Accrington Stanley chairman Andy Holt announces the League Two club is up ‘for sale’ in social media outburst claiming ‘he’s done’ and wants ‘his weekends back’ before claiming ‘p*** poor decisions’ were the cause of their relegation last season
In an extraordinary outburst on social media, Accrington Stanley chairman Andy Holt has announced that the League Two club is ‘for sale’, with the chairman admitting he is ‘done’ and wants ‘his weekends and life back’.
The comments came after the Lancashire club, who were relegated to the fourth tier last season after a five-year spell in League One, defeated MK Dons in a narrow win at the Wham Stadium.
The club currently sits seventh in the league table, but Holt, who became the club’s majority shareholder in 2015 after paying off around £1.2m of debt, says Air sportstook to X (formerly Twitter) to announce that the team would be for sale.
He wrote: ‘So now Accrington Stanley is up for sale. I won’t let the club fail, but I’m done with it.’
The businessman, who previously made his fortune in the plastics industry, is known for his activities on the social media platform, having notably once called out Boris Johnson over the government’s restrictions on playing football matches during the coronavirus pandemic, threatening to club to withdraw. of playing matches.
Accrington Stanley chairman Andy Holt has announced on social media that the club is for sale
Holt turned to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the club would be up for sale in an extraordinary outburst
Mail Sport has contacted Accrington Stanley but the club are unable to comment on the matter at this time.
Holt made a number of statements on Saturday evening, adding: “I’m not the right person to be moving forward with this. Accy has to change and become a new club with new methods.’
The owner also responded to comments from fans last night, claiming £90,000 had been invested in the football club last month.
A fan asked him where the club would be without him as owner, to which Holt replied: ‘They would go bankrupt. Like most clubs. I don’t go out on Saturday nights and pretend to be happy all night.
‘And I don’t spend millions on something I don’t like. I want my weekends and my life back.’
