Number 31 May 22 2017
Who
are the Champions?
Red
Rose clubs play in 15 different leagues from Tier 1 to Tier 11. Here are the
Champions of each of these leagues with the highest of our clubs indicated alongside
them, our Champions being highlighted.
|
Red
Rose County Footballing Legends
(Number 4)
Mike
Doyle
It
has always been the case that casual followers of the game, the media and in
more modern times the TV fans idolise forward players. They easily catch the
eye and they dazzle with their skills. Inevitably they score most of the goals
and make the headlines. The true fan on the Terraces, now of course seated in
the Stands, sees it somewhat differently. Defenders like Mike Doyle are not
easy to spot on “the box” but when you can see the full dimension of the pitch
with one sweep of the eye, you notice the tacklers and those who put their
heads on the chopping block; they are the “thou shalt not pass” merchants.
“Doyley” was an Ashton-under-Lyme boy, born and raised deep in the Sky Blue
heartlands; the type of area where you hated United. He was the son of a local
policeman and the young Doyle was seen by the Mercer/Allison management team as
an ideal candidate to man the thin blue line which was City’s defence in the mid-60s.
A ferocious tackler, he was the ultimate hard man, the defensive wing half
turned centre back. He was part of the magnificent City side which initially
contained attacking eye-catchers such as Summerbee, Bell and Lee as well as
Marsh, Tuart and Peter Barnes from the next generation. His remit was to make
sure the back door was kept tightly closed. He played 5 times for England,
captained City and in all played 448 league games for the Maine Road club. He
won 6 medals in total; for the Championships of Division 2 and Division 1 as
well as for winning the FA Cup, 2 Football League Cups and the UEFA Cup-Winners’
Cup. Tony Book was the manager who finally sold him; for £50,000 to Stoke City
and he immediately helped them to gain promotion to Division 1. He completed
110 games at the old Victoria ground, then managed a season and a half at
Bolton in Division 2 before finally bringing down the curtain on a 21 year career
at Rochdale. In all he had notched up 627 league appearances, still as
dependable at the end as when he first caught Joe Mercer’s eye. Like many
footballers of his day, he drank too much and sadly this was one opponent that
he could not kick. He died at the age of 64 from liver failure, but his name
may well live on with the City faithful as his grandson Tommy has already captained
the England Under/16 side. To some he may have operated beneath the radar as a
player but to those who recognise the value of defenders in what of course is a
team game, he will always be part of the City Hall of Fame; a Sky Blue legend
from the Red Rose County.
Performances of the last week
The Premier League
petered out with barely a whimper on the last day, the only interest being in
which 2 sides would finish third and fourth to clinch Champions’ League spots.
Fortunately for the Red Rose County, both of our teams in contention won, thus
holding off the challenge of Arsenal. Manchester
City had already beaten West Brom 3-1 in mid-week and quickly found top
gear to crush Watford at Vicarage Road by a 5-0 margin to finish in the top 4
for the 7th consecutive season. Sergio Aguero was outstanding in
scoring twice and reaching 122 Premier League goals, 16th on the
all-time list. Liverpool made heavy
weather of beating Middlesbrough, but once Georginio Wijnaldum had given them
the lead on the stroke of half-time, they coasted to a 3-0 victory and secured
4th position.
If
you had told Blackpool supporters last August that their season would
conclude at Wembley, they would have looked to section you. However, football
being a game of ups and downs with surprises around every corner, the Tangerine
army will be walking down Wembley Way on May 28. Following their Division 2
Semi Final Play-Off victory over
Luton on Thursday, promotion to Division 1 is a distinct possibility. And what
a semi-final it was. Blackpool took a 3-2 lead down to Kenilworth Road and quickly
added to it with a goal from Nathan Delfouneso, but it was a short lived
success as the Hatters roared back with 2 goals before half-time. When Luton’s
prolific scorer Danny Hilton converted a penalty early in the second half, the
writing appeared to be on the wall but Armand Gnandhuillet headed an equaliser
with 15 minutes to play and extra time seemed inevitable. With 5 minutes of
added time already played, Blackpool threw men forward and Kelvin Mellor headed
goal wards. A Luton defender hacked the ball off the line only for it to hit the
goalkeeper in the back and ricochet into the net. It was a fluke of a winner
but the Blackpool fans did not care. They were already preparing to book their
Wembley tickets.
