STANLEY ON THE WAY UP

Accrington Stanley have appeared several times on my blog over the years. Today they sit TOP of Sky Bet Division two, pursued by more fashionable clubs like Luton and Shewsbury. Accrington Stanley has often been the butt of jokes (Milk Adverts and Ian Rush?) but with 10 games to go they could get promotion and find themselves playing Sunderland and Birmingham city next season. They may have the last laugh.
With a weekly budget of £15,000, the joint lowest in the Football League, Andy Holt, a local businessman dealing in the plastic industry, has owned the club for the past 3 years; he controls the finances.
The club has avoided administration and Holt has not had to sell his best players over the summer. He even acquired Harvey Rodgers from local Fleetwood Town.,
One fly in the ointment is that they have to train a mile from the ground at the local leisure centre at Hyndburn, on a 4G which is controlled by the local authority. Stanley may not get first "dibs" on the pitch which makes planning tricky.
The club's top three scorers, Billy Kee, Kayden Jackson and Sean McConville, have a greater goals scored and assists total this season than the present famed Liverpool Trio.
Manager Sean Coleman is in his second spell with the club, covering 17 years. He has a good induction ceremony for new signings who are challenged by him to a 50 yard dash with £50 at stake. Needless to say the lads will fancy their chances against the older man but the catch is they have to drink a half pint of water half way down the track. Even then the young lads will still consider themselves to be favourite UNTIL they discover that the half pint of water is boiling hot! All good fun then!
Refounded in 1968, Stanley play at the WHAM Stadium which has a capacity of just over 5,000.

The club, Accrington, was an original member of the Football League in 1888, the club resigned five years later in 1893.
A team called Stanley Villa existed, based in the Stanley Street Working Man's Club. When Accrington failed, Stanley Villa adopted the name of the club joining the Football League in 1921 until 1962 and then played in the Lancashire Combination until the club dissolved in 1966.

The club was revived in 1968, eventually playing home games at the Crown Ground in 1970. Local businessman Eric Whalley invested money in 1995 in the club's ground and when the club was relegated in 1999, John Coleman was appointed manager. Brett Ormerod's transfer to Blackpool and then Southampton enabled "sell on fees" to line the Stanley's coffers and help them win the Northern Premier League in 2003.This led to a period in the Conference with an initial league match against Aldershot Town, another "re-formed" club (August 10th 2003).
The Accies were saved from bankruptcy by local Ilyas Khan in late 2009. The club was promoted back to the Football League in 2006 after an unbeaten run of 19 matches.

Talks are ongoing at the moment about a move from the present "shabby" Crown Ground (Wham Stadium) to a new stadium at Church, a bordering town.