Accrington Stanley Blog: Looking forward to fun on the Fylde (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Accrington Stanley Blog: Looking forward to fun on the Fylde

8:16am Tuesday 30th October 2012 in Sport By Stephen Lowe, Accrington Stanley FC fan columnist

It feels strange to be part of the managerial merry go-round after what feels like only a couple of months with Paul Cook in charge.

I had heard he was ambitious and that he wanted to be in the frame for bigger clubs, indeed I had stated in this column that he will be Burnley manger in five years.

There is now just a nagging doubt about him leaving the job half done. He assembled a great squad at the Crown Ground under tight financial constraints.

He will have known all about the cash, or lack of it, at Stanley when he agreed to take the job, and after his time away in Ireland it appeared he was desperate to get back into the English game.

I wish him well and bear him no ill will, I just cannot help thinking he has made the wrong decision. Chesterfield are indeed a bigger club than Stanley but I am sure if he had waited until the end of the season even bigger clubs would have come calling.

But it is onwards and upwards and it’s far from doom and gloom on the Stanley terraces despite the recent run of results and Cook’s departure. The FA Cup draw is the reason for my new-found happiness an away draw at AFC Fylde (formally known as Kirkham and Wesham).

A trip to a local non-league ground for a competitive game is a chance to relive the happy away trips of not so long ago.

Having a pint with the home fans in their clubhouse, changing ends at half time and a ground without stewards insisting we sit down will be superb.

The added smiles for me come in the form of AFC Fylde player Michael Barnes who, having spent five years on Manchester United’s books, now earns his corn with two jobs, one in football with Fylde and another cutting down trees with me for a forestry firm in Chorley.

Michael had a trial at Stanley under John Coleman but did not do enough on that day to secure a red shirt.

Now he happily cuts down trees all day then pulls on his football boots of an evening and gives defenders in the Evo Stik League League Premier Division nightmares.

I will always want Stanley to win but it would be superb if Michael could score a late consolation goal.

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