Kelvin Mellor; always in the thick of the action
for the Tangerines
What
a first season for City of Liverpool FC.
Their achievements have been quite startling. They have gained promotion from the North West
Counties Division 1, won the Reusch Trophy for clubs in League 1 and,
to top it all off, have now won the prestigious Macron Cup, a competition for clubs
in both the Premier and Division 1 of the NWCFL.
Games to look forward to
this week
There
have been 47 Europa League Finals,
but English clubs have only won it (and its predecessor the UEFA Cup) 7 times. Liverpool have led the way with 3
victories from Spurs with 2; Ipswich Town and Chelsea being our 2 other
champions. So can Manchester United
(playing in their first final) defeat Ajax in Stockholm on Wednesday? It has
been a strange, somewhat uneasy season for the Reds. With a new manager, the
world record signing and probably the best free transfer ever, much was
promised, but the side has rarely totally gelled. There was the fantastic run
of 25 unbeaten league games but 15 draws and 5 defeats constitute a total of 45
lost points. They scrambled their way to a League Cup Final victory over
Southampton and they have reached the final of Europe’s second most prestigious
competition, but this has not been the United of old, the side that could stir
emotions, keep you on the edge of your seat and send you home buzzing. Having
said that, the manager deserves praise for consistently setting up an eleven
which is so difficult to beat and if his forwards had only shown a touch more
accuracy when shooting, the league placing could have been much better than
(for Manchester United) a mediocre 6th. The Ajax side is young,
talented and adventurous, in fact a typical Ajax side, but I feel that United
will know a little too much on the night and return to the north of England
with the season’s second trophy.
Antonio Valencia who has developed into an
outstanding right back at Old Trafford
Mention
Blackpool and Wembley Stadium in the
same sentence and the TV companies will automatically show a grey, grainy black
and white image of “the wizard of the dribble” bemusing the Bolton defence
before rolling the ball for Bill Perry to score Blackpool’s 4th and
winning goal of the legendary Matthews
final. There have however been 6 other occasions when the Tangerines have successfully
graced Wembley’s hallowed turf or the equally impressive Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff during the re-building of the North London ground. There were Play-off
victories from Tier 4 in 1992 and 2001, Tier 3 in 2007 and Tier 2 in 2010. They
also twice won the Football League trophy in Cardiff in 2002 and 2004. So if
experience has any part to play in the League 2 Play-Off Final at Wembley on Sunday,
the ‘Pool are home and dry because their rivals Exeter City have never before
played on the ground. Unfortunately history shows that form, experience and
sometimes even ability play little part in deciding the winners of one-off
games. It is qualities such as fight, determination and luck which often win
the day. This is a 50-50 game and I so hope that Gary Bowyer’s side can win
through, but I am certain that the result will be a lottery.
Quiz of the Week (Answers at the foot of the Blog)
Each question has a Red Rose County connection
Managers and Transfers
1
Which Manchester
United manager bought Juan Mata from Chelsea for £37million?
2
Kenny Dalglish spent
£35million on a striker in 2011 who only scored 6 league goals in 44
appearances before being sold on. Who was he?
3
Bolton Wanderers’
most expensive buy was John Elmander from Toulouse in 2008. Which Wanderers’
manager paid £8.2million for the Swedish international?
4
Scottish
International David Weir played 235 league games for Everton but which Scottish
manager signed him in 1999?
David Weir; now making his name as a
coach
5
Who was manager at
Burnley when Ben Mee started to play there, initially on loan from Manchester
City?
6
Which Blackburn
Rovers manager signed Jordan Rhodes for £8million from Huddersfield Town?
7
Which Manchester City
manager paid Atletico Madrid £38million for Sergio Aguero?
