There are times when fans criticise the current owner, sometimes with a lot of justification, but the story of Accrington Stanley is one that shows what could have happened to our club during the last 10 to 15 years.

In 1960, amid persistent financial difficulties, Stanley were relegated to the then recently formed Division Four. However, they only managed to complete one full season in this division and bankruptcy followed shortly afterwards. On 12 February 1962, Edwin Slinger, the chairman, resigned and revealed that Stanley owed up to £4,000 in unpaid transfer fees and a similar sum to the Inland Revenue. Pilkington, as life vice president, brought in Bob Lord, who persuaded the rest of the board to resign by promising to buy shares, despite his chairmanship of nearby Burnley F.C. Stanley lost their last League match 4-0 away at Crewe on 2 March 1962, but at a creditors meeting shortly after a further £40,000 of unsecured creditors was revealed. A further amount of £458 owed for National Insurance was enough for Lord and Pilkington to decide the draw the line. The club sent a letter of resignation to the Football League even though none of the creditors was threatening to “pull the plug”. The resignation was accepted by Alan Hardaker, the League Secretary on 11 March, mid-way through the 1961/62 season.

The role of Bob Lord in refusing, in his capacity as administrator of the bankrupt club, to accept a bailout offer that would have permitted his close competitor to remain afloat has still not been forgiven by some.

Last year, of course, after 40 years, the reformed club finally got its League status back.

Richard Money goes into another important game (aren’t they all, now?), determined to improve the Saddlers away record. His injury problems are, however, starting to clear up.

Westwood is around a week from a re-appearance and Picken 10 days, but, with Bossu having recovered from his back spasm and Wrack having made a goal scoring return to first team duties on Tuesday, the Manager has plenty of options to choose from, Alex Nicholls has picked up a thigh strain however. The 16 should come from:

Ince, Bossu, Pead, Roper, Gerrard, Dann, Taylor, Wright, Wrack, Fangueiro, Dobson, Keates, Kinsella, Fox, Demontagnac, Butler, Sam, Constable and Bedeau.

It’s interesting to note that, whoever the three are who will miss out, plus Westwood, Nicholls and Picken, are all good enough to be in the match day squad. Improvement indeed.

One man in the Walsall squad eager for the game will, of course, be Anthony Gerrard, who did spend some five games there on loan when at Everton.

Stanley do have some troubles of their own. Their gates on their return to the Football League have not been matching expectations and, right at the start of the season, the Chairman warned that steps would have to be taken if they didn’t reach their break even figure. The first signs of that seem to have happened this week, with top scorer, 8 goal man Gary Roberts, farmed out to Ipswich on loan (ha ha), with a view to a permanent move in January. They will also be without influential defender Tretton, thanks to injury.

Predictions?
Stanley have got into their stride quite quickly this season. They are ninth in the table, having won 5, drawn 5 and lost 4 of their games, with a good goalscoring record.

As far as this game is concerned, however, that doesn’t tell the whole story. They are third in the home form table, having won 4, drawn 2 and lost just 1 of their games, letting in just one goal a game and scoring an average of two.

This is a tough proposition for the Saddlers, and I, for one, will be happy with a point.