Credit Crunch hits Accrington

Last Friday Bulls News reported that Accrington chairman Eric Whalley will step down after 14 years. Since then he has given an interview to the Lancashire Telegraph in which he reveals how difficult it is to run a small football club.

Last season Accrington Stanley had a turnover of £1.5M and reported a loss of £65,000. This year’s accounts will show a much greater loss because gates have dropped (from 2,200 to 1,100 in three years) and sponsorship deals have gone by the wayside.

The playing budget is £900,000.

Stanley are the worst supported club in the Football League, and with the worst stadium and facilities and they have lost two big sponsors, Fraser Eagle and Hollands Pies, who are big local businesses in Hyndburn. The deal with Fraser Eagle was worth £60,000 and the stadium-rights was worth an additional £15,000 a year.

Whalley is annoyed how the revenue from Coca Cola and television money from Sky is shared out.

"The breakdown is ludicrous - 80 per cent goes towards the Championship, 12 per cent for League One and eight per cent for League Two," he said. "How can that be right for teams like Stanley at the bottom? Okay, we are in different divisions, but we all play together in the Football League. It’s totally immoral."

Stanley are finding it increasingly difficult to get local business to invest in the club.

"But I ask myself - why can’t we attract local businesses? Is it my doing because some people think they cannot get on with me?

"I only wish the people of Accrington would give us some more support. I’m sure there are some businesses out there with a few quid that want to help their local football team.

"Unfortunately, at the moment, we have hit a brick wall, certainly with the people of Accrington that we struggle to attract to the club.

"Whether it’s because of the 43 years we spent in the wilderness, or it’s because they feel the football in League Two is rubbish, I don’t know."

---