Little difference in higher division

JOHN Coleman insists there aren’t many differences between League Two and League One.

The Reds are competing in the third tier of English football after finishing as League Two champions last year, and have held their own so far, currently sitting in 10th place in the table.

A lot of onlookers thought that Accrington may struggle this season, but Coleman thinks the two divisions are a lot more similar than people think.

“This league is not that different from League Two. I think the forwards are a bit livelier, quicker and sharper,” he told the club’s official website.

“We are defending quite well and the difference this year is we aren’t putting our chances away. We are Town, who like Stanley have risen up from non-league into the Football League.

Coleman has praised Fleetwood for their recent success, and thinks that his chairman Andy Holt is following a similar pattern.

“The chairman at Fleetwood, Andrew Pilley, is doing a great job. He has not just invested in the team but he has invested in the infrastructure around the place, the ground and the training ground, and our chairman Andy Holt is following suit,” he said. “I used to go there at the old Highbury and had some tough battles there but have some quite good memories. You wouldn’t recognise it from where we used to play though.

“Now, from where they have come, they have grown into an established League One team and I do wish them every success.”

Joey Barton was in the opposite dugout to Coleman on Saturday, and the Reds boss has known his counterpart since he was a child – as assistant manager Jimmy Bell used to play football with Barton’s dad at Knowsley.

Coleman would be there to watch those games, and he believes that the Fleetwood boss will have a successful career as a manager.

“I have known Joey a long time and whenever we come across each other we have a chat. He has a good personality to be a manager – he is a deep thinker about the game and I think he will do a really good job,” he said. “He is a character and I don’t think there are enough characters in the game. There are things in his past he probably regrets but you have to look forward and not back.

“If you listen to managers sometimes, they say the same thing, but with Joey you will sometimes get a controversial opinion and he makes it interesting. It will never be dull when he is around!”