What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

With it being the 50th anniversary of Stanley's resignation from the Football League, it's not the first time that i've wondered what would've happened to our club if we had survived the tragic events of 1962.
A couple of days later a man walked into Peel Park and put a bag on a table and said: "you can borrow that interest free, and pay it back whenever you can manage it. I don't want to see this club go under." In the bag was £10,000 in cash. So says a book charting the history of Accrington Stanley FC.
Mike Ferguson was sold to Blackburn for £2,000 then sold later to Aston Villa for £60,000. Goalkeeper Alex Smith, whose value was estimated at £10,000 before the start of the season was sold for just £750. What if these players had been sold earlier by the club and not the creditors, surely they would have received decent amounts for them and staved off the creditors?
If Stanley had survived 1962 would they have gone onto better things, maybe promotion to the second division, maybe we'd have been able to compete with Blackburn and Burnley, if not on the field then for the football fans of Accrington and surrounding smaller towns? Perhaps we'd have done a Northampton Town and gone from the bottom division to the first division, or perhaps we'd have been voted out the Football League and more or less ended up as we did?
What do you think would have happened if Stanley had survived 1962?

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

If, If, If only!!!
What we need is at least 2000 at every home game.
Without that, we are going nowhere.
It's up to the people of Hyndburn to support us, along with the council... how many other councils have helped their clubs to build a new ground?
Morecombe springs to mind.... probably many more?

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

are you sure lancaster city council help morecambe with there new ground ?

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Interesting question, Winstanley, but I reckon even if we'd survived '62, we'd still have found it hard going. Apart from the 4-year purple patch in the mid-50's, Stanley always struggled in the league and had to apply for re-election on more than one occasion. The well-documented drawbacks of having a relatively small population and two bigger clubs on our doorstep have always put a brake on our ambitions. Think this could have got even worse as the 60's/70's wore on as the trend was for kids to watch the bigger "glamour" clubs. I think we could well have suffered the fate of Southport, Workington and Barrow and dropped out of the league anyway.

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

...but, then again, we are Stanley and we do regularly defy logic...the last 6 years in the football league on 1,600 gates have proved that...so who knows? ;)

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

If anything I think we'd have ended up worse than what eventually happened.

As sure as eggs is eggs we'd have left the league sooner or later, and possibly suffered the ignominy of dropping through the leagues. Crowds were pathetic, the club was run down and non-league football would have put the nails in the coffin.

However, because of what happened and the way it happened there was possibly a sense of injustice and the club has for 42 years used the old club as the catalyst and drive behind pursuing the dream.

But this is where I feel something has to change. For the entire history of Stanley, and Accrington FC before it, we have suffered geographically. Accrington is not a rich town and cannot afford to prop up its football club. Our town is no more apathetic than most other towns and cities. We have a certain percentage of the town that has disposable income to spend on football and some spend it at the Crown, some at Ewood, some at the Turf and others elsewhere. Its the same everywhere else. What we have to do is seriously buck the trend and change history or this club will carry on punching above its weight until such time as history catches up with it. Ilyas and co simply must find a new way of this club taking in as much money as it can possibly attract so that it can hold its own in a sugar daddy driven industry.

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Premier League champions well we all have to dream don't we who knows what would have happened ?

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Problem was After 62, accy had no team simple as, at that time they averaged around 3000 gates as i recall, Those people or most of em moved on to watch a game,Blackburn,Burnley in the main, As football is tribal in the main those kids that moved on got wed n took their kids to the game, so generations were lost mainly forever, I reckon if 62 hadn't happened Stanley would still get at least those gates,more when doing well, To me that fact is the main reason fer our gates,We only had league football a few years now, Since then a few have drifted back, But not many,to generalise Malcolm the Mole apart, how many would switch teams they been brought up wi? With the club "NOW" getting on n even keel eventually i think gates will increase, But those who say "Apathetic" people of accy, I think thats a bit OTT. or a poor excuse.

