Accrington Stanley
Formed 1968
Promoted to Coca Cola League Two 2006
Kit History
1970-1972 b
1972-1973 b
1974-1975 b
1975-1976 b
1977-1978 b e
1978-1980 b
1980-1982 b
1985-1986 b
1986-1987 b
1987-1988 b
1988-1989 b
1989-1990 b e
1990-1994 b
1994-1995 b
1996-1998 b
1998-1999 b
1999-2000 b
2001-2002 a
2002-2003 a g
2003-2004 a f
2004-2005 a f
2005-2006 a f
2006-2007 c f
2007-2008 c d
2008-Nov 2009 c
Nov 2009-2011 c
Background
Five years after the original
Accrington Stanley folded in 1963, a new limited company known Accrington
Stanley (1968) Ltd was formed at a meeting held in the Bold Street Working
Men’s Club. Although the new club bears the name of its predecessor,
it is a separate entity from the “Old Stanley.” Their first
manager, Jimmy Hinksman, had the formidable task of building the club
up from nothing. Two years later, in 1970, Stanley were admitted to the
Lancashire Combination and 620 supporters watched their first competitive
match, a 2-0 victory against Formby.
The club spent eight seasons in the Combination
during which they were champions twice and won the Combination Cup three
times. Problems with the pitch at Stanley’s Crown Ground led to
one match being played at Peel Park, home of the previous Stanley club
in 1975. Hopes were raised that this arrangement might become permanent but these came to nothing.
In 1982, Stanley became founder members of the North West Counties First Division after £40,000 was spent on improving their pitch. Three years later, the club was promoted to the Northern Premier League (NPL) First Division, a move that required the club to install floodlights. The first crest appeared in 1986 and consisted of a Lancashire rose mounted on a white shield and the club's name embroidered above. This was replaced in 1989 by the crest of the Borough of Accrington (which is what the original Accrington Stanley used) but with the initials ASFC replacing the town motto. After 2001, the club's name was embroidered above the crest.
In 1991, Stanley were promoted to the NPL Premier Division following the resignation of South Liverpool.
In 1995, manager Eric Whalley took a controlling
interest in the club and as chairman he set about a programme of improvements
to the ground that continued over the next few seasons, eventually bringing
the Crown Ground (now renamed the Interlink Express Stadium) up to Football
League standards.
In 2003 Stanley won the Unibond Premier League (the new name for the NPL) by 16 clear points to take their place in the Nationwide Conference. After two creditable mid-table finishes, Stanley became the third club to have represented the town of Accrington in the Football League after they stormed to the Conference title in 2006 to earn promotion to Coca Cola League Two. By a cruel twist of fate, one of the clubs demoted that season was Oxford United who had replaced the original Accrington Stanley back in 1962.
The spectre of the original Stanley's fate arose during the 2009-10 season when the club faced the threat of a winding up order over £308,000 in unpaid taxes. The new owners launched the Save Our Stanley appeal in September 2009 to raise the outstanding sum in just eight weeks. The fundraising effort included launching a new home strip, which was used for the first time on 24 November.
Sources
- (a) kipax.com
- (b) Accrington Stanley FC - Images of Sport (Phil Whalley 2001)
- (c) Accrington Stanley Official Site
- (d) Greger Lindberg
- (e) Ralph Pomeroy
- (f) Ian Trickett
- (g) Craig Fisher
Crests are the property of Accrington Stanley FC.