The rise of Accrington Stanley... how the club with the Football League's smallest budget are verging on promotion from League Two
Friday 6 May 2016 14:52, UK
Accrington Stanley are on the verge of promotion from a division in which they have the smallest budget, the second lowest average attendance and are waging a constant battle to keep their best players.
So how is this tiny Lancashire club outperforming teams such as Portsmouth and Plymouth in the race to get promoted to Sky Bet League One? Accrington manager John Coleman, who is in his second spell with the club, filled us in…
It is fair to say that whatever Accrington do from this point of the season, they are already punching well above their weight.
Stanley will be promoted on Saturday if they win their final game of the season, against Stevenage at home. It's as simple as that.
Last month's crunch game against Wycombe last month drew a crowd of just 1,403 to the Crown Ground, admittedly on a Wednesday night, but a figure not far short of their season average of 1,718.
Only one club in the division has a lower number - Morecambe with 1,570 - and although 2,222 turned out for Accrington's resounding 3-0 win over York City a fortnight ago, that was a tiny gate compared to some of the others in Sky Bet League Two.
On the same weekend, there were more than 9,000 at Plymouth for their defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge, while Oxford were 45 short of an 8,000 crowd when they played host to Hartlepool. Portsmouth drew a vast 16,187 for their match against Wycombe Wanderers.
"We've officially got the lowest budget in the Football League, and that's confirmed," Coleman said. "Our budget will be a fraction of what a Luton or a Portsmouth would spend and perhaps rightly so because we get a fraction of their crowds.
"But it's not about money here. Nobody is coming to play for Accrington for the money or for the glory of playing for the club - they're here because they're hungry and because they're honest.
"It really all boils down to enthusiasm. Our training facilities are awful, so we can't attract players that way either. We have one council Astroturf pitch which we use for all of our training - and that's if the Football in the Community people don't need it.
"So we have to target hungry players who are good footballers and who want to play for us because they love football. Money is never going to be a motivation for the players we sign.
"Character is everything and you're reliant on word of mouth to know that about a person. Sometimes it's a punt but we get more right than we get wrong."
As well as starting the season with a strong squad, Accrington have also benefited from the ability to strengthen in it the January transfer window.
In previous years, the club's concerns during that month of change would have been all about keeping the players they had rather than bringing in any new ones, but the deal which saw local businessman Andy Holt buy the club in October meant that, for the first time, there was room to manoeuvre.
Holt eventually wants to completely replace Accrington's character-packed but dated Crown Ground and has already submitted planning permission to build one new stand, but for now the focus for Coleman is concentrated on getting things right on the pitch.
With that in mind, centre-back Mark Hughes, available following his release by Stevenage, and Grimsby midfielder Scott Brown - two players whose careers have been largely nomadic - were added to give the squad some depth.
It certainly helped - the team were eighth on February 1 but have not been below that since, and have climbed to second after losing just twice in 18 games.
Coleman said: "We would never have been able to do what we did in January in previous years.
"The new owner didn't throw a load of money at it but what it [the takeover] did give us was a bit of leeway in what we could do in the window.
"We signed three players permanently and brought in two on loan. Before, that might have been just one or two on loan. So it gave us that option.
"Again, it was important to get the right type of player. We want ones who will play a certain way because we want to play out from the back and that isn't to everyone's taste.
"Some teams in this league want to go long but we don't do that and it's important we got the players in who knew that."
Recruitment has, therefore, been vital. In the summer, Coleman snapped up Tom Davies when he was released by Fleetwood and then went to non-league FC Halifax for Matt Pearson - both have been crucial components in defence.
Billy Kee, an Accrington loanee six years ago, ended a wandering career which took in Torquay, Burton, Scunthorpe and Mansfield - all in the space of less than two years - when he signed on in the close season. His reward for the security offered by Stanley has been to score 17 goals for them this season.
The prize capture was possibly Huddersfield midfielder Matt Crooks, who was last week named in the PFA team of the division for the season after a superb campaign which has also earned him a transfer to Rangers.
Joining Crooks on that move to Ibrox will be Josh Windass, who was part of a group of several high-quality players inherited by Coleman when he arrived which also included Piero Mingoia, the club's Italian midfielder who is yet to miss a game this season.
Watching good players leave Accrington for clubs with bigger resources is something Coleman has had to get used to, having seen several members of the team he took to the play-offs in 2011-12 snapped up by more illustrious suitors.
When the side entered the play-offs that season, nine key members of their squad had already agreed deals elsewhere, but - the Rangers departures aside - such troubles should now be a thing of the past.
"It's a bit different now," said Coleman. "The Rangers ones were a bit out of our control because of the situations with the contracts.
"But we're in a position now where we can offer people longer-term deals - you can't go throwing two and three-year deals around when you're in debt and living hand to mouth.
"There was a time when all of our income was going on financing the debt we were in but the aim now is to have the club on an even keel."
In terms of that, everything seems set fair - the team is strong and a plan is in place to improve the ground. And Coleman remains confident his ultimate wish will be granted.
"We need a training ground," he said. "I really would love that."
