Why people shouldn’t dislike Accrington…

“Why people shouldn’t dislike Accrington (even though it’s easy to)” aka WHY DO about 10 people on Boro Chat hate us????

Having been asked to write this piece a while ago through a friend, I’ve finally got round to it, and hopefully by the end of this short piece those so called Stevenage “Supporters” (said in the loosest term possible) may just realise what crap the hardy Stanley supporter has had to put up with over the last few seasons.

Make no mistake, I cant defend our financial or off the field problems. We have struggled for years, for a number of reasons, and if League Status’s were based on finances and crowd numbers we would be firmly near the bottom of the Conference. Our average gate has been under 2000 ever since we returned to the football league in 2006. Why is this you may ask??? After all during the Conference winning season attendances regularly topped the 2500-3000 mark, not bad for a club of our size. Obviously any team across the country, no matter what division they are in will attract more supporters if they are top of the table, and for us thats what happened. However after being promoted to the football league attendances dropped…. why, I have no idea….. but I have a theory.

For anybody that has been to our ground, you will know what an absolute shithole it is, I cant do anything about it, I just have to put up with it every other weekend. Having being promoted to the football league our former asshole of a chairman Eric Whalley decided to rebuild it, but having finished 2 sides decided not to bothar with the others and left us with a iron clad cow shed from the 1960′s on 1 side and a shitty open terrace for the away fans on the other. I cant defend it, its a dump. However speak to the majority of away fans that visit us, and they will tell you how friendly we are, especially before the game in our Crown Pub next to the ground. We frequently have fans of other clubs coming to watch and support us, as they have such a laugh. The price to get in is £13 to stand or £15 to sit…… Relatively cheap in terms of League 2 prices (Gillingham £23 sticks in my mind)…… however for the facilities you are paying to use, they are nothing short of a disgrace, its simply too expensive. I have ALOT of sympathy with away fans!! Hopefully now we have a new chairman we can get on with the process of building the new ground. Dont get me wrong on the pitch we can be brilliant to watch, especially this season, but its everything else that has surrounded the club in the last few years that leaves alot to be desired.

Alas our ex chairman/ owner Eric Whalley was and is a complete fucking wanker. HE along with his right hand men Dave “Wanker” O Neill and Chief Executive Robert “Bullshit” Heys have brought shame on this club and need booting out of the fucking country. Think Reynolds at Darlington, Haslam at Mansfield, Turner at Herford and combine them all, then you might have a picture of how bad it has been at our club. I have respect for what Whalley did in the early days when he put a few quid in, during the Unibond League, however the shit he has come out with in the last few years has been nothing short of a joke. How about gambling the clubs money in a betting shop??? And people wonder why we used to be skint all the time. !!! He showed what an absolute tin pot club we are with that joke of a TV documentary, thankfully he has now left the club for good, and make no mistake he will get bottled out of the ground if he ever decides to return.

Im not trying to pull wool over anybody’s eyes and I totally agree we have been an absolute shambles off the field for a number of years. However given our achievements ON the pitch this season, along with the fact we have FINALLY been taken over by our saviour Ilyas Khan we can finally start looking forward. A new ground hopefully is imminent along with a new board of directors and fingers crossed we can start re-building some bridges we have burnt over the last few seasons, especially with the local community. Surely us fans and players dont deserve all of the abuse that we recieve from ONLY Stevenage fans. ??? Even our local derbies against Morecambe & Bury are nothing on the crap we have recieved from down there this season. Yes there’s banter, but nothing on the level I have read and heard this season.I agree every club has a small group of idiot supporters… we have a few who I agree get abit carried away on occasions. However they dont want to fight, all they want to do is support their team louder and longer than anybody else in this division.

I would also like to point out that on no other forum across League 2 have I read such utter bullshit than the people that talk on Boro Chat. I really couldent believe my eyes the other week when a number of people where calling for Westley’s head, Are they for real?!!? Whether its a few internet cowboys who attend 5 games a season I dont know, but make no mistake you are carving a VERY poor reputation for yourselves across League 2 forums.

So to sum it up……

Off The Pitch = I agree, we have been a shambles.

On It = Even those so called football fans on Boro Chat MUST admit we have achieved the impossible this season.????

At the end of the day we are all in League 2 together (for now), we dont pay £1000 for a season ticket to watch players earning £150k a week diving about. We Watch proper football, with proper players and proper sets of hardcore supporters !!!

PEACE