Trewick contrasts Bulls and Accy

The Hereford United coach, John Trewick, has been talking to the Lancashire press about staying in League Two.

Accrington Stanley and Hereford United were both promoted from the Conference last year but at present Hereford are better placed in the League than Accrington.

"It's imperative not to lose League status. It's a massive blow to anybody that loses it," said Trewick.

"Being in a new league, we were not exactly sure of the standards required and what we were expecting every week.

"But we soon learned and we've coped reasonably well this season, and the league position is acceptable to us.

"We changed the squad a little bit and made a few additions which we feel we needed to do - bringing in players with experience of playing in the Football League.

"What we wanted to do is keep hold of our best players because there has been lots of interest in them.

"The difference between ourselves and Accrington Stanley is that they lost Roberts and Craney and have not replaced them.

"It can be difficult attracting players when you are down there. Players who you want may look at the table and think whether they should put themselves in a semi-struggling side. They think Is it going to be difficult for me?

"But I'm sure if Craney and Roberts had stayed, they would have been better off than they are now."

Meanwhile Accrington's chief executive Rob Heys is hopeful Stanley can survive in League Two.

"From a personal point of view, it's essential that we stay up," said Heys.

"We'd cope financially but it would be very disappointing to go back down after all the years of hard work of getting into the Football League.

"For John Coleman, it's the first time he's ever managed in the Football League and quite a lot of the players haven't played in the Football League. It's the same for the backroom staff too. We've all learned an awful lot this year and we want to use that to take us forward next year."

Heys knows that Stanley can't compete with some of the high spending League Two clubs however they have a backer in Hong Kong based investment banker Ilyas Khan, who was born in Accrington.

"Ilyas Khan is still an active supporter of the club. We have not taken anything from him for 18 months or more. But he's still there if we ever ask him for a contribution.

"He's a shareholder in the club and somebody we always keep in contact with."

Heys spoke about Accrington's budget.

"I'm guessing that we have the lowest player budget in the division. The average in the league is £53,000 a year for a player's wages.

"You are talking £1,000 a week on average and our average is half of that.

"It means we've got to look for our players, either home-grown talent or non-league players.

"We've had to be cautious. The big thing here at Stanley is that we don't spend a lot of money.

"Some people think we are tight and say they've seen the chairman (Eric Whalley) turning the lights off and saving the pennies.

"But that's what it boils down to - saving the pennies and having some pounds to spend on players."

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