2023-24 Prediction League; Game 8 v Sutton United FC (home)

Div3North · 14-09-2023, 22:14

Accrington Stanley

V

Sutton United

2023/24 Prediction League Game 8; v The Green Ganders (home)

Starter for Ten: what do non-league sides Erith and Belvedere FC, Epsom and Ewell FC, Newark and Sherwood United FC and Yarm and Eaglescliffe FC all have in common?

The placename “Sutton” is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as “Sudtone”, formed from Old English 'sūth' and 'tūn', meaning 'south farm'. It’s 4.2 miles west of Croydon, 3.8 miles north-east of Epsom and 5.8 miles south-east of Kingston upon Thames, the principal town in the Borough of Sutton in South London, and its population was 41,483 in the 2011 census, while the borough overall counted 204,525.

Sutton as a place is mainly the product of the railways, which arrived in the town in the mid-19th century: so although it already existed (as a village with coaching inns) in the horse and carriage era, most of the town's earliest architecture is Victorian. A few buildings date from before the Victorian era; the mid-18th century Georgian Sutton Lodge on Brighton Road is thought to be the oldest fully surviving building in the former parish of Sutton. The lodge was initially the farmhouse of the former Sutton Farm. Later, the farmland around the lodge was sold off for house building. The lodge itself survived and was bought by Sutton Council for use as a day centre. During its early history it is rumoured to have served as a hideaway for the future King George IV and his mistresses (oh yes!). The building is Grade II listed: what grading the mistresses gave His Maj isn’t recorded ……..

Retailing has been a major part of the Sutton economy since the Victorian era. The oldest retail business currently operating in Sutton, Pearson Cycles, dates from the 1860s – it was originally a blacksmith shop, but in the 1890s changed to bicycle making and repair. The Pearsons have run the cycle business from the same High Street location ever since. It has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest bicycle shop in the world, which fact might come in useful if you’re ever in a Quiz Team ….........

It’s also “home” to the Great and the Good, as well as being a nice place to live having a low crime rate (according to multiple killer Mad Jake); the G and the G include Joan Armatrading (singer), David Bellamy (broadcaster and botanist), Sally Bercow (wife of the former Speaker of the Commons, John “Order, Order! Where’s me Knighthood?” Bercow), Sir Noel Coward (between the ages of seven and ten!), Constance Cox (playwright and scriptwriter), James Cracknell (Olympic rowist), Quentin Crisp (writer and raconteur), Jack Draper (tennis), James Hunt (racing driver), Penelope Keith (actress) and Katie Melua (another singist); in its streets it has a Rainbow Crossing (for diversity) and a Transgender Crossing (which, in case you don’t know, isn’t black and white, it’s stripes of sky blue, pink, white, pink again, and sky blue again)…................How palindromic! And EVER so fetching!

Second Starter for Ten, then; which world-famous band was “spotted” playing in Sutton in 1963, months before they made the charts, and signed up to a residency at The Crawdaddy Club in Richmond?

Sutton United was formed on 5 March 1898 when Sutton Guild Rovers F.C. and Sutton Association F.C. (formerly Sutton St Barnabas F.C.) agreed to merge after a meeting at the Robin Hood Hotel. MergedSutton started out playing in local junior leagues but progressed to the Athenian League in 1921, the Isthmian League in 1964, and the Conference (now The Bananarama) in 1986, lasting there but five years. They appeared in the Conference for one more season in 1999–2000, and were founding members of the Conference South in 2004,which they won in 2015–16 …. They achieved their very first promotion to the Football League by winning the National League title in the 2020–21 season, beating Stockport to the punch by seven points, and Torquay by four; Stockport bombed out in the semi-finals of the play-offs 1-0 to Hartlepool, and Torquay did Notts County 4-2, before Hartlepool took the play-off final on penalties after a half-Desmond ….... After four penalties it was still 0-0, but Hartlepool got their next five, while Torquay only managed four (Luke Armstrong (Stanley 2019) scored the Mankey Hangers’ goal, plus missing a pen in the shootout) ..............

They’ve played at Wembley Stadium four times - twice in the FA Amateur Cup final, and also in the FA Trophy final in 1980–81 and the EFL Trophy final in 2021–22. They won the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1978–79 as well, but the club is mostly famous for its FA Cup "giant killing" exploits, notably in 1988–89 when they did Coventry City 2–1 in the third round. Coventry had won the Cup in 1986–87 and had Cyrille Regis up front. Sutton (aka The Us, The Yellows, and the Amber and Chocolates) first EFL game was against Vegan Greenpeace United, and they lost 2-1, although they finished the season 8th, one point off the playoffs. Come on you Amber and Chocolates!

