Accrington Stanley F.C.

Accrington Stanley Football Club is an English football club based in Accrington, Lancashire. The club participates in Football League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system.

The club was formed in 1968, with the town regaining a club with league status after 44 years when they were promoted as champions of the Football Conference on 15 April 2006.

Ilyas Khan saved the club from possible oblivion in late 2009 and stepped down as chairman in 2012 after keeping the club financially secure. Former club president Peter Marsden was appointed chairman soon after.

History & re-formation

Accrington had been without a football team following the collapse of the original Accrington Stanley in 1966. The original team had been formed in 1891 and played in The Football League from 1921 to March 1962; it had spent its final four seasons in the Lancashire Combination. At a meeting in the town library in October 1968 the revival was initiated by Stanley Wotherington, and in August 1970 the new club played at a new ground, the Crown Ground. The Crown Ground takes its name from The Crown, a pub owned by Accrington Stanley. Since their formation, Stanley have climbed the non-League pyramid to reach The Football League. Eric Whalley, a local businessman, took control of the club in 1995 and began the development of the club's ground. After the club was relegated in 1999, Whalley appointed John Coleman as manager. In 2005–06, Stanley won the Football Conference and were promoted to League Two, switching places with relegated Oxford United – in a reversal of fortune, the team that had been elected to replace the former Accrington Stanley as members of the Football League in 1962.

Accrington

Coordinates: 53°45′12″N 2°21′50″W / 53.75337°N 2.36384°W / 53.75337; -2.36384

Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about 4 miles (6 km) east of Blackburn, 6 miles (10 km) west of Burnley, 13 miles (21 km) east of Preston, 20 miles (32 km) north of Manchester city centre and is situated on the mostly culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to "Accy", the town has a population of 45,600 according to the 2001 census and the urban area has a population of over 80,000.

Accrington is a former centre of the cotton and textile machinery industries. The town is famed for manufacturing the hardest and densest building bricks in the world, "The Accrington NORI" (iron), which were used in the construction of the Empire State Building and for the foundations of Blackpool Tower; famous for Accrington Stanley F.C. and the Haworth Art Gallery which holds Europe's largest collection of Tiffany Glass.

History

Origin of the name

The name Accrington appears to be Anglo-Saxon in origin. In the records it variously appears as Akarinton in 1194; Akerunton, Akerinton and Akerynton in 1258; Acrinton in 1292; Ackryngton in 1311 and Acryngton in 1324.

Accrington (UK Parliament constituency)

Accrington was a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

History

The constituency was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election. The original county constituency of North East Lancashire was replaced by a borough constituency for the 1918 general election. The constituency was based on the town of Accrington.

From the 1983 general election the constituency was abolished. The successor seat was Hyndburn, named after the local government area including the town of Accrington. 85.5% of the new seat came from the former Accrington constituency.

Boundaries

This constituency was part of the historic county of Lancashire in North West England.

1885–1918

The constituency, officially named North East Lancashire, Accrington Division consisted of the Municipal Borough of Accrington, and the parishes of Altham, Church, Clayton-le-Moors, Hapton, Huncoat, Oswaldtwistle, and Rishton.