8
David Nugent has
been Preston North End’s only Player capped by England since Tom Finney, in
2007. That summer, which manager sold him to Portsmouth for £6 million?
David Nugent; something of a journeyman
but can always be relied upon to score
9
Which Wigan Athletic
manager paid £4million to Bolton Wanderers for “penalty kick saver
extraordinaire” Ali Al-Habsi in 2011?
10
Which Blackpool manager sold Charlie Adam to
Liverpool for £7million, Blackpool’s record sale?
Post Weekend Musings
How do you set the criteria for a successful
season? Is it having achieved a higher league position than last year or does
your club have to bring home a trophy? One thing for sure is that if you
achieve the best ever year in the history of the club, you really have
something to shout about. Of the 117 clubs from the Red Rose County from Tier 1
to Tier 11, 29 achieved their highest or joint highest ever finish in the
2016-17 season and they are listed below. Sadly only one of our 16
Premier/Football League clubs feature but it is always good to find clubs
trying to push their way up from lower down the pyramid and we certainly have
our share of this type of club.
|
Team
|
Tier
|
Pos
|
League
|
Comments
|
|
Fleetwood Town
|
3
|
4
|
EFL League 1
|
|
|
AFC Fylde
|
6
|
1
|
National League North
|
|
|
Salford City
|
6
|
4
|
National League North
|
1st year at this level
|
|
FC United of Manchester
|
6
|
13 =
|
National League North
|
|
|
Warrington Town
|
7
|
10
|
Northern Premier League
|
1st year at this level
|
|
Colne
|
8
|
5
|
Northern Premier League 1 North
|
1st year at this level
|
|
Atherton Collieries
|
9
|
1
|
North West Counties Premier
|
|
|
Bootle
|
9
|
2
|
North West Counties Premier
|
|
|
Irlam
|
9
|
8
|
North West Counties Premier
|
1st year at this level
|
|
AFC Darwen
|
9
|
18 =
|
North West Counties Premier
|
Since reforming in 2009
|
|
Widnes
|
10
|
1
|
North West Counties League 1
|
|
|
Charnock Richard
|
10
|
2
|
North West Counties League 1
|
1st year at this level
|
|
Litherland REMYCA
|
10
|
3
|
North West Counties League 1
|
|
|
City of Liverpool FC
|
10
|
4
|
North West Counties League 1
|
1st year at this level
|
|
Rochdale
Sacred Heart
|
11
|
1
|
Manchester
Premier League
|
|
|
Mossley
Hill Athletic
|
11
|
2
|
West
Cheshire League
|
|
|
Rainhill
Town
|
11
|
4
|
West
Cheshire League
|
|
|
Redgate
Rovers
|
11
|
6
|
West
Cheshire League
|
1st year at this level
|
|
Richmond
Raith Rovers
|
11
|
7
|
West
Cheshire League
|
1st year at this level
|
|
Longridge
Town
|
11
|
1
|
West
Lancs League
|
|
|
Tempest
United
|
11
|
6
|
West
Lancs League
|
|
|
Hesketh
Bank
|
11
|
7=
|
West
Lancs League
|
|
|
Denton
Town
|
11
|
3
|
Cheshire
League
|
|
|
Lower
Breck
|
11
|
2
|
Liverpool
County League
|
|
|
Liverpool
Nalgo
|
11
|
4=
|
Liverpool
County League
|
|
|
Byrom
|
11
|
8
|
Liverpool
County League
|
|
|
Waterloo
G S O B
|
11
|
6
|
Liverpool
County League
|
|
|
Alumni
|
11
|
12
|
Liverpool
County League
|
1st year at this level
|
|
MSB
Woolton
|
11
|
13
|
Liverpool
County League
|
1st year at this level
|
Red Rose County Player of
the Week
Sergio Aguero
Two consummate finishes on Sunday at Watford precisely summed
up the skills of the Manchester City striker. On his day he makes goal scoring
appear easy. He has now hit the 20 goal target in 3 consecutive Premier
League seasons, joining the elite group of Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Ruud van
Nistelrooy and Harry Kane.
