BBC puts its focus on Reds’ glory

THE football spotlight shone on Accrington Stanley ahead of their FA Cup upset against Ipswich Town.

BBC presenters Dan Walker, Mark Lawrenson and Alex Scott were joined by local fans, David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd and club owner Andy Holt for the live Football Focus show on Saturday.

Holt hailed their ‘ fantastic’ season so far and said winning the match 1-0 against Championship strugglers Ipswich meant an extra £135,000 for the club – or 5pc of their annual budget.

And the famous win now sets them up for a dream home tie against either Southampton or Derby later this month.

He said: “We are midtable. We’ve had a couple of bad and shaky results but we’ve had a lot of great results. I’m delighted with the progress on and off the pitch.

“We have the joint-lowest budget [in League One] with Wycombe. I have £135,000 riding on today. We turnover probably £2.5/£3m so you are looking at 5pc of entire budget on one game.

“We have got to make it sustainable, this club. The difficult thing is keeping it sustainable as all the cash keeps running further and further up to the top of the pyramid.

“We have paid for the land. We own the stadium and we’ll never pay rent for a stadium again. There’s a lot of things that we are doing that will make a change.”

Holt also told the audience about the mixed journey their League Two champions trophy has had over the last eight months.

He said: “We’ve lost it, we’ve dented it, it leaks. We filled it with champagne and got drowned in it. [The trophy is] a source of immense pride to me and everyone in Accrington. It’s been around every school in the area and also left at Asda.”

David Lloyd, who played ‘left half’ for the club in the 1960s, arrived fashionably late sporting his club scarf before regaling fans with his FA Cup memories.

He said: “It’s been a great ride for a couple of years. A fabulous day out this FA Cup. Up for’t Cup as we would say in here.

“Back over the road at Peel Park we used to go up there.

“You’d never believe this but that when we used to go to Peel Park I used to go into the stadium with a house brick to stand on so I could see over the wall. Just imagine coming into a stadium now with a house brick under you arm.

“It’s a great day, a fabulous day out.”

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