Accrington show football can still be romantic
Paul C
Accrington show football can still be romantic'
John Rawling looks beyond the lurid headlines to find a happy triumph
for small-town ambition
Monday November 3, 2003
The Guardian
The average professional footballer does not regard a good night out
as being reliant on downing a load of champagne with his mates,
followed by snorting a couple of lines of Colombian marching powder
and working out in a serious session of group sex, compliant or
otherwise. Please let this be true, or the game we love stands accused
of shaping rather than reflecting standards of modern depravity.
Angry headlines accusing leading players of cocaine indulgence hit the
streets once more this weekend, and the FA has vowed to look seriously
at the information provided by the Sun to determine the truth.
Whatever the findings, there can be no avoiding the fact that what
remains of football's good name in this country has been sullied once
again after the latest instalment of what seem to have been weeks of
damning reports.
The perception that the game and its players are all flying beyond
society's legal constraints may be wrong, but try arguing that point
of view down any local where footballing issues are still deemed
important. After a few days of holiday in New York, away from the
barrage of negative publicity, I had the temerity to voice the liberal
line and was shot down in flames. The popular opinion, right or wrong,
is that football and its players are now displaying the inevitable
consequences of a cash-fuelled lifestyle no longer in touch with
reality.
It is an observation that should hurt anybody who cares about the
future of football in this country, not least in the week when the
first round of the FA Cup provides the lesser lights with the chance
to showcase their abilities, (hopefully) en route to money-spinning
ties against the supposed aristocrats of the game.
This season, perhaps more than ever, the FA must be hoping its famous
competition prompts more than its fair share of positive publicity,
because I am not alone in wondering just how many more knocks football
can take before the public begins to be turned off. So far crowds seem
unaffected, but each negative story must be having a cumulative impact
and might be pushing that moment a little closer when clubs begin to
pay their own hard price for the stars' misdemeanours.
Perhaps the match being shown live by the BBC next Sunday can begin to
show that grassroots ambition still has its part to play and that the
road to the final (you still want to say Wembley) can be intriguing.
Because there may be no club name in football more redolent of a time
when the FA Cup really meant something to the masses than that of
Accrington Stanley, who play Huddersfield Town in the televised match.
Not that Stanley were ever much good. Their best season was probably
1954-55, when they managed second place in the old Third Division
North and a floodlit friendly against neighbouring Blackburn attracted
a record gate of more than 17,000 to their Peel Park ground.
Post-second world war years saw the club progress beyond the third
round of the FA Cup only once - in 1959.
In fact, it could be argued Accrington Stanley are remembered, more
than anything, for their failure, as they were forced to plead
bankruptcy and retire from the league in 1962. With gates declining to
little more than 2,000, an emergency meeting of creditors in March of
that year showed Stanley to be £62,000 in debt. Next day, the players
turned up for training as usual only to be told the club had quit the
Football League and the shocked little Lancashire mill town no longer
had a club. Even though one fan walked into Peel Park two days later
carrying his life savings of £10,000 saying "I don't want to see this
club go under", all efforts to reverse the directors' decision were in
vain.
The sad little tale had its happy ending, as Accrington Stanley
reformed six years later and have battled their way into the
Nationwide Conference. With a new ground leased from the council, the
club is financially secure and now has the realistic chance of
progressing far enough to reclaim their league spot.
Eric Whalley is the 62-year-old former player, manager and local
businessman who is now the club's owner and driving force behind the
club's regeneration, and who points out the club's fatal debt of 41
years ago would hardly be enough to buy a decent non-league player
nowadays. He might also have added that the sum is less than the
weekly wage of Robbie Fowler, whose alleged nightclub bingeing
provided yet more lurid news coverage yesterday.
As tickets for the Huddersfield match went on sale yesterday morning,
Whalley was at the ground overseeing plans for the biggest day in the
club's recent history.
"We can hold 5,500 and it's going to be a sell-out," he told me.
"Getting back into the league is the ultimate aim and would be a great
thing for the town, but this game is a big one for us. It will be the
first time that the cameras have been here, so everybody is talking
about us. But I've seen the bad times, and I know there are plenty of
times when the game will get up and kick you in the teeth. I have been
here and seen them.
"When you look at the money clubs like Chelsea are spending and Leeds
United are losing, it makes you wonder. It seems another world. But we
are solvent here, and I know that we have got to enjoy this week. In
football you have to make hay while the sun shines and enjoy the good
times when they come along. The FA Cup can do a lot for us, and there
is a real buoyant feeling around Accrington."
Hearing the enthusiasm in Whalley's voice and the realism in his
words, you can only wonder at the incredulity with which he must have
viewed details of the spiralling debt enveloping Leeds, with their
British record annual loss of £49.5m announced last week, and a net
debt now standing at £78m. Especially when the club that is his life
was sent to the wall for a matter of thousands. To him and to
Accrington, it is another world.
The queue of would-be ticket holders was lined up outside the ground.
Huddersfield might not be Manchester United, but they are the biggest
club to have visited the town for a competitive match in years, and
Eric had important matters on his mind as he kept a close eye on plans
for the big day.
"Good luck. Enjoy it," I said. And, though I have nothing against
Huddersfield, I will be one of the millions hoping little Accrington
Stanley can progress on Sunday. Because that is what football should
still be about, and those are the headlines the real football fans
want to see for the good of the game.
--
Paul