STANLEY owner Andy Holt can barely contain his excitement as the club look to seal promotion this weekend – and he says it’s all thanks to John Coleman and Jimmy Bell.

The Reds manager and his assistant look set to be rewarded for their years of hard work by clinching an automatic leap into League One.

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A win at Wycombe – provided Oxford or Bristol Rovers slip – will see Stanley make history.

And Holt, who took over as majority shareholder in October, insists it’s all down to Coleman and Bell’s sheer hatred of losing at anything.

“I have huge faith in them,” he said. “They don’t like losing with a gun to their head and they get that through to the players.

“That goes for a game of cards on the team bus, even a game of tiddlywinks if they played it. They simply hate losing.”

It will be 17 years next week since the duo took over at the Crown Ground and led Stanley to three promotions, most famously securing progress out of the Conference and into the Football League in 2006.

Apart from a two-year spell away, which included spells in charge at Rochdale and Southport, they have been at the helm of a remarkable rise from the lower reaches of non-league.

Holt says capturing League One status would be a suitable reward for their sterling efforts and, apart from a surprise swoop from the Bernabeu, he thinks they’ll be around for a while yet as the transformation continues.

“It’s all down to John and Jimmy,” he said.

“It’s their lives' work and they are only going to get better and better.

“They know the club like the backs of their hands.

know all the staff and people who are involved so well.

“We have every chance of going into League One and I have great confidence that John and Jimmy could put up a decent effort.

“Their teams play a great style of football and promotion would be reward for their 17 years at Accrington.

“I hope they don’t get snapped up by another club, but I can only do what I can do. There’s not much I can do if they get offered £5million to manage Real Madrid! But their heart is at Accrington and I would be disappointed if they are not here for a good while to come."

“Any success at Accrington is down to John and Jimmy. The seeds were sewn long before I arrived.

“I really think it is getting better and better.”