A Review of the Northern Premier League 1 North, 2016-17
Exactly half of the clubs in the Northern Premier League
Division 1 North were from the Red Rose County and in terms of symmetry; we
provided one of the 2 promoted clubs and one of the 2 that were relegated. Lancaster City were the Champions after
a Titanic struggle with Farsley Celtic from the Leeds/Bradford area of West
Yorkshire. The Dolly Blues from the traditional Red Rose capital only secured
the title on the last day of the season at Glossop North End and had Jordan
Connerton to thank, his 28 goals placing him 2nd in the Golden Boot
chart. Colne FC also had a magnificent season, rising up the league as the
season progressed. They reached the Play-Offs in their 1st season at
this level following promotion from the North West Counties League, but sadly lost heavily to Farsley Celtic. Trafford had been up there all season,
just missing out at the death in finishing 6th and Clitheroe were the 4th Red
Rose club in the top 7, missing the Play-Offs by just 2 points. We will be
looking for one of these 3 clubs to take on Lancaster’s mantle and seriously
challenge for the title in 2017-18. Bamber
Bridge, Droylsden and Ramsbottom United will all have been
disappointed with their season, finishing 11th, 13th and
14th respectively. None of the 3 ever came close to challenging the
leading group but each one showed late season improvement which hopefully will
bode well for next year. Prescott Cables,
Mossley and Radcliffe Borough all finished in lowly positions at 16th
17th and 20th, but none of them ever looked like serious
relegation candidates. Unfortunately Burscough
were the least successful of all, finishing at the bottom of the pile. There
were too many rumours about losing their ground to builders which made it
difficult for the club to concentrate on football and they are relegated along
with Goole AFC.
Quiz
Answers
1
David Moyes, 2 Andy Carroll, 3 Gary
Megson, 4 Walter Smith, 5 Eddie Howe,
6
Steve Kean, 7 Roberto Mancini, 8 Paul Simpson, 9 Roberto Martinez, 10 Ian
Holloway.
Number 31 May 22 2017
Who
are the Champions?
Red
Rose clubs play in 15 different leagues from Tier 1 to Tier 11. Here are the
Champions of each of these leagues with the highest of our clubs indicated alongside
them, our Champions being highlighted.
|
Red
Rose County Footballing Legends
(Number 4)
Mike
Doyle
It
has always been the case that casual followers of the game, the media and in
more modern times the TV fans idolise forward players. They easily catch the
eye and they dazzle with their skills. Inevitably they score most of the goals
and make the headlines. The true fan on the Terraces, now of course seated in
the Stands, sees it somewhat differently. Defenders like Mike Doyle are not
easy to spot on “the box” but when you can see the full dimension of the pitch
with one sweep of the eye, you notice the tacklers and those who put their
heads on the chopping block; they are the “thou shalt not pass” merchants.
“Doyley” was an Ashton-under-Lyme boy, born and raised deep in the Sky Blue
heartlands; the type of area where you hated United. He was the son of a local
policeman and the young Doyle was seen by the Mercer/Allison management team as
an ideal candidate to man the thin blue line which was City’s defence in the mid-60s.
A ferocious tackler, he was the ultimate hard man, the defensive wing half
turned centre back. He was part of the magnificent City side which initially
contained attacking eye-catchers such as Summerbee, Bell and Lee as well as
Marsh, Tuart and Peter Barnes from the next generation. His remit was to make
sure the back door was kept tightly closed. He played 5 times for England,
captained City and in all played 448 league games for the Maine Road club. He
won 6 medals in total; for the Championships of Division 2 and Division 1 as
well as for winning the FA Cup, 2 Football League Cups and the UEFA Cup-Winners’
Cup. Tony Book was the manager who finally sold him; for £50,000 to Stoke City
and he immediately helped them to gain promotion to Division 1. He completed
110 games at the old Victoria ground, then managed a season and a half at
Bolton in Division 2 before finally bringing down the curtain on a 21 year career
at Rochdale. In all he had notched up 627 league appearances, still as
dependable at the end as when he first caught Joe Mercer’s eye. Like many
footballers of his day, he drank too much and sadly this was one opponent that
he could not kick. He died at the age of 64 from liver failure, but his name
may well live on with the City faithful as his grandson Tommy has already captained
the England Under/16 side. To some he may have operated beneath the radar as a
player but to those who recognise the value of defenders in what of course is a
team game, he will always be part of the City Hall of Fame; a Sky Blue legend
from the Red Rose County.
