IT was a feud that threatened the existence of Accrington Stanley.

Dave O’Neill versus Ilyas Khan. The man in charge of the club versus the man who possessed the money to save it.

After months of little conversation and even less action – together with two appearances for the club in front of the High Court as they pleaded for more time to pay off a £308,000 tax bill – O’Neill and Khan finally agreed a deal to work together in early November. Stanley were saved.

Multi-millionaire Khan would provide the cash as non-executive chairman, while O’Neill would continue to run day-to-day affairs in a new position of managing director.

And if fears remained that their antipathy might simply morph into an internal Cold War, it now seems that an Entente Cordiale is the more appropriate analogy.

“We seem to be getting on very well to be honest, better than probably both of us thought,” said O’Neill.

“I think we both had this pre-conceived idea about each other until we actually sat round a table and realised that we’ve both got the same aim.”

While once O’Neill and chief executive Rob Heys had been under pressure to resign for their reluctance to accept Khan’s offer of financial aid and for keeping fans in the dark, now the protests appear to have subsided and both remain in it for the long haul.

“There were some things that you’d never want to go through again,” said Heys, a lifelong Stanley fan.

“But life is all about learning from experiences. Whether we’d do things differently, we’d prefer not to go over it too much, especially now things are looking so bright off and on the field.

“It was a horrible low point for everybody connected with the club but everyone is happy with the outcome, although there are probably still some bridges to be built and some trust to be earned.”

Does O’Neill regret not getting Khan involved sooner now?

“When you’re under a lot of stress, tunnel vision kicks in,” he said. “You think that that is possibly the only way you’ve got to go. This is the only way.

“Different scenarios that come to you, if it doesn’t go in as ‘pro-active’, then you just put it out of your mind.

“It’s probably the stress that we were both going through that made us think, ‘That won’t work and that won’t work’.

“But we can’t keep digging at why did that happen and why did that happen?

“We all thought, ‘This is the right way of doing it, this is the way it will solve itself’.

“It didn’t work out with the avenue that we were going down but let’s forget that now, get on the tracks we are on now and keep moving forward.”

And moving forward they certainly are now the tax bill has been paid.

The team are challenging for a League Two play-off place and big plans are taking shape off the field.

The club hope to start work in the summer on a £1.2m stadium development, funded in the main by a grant from the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative. With it will come a new façade at the Coppice End, a roof on the terrace, a new club shop and an improved car park.

The troublesome Crown Ground pitch is also set to undergo major improvement work at the end of the season, while O’Neill’s brainchild – a computer database allowing the club to maintain a record of supporter purchases and hopefully keep hold of their floating fans as a result – is in the offing.

Supporters and well-wishers raised around £120,000 for Stanley during their crisis, something O’Neill says played ‘a massive part’ and was ‘a major kick-start’ to the club’s survival bid.

“We got messages of support from all over the world,” said Heys.

“That’s what we’ve got to use as a club now. People say how can you hope to progress when you’ve got towards the lowest crowds in the Football League?

“But we are unique in that we’ve got all these supporters who see us as their second team.

“That’s thousands who could be key in helping us to carry on moving up.

“The biggest advantage to the database will be to make sure we get our customer service right. If we’re honest, it’s probably been a little bit lacking in the past.”

O’Neill added: “The facts and figures will show that there were around 1,500 at our last few home games but you’d like to think that we’re a strong club with a 10,000 fanbase.

“They may not even come to games but we’ve got that throughout the world.

“And I think this is the first time since I’ve been here that we can actually start planning now rather than always fire-fighting.”

On the stadium development, Heys said: “A soon as the final game has finished we want to start the work so it’s up and running for the start of next season.

“The biggest thing is it’s going to make the stadium look like a Football League stadium.

“For too long we have almost acted as a non-league club in the Football League.

“That’s kept costs down but there comes a time when, if you are serious about staying in the Football League, you’ve got to have a Football League ground, Football League facilities and a good pitch to play on.

“The people at the club have got to act as though they’re at a Football League club, too.

“Everyone sees us as that little club between Blackburn and Burnley. It’s almost a bit of sympathy. We want to get away from that.

“We’re a long way from reaching the dizzy heights of the Premier League but we can still act like a Premier League club.

“We are determined to progress, get promoted to League One and do well in the cups – in spite of the fact that we’re a small club.”