Football Season Guide

After defying their stature as the smallest Football League club by surviving in League Two year after year, Accrington Stanley have gone a step further last season and won the division to book the first season in the third tier in their club's history. Making it into League One is a massive achievement for a club that recorded an average attendance of less than 2000 last season and whose stadium has a capacity of only around 5000. Moreover, Stanley's ascension into League One was not achieved using the help of a rich investor - a look at their squad reveals a side made of players who all spent the entirety of their careers so far in non-league sides or League Two teams, and their boss John Coleman has unsurprisingly been failed as a miracle worker. Given the size of their club, it is rather unsurprising that Stanley were unable to invest in their squad heavily - they have only three new players in their squad going into the new season, none of who has any previous League One experience. On the bright side, they have managed to keep the core of their title-winning squad together, with the exception of defender James Dunne, who has returned to parent club Burnley following the end of his loan spell. Despite winning the fourth tier last time around, Stanley will be everyone's favourites to go down. Arguably too small of a club even for League Two, they will make sure that they enjoy every minute in the third tier and will be dreaming of keeping their feel-good story going.