Accrington Stanley F.C. (1891)

Accrington Stanley was a football club from Accrington in Lancashire, in the north-west of England, formed in 1891. The team played in The Football League from 1921 until 1962, when the club became only the second ever to resign from the Football League in mid-season. The club went into liquidation into 1966.

History

The club was formed in 1891 as Stanley Villa and adopted the Accrington name in 1893. The club re-formed after World War I and entered the League in 1921 with the formation of the old Third Division North, along with the other top Northern non-League clubs.

In four decades of league football they never achieved promotion from the Third Division. The driving force was Sam Pilkington who helped to secure Peel Park, their original ground. Their best-ever league position was 2nd in that division, in the 1954-55 season and again in 1957-58. Unfortunately, only the top club was promoted at the time, so they never had the chance to compete in Division Two.

In 1960, amid persistent financial difficulties, The 'Owd Reds were relegated to the recently formed Division Four. However, they only managed to complete one full season in this division: bankruptcy followed shortly afterwards. On 12 February 1962 Edwin Slinger, the chairman, resigned and revealed that Stanley owed up to £4,000 in unpaid transfer fees and a similar sum to the Inland Revenue. Pilkington, as life vice president, brought in Bob Lord, who persuaded the rest of the board to resign by promising to buy shares, despite his chairmanship of nearby Burnley F.C. Stanley lost their last League match 4-0 away at Crewe on 2 March 1962 and, at a creditors' meeting shortly afterwards, a further £40,000 of unsecured creditors was revealed. A further amount of £458 owed for National Insurance was enough for Lord and Pilkington to decide to draw the line. The club sent a letter of resignation to the Football League even though none of the creditors was threatening to "pull the plug". The resignation was accepted by Alan Hardaker, the League Secretary on 11 March, mid-way through the 1961/62 season.

During their fourth season in the Lancashire Combination the club went into liquidation in 1966.

Origin of the 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 Arms on Stanley Street in Accrington. With the demise of Accrington FC, 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 F.C. and QPR in the late 19th Century before folding.

League history