Performances of the last week
The Premier League
petered out with barely a whimper on the last day, the only interest being in
which 2 sides would finish third and fourth to clinch Champions’ League spots.
Fortunately for the Red Rose County, both of our teams in contention won, thus
holding off the challenge of Arsenal. Manchester
City had already beaten West Brom 3-1 in mid-week and quickly found top
gear to crush Watford at Vicarage Road by a 5-0 margin to finish in the top 4
for the 7th consecutive season. Sergio Aguero was outstanding in
scoring twice and reaching 122 Premier League goals, 16th on the
all-time list. Liverpool made heavy
weather of beating Middlesbrough, but once Georginio Wijnaldum had given them
the lead on the stroke of half-time, they coasted to a 3-0 victory and secured
4th position.
If
you had told Blackpool supporters last August that their season would
conclude at Wembley, they would have looked to section you. However, football
being a game of ups and downs with surprises around every corner, the Tangerine
army will be walking down Wembley Way on May 28. Following their Division 2
Semi Final Play-Off victory over
Luton on Thursday, promotion to Division 1 is a distinct possibility. And what
a semi-final it was. Blackpool took a 3-2 lead down to Kenilworth Road and quickly
added to it with a goal from Nathan Delfouneso, but it was a short lived
success as the Hatters roared back with 2 goals before half-time. When Luton’s
prolific scorer Danny Hilton converted a penalty early in the second half, the
writing appeared to be on the wall but Armand Gnandhuillet headed an equaliser
with 15 minutes to play and extra time seemed inevitable. With 5 minutes of
added time already played, Blackpool threw men forward and Kelvin Mellor headed
goal wards. A Luton defender hacked the ball off the line only for it to hit the
goalkeeper in the back and ricochet into the net. It was a fluke of a winner
but the Blackpool fans did not care. They were already preparing to book their
Wembley tickets.
Kelvin Mellor; always in the thick of the action
for the Tangerines
What
a first season for City of Liverpool FC.
Their achievements have been quite startling. They have gained promotion from the North West
Counties Division 1, won the Reusch Trophy for clubs in League 1 and,
to top it off, have now won the prestigious Macron Cup, a competition for clubs
in both the Premier and Division 1 of the NWCFL.
Games to look forward to
this week
There
have been 47 Europa League Finals,
but English clubs have only won it (and its predecessor the UEFA Cup) 7 times. Liverpool have led the way with 3
victories from Spurs with 2; Ipswich Town and Chelsea being our 2 other
champions. So can Manchester United
(playing in their first final) defeat Ajax in Stockholm on Wednesday? It has
been a strange, somewhat uneasy season for the Reds. With a new manager, the
world record signing and probably the best free transfer ever, much was
promised, but the side has rarely totally gelled. There was the fantastic run
of 25 unbeaten league games but 15 draws and 5 defeats constitute a total of 45
lost points. They scrambled their way to a League Cup Final victory over
Southampton and they have reached the final of Europe’s second most prestigious
competition, but this has not been the United of old, the side that could stir
emotions, keep you on the edge of your seat and send you home buzzing. Having
said that, the manager deserves praise for consistently setting up an eleven
which is so difficult to beat and if his forwards had only shown a touch more
accuracy when shooting, the league placing could have been much better than
(for Manchester United) a mediocre 6th. The Ajax side is young,
talented and adventurous, in fact a typical Ajax side, but I feel that United
will know a little too much on the night and return to the north of England
with the season’s second trophy.
