Quote:
Originally Posted by Tin Monkey
Accrington has a football league team/club, but hardly anyone in the town supports the venture and couldn't care less what happens to it. The club could overstretch itself and end up bankrupt again, or it could drop back to a level where crowds of 1000 can sustain a club and a team.
It looks as though (from comments in the press, etc), that we have hit a crunch time for the club. Either it generates enough money to maintain its current position (through raising gates, investment, sale of club, etc), or it drops back down into the non-league world and exists at a level that it can maintain.
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Right on the money, TM. There seem to be quite a few people in denial about the situation - don't panic, it's early days, it'll all turn out alright in the end. Eric has already spelt it out in the starkest of terms - WE CANNOT MAINTAIN A FOOTBALL LEAGUE CLUB ON THE CURRENT GATES.
Eric and Coley have performed a major miracle over the last few seasons - they have lifted an average Unibond league club into the football league with very small gates and no large-scale financial investment. In Friday's Observer Eric emphasised the necessity of better gates if we are to maintain our league status. At around 4pm yesterday I realised that Eric had taken things as far as he could and the town had reacted to his appeal with total indifference.
This is why I think he should take the next step and put the club up for sale to a suitable investor - someone with the financial resources and breadth of vision to perform another major miracle -to take a football club in a town of 37,000 people with a premiership and championship club 5/6 miles either side and to sell it to the local population in such a way that sufficient numbers are attracted through the gates to maintain and indeed, improve upon its league status. If no such investor appears, we have lost nothing and at least we know where we stand.
And I'm well aware that this post will invariably provoke accusations of "negativity" and "pessimism" from the "keep your chin up" brigade, but I couldn't care less. I watched this club in 1965 when the support base was, quite literally, down to 50 people and I will continue watching it whatever happens because I love Stanley. That's why I passonately want to see it prove all the doubters wrong by prospering in the football league!