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

I tend to agree with Macca that we would have probably dropped through the Leagues but because of what happened that has been the driving force to bring the Club back to where we are today through.

Again the lost generations side of things is very much the catalyst for where we are in terms of crowds.

I have heard lots of comments about where are the crowds that followed us in the Conference as Cashy said there is more to it than apathy and I agree during our time back in the League for example Rovers have had cheap season tickets offers so managed to keep their crowds whilst the Clarets also have been in the Premier League thus increasing their revenues and turnover and both clubs giving their fans the chance to watch the household names of football appear at their local club.

To a degree this also happened to Stanley with crowds for Stanley 68 reaching their peaks in recent times while chasing the dream of a return to League Football unfortuanately success on the pitch brings people to games especially the Walk-on element as we also saw with the play-off semi last season and recent cup games it brings publicity and people buy into that.

As others again have said we punch above our weight in tems of where we are the question is how do we get gates to keep increasing?

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Easy answer ............ WIN :D

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Just to follow up a little of what I put earlier in relation to the Premier League and how things have changed.

BBC News - Fever Pitch and the rise of middle-class football

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

I think like most of you, that Stanley would've eventually dropped out the league, if they had survived 1962. I mentioned in my previous post that the creditors sold two players for small fees when the club could've got considerably more for them and paid the debt off therefore avoiding the resignation from the league, but wouldn't the same crisis have occured the following season?, and if we'd have survived that, it was only a matter of time before the inevitable would have happened. The events of 1962 gave Stanley a place in history, and not only football but national attention as well. So in a way the resignation was of benefit to the club!

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Yeh sure wouldn't have said or thought that if yeh had been a supporter back then.:(

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

I meant the long term benefit not the short term Cashman. It must have been terrible for the fans and everyone at the club at the time, :(,but wouldn't being voted out the league like Barrow and Workington have been as bad as resigning from the league? They went out with a wimper where as Stanley for their troubles, made World news! Who has heard of Barrow and Workington apart from us? :)

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

I know what yeh meant, it will be a sore point wi me until the day i croak, Sugering it up don't make it any better.

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

So can you remember it all then? I heard Mike Ferguson on Radio Lancashire yesterday recalling the events.

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Don't know if anyone else has answered this, but Lancaster City Council includes Morecambe so they would be the authority helping Morecambe

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

No mate can't remember all was 14 at the time, but remember much of it, including Fergy who i happen to have Tattooed on me arm.:D Wish I'd been aware of that on Radio Lancs. The sadness n Disappointment never left me until Stanley returned to the league.

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

If winstanley can tell you when it was on, you should be able to hear it on 'Listen Again', available from here:
BBC - BBC Radio Lancashire Programmes - Schedule, Wednesday 7 March 2012

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Cheers MikeA, hope he sees n lets me know.:)

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

He was on the Sally Naden programme from 11am till 1pm. I only heard it for a minute, i called home and Rob Heys was in the studio, then Mike Ferguson was on talking about the events of the day. I don't know how long the interview was but they had other Stanley related features on as well.:)

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Cheers its just oer 32mins in.:)

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Was it a longish interview Cashman or just a few words?I see the picture of the old players is on the official site. :)

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

Fergys was just short, Rob Heys was a few mins.:) wasn't bad either.

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

It was disaster, Peel Park was the center of football for all the local kids, it was the place we all went every Saturday, the place our dads took us to. It was more than a football stadium, it was a second home for most of us. I was 17 at the time and playing with the reserves, although we all knew the club was in trouble, it didn't make it any easier to except when the final decision was made to resign. What would have happened if Stanley hadn't folded? Things would certainly have had to change, there would have had to be new blood in the directors box, new management all around and new "money". Looking back there was no chance of any of those things so the inevitable happened. As has been said, the "Fairy Storey" of Accrington Stanley would never have happened, the fight to restore the pride in the club has been incredible, the club is living within it's means and hopefully the old motto of "On Stanley On" will prevail.

Re: What if 1962 hadn't happened?
 

nicely written Bryan