Mansfield v Arsenal: AFC against a team doing well in recovery mode

By Tony Attwood

Mansfield Town was bought by its current owner, John Radford (but not that John Radford) for £1 in 2010. He then bought the ground two years later. He promised the local fans that he would take the club out of the Conference into which it had fallen, and back into the Football League. In 2012/13 the club won the Conference and did indeed return from whence it had come.

They then stayed in League Two until 2023/24 when the final table read

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Stockport Cty	46	27	11	8	96	48	+48	92
2	Wrexham	46	26	10	10	89	52	+37	88
3	Mansfield T	46	24	14	8	90	47	+43	86
4	Milton Keynes D	46	23	9	14	83	68	+15	78

The top three qualified for promotion to League One, and last season they came 17th. But the owner, despite delivering on his promises, also caused some upset by making his girlfriend, Carolyn Still, CEO of the club. Although some Neanderthals might have objected, the fact is that the owner had promised to put half a million pounds into the club but actually put far more in, and saved the club from extinction. One can only hope that the fans of the club recognise just how much their owner has done for them, But then, it is in the north, and I am not sure how far up the country contemporary attitudes have been established.

Wiki also has a story about the club, which I want to quote in full, since I can’t verify it, but it looks like a very good move.

“In February 2013, following an 8-1 win for Mansfield against Barrow, Radford donated an Aston Martin DB9 car valued at £80,000 to manager Paul Cox as a reward. Radford had wanted to reward Cox for improving on the previous season when they had beaten Barrow, 7-0.”

So it seems the club has travelled a long way from December 2010 when it was locked out of Field Mill due to unpaid rent. But to stop any more such shenanigans in March 2012, Chairman Radford purchased the ground, and since then, 1 March is celebrated as part of the rebirth of the club.

However, last season for Mansfield was one of dips, as they struggled to maintain their status as a League One club. After just two defeats in the first dozen games, they hit five defeats in a row.

Then came six games with four wins and a draw, but this was followed by 13 games without a win.

Such “dips” in form is something that we have often discussed here in relation to Premier League clubs; it is interesting to note that the phenomenon does indeed exist in lower parts of the Football League. But it is something that one doesn’t see or hear discussed in the media. Maybe the notion of looking at more than one match at a time is a problem for most football journalists, who do seem to have a very narrow focus.

And at the moment Mansfield are in another dip. They drew four games in a row from late January into early February, then lost three in a row, followed by another draw. In short, eight games without a win as they welcome Arsenal.

Their cup run so far has been a 3-2 win over Harrogate Town, a 2-2 draw with Accrington Stanley (which they won on penalties) and a 3-4 away win against Sheffield United, which set them up perfectly for an away game with Burnley, which they won 1-2.

Burnley are of course, only 19th in the Premier League, but nevertheless, they are in the Premier League, so it was a win to be cherished and celebrated. Of course, Burnley may well have thought that the FA Cup was not really of interest to them, and that they wanted to focus on staying in the Premier League. And here we might have sympathy with Burnley since one of the clubs that could go down instead of them is the mighty Totties. We can but hope. (They have just lost five league games in a row).

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	30	20	7	3	59	22	37	67

16	Tottenham Hotspur	29	7	8	14	39	46	-7	29
17	Nottingham Forest	29	7	7	15	28	43	-15	28
18	West Ham United	29	7	7	15	35	54	-19	28
19	Burnley	29	4	7	18	32	58	-26	19
20	Wolverhampton Wanderers	30	3	7	20	22	52	-30	16

And as for Mansfield, they are safely perched in the middle of their league

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Cardiff City	34	22	6	6	68	36	32	72

16	Mansfield Town	33	10	11	12	39	37	2	41

24	Port Vale	32	6	9	17	26	44	-18	27

Of course, I don’t have any personal detailed knowledge of Mansfield, but it does look to me as if they are a club now owned by someone who cares about them, and who is able to invest sensibly. So on that basis I am rather pleased their finances will be bolstered both by a game against Arsenal and, more importantly for them, it is a game that will be shown on TNT. I trust TNT will pay them the money for showing the game as hastily as possible.

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