) in administration, and in deep difficulties, and are without a Chairman of the Board who stood down today …. there but for the grace of God (and the presence of Sir Andy) go we …………. Time to rally round, methinks, and support Sir Andy in all areas

Starter for Ten, then; West Germany won the 1954 World Cup Final, coming back from 2-0 down to beat Hungary 3-2 in “The Miracle of Bern”; but what was the score when the same two sides met earlier in the Group Stage?

Four more Managers gone in three days; on 19th February Roy Hodgson (hope all goes well for him) left Crystal Palace, and Michael Beale was terminated by the Black Cats – 63 days and 12 matches (of which he lost 6); his previous job at Rangers lasted 10 months and 43 matches; and he now holds the “Shortest Tenure as Sunderland Manager Award”, his 12 games trumping Paolo di Canio’s 13 games in 2013; on 21st February Joe Edwards was toasted by Millwall after 19 games (4 wins), to be replaced by Millwall’s previous Manager Neil Harris (March 2015 – October 2019), which leaves Cambridge without a Captain of the Ship, since Harris was their Manager at the time (77 days, 5 wins from 14)

The first written record of Crawley dates from 1202, when a licence was apparently issued by King John for a weekly market on Wednesdays. This was just before he lost his possessions in the Wash, and three years before Magna Carta (which later became Magnum Ice Cream). Crawley grew slowly in importance over the next few centuries, becoming a parish in the sixteenth century, having previously been a chapelry in the parish of Slaugham. When district and parish councils were established under the Local Government Act 1894, Crawley was given a parish council and included in the Horsham Rural District. The parish was significantly enlarged in 1933, when it absorbed the neighbouring parish of Ifield. At the last Census (2021) it was 118,000 or so

Founded in 1896 as Crawley Football Club, they helped to found the West Sussex League later that year before transferring to the Mid-Sussex League. The club disbanded in 1935, but were re-established in the Brighton, Hove & District League three years later. They switched to the Sussex County League in 1951 and then moved on to the Metropolitan League five years later. In 1958, the club changed its name to Crawley Town FC; they moved from amateur to semi-professional status in 1962 and joined the Southern League the following year.

They were promoted out of the Southern League Southern Section in 1983–84 and spent the next 21 seasons in the Premier Division, before winning promotion into the Conference as champions of the Southern League in 2003–04. The club turned fully professional in 2005 but faced immediate financial difficulties and entered administration the following year. The club survived and appointed That Nice Mr Evans as manager in May 2007. Evans led them into the Football League on 5th May 2011 as champions of the Conference in 2010–11: on Saturday 5 May 2012 Crawley secured promotion to League One courtesy of a 67th minute Scott Neilson strike against us (I was there!). They spent three seasons in League One before relegation in 2015. The club has played home games at Broadfield Stadium since 1997 and are nicknamed the "Reds" or "Red Devils" due to the colour of their kit.

They’ve had something of a rocky road in their past, with financial issues, administration (twice at least), spats with their manager, who walked out in April 2011 after Matt Tubbs and Tyrone Barnett were sold against his wishes, all the things which beset most clubs in their turn, and one of the quickest in-and-outs, where Sean O’Driscoll was appointed on 16th May 2012 to replace TNME (“That Nice ….”), only for O’Driscoll to leave on 12th July without having managed a game, to take over at Notts Forest ….. current incumbent is Scott Lindsay, who had a 20+ year career as a MF around the non-league sides (with one season at Gillingham)

Second Starter for Ten; has there ever been an occasion when two EFL sides not in the drop zone have played each other in the final game of the season, and found that at 4.45 they’d both been GreasyPoled?

They ended last season in 22nd, three points above the drop; recent additions to their squad are Dartford GK Ryan Sandford and American LMF Jeremy Kelly, signed from FC Tulsa; two loans in during the Transfer Window - both strikers - being Jayden Davies from Braintree and Sonny Fish from Welling Utd. We met at their place on 11th November and lost 3-1; their first ten games of the season gave them 6 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses (Gillingham 0-1 and Swindon 0-6) and second place in the League table, but they followed that up with four wins, one draw and nine defeats, by which time they were 14th ………… currently they’re on 46 points from 32 games, lying 4th, two places below us on GD; record overall to date is P32 W14 D4 L14 GF48 GA49, having won 5, drawn 3 and lost 7 on their travels ………… leading scorer is Danilo Orsi, who they bought from Grimsby in the summer, with 15 in the League and 17 in all competitions

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 24th February …….. they won last time out on Tuesday (1-0 at the Wombles) and on Saturday too (2-0 v Vegan Greenpeace) ……….. and have you looked at the League Two Table recently? Four points between Harrogate in 7th and Walsall in 16th - two teams on 48, three on 47, four on 46 (including us and them) and one on 45 ……….The Bananarama is as tight - two on 42 points (the Daggers and the Spitfires), one each on 41 and 40, three on 39 (including AFC Fylde, who seem to be fighting their way back up the table,) and four sides each on 38, with Dorking in 21st place ……………. IF we believe and play our fit players there could be points here …………

Personally, I can see a clear-out in the summer

And when West Germany and Hungary met in the Group stages of the 1954 World Cup, Hungary won 8-3 (bit like Spain winning the Female World Cup having lost 4-0 to Japan in their Group); and the “now you see us, now you don’t" has been achieved twice - on 28th April 2013 QPR travelled to the Majewski Stadium to play Reading; either could survive by winning; a draw would send them both down; neither side did anything to help their cause, and at the end of 90 minutes the score was 0-0 … and down they both went ……… and on the final day of 1997/98 Manchester City (in their comedic shambles days, which I remember well) went to Stoke; Man City won 5-2, to send Stoke down to what was then Division Two; results elsewhere, though. condemned Man City to join them …………. The story goes that the Blues Fans serenaded Stoke at the end of the game, singing:

“Going down, going down, going down
So are we, so are we, so are weeeee-eeee!”

Good luck to everyone! ……. Keep the Faith! …….. Support Sir Andy! …… And thanks for playing!