Heys: Coley was the greatest Stanley chief (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Heys: Coley was the greatest Stanley chief

8:44am Wednesday 25th January 2012 in News By Chris Flanagan, Sports reporter

Accrington Stanley chief executive Rob Heys believes John Coleman must go down as the greatest manager in the Reds’ history.

It is understood that, while Stanley were still keen to secure fair compensation for Coleman, they had previously given him their word that they would not prevent him furthering his career.

Heys said: “I wasn’t around in the Peel Park days but you would have to put John as number one in terms of what he’s done, the way he’s raised the profile of Accrington Stanley.

“Rochdale have asked that we keep the compensation confidential. Whatever amount it was would probably never be enough for John and Jimmy if we’re honest.

“But we tried to be fair to John. It was something he was very keen to do, in true John style he likened it to being Ken Barlow in Coronation Street.

“He knew he could stay here for life, for the next 15 or 20 years.

“But it would always be, ‘What if?’.” They’ve been waiting for a big job to come up.”