THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:52 am 
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Location: In the Armchair.
APL PREDICTION LEAGUE & PREVIEWWALSALL
An incredible week at the Dons, out goes Neilson and his team, in comes Dan Micciche, Keith Millen and the return of the living legend Dean Lewington as player/coach, also returning we have Connor Furlong and Ben “He’s fallen out of love with football” Tilney......but I’ll leave that there, no good me telling you all again it was utter bullshit.

An exit in the FA Cup as unpalatable as it is, and the loss of any potential income in the next round, its possibly best we have been knocked out, so we can concentrate on trying to get out of the mess we find ourselves in.

Not much to say on yesterday, Lewie returning to the scene of the crime was just about as good as I’ve ever seen him, I did get worried he was left as the last man when we had a corner, but only one incident of concern when it was Lewie one on one, and he dealt with it, in fact he dealt with everything.

I note Tav picked up a few votes yesterday in the MOTM, but the right side does not suit him one bit, so one footed, a spell on the left will bring out the best, I’ve no doubt.

Sow is turning into the usual MK Dons centre forward, possibly not fit, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

As for the game itself, I thought we looked good until Lewie had to go off for air, I thought Cov defended well, they blocked just about every shot we had, but it was concerning we then went back to the default RN setting, only to really produce anything of note in the final moments.

Let’s hope that M&M having them for another week on the training ground, plus a couple of new players in, and things may start to turn, but time is running out, no need to panic yet, but we really need to get a few wins under our belt sooner rather than later.

Moving on then to Walsall, and possibly one of the better places to get a positive result, we don’t have a bad history here, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

WALSALL – THE STORY SO FAR
Walsall are currently in 18th place with a record of PLAYED 27, WON 8, DRAWN 9, LOST 10, GF 34 & GA 38, with 33 POINTS to their name.

Current Form at a Glance - DLLWL

The following in chronological order are details of their league games this season.

Bury 1 Walsall 0
Walsall 2 Oldham 1
Portsmouth 1 Walsall 1
Walsall 3 Bradford 3
Walsall 2 Plymouth 1
Bristol Rovers 2 Walsall 1
Rotherham 5 Walsall 1
Walsall 1 Peterborough 1
Oxford 1 Walsall 2
Walsall 2 Charlton 2
Wigan 2 Walsall 0
Walsall 1 Shrewsbury 1
Walsall 1 Blackpool 1
MK Dons 1 Walsall 1
Doncaster 0 Walsall 3
Walsall 0 Southend 1
Walsall 0 Gillingham 1
Walsall 4 Fleetwood 2
KFC 1 Walsall 2
Walsall 1 Scunthorpe 0
Rochdale 1 Walsall 1
Walsall 0 Bristol Rovers 0
Walsall 1 Rotherham 2
Plymouth 1 Walsall 0
Walsall 2 Oxford 1
Charlton 3 Walsall 1
Blackburn v Walsall (Tuesday 30th Jan)

THE MANAGER
Jonathan David “Jon” Whitney aged 45, born in Nantwich.

This is Jon Whitney’s first appointment as a manger, previously starting his career at Wigan as a defender back in 1988. He has had spells at Skelmersdale, Winsford Utd, Huddersfield, Wigan, Lincoln City, Hull and Kings Lynn.

In total, he played 193 games scoring 12 goals.

In 2003 he was appointed as the physio at Walsall, interestingly also having a side line as a grave digger for his father-in-law’s undertaker’s business.

In 2011 he became the Assistant to Caretaker Manager Dean Smith, whilst maintaining his role as the physio, In June 2016 he was appointed as manager on a three-year contract.

His stats are GAMES 99, WON 35, DRAWN 27, LOST 37 with a 35.4 %-win ratio.

THE STADIUM
The 11,300 all seater Banks’s Stadium (Sat Nav – WS1 4SA), well it was the last time I looked, as I’m pretty sure its had a few names over the years, and its an 83 mile journey from SMK

We should be in the University of Wolverhampton Stand behind the goal, there are a few pillars to obstruct your view, but the end has a capacity of about 2,000, so that shouldn’t be a problem, and the acoustics are pretty good as well, so we should be able to get the atmos going however many we can encourage to go.

It’s a friendly place, the food is the usual football ground fayre, stewards seem ok, but there was a large police contingent last time we visited, and I would guess there will be again, especially after the Cobblers game.

The highlight for many though is the Saddlers Club by the ground, it’s a bit like a Sports & Social, away fans are welcome in colours, cheapish beer, Real Ale, hot food, Sky TV, and is generally full of Dons fans, admission last season was just £2, under 16’s are free.
Driving up is straight forward, Junction 7 onto the A34 and follow the signs to the Bescot Stadium Blue Zone car park, which is first come first served basis, and is £4.

Its also easy by train, a frequent match day service runs from Birmingham New Street to the Bescot Stadium Station, the journey takes about 20 minutes, and its just a couple of minutes’ walk to the Stadium.

FORMER MANAGERS
Jon Whitney is the 59th manager at the Saddlers in their 130-year history, other noted incumbents being Dave Mackay, Alan Buckley, Tommy Coakley, Kenny Hibbert, Chris Nicholl, Jan Sorensen, Ray Graydon and Dean Smith.

FORMER PLAYERS
Keith Andrews, Ian McLoughlin, Jabo Ibehre, Will Grigg, Paul Downing, Clive Platt, Darren Beckford, Febian Brandy, Allan Clarke, Steve Claridge, Ashley Grimes, Phil Parkes, Mark Robbins, Vinny Samways, Chris Wilder, Zeli Ismail.

SHOOTERS BOOTS
Erhun Oztumer with 12 goals in all comps.

WALSALL MASCOT
Some overfed bird called Swifty, a reference to their early days as Walsall Swifts.

