Accrington Stanley F.C.

Accrington Stanley

Full name	Accrington Stanley Football Club
Nickname(s)	Stanley, The 'Owd Reds, Accy
Founded	1968
Ground	Crown Ground, Accrington (Capacity: 5,057 (2,000 seated))
Chairman	David O'Neill
Manager	John Coleman
League	League Two
2008–09	League Two, 16th
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Accrington Stanley Football Club is an English football club from Accrington in Lancashire, in the north-west of England.

The club was formed in 1968, with the town regaining a club with league status after 44 years when they were promoted as champions of the Football Conference on 15 April 2006.^[1]

The club is owned by chairman David O'Neill after taking over from Eric Whalley in 2009 (This is still hotly debated as money is still owed to Eric Whalley). The club employs Robert Heys as Chief Executive.

In 2008, the club was the subject of a documentary series, titled Accrington Stanley... Exactly!, a reference to the famous advert.

History

Accrington had been without a football team following the collapse of the original Accrington Stanley in 1966. The original team had been formed in 1891, and played in The Football League from 1921 to 1961; it had spent its final four seasons in the Lancashire Combination. In a meeting in the town library in October 1968 the revival was started and in August 1970 the new club played at a new ground, the Crown Ground. Since their formation, Stanley have climbed the non-League pyramid to reach The Football League. Eric Whalley, a local businessman, took control of the club in 1995 and started the development of the club's ground. After the club was relegated in 1999, Whalley appointed John Coleman as manager. In 2005-06, Stanley won the Football Conference and were promoted to League Two, switching places with relegated Oxford United - ironically, the team that was elected to replace the former Accrington Stanley as members of the Football League in 1962.

The club's recent rise to the Conference level, and eventually to the League, is attributed in part to the windfall of hundreds of thousands of pounds reaped by the sell-on clause in the December 2001 transfer of former Stanley star Brett Ormerod to Southampton, who paid Blackpool over a million pounds for his contract. Stanley had taken £50,000 from Blackpool in 1997 with the agreement that Blackpool would pay Accrington a quarter of what they might have received if they in turn transferred Ormerod to another team. The 2002-03 championship of the Northern Premier League followed quickly on Accrington's getting the cash. Further funds were raised with the sale of J.Gray to Stirling Albion.

On 21 August 2006, Accrington Stanley won their first ever Football League Cup match, beating Nottingham Forest 1–0. Their first appearance in the second round resulted in a loss on penalties against at the time Premiership team Watford at Vicarage Road.

2006-07 saw Accrington Stanley finish 20th in League Two. Stanley finished higher a year later in 2007-08, rising to 17th. 2008-09 saw Stanley finish higher still in 16th place with 50 points.

The club also has a women's team playing in the Lancashire FA Women's County League Division One.

On the 26th March 2009, Eric Whalley announced he would be selling his stake in the club and stepping down as chairman after 14 years.^[2]

Name

The original town team, Accrington, were amongst the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888, before resigning from the league after just five years. A team called Stanley Villa already existed at the time, named as such because they were based at the Stanley W.M.C. on Stanley Street in Accrington. With the demise of Accrington, Stanley Villa took the town name to become Accrington Stanley.

Television advertisement

The club was name-checked in a celebrated British advert for milk, from the 1980s^[3], which is credited with briefly making the club a household name^[4]. The scene was two boys with strong Scouse accents in Liverpool football shirts in a kitchen, looking for something to drink after a game of football. The dialogue ran as follows:

Boy 1 enters shot, puts ball on top of fridge, and opens it

Boy 2: "Got any lemonade?"

Boy 1: "If you want!" (he takes a bottle of (presumably) lemonade from the fridge and hands it to Boy 2 and a bottle of milk which he pours some for himself in a glass)

Boy 2: "Milk.....Ugh!"

Boy 1: "It's what Ian Rush drinks."

Boy 2: "Ian Rush?"

Boy 1: "Yeah, an' he says if I didn't drink lots of milk, when I grow up I'll only be good enough to play for Accrington Stanley!"

Boy 2: "Accrington Stanley? ... Who are they??!"

Boy 1: "Exactly!"

Boy 2 tries to get to Boy 1's milk.

Boy 1: "Nah, gerroff!"

Boy 2: "Gimmie some!"

Boy 1: "Gerroff!"

Notable supporters

• Jon Anderson, member of the band Yes
• David Lloyd, former England cricketer and Sky Sports pundit
• Brett Ormerod, professional football player who played for the club during their non-league days
• David Dunn, football player for Blackburn Rovers seen regularly at Accrington Stanley games

In a survey published by the Professional Footballers' Association in December 2007, Chris Grimshaw was listed as the all-time favourite player amongst Accrington Stanley fans.^{[citation needed]}

Players

Current squad

As of 26 November 2009.

No. Position Player 3 DF Leam Richardson 5 DF Darran Kempson 6 MF Andrew Procter (captain) 7 MF John Miles (vice captain) 8 MF Luke Joyce 9 FW Billy Kee (on loan from Leicester City) 11 MF Robert Grant 12 DF Phil Edwards 14 MF Jimmy Ryan 15 DF Dean Winnard 16 MF Chris Turner 17 MF Sean McConville 18 MF John Mullin

No. Position Player 19 FW Michael Symes 20 DF Peter Murphy 21 MF Alan Burton (on loan at Marine) 22 DF Bee Ami (on loan at Radcliffe Borough) 24 FW Gary King 25 GK Ian Dunbavin 26 DF Tom Lees (on loan from Leeds United) 27 GK Josh Molloy 28 FW Adam Black 29 DF Zack Riley 32 GK Matthew Ince GK Dean Bouzanis (on loan from Liverpool) DF Johnny Flynn (on loan from Blackburn Rovers)

League history

References

External links

• Official website