Accrington Stanley… who are they?

Accrington Stanley are on the verge of promotion from a division in which they have the smallest budget, the second lowest average attendance and are waging a constant battle to keep their best players.

So how is this tiny Lancashire club outperforming teams such as Portsmouth and Plymouth in the race to get promoted to Sky Bet League One? Accrington manager John Coleman, who is in his second spell with the club, filled us in…

It is fair to say that whatever Accrington do from this point of the season, they are already punching well above their weight.

Stanley will be promoted on Saturday if they win at Wycombe and Oxford and Bristol Rovers fail to collect three points. Plymouth Argyle also remain in the race to go up automatically but a four-point gap exists between them and Accrington, who are second behind a Northampton side already crowned champions.

Their corresponding fixture against Wycombe last month drew a crowd of just 1,403 to the Crown Ground, admittedly on a Wednesday night, but a figure not far short of their season average of 1,718.

Only one club in the division has a lower number – Morecambe with 1,570 – and although 2,222 turned out for Accrington’s resounding 3-0 win over York City last weekend, that was a tiny gate compared to some of the others in Sky Bet League Two.

There were more than 9,000 at Plymouth for their defeat to Dagenham & Redbridge, while Oxford were 45 short of an 8,000 crowd when they played host to Hartlepool. Portsmouth drew a vast 16,187 for their match against Wycombe Wanderers.

“We’ve officially got the lowest budget in the Football League, and that’s confirmed,” Coleman said. “Our budget will be a fraction of what a Luton or a Portsmouth would spend and perhaps rightly so because we get a fraction of their crowds.

“But it’s not about money here. Nobody is coming to play for Accrington for the money or for the glory of playing for the club – they’re here because they’re hungry and because they’re honest.

“It really all boils down to enthusiasm. Our training facilities are awful, so we can’t attract players that way either. We have one council Astroturf pitch which we use for all of our training – and that’s if the Football in the Community people don’t need it.

“So we have …

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