‘CHAMPIONSHIP? JUST STAYING IN BUSINESS IS AN ACHIEVEMENT!'

FLP FOCUS ON ACCRINGTON STANLEY'S IMPRESSIVE START

- John Lyons

WHEN Accrington Stanley memorably claimed the League Two title in 2017 18, the teams that went up with them were Luton, Wycombe and Coventry.

It may not have escaped eagle-eyed readers that those three clubs are all now plying their trade in the Championship. It’s certainly something that long-serving Stanley boss John Coleman is aware of, though he won’t be making any grandiose predictions after his side’s impressive start to the League One campaign.

Ahead of the weekend, the Reds lay seventh with games in hand on all their rivals after Covid call-offs earlier in the campaign.

“We don’t ourselves any targets (in terms of positions),” he told The FLP. “We just try to win as many games as we can. I remember the year that we won League Two we were favourites to be relegated!

“All the teams that went up with us are in the Championship now so you can’t say it’s impossible. We did win League Two quite comfortably and those three teams haven’t had a great turnover of players.

“What’s in our favour is that we go out trying to win every game – we never try to shut up shop and get a draw.

If we played Man City or Liverpool, we would set out a plan to win the game, not damage limitation.”

While Luton and Coventry are undoubtedly bigger clubs and therefore have greater resources than Accrington, Wycombe are on a more similar scale – and Gareth Ainsworth led his troops to a brilliant promotion via the play-offs last term. So is Coleman – the newly-crowned Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month for November – daring to dream?