Antonio Valencia who has developed into an
outstanding right back at Old Trafford
Mention
Blackpool and Wembley Stadium in the
same sentence and the TV companies will automatically show a grey, grainy black
and white image of “the wizard of the dribble” bemusing the Bolton defence
before rolling the ball for Bill Perry to score Blackpool’s 4th and
winning goal of the legendary Matthews
final. There have however been 6 other occasions when the Tangerines have successfully
graced Wembley’s hallowed turf or the equally impressive Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff during the re-building of the North London ground. There were Play-off
victories from Tier 4 in 1992 and 2001, Tier 3 in 2007 and Tier 2 in 2010. They
also twice won the Football League trophy in Cardiff in 2002 and 2004. So if
experience has any part to play in the League 2 Play-Off Final at Wembley on Sunday,
the ‘Pool are home and dry because their rivals Exeter City have never before
played on the ground. Unfortunately history shows that form, experience and
sometimes even ability play little part in deciding the winners of one-off
games. It is qualities such as fight, determination and luck which often win
the day. This is a 50-50 game and I so hope that Gary Bowyer’s side can win
through, but I am certain that the result will be a lottery.
Quiz of the Week (Answers at the foot of the Blog)
Each question has a Red Rose County connection
Managers and Transfers
1
Which Manchester
United manager bought Juan Mata from Chelsea for £37million?
2
Kenny Dalglish spent
£35million on a striker in 2011 who only scored 6 league goals in 44
appearances before being sold on. Who was he?
3
Bolton Wanderers’
most expensive buy was John Elmander from Toulouse in 2008. Which Wanderers’
manager paid £8.2million for the Swedish international?
4
Scottish
International David Weir played 235 league games for Everton but which Scottish
manager signed him in 1999?
David Weir; now making his name as a
coach
5
Who was manager at
Burnley when Ben Mee started to play there, initially on loan from Manchester
City?
6
Which Blackburn
Rovers manager signed Jordan Rhodes for £8million from Huddersfield Town?
7
Which Manchester City
manager paid Atletico Madrid £38million for Sergio Aguero?
8
David Nugent has
been Preston North End’s only Player capped by England since Tom Finney, in
2007. That summer, which manager sold him to Portsmouth for £6 million?
David Nugent; something of a journeyman
but can always be relied upon to score
9
Which Wigan Athletic
manager paid £4million to Bolton Wanderers for “penalty kick saver
extraordinaire” Ali Al-Habsi in 2011?
10
Which Blackpool manager sold Charlie Adam to
Liverpool for £7million, Blackpool’s record sale?
Post Weekend Musings
How do you set the criteria for a successful
season? Is it having achieved a higher league position than last year or does
your club have to bring home a trophy? One thing for sure is that if you
achieve the best ever year in the history of the club, you really have
something to shout about. Of the 117 clubs from the Red Rose County from Tier 1
to Tier 11, 29 achieved their highest or joint highest ever finish in the
2016-17 season and they are listed below. Sadly only one of our 16
Premier/Football League clubs feature but it is always good to find clubs
trying to push their way up from lower down the pyramid and we certainly have
our share of this type of club.
