Accrington Stanley! Who Are They? Quiz

Answer: Stanley Villa

A club, simply named Accrington FC, was formed in 1876 and was one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888. But the club was dissolved in 1893 due to financial problems. Stanley Villa chose this name as they met at Stanley Working Men's Club, aka the Stanley Arms, in Stanley Street). They changed their name to Accrington Stanley in 1893.

Answer: 2

Accrington were one of the strongest sides in the combination, winning the title twice in 1902-03 and 1905-06, along with two runner-up spots in 1903-04 and 1912-13. Only twice did they finish outside the top half of the table, battling sides such as Rochdale, Oldham Athletic, Stockport County, and reserve sides from Football League clubs such as Liverpool, Everton, and fierce local rivals Blackburn Rovers.

Answer: True

The Football League expanded in 1921 with the addition of a Third Division, and in 1922 with the addition of a Third Division (North). North had 20 foundation clubs and South had 22 clubs. Accrington Stanley were one of 20 clubs chosen for the new Division Three (North) and went on to finish fifth in their first season.

Answer: 0

Accrington Stanley never managed to win the Division Three (North) and subsequent promotion into Division Two. However, Stanley did finish as runners-up twice, in 1954-55 and 1957-58. More often than not, Stanley struggled and finished bottom of 3 times: in 1937-38, 1938-39, and 1952-53.

The League pyramid was reorganised into Four Divisions before the 1958-59 season, with Accrington placed in Division Three, but they only lasted two seasons before being relegated to Division Four at the end of the 1959-60 season.

Answer: 2nd March 1962

By 1960, Accrington was struggling badly. They had numerous financial difficulties regarding payments to players, staff, and the Government.
While the team had problems off the field, their on-field performances had been encouraging until the start of the 1958-59 season, with Stanley finishing in the top three between 1954-55 and 1957-58.

In February 1962, the chairman of Accrington Stanley resigned, revealing that the club owed money to creditors, the Inland Revenue and also other clubs in transfer fees. In March, after the defeat to Crewe, further debts were enough for the acting directors to send a letter of resignation to the Football League, which was accepted on March 11th, despite no winding up order coming from any creditors. The club dropped back to the Lancashire Combination and struggled on as Accrington F.C before finally resigning from that league in 1965-66 and folding.

The first tgeam to resign from the Football League mid-season was Wigan Borough, who resigned from Division Three (North) on 26th October 1931.

Answer: 1968

Rising from the ashes of the old Stanley, a meeting at Bold Street Working Men's Club in 1968, saw the revival of Accrington Stanley Football Club. There was no link to the club that folded in 1966.

Attempts to play games at the old Peel Park were unsuccessful, as the ground was purchased by a contractor before being sold back to the local council, so the new club purchased the Crown Ground, where Stanley have played ever since. The old ground at Peel park was unused at the itme, and was still derelict decades later, when Stanley won promotion to the Fottbal League in 2006.

Jimmy Hinksman was hired in 1968 as the manager of the new Accrington Stanley and was given the unenviable task of rebuilding a playing squad. In 1970, Stanley successfully applied for re-admittance to the Lancashire Cominbation.

Answer: North West Counties Division One

After rebuilding the club and re-election to the Lancashire Combination in 1970, Stanley began the slow process of working their way back to the Football League. They won the Lancashire Combination title twice in 1973-74 and 1977-78, before moving across to the newly formed Cheshire County League Division Two. They finished runner-up in the Division Two in 1979-80, but were not promoted due to not meeting ground standards, but were promoted at the end of next season after winning the title. Stanley were then placed into North West Counties Division One after the merger of the Cheshire County League and Lancashire Cominbation and were promoted to the Northern Premier League after finishing runners-up at the end of 1986-87.

Stanley then spent 12 seasons in the Northern Premier League, before being relegated at the end of 1998-99, but returned to the same league after winning Division One in 1999-2000. Stanley went on to win the Northern Premier League in 2002-03, before winning the Conference National title in 2005-06 and returning to the football league after a 44-year exile.

Answer: Round Three

Since their revival, Stanley have had not much luck or desire to perform well in Cup competitions. Their best performance in the FA Trophy was making the third round. They made the Third Round for the first time in 1998-99, where they were beaten by Ashton United.

In 2000-01, they were beaten by Emley at the same stage, while in 2003-04, they entered and exited at the third round stage losing to Burton Albion, with the same happening in 2004-05 against Hereford United, this time in a replay. They then lost again in the third round in 2005-06 to Worksop Town in another replay. From 1972 to their promotion from the Conference in 2006, Accrington failed to make the first round proper 22 times.

Answer: Nottingham Forest

Stanley beat former European Cup winners Nottingham Forest 1-0 in August 2006 in their very first appearance in the League Cup. Stanley were then drawn against Premier League side Watford for the second round, and almost caused another upset as they held the side to a 0-0 draw at Vicarage Road, but were robbed of another fairy tale result as they lost 6-5 on penalties.

Answer: 1999

Coleman had a long career in the non-leagues as a striker, scoring over 500 goals, while also representing England as a semi-professional. Coleman cut his teeth in management as player-manager at Ashton United between 1997-99 before he was approached to become manager of Accrington Stanley for the start of the 1999-2000 season, with Stanley having just suffered relegation back to the Northern Premier League Division One. Coleman has managed Stanley to promotion three times - in 1999-00 from the Northern Premier League Division One, in 2002-03 from the Norther Premier League and in 2005-06 from the Conference National. Since their promotion into the Football League, Stanley finished 20th in 2006-07, 17th in 2007-08 and 16th in 2008-09. Coleman is the club's longest serving manager.