Beattie future uncertain

James Beattie surprisingly left Accrington on Friday, but suggestions he did so to take up a vacancy elsewhere appear speculative.

Stanley take on AFC Wimbledon on Saturday under assistant manager Paul Stephenson's guidance after Beattie departed the Store First Stadium, where he had been in charge since May 2013. The former England international kept Accrington in the Football League last season - even after they failed to win any of the first 12 league games - and earned acclaim for doing so while managing one of the tightest budgets in the division. This campaign had also started in similarly slow fashion, although last weekend's win over Tranmere took them out of the bottom two in Sky Bet League Two, and Beattie's departure was certainly not foreseen. While the club's statement declared his exit was "by mutual consent", Beattie's own quotes hinted he had opted to move on from his first managerial post. "It is with a hugely heavy heart that I decided to end this journey," he said. "I can never fully repay the faith and backing I got from the players, my staff and of course the fans - who always gave me 100 per cent. "I thank them from the bottom of my heart for granting me the opportunity and privilege to be part of your unique club." Minutes after the announcement Beattie - who was heavily rumoured to be in the running for the Oxford job at the end of last season - was linked with the positions at managerless Blackpool, Leeds and Carlisle on social media. However, the notion that his exit was motivated by a desire to immediately join another club is understood to be wide of the mark. That is not to say he will not be an attractive proposition for various chairman across the Football League, though, due to his experience of balancing the books in east Lancashire. Beattie has seen four players depart this month with only former captain Andy Procter coming in to the club. Jordan Mustoe and Connor Martin both left the club on Thursday night after their short-term contracts expired, while James Alabi this week returned to Stoke at the end of his loan spell - that trio having exiting after goalkeeper Jay Lynch claimed he was forced out of Stanley because they could not afford to keep him. "They were saying I was their top keeper but then I got pulled to one side and told the club didn't have the finances to keep me," he said in The Bolton News. "I said I'd play for free - I only wanted games - but it felt like they'd stabbed me in the back a bit."