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Accrington Stanley Special

 

STANLEY CELEBRATE WITH THEIR FANS

REDS WRITE ANOTHER PAGE IN THEIR HISTORY

Thousands of Accrington Stanley fans gathered on Broadway to welcome the League Two champions on their victory bus parade.  As the bus pulled into Broadway there was rapturous applause and cheers, with many of the fans singing the club anthem.

Drums were beating and red and white flags waving.  Fans were proudly wearing the club shirts and there was a sea of red and white.  Young and old came to show their support and join in the celebrations. Players signed autographs on booklets and fans shirts and clothing.

The cup was passed around the crowd so fans could hold it and have their photograph taken with it. Winning this championship was a landmark moment in the club’s history. Andy Holt, John Coleman and Jimmy Bell were celebrating along with the players.

This victory celebration was well deserved as Stanley operate with one of the lowest budgets in the whole of the football league. It was a remarkable feat and testament to the hard work and team spirit at the club.

Accrington FC was established in 1886 and in 1888 along with eleven other teams from the North and the Midlands, formed the Football League. They were in the First Division in 1892 before resigning in 1893. The town team returned when Division Three North and South started in 1921 as Accrington Stanley.

Their early years in this division were pretty uneventful but die-hard Stanley fans at the time always cited that the team were top of Division Three North when league matches ceased at the advent of the Second World War in 1939. At that stage, they had played three and won three.

Probably Accrington Stanley’s best period of form came under Glaswegian manager Walter Galbraith who took the role in 1952. He introduced many Scots players to the club, and indeed in their best three seasons from 1955 to 1957, they finished second, third and third, respectively. Unfortunately, only the top team from the North and South third tier went to Division Two, so Stanley’s status remained unchanged.

It was in 1958 that Stanley received a promotion of sorts. The two third division system was scrapped and Division Four was introduced, the top twelve from the two third divisions would remain in Division Three, and Stanley did so – for one season!

Their first season in the newly formed Third Division was a disaster. Stanley conceded 123 goals and finished nine points adrift at the bottom. The 1960/61 season saw them finish 18th in Division Four. This would be their last full season in the football league as in March 1962, Stanley resigned from the league amid debts in the region of £62,000.

The club was finally liquidated in 1966, only to rise again, like a Phoenix from the ashes, as Accrington Stanley 1968, two years later. The new club started life in the Lancashire Combination, many tiers below the Football league but determined one day to re-join it.

It was not until 1999, however, when a certain Liverpool man, a former player who had only been a manager for two years, took the job as Stanley manager that Accrington’s fortunes began to turn. John Coleman led the team to three promotions, culminating in their return to the Football League in 2006. This earned them the accolade of “The Club Who Wouldn’t die.”

Coleman left the club briefly to manage Rochdale, and the managerial role at Accrington went to James Beattie. Neither role lasted long and Coleman returned to Stanley and the rest, as they say, is the stuff of Football Folklore.

For the first time since 1958, Accrington Stanley is back in the third tier of the English Football League. We at Acorn News wish them well. Will the promotion prove too much for them once more? I doubt it; not while they have players like Billy Kee and a manager like John Coleman. Let’s not forget Chairman Andy Holt and his Board of Directors also, without whose financial backing and support this success would have been impossible to achieve.

 

© Peter Jones and Julie Cropper 2018.  Pictures courtesy of Julie Cropper

More Stanley pictures - Please click here

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