Nestled in East Lancashire, Accrington Stanley F.C. may be one of the more pathetic stories in English football. To me, it’s also one of the most poignant. The club, nicknamed the ‘Owd Reds, or Accy, has gone through a series of tumultuous times to the point of losing their club. And now, they’re in trouble again.
Accrington Stanley F.C. began in 1891 as Accrington Stanley, and was originally named Stanley Villa; then took the name Accrington Stanley in 1893. Playing in The Football League in the Third Division for about four decades, they found themselves in financial trouble in 1962, and had to fold–in mid season. They had been relegated to the Fourth Division when it was revealed that the club owed thousands of pounds in unpaid transfer fees, and the club had to claim bankruptcy. Further, it was revealed that the club owed more than 40,000 pounds to creditors. The club resigned in the middle of the season, and in 1966, under the name Accrington Stanley, went into liquidation. In 1968, the club was reformed as Accrington Stanley F.C., and began playing in the Lancashire Combination. For decades, they remained in this league (which is extremely low on the totem pole in English football); but in 2005-2006, they won the Football Conference and were promoted to League Two in The Football League (also known as Coca-Cola League Two). In 2006, the team won their first Football League Cup match against Nottingham Forest (which plays in the Coca-Cola Championship, one step below the Premiere League).
Now, after their chairman of 14 years Eric Whalley, has sold his stake in the club and stepped down in March of this year, the club is in financial desperation again after being in severe debt. The club needed to raise over £300,000 by the end of this October to stay in the league. Fans have taken to the web to try and “Save Our Stanley”. They’ve asked fans of their neighbors, Blackburn, to help out on fan message board forums. Not everyone is supportive. Some have said that the club shouldn’t be asking the public to pay the taxes that they couldn’t. But, organizations in the larger markets seem to have taken notice of this little town’s woes. In the Premiere League, Blackburn Rovers have stepped in to help, scheduling a Friendly with Accy this coming November. The revenue from games like this works somewhat like it does here in the States with college football. To help the smaller colleges raise funds for their athletic programs, they schedule games with premiere teams. In a recent airing of “The Football League Show” (BBC One), host Manish Bahsin declared that the club may have saved themselves. While fans may take some relief in knowing that they can keep their club for the time being, it must be painful to continue to fear the loss of your own club. Personally, as a fan of the New Orleans Saints here in America in our own game of football, I know the fear all too well.
Stories like this one are certainly more common in the lower leagues of English football, where you have semi-professional to downright amateur players playing for the love of the game rather than a paycheck. They play in front of crowds that may be up to only a few thousand if they’re lucky; and it’s only when Cup games or a big Friendly is scheduled that the club will play in front of more than 5,000 people. In one interesting case, a club finding themselves in financial trouble were actually saved by the fans outright. Ebbsfleet United F.C., formerly known as Gravesend & Northfleet, began in 2007, and since February of 2008, has been owned by MyFootballClub.com, the members being fans of the club located in Kent. The members of the web site have permissions to vote on the team kits, and player transfers. It is the first known “internet” team. Accrington Stanley F.C. also attempted to use the internet to raise funds (Save Our Stanley” campaign); but the web site has had problems and seems defunct now.
There’s a running joke that dates back to the 80’s about Accy that goes: “Accrington Stanley, who are they?” Exactly! While even Accrington folks have a sense of humor about their own club’s irrelevance to English football, at least they can chuckle with a little more confidence knowing that they still have a club to watch every week. For now.
Accrington Stanley F.C. currently stands at 12th place out of 20 in League Two.
