Accrington Stanley F.C.

Infobox Football club
clubname = Accrington Stanley


fullname = Accrington Stanley Football Club
nickname = "The Stans or Stanley,
The (Famous) Minnows,
The Owd Reds"
founded = 1968
ground = Crown Ground, Accrington
capacity = 5,057 (1,200 seated)
chairman = flagicon|England Eric Whalley
manager = flagicon|England John Coleman
league = League Two
season = 2007–08
position = 17th
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
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Accrington Stanley Football Club is an English football club from Accrington in Lancashire, in the north-west of England, formed in 1968. The town regained a club with league status after 44 years, when they were promoted as champions of the Nationwide Conference on 15 April 2006. [citenews|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/4890816.stm|title=Watch out United, Accrington are advancing on the Asian market|publisher=BBC Sport|date=2006-04-15|accessdate=2008-06-04] One of the clubs relegated from League Two was Oxford United, ironically, the team that was elected to replace the former Accrington Stanley as members of the Football League in 1962. The club has been owned by Chairman Eric Whalley since the mid 1990s and employs Robert Heys, who joined the club in 2002, as Chief Executive.

History

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 - the team that had replaced the former Accrington club in 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 Premiership team Watford at Vicarage Road.

2006-07 saw Accrington Stanley finish 20th in League Two, and in 2007-08 they improved slightly to finish 17th.

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

Name

The original town team, Accrington F.C., 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 F.C., Stanley Villa took the town name to become Accrington Stanley. There was also a team originally based in West London called Stanley F.C., who played against the likes of Fulham and QPR in the late 19th Century before folding.

Stanley were pushing for fans in the Asian, mainly Chinese market (similar to Manchester United) for revenue, calling themselves "the world's most famous little club". However this never really took off. [citenews|author=James Ducker|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/league_two/article1264930.ece|title=Watch out United, Accrington are advancing on the Asian market|publisher=Sunday Times|date=2006-12-29|accessdate=2007-04-21]

The club published on their website, as an April Fools Joke, the suggestion that they were considering a name change to Lancashire Stanley United, in order to broaden their fan base. However, because of the positive reaction, the club decided to seriously consider the change. [citenews|url=http://www.football.virginmedia.com/page/AccringtonStanleyDetail/0,,12555~1279444,00.html|title=Stanley reveal name change proposal|publisher=Virgin Media|date=2008-04-01|accessdate=2008-06-04] [citenews|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-553774/Accrington-Stanley-consider-change-April-Fools-joke-gets-positive-response.html|title=Accrington Stanley consider name change after April Fool's joke gets positive response|publisher=Daily Mail|date=2008-04-02|accessdate=2008-06-04]

Television advertisement

The club was name-checked in a celebrated British advert for milk, from the 1980s. [YouTube | id = CgYP1d5nN2o | title = Advert ] The scene was two boys with thick 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
* Ryan Budd, former Sussex youth cricketer
* Brett Ormerod, professional football player

Players

:"As of 18 August 2008."

Current squad

Notable former players

External links

* [http://www.accringtonstanley.co.uk/ Official website]
* [http://www.kitclassics.co.uk/kits/AccStan.gifAccrington Stanley Kits from the Past]
* [http://www.football-shirts.co.uk/stanley-shirt.html Accrington Stanley Shirts]
* [http://www.accringtonstanleyasia.com/ AccringtonStanley Asian website]
* [http://approval.photopanorama.co.uk/acc_stanley/TourWeaver_tinlegs_acc_st.html Virtual Tour image of the Accrington Stanley Ground]

References