Their mascot is Jenny the Giraffe, who apparently attends all home matches and wears a Sutton United shirt and two pairs of extraordinarily long trousers (and who has been known to wear a scarf during the winter – Southern Softies!) Their ground is Gander Green Lane (known as the VBS Community Stadium) where they played for a brief time before The Great War, and where they’ve been continuously since 1919 …....... current manager is Matt Gray (who’s 42 on Saturday, so sing “Happy Birthday” for him), a CB whose career was cut short at 25 through injury …...... Leading-ever goal scorer is Paul McKinnon (279), and most-ever appearances is 786 by Larry Pritchard ….....

Speaking of winning the Bananarama, did you see that GK Ben Foster – who came out of retirement last season to assist Wrexham – has retired again? Having played for (amongst others) Watford, Brum, the Baggies and Man U, he retired in September 2022 despite a contract offer from Newcastle, but came out of retirement in April 2023, playing, in all, twelve games for Wrexham; he retired for the second time a week or two back after a 5-3 loss to Swindon Town …..... Starter for Ten then: name the American striker who played in the UK for Everton and who actually ProperRetired from professional football three times in all …

Having finished 8th in their maiden season, last year they ended up 14th, with a record of P46 W15 D13 L18 and with a -12 GD and no cigar, possibly because they lost 6 and drew one of their last seven games, conceding four goals twice ……….. and in fact they didn’t win in their final eleven fixtures (D4 L7) ………. they got one game in the FA Cup, losing 2-0 to Farnborough, and one in the EFL Cup, losing 1-0 to the McDonuts ….. they did get out of their Trophy group, but then lost 1-0 to the Wombles …………. they shipped out 14 over the summer, five of whom went to League sides and the rest of whom didn’t (CF Omar Bugiel to the Wombles, CF Kylian Kouassi to Blackpool, LW Will Randall to Notts Co, Alistair Smith to Lincoln, and Striker Donovan Wilson to Grimsby ………. nine signed on (only one striker for the three who left) including GK Steve Arnold from Sarfend, RB Ryan Jackson from Cheltenham, CM Christian N’Guessan from Ebbsfleet (“Own the club, pick the team”), CF Harry Smith from Leyton O, RW Scott Kashket from the Gills (and I seem to remember we’ve had trouble with him in the past), CB Omar Sowunmi from Bromley, and Omari Patrick from Carlisle …….. which gives them the option of “The Omar and Omari Show”)

Not having won in eleven, their opening fixture this season was against Notts County (Will Randall et al), which they won 5-1 ………… from that magnificent start it’s all gone rather T.U, because they lost the next six - at home to Gillingham (0-1), Wimbledon (0-3) and Vegan Greenpeace (0-1), and away at Barrow (1-2), Newport (1-3), and Swindon (3-5), being 3 down inside 23 minutes ………. so having lashed Notts Co, they’re now 23rd (above only Donnie) with a record of P7 W1 L6 Pts3, and Notts Co are second (W4 D2 L1) …. and Gillingham (who are top again) have had five x 1-0 wins and two defeats in seven games ……………. Our Head to Head is, of course, Even Stevens (nil apiece), so all to play for ….

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 16th September; their form is parlous (“without par”), and our home form is W2 D1 L1 ….. and we’ve lost three times already, but they were against the current top three in League Two, so maybe we can still hope …………..

And the common feature among Erith and Belvedere FC, Epsom and Ewell FC, Newark and Sherwood United FC and Yarm and Eaglescliffe FC is that none of the sides play in either of the places in their club’s name (Erith and Belvedere play in Welling, about four miles away; Epsom and Ewell’s ground is in Cobham, about ten miles from both places; Newark and Sherwood United play in Collingham, seven miles from Newark and twenty-four from Sherwood; and Yarm and Eaglescliffe play in Billingham, ten miles removed from both places ………………… and the pop group “spotted” in Sutton by one Giorgio Gomelsky was The Rolling Stones ……………. and USA’s Landon Timothy Donovan - who played for Bayer Leverkusen, LA Galaxy, Bayern Munich and Everton (on loan) - retired for the first time after a very decent career (the MLS award for the season’s MVP is named after him!) which ended in 2014 at LA Galaxy, but went back to help out with injuries in 2016, playing eight regular season games and three in the playoffs before retiring for the second time, citing a need to spend more time with his family ……………… but in 2018, after spending three days in Mexico, he announced his third stint as a professional, this time at Mexico’s own Club Leon …….. and he’s quoted as saying:

“I loved the city, Leon is an historic and winning team. I don’t believe in walls”

Bet that went down well with President Trump!

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

And could someone possibly score some PL points this week, do you think?

Ta!