Team
|
Tier
|
Pos
|
League
|
Comments
|
Fleetwood Town
|
3
|
4
|
EFL League 1
|
|
AFC Fylde
|
6
|
1
|
National League North
|
|
Salford City
|
6
|
4
|
National League North
|
1st year at this level
|
FC United of Manchester
|
6
|
13 =
|
National League North
|
|
Warrington Town
|
7
|
10
|
Northern Premier League
|
1st year at this level
|
Colne
|
8
|
5
|
Northern Premier League 1 North
|
1st year at this level
|
Atherton Collieries
|
9
|
1
|
North West Counties Premier
|
|
Bootle
|
9
|
2
|
North West Counties Premier
|
|
Irlam
|
9
|
8
|
North West Counties Premier
|
1st year at this level
|
AFC Darwen
|
9
|
18 =
|
North West Counties Premier
|
Since reforming in 2009
|
Widnes
|
10
|
1
|
North West Counties League 1
|
|
Charnock Richard
|
10
|
2
|
North West Counties League 1
|
1st year at this level
|
Litherland REMYCA
|
10
|
3
|
North West Counties League 1
|
|
City of Liverpool FC
|
10
|
4
|
North West Counties League 1
|
1st year at this level
|
Rochdale
Sacred Heart
|
11
|
1
|
Manchester
Premier League
|
|
Mossley
Hill Athletic
|
11
|
2
|
West
Cheshire League
|
|
Rainhill
Town
|
11
|
4
|
West
Cheshire League
|
|
Redgate
Rovers
|
11
|
6
|
West
Cheshire League
|
1st year at this level
|
Richmond
Raith Rovers
|
11
|
7
|
West
Cheshire League
|
1st year at this level
|
Longridge
Town
|
11
|
1
|
West
Lancs League
|
|
Tempest
United
|
11
|
6
|
West
Lancs League
|
|
Hesketh
Bank
|
11
|
7=
|
West
Lancs League
|
|
Denton
Town
|
11
|
3
|
Cheshire
League
|
|
Lower
Breck
|
11
|
2
|
Liverpool
County League
|
|
Liverpool
Nalgo
|
11
|
4=
|
Liverpool
County League
|
|
Byrom
|
11
|
8
|
Liverpool
County League
|
|
Waterloo
G S O B
|
11
|
6
|
Liverpool
County League
|
|
Alumni
|
11
|
12
|
Liverpool
County League
|
1st year at this level
|
MSB
Woolton
|
11
|
13
|
Liverpool
County League
|
1st year at this level
|
Red Rose County Player of
the Week
Sergio Aguero
Two consummate finishes on Sunday at Watford precisely summed
up the skills of the Manchester City striker. On his day he makes goal scoring
appear easy and he has now hit the 20 goal target in 3 consecutive Premier
League seasons, joining the elite group of Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Ruud van
Nistelrooy and Harry Kane.
A Review of the Northern Premier League 1 North, 2016-17
Exactly half of the clubs in the Northern Premier League
Division 1 North were from the Red Rose County and in terms of symmetry; we
provided one of the 2 promoted clubs and one of the 2 that were relegated. Lancaster City were the Champions after
a Titanic struggle with Farsley Celtic from the Leeds/Bradford area of West
Yorkshire. The Dolly Blues from the traditional Red Rose capital only secured
the title on the last day of the season at Glossop North End and had Jordan
Connerton to thank, his 28 goals placing him 2nd in the Golden Boot
chart. Colne FC also had a magnificent season, rising up the league as the
season progressed. They reached the Play-Offs in their 1st season at
this level following promotion from the North West Counties League. Trafford had been up there all season,
just missing out at the death in finishing 6th and Clitheroe were the 4th Red
Rose club in the top 7, missing the Play-Offs by just 2 points. We will be
looking for one of these 3 clubs to take on Lancaster’s mantle and seriously
challenge for the title in 2017-18. Bamber
Bridge, Droylsden and Ramsbottom United will all have been
disappointed with their season, finishing 11th, 13th and
14th respectively. None of the 3 ever came close to challenging the
leading group but all 3 showed a late season improvement which hopefully will
bode well for next year. Prescott Cables,
Mossley and Radcliffe Borough all finished in lowly positions at 16th
17th and 20th, but none of them ever looked like serious
relegation candidates. Unfortunately Burscough
were the least successful of all, finishing at the bottom of the pile. There
were too many rumours about losing their ground to the builders which made it
difficult for the club to concentrate on football and they are relegated along
with Goole AFC.
Quiz
Answers
1
David Moyes, 2 Andy Carroll, 3 Gary
Megson, 4 Walter Smith, 5 Eddie Howe,
6
Steve Kean, 7 Roberto Mancini, 8 Paul Simpson, 9 Roberto Martinez, 10 Oldham
Athletic.
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