VIP start to a £2.5m new era for soccer club
ACCRINGTON Stanley’s new £2.5m hospitality and conference venue was opened in style by former Minister for Sport Tracey Crouch MP and English Football League chairman Rick Parry.
The event, attended by more than 50 VIPs including the MP for Hyndburn Sara Britcliffe and Mayor of Hyndburn Councillor
Kathleen Pratt, saw Ms Crouch cut the ribbon to officially mark the opening of the state-of-the-art venue.
The facility consists of Coley’s, the 1968 Lounge and The Snug, all of which are open to the public and can be hired out.
Chairman Andy Holt said: “It’s important that people get to see what we’re about and what we’re trying to do.
“It’s important to see what this can do for Accrington as a town and for Accrington as a club.
“It’s a fantastic facility, it’s been done as well as we could, and we’ve now got a really good venue that the local community can adopt and use it for its needs.”
Manager John Coleman added: “This is probably the premier venue for a good 30-mile radius and hopefully it can sustain the club for years to come and give us a platform to prosper and grow as a football club.
“We’ve got to try and get as many people in here as possible to experience what’s on offer but the fact that you can come and eat, drink and watch a band is all good for the matchday experience.”
Ms Crouch said: “Quite often we just get completely obsessed with what’s happening in the Premier League, and yet it’s clubs like Accrington Stanley that help feed that success that we see across the world.
“We’ve got one of the deepest football pyramids and that’s because we’ve got clubs like Accrington
Stanley investing in itself, believing in itself and definitely growing for the future.
“It’s quite clear that this is a community club, it is here for the community, and it needs to stay for the community going forward.”
EFL Chair Rick Parry
added: “I was delighted when Andy invited me and there was no way I was going to miss it because first of all I’ve seen the development from the outset - it all looked exciting, so it’s great to see it come to fruition.
“It’s a great project
because our purpose at the EFL is all about making clubs sustainable and this is a great example of it. We’re doing our bit – or we’re trying to in terms of how the big revenues are distributed, but clubs have to help themselves as well and this is a really exciting example of that.”