Swifty is no stranger to a bit of agro, he was once jumped by one of the three Wrexham Robin mascots, he duly got to his feet and pushed the offending Robin over an advertising hoarding, the offending Robin was apparently sacked in the half-time period.

FAMOUS SADDLERS FANS
Pete Waterman, music mogul, and former Pop Idol judge.

CURRENT MATCH ODDS
Walsall 10/11 (Bet 365) Draw 12/5 (Sky Bet) MK Dons 5/2 (BetFred)

LAST TIME ROUND
Tuesday 17th October 2017 - MK Dons 1 Walsall 1
Team – Nicholls, Ebanks-Landell, Wootton, Walsh, Brittain, Upson (Nesbitt), Gilbey, Cisse, Golbourne, Agard (Sow)(Ariyibi), Aneke
Unused Subs – Williams, Lewington, Sietsma, Seager
Goals – Aneke 24’, Roberts 58’ (pen)
Ref – John Brooks (1 Yellow)
Attendance – 7, 258 (248 Saddlers fans)
League Position at the Time of Fixture – Dons 14th, Saddlers 16th.

HEAD 2 HEAD
2017/18 – MK Dons 1 Walsall 1 (Aneke)
2016/17 – Walsall 1 MK Dons 4 (Muirhead, Reeves, O’Keefe, Barnes)
2016/17 – MK Dons 1 Walsall 1 (Bowditch)
2014/15 – Walsall 1 MK Dons 1 (Grigg)
2014/15 – MK Dons 0 Walsall 3
2013/14 – Walsall 0 MK Dons 3 (McLeod 2, Reeves)
2013/14 – MK Dons 1 Walsall 0 (Williams)
2012/13 – MK Dons 2 Walsall 4 (Lowe, Bowditch)
2012/13 – Walsall 1 MK Dons 0
2011/12 – MK Dons 0 Walsall 1
2011/12 – Walsall 0 MK Dons 2 (Ibehre, Lewington)
2010/11 – MK Dons 1 Walsall 1 (Leven)
2010/11 – Walsall 1 MK Dons 2 (S Baldock, Woodards)
2009/10 – Walsall 2 MK Dons 1 (Powell)
2009/10 – MK Dons 1 Walsall 0 (Easter)
2008/09 – MK Dons 0 Walsall 1
2008/09 – Walsall 0 MK Dons 3 (Johnson, Gerba, Wright)
2006/07 – MK Dons 1 Walsall 1 (McLeod)
2006/07 – Walsall 0 MK Dons 0
2005/06 – MK Dons 2 Walsall 1 (McLeod, Wilbraham)
2005/06 – Walsall 1 MK Dons 1 (Edds)
2004/05 – Walsall 0 MK Dons 0
2004/05 – MK Dons 1 Walsall 1 (Kamara)

YOU’VE GOT NO HISTORY
Founded in 1888 as Walsall Town Swifts the club was one of the founder members of the 2nd Division in 1892, and they have spent their entire existence outside the top division, their highest ever placing being 14th in 1961/62 in the then 2nd Division.

Both the Swifts FC and the Town FC played at the Chuckery, their first game was versus Aston Villa which resulted in a draw. Two players from that era received International caps and remain as the only Walsall players to be honoured in this way.

The club moved to the West Bromwich Road ground in 1893, the following year failed to be re-elected into the Football League. In 1895, the club moved again to Hilary Street which was later named Fellows Park. In 1896, the club joined the Midland League in their new joint name and a year later joined the Football League. In 1898, the club once again failed to be re-elected and dropped back into the Midland League, a move to the Birmingham League in 1910 saw them elected to the Southern League a year later. With the expansion of the Football League after World War 1 the club became founder members of the 3rd Division North in 1921.

Walsall’s record “home” attendance was 74,600 fans set in 1930 in an FA Cup 4th round match with the Villa, although a home match for Walsall the game was played at Villa Park.

In 1958 the reorganisation of the Football League saw Walsall become founder members of the 4th Division.

In 1990 the team moved to the £4.5m Bescot Stadium, and at the time it was considered to be a state-of-the-art arena and was only the second new football League ground since the 1950’s.

In 2015 Walsall reached Wembley for the first time in their history of nearly 130 years, it was the final of the Football League Cup (JPT), and they lost 2-0 to Bristol City, a double for City that season has they had also won League 1.

HONOURS
3rd Division Runners Up - 1960/61, 1998/99
3rd Division Playoff Winners – 1987/88, 2000/01
4th Division Champions – 1959/60, 2006/07
4th Division Runners Up – 1979/80, 1994/95
JPT Runners Up – 2014/15

PREDICTION
That’s it for this game, make sure you get your prediction in on time.

Be Lucky, and see you in the Saddlers.

8-) WellDon

EXAMPLE
Walsall 1 MK Dons 2
MKDFS - Gilbey

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 4:09 pm 
Walsall 1 - 2 MKD

FGS Ugbo


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 5:48 pm 
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Walsall 1 - 2 Dons

MKDFGS: Upson

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COYD


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 6:01 pm 
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Location: Pacifica CA USA
Walsall 0 MK Dons 2
FGS Rab C Nesbitt

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:05 pm 
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Walsall 0-2 MK Dons

MK fgs Agard


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:42 pm 
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1-0
Agard do do do


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 8:56 pm 
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Walsall 2 MK Dons 2
Tavernier


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:20 pm 
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Quote:
Walsall 1 - 2 MKD

FGS Sow


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 1:14 am 
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3-1 Dons
Agard


Last edited by Bill on Tue Jan 30, 2018 1:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 10:39 pm 
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Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
Posts: 4740
Location: In the Armchair.
Walsall 1 MK Dons 2
MKDFGS - Gilbey

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