[themaclad]

Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history playing at the Crown Ground. The club came to national prominence in 1989 due to the Milk Marketing Board's popular television advert that featured the slogan Accrington Stanley, Who Are They?.

The current club was formed in 1968, two years after the collapse of the original Accrington Stanley, which played in the Football League from 1921 to 1962 after initially competing in the Lancashire Combination. The town's original club, named simply Accrington, were founder members of the Football League in 1888, though folded just six years later. The current incarnation of the club entered the Lancashire Combination and moved on to the Cheshire County League after winning the Combination title in 1977–78. Stanley won Division Two of the Cheshire County League in 1980–81 and became founder members of the North West Counties League in 1982, before being placed in Division One of the Northern Premier League five years later. They were promoted to the Premier Division in 1990–91, though were relegated in 1999.

The early 21st century saw the club win three promotions over the course of seven seasons under the stewardship of John Coleman to gain a place in the Football League. They won three divisional titles in each of their three promotions: Northern Premier League Division One (1999–2000), Northern Premier League Premier Division (2002–03) and the Conference National (2005–06). They then spent 12 seasons mostly in the bottom half of the table in League Two, though did also lose two play-off semi-finals, before Coleman led them to promotion into League One as League Two champions in 2017–18.

The Crown Ground is a multi-use stadium in Accrington, Lancashire, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Accrington Stanley. Opened in 1968, the stadium has a capacity of 5,450.

The ground is currently known as the Wham Stadium as part of a three-year £200,000 sponsorship deal with What More UK Ltd.[2] It was previously also named the Fraser Eagle Stadium and the Interlink Express Stadium.


Stands/terraces
Jack Barret Memorial Stand: this stand is the newest stand. A terrace used to be in its place until it was knocked down and replaced by the current one whilst Stanley were still in the Northern Premier League. It runs half the length of the pitch. The dugouts are situated here and in the John Smiths Stand.
Clayton End: officially called the Sophia Khan Stand. This the home end. The more vocal Stanley fans known as the Stanley Ultras like to stand here. It is a covered terrace that had a roof added to it at the start of 2007–08. Seats were added to the front half of the terrace to bring the stadium up to Football League standards.
Whinney Hill Terrace: otherwise known as the Cowshed. It stands on the lower slopes of Whinney Hill which is home to a vast waste infill site. It was a small terrace with only 3 rows but had seating installed in the covered section to bring the stadium up to Football League standards. It has a roof running two thirds of the length of the pitch held up by pillars. The terrace continues around the corner for about a third of the Coppice End and around the corner at the other end to join with the Clayton End. The television gantry is situated in the middle of the terrace. The half nearest the Coppice End is given to away fans. This stand is currently closed and is being replaced by the 1,100 seater Eric Whalley Stand, which is due to open in late 2018/early 2019.
Coppice End: This is the away end and has the ability to accommodate up 1,800 supporters. If additional demand is required then part of the Whinney Hill side is used for this allocation. Conversely, if away demand is small this stand can go unused. This end is uncovered and is very exposed to the weather.
Record attendance
A record attendance of 4,801 set on 17 November 2018 for a League One match against Barnsley, but only stood for three weeks, when it was bettered by a crowd of 5,257 for another league match against Sunderland on 8 December 2018, although the match was abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch.[3] A new record of 5,397 was set on 26 January 2019 when Derby County visited in the FA Cup fourth round.



Stanley's old ground parents old stomping ground

MACS VIEW

Small compact and homely sums Stanley perfectly a club that for years has battled well against adversity, to be were they are is outstanding, they are a very well run club and a manager who fits the club well.
Been on there many times took in a Stanley v Shrewsbury game the start of one season when they both in the Conference, about 20 minutes before the kick off Coley went and bought himself, pie, pes and chips a down to earth bloke.
The last competitive game between the sides was a league cup tie which we lost 3-2 memorable only for Liam Grimshaw's mazy run which saw him carry the ball out of pitch and continue running with the ball until he almost fell over the perimeter road. Happy days