[Wynonie Harris]

OK, John, here goes...In February, 1962, as Stanley's financial situation reached crisis point, the board asked vice-chairman and club elder statesman, Sam Pilkington to get involved. He would only do so if his life-long friend, Bob Lord, was also involved. Lord immediately aroused suspicions by insisting that six of the club's directors resign. On March 11th the Stanley board convened to be given a report on the financial position by the club's accountants. It showed that the club were around £60,000 in the red. Lord then stated that the situation was hopeless and recommended that the club should fold. The remaining four directors took his advice on board and sent a letter of resignation to the football league the next day.

However, when the news broke in the town, there was an outcry and offers of financial support poured in from businessmen and members of the public. In fact, one man walked into Peel Park with a bag containing £10,000 in cash and offered it as an unconditional loan, saying, "I don't want this club to die." Faced with this, the directors sent a second letter asking the league to disregard the first one.

On March 11th, the league management committee (whose members included a certain Bob Lord) met to decide which letter to accept. They decided that the first letter should stand and Stanley were out of the league.

Obviously, no one can ever be sure, but it was felt that Lord had stitched Stanley up because he didn't want another league club on Burnley's doorstep.

To be fair, other clubs could have done more to help. Rovers, for instance, could have bought Stanley's star player, Mike Ferguson for a reasonable fee, instead of waiting until the club had folded and picking him up for a bargain-basement fee of £2000.

However, it's all a long time ago. The most important thing is that you lads who support bigger clubs have Stanley as your second club and come along when you can, so that our revival can continue!