ACCRINGTON Stanley are in negotiations over a possible deal to buy a stand from Blackpool or Morecambe.

Stanley are attempting to secure funding from the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative to redevelop the Coppice End of the Crown Ground but are making plans to buy a second-hand stand should they not be able to secure that.

The council are keen for Stanley to undergo an audit before releasing funding, but the Reds insist their finance worries are over and want to start work soon.

Stanley may move on to plan B should they not receive funding in the next couple of months and are considering purchasing a stand from Morecambe, who are leaving Christie Park at the end of the season, or Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road.

Managing director Dave O’Neill, though, says Stanley will not fall into the same trap as in 1958 – when the club ran into financial trouble after buying an ill-suited stand from Aldershot.

“Blackpool is one avenue, as is Morecambe,” said O’Neill. “We’re seeing how much it would cost because Morecambe’s ground has to be flat by June. But we have to be careful with money because we don’t want to get carried away.”

Stanley, though, face an outlay of £60,000 this summer to solve their ongoing pitch problems, with boss John Coleman, whose side host Hereford this afternoon, admitting the surface ‘doesn’t help our style of play’.

Plans are already in place to put in new drains and re-turf the pitch.

The club are also considering whether to completely level the playing surface, which dips in the middle.

Coleman met O’Neill yesterday to discuss players to be retained for next season, but new contracts for himself and assistant Jimmy Bell are yet to be finalised.