Richardson exit has rocked Stanley

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I once said following Accrington is like a never-ending roller-coaster and after the events of the last 14 days, it’s proven to be exactly that.

Avoiding relegation as everyone knows is an achievement in itself for my tiny club, but for it to go down to the penultimate game was nail-biting to say the least.

Another wonder-strike by man-of-the moment Lee Molyneux in the second minute away at Bristol Rovers proved to be enough for us to survive with a game to spare.

Cue wild celebrations amongst the travelling Stanley faithful and players alike on another huge achievement!

As a result, last Saturday’s home fixture was meaningless and despite yet another defeat to Oxford United, it was party time at the newly-named Store First Stadium.

A weekend of celebrations followed with two presentation evenings and a number of players receiving awards. I would personally like to congratulate Molyneux, Will Hatfield, Peter Murphy, James Beattie, Rommy Boco, Michael Liddle and James Gray on their respective trophies. Beattie himself gave a magnificent speech on Sunday evening and I am hoping as a result he stays on next season as there is no doubt he has a massive influence around the club.

Fast forward 48 hours from that superb weekend and the quite unbelievable news that manager Leam Richardson had accepted the position of assistant boss at Chesterfield to former Stanley manager Paul Cook.

I actually thought it was a wind-up when I first heard. I must admit after we went bottom in early March. I didn’t think Leam was up to it, but I am happy to eat humble pie as he kept us up with a game to spare. What’s even more annoying is the fact the board supported him through the tough times and at the drop of a hat he is gone to pastures new.

So what next for this crazy club?! I honestly do not know. Many Stanley fans have gone for the obvious choice of former messiahs John Coleman and Jimmy Bell, after they were dismissed from Rochdale earlier in the season.

No doubt what they achieved at our club was magnificent but I really don’t know if it’s a step in the right direction. Their body language was dreadful in the last few weeks of their reign, and they looked tired of the weekly struggle of keeping us afloat. Time will tell I suppose. We need to appoint a manager ASAP as yet again, we only have a handful of players already on contracts next season – not a good scenario.

The most annoying thing is that we had just started to gel as a squad. However, I have no doubt the likes of Molyneux, Boco and Amine Linganzi will be off to pastures new come the summer, a massive shame for all us supporters. I don’t blame them, as it’s obvious we have the poorest facilities and pay the lowest wages – but it’s heart-wrenching to see us having to build a new team every year.

Onward and Upward as they say.

On Stanley On. See you all in August…

By Lee Walker, FanZone’s Accrington Stanley blogger. Follow him on Twitter at @leewasi – and don’t forget to follow @FanZone too!