At the time, the intimation was that Accrington Stanley was “exactly” where any budding footballer didn’t want to end up playing, an insignificant little non-league team who were like a single cell amoeba next to the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex from Anfield.
Sadly, the dinosaurs haven’t become extinct and the roles haven’t been reversed in the intervening years as in the best fairy tales, but the question of who Accrington Stanley are, is more complex than the advert suggested.
For a start, there have been several different incarnations of the club over the last 116 years, with phoenixes being sighted in the ashes of Accrington on at least three occasions. Some believe that Stanley were one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888, but that was another team called Accrington FC, who withdrew from the league after only five years.
Accrington Stanley in fact began life as a pub-based team called Stanley Villa, who took the town’s name when the football league club folded and played in the Lancashire Combination League before effectively folding themselves when the First World War began.
When hostilities ended, Stanley mk II emerged, thanks to the efforts of enthusiastic locals, and after a couple of years became a founding member of Third Division (North) in 1921. It has to be said though that they didn’t have a lot of luck during their time in the league. They had their best ever start to a league campaign, only for World War Two to break out. Then, having twice survived the re-election process in the early 1950s, they went on to finish in the top three four seasons running at a time when only the league champions got promoted.
Life was always going to be difficult for a team playing in the shadow of the likes of first division Blackburn and Burnley (Liverpool were languishing in Division Two at the time) and falling attendances and financial troubles saw the club forced to sell its best players. A fall into the Fourth Division followed and with debts mounting the club was controversially thrown out of the Football League mid-season in 1962. Accrington FC were subsequently admitted to the Lancashire Combination (having dropped the Stanley for legal reasons) but support petered out and so did the club mid-season in 1966.
Accrington Stanley Mk III began life in a working men’s club in 1968 and over the next 38 years they slowly worked their way up, eventually becoming a Conference team in 2002 before attaining Football League status in 2006.
It could be said that Stanley are football’s answer to Lazarus and the fact that the club still exists in any form is a testament to the enthusiasm and determination of the many people who have refused to let the name of Accrington Stanley die during the last century.
Like many former non-league clubs, Stanley don’t have a supporters trust, but they do have an active supporters club, who have raised money for central heating in the changing rooms, CCTV cameras around the ground, new dugouts and extra toilets. They hold regular social fundraising events and are committed to helping both their club and the local community.
Still suffering from having so many bigger teams in the vicinity, Accrington Stanley survive on typical home gates of around 1200, but the club is firmly committed to encouraging the next generation of fans and to maintaining its status as a real asset to the local community. A look at their official site reveals that Stanley are doing everything they can to pull in more season ticket holders for 2009/10, with adult tickets costing only £150 if purchased before 4th April, with £50 of club vouchers thrown in. This is a real bargain considering that the normal matchday admission price is £15.
It may be a gamble to attract some of the locals away from their loftier and more expensive rivals in these credit crunch times, but it is to be hoped that it succeeds and that Accrington Stanley continue to survive against the odds and maintain their status as the club that just wouldn’t die.
