Every team has some little fact that seems to be repeatedly brought up but supporters are sick of. For East Stirling it's that they were once managed by Alex Ferguson. For us it's that we once sacked Alex Ferguson. For last night's opponents Carlisle it's that goalie Jimmy Glass scored the goal that kept them in the Football League. And for Accrington Stanley it's that they were mentioned in an advert for milk back in the 1980s. No specific brand of milk mind, just milk in general as the white stuff had it's own marketing board. That's why we had the Milk Cup as a genuine competition. In this particular advert some young whippersnapper is being told to drink his milk or he'll end up playing for Accrington Stanley. "Accrington Stanley? Who are they?" he asks. "Exactly!" is the response of his Scouse sibling. Doesn't top Love Street being used for an Irn Bru advert the other year...
Incase you can't tell, the above is filler as I don't know a great deal about Accrington Stanley - rather ironic considering the line from the advert. I do know they originally went bust in the 1960s and returned to the Football League in 2006 - take note Rangers fans - and that a few years ago they bought some seats from Love Street to do up the Crown Ground, where we will be playing tomorrow. Former Partick Thistle goalie Kenny Arthur used to play for them but has now gone elsewhere and that's about the extent of my knowledge - aside from the fact their manager is called Paul Cook.
Obviously I know rather more about Saints - although it's debatable how much more - and it's likely those that didn't start last night's game will be in the first 11 tomorrow. That means there will probably be starts for Steven Thompson, Jim Goodwin, Marc McAusland and maybe even goalie Grant Adam. Injury is likely to mean Kenny McLean and Graham Carey are both missing again, while youngsters like Thomas Reilly and John McGinn could also be given a run out.
Back to Accrington then. My normal tactic when trying to take a side from relative obscurity to the big time is to try to sign up youngsters that the big clubs no longer want and it seems Cook has put that idea into practice with his summer recruitment drive. He's even signed one of the players I usually bring in, capturing defender Aristote Nsiala following a loan spell from Everton last season. Sunderland's Michael Liddle has also turned his loan move into a permanent deal, with midfielder Lewis Hatch being brought in from Liverpool.
Perhaps the plan is for him and Bohan Dickson - an amateur footballer from Merseyside - to recreate the milk advert... The other summer signing so far is George Miller, who used to play for Preston. There may be more signings to come with Cook looking to improve on last season's 17th place finish after the club had made the play-offs the previous season.
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