Mr Accrington wants to see us through the journey we are on

Manager John Coleman is dedicated to taking our club as far as he can

Our manager, John Coleman, really is Mr Accrington, and finding him in the job when I purchased the club in 2015 was a massive blessing. The last thing I wanted to do after arriving at a club on their backside financially was go through the process of appointing a new manager.

It would not have been the easiest of sells: “Yes, we’ve got a job going here, but there’s no training ground, the pitch is flooded every week, the floodlights keep switching off, the showers don’t work and if sprinklers are on, you cannot use the toilets in the changing rooms at the same time.”

Fortunately, “Coley” was used to the lack of facilities, and everything I did to help was therefore an improvement and raised morale.

Coley has been here through the bad times, nearly 20 years on and off, and Accrington Stanley is in his blood. Him and his assistant, Jimmy Bell, remember three men and a dog coming to watch our games. Coley is responsible for Accrington’s rise through seven leagues, and you cannot take that away from him. On top of all that, he is a great mate and we get on like a house on fire.

We both come from council estates – he comes from one in Kirkby and I come from one in Burnley – so we know how to make do with what we have got.

Instead of whinging about what we do not have, we get stuck in and ask how can we improve things, and that is what we do week in and week out. Coley is not ringing me all the time saying, “I need this, that or the other”, although slowly but surely we are catching other clubs up. Soon, for the first time in his career, he will have what other managers take for granted.

Coley’s man management is first

‘Coley is not driven by money. Issues that might have prompted him to leave are resolved’

class. The lads all look up to him, and he has got great experience.

He does not go in for anything fancy. He has a very basic approach of “Can you play or can’t you?” and he is not a manager to spend time looking at analytics and all that carry-on.

He uses his eye, with a little bit of video, but you do not need to tell him how many kilometres a player has run. Old fashioned in that way perhaps, but I think that suits Accrington or, indeed, any club at our level.

Coley and Jimmy see it with their own eyes and do not wait for somebody to tell them. That means they can pick players up that others miss, such as young Sam Finley, who is flying in League One after we took him from nonleague AFC Flyde.

One of the best things I ever did was get Coley tied down on a long-term contract. He is part of a journey, and I do get the feeling he wants to see it through. He has said to me, “The last thing I want to do is take a job somewhere else and let somebody else have a new training pitch when I’ve had so long without one”.

Coley is not driven by money, and most of the issues that might have prompted him to leave have been resolved.

Clubs have made approaches, and I have given him permission to speak with them because after all, he is not in jail. But every time, Coley has said no and reiterated his desire to stick with the plan. Full credit to him.

Myself, the club, the players, as well as Coley and his staff are all benefiting from our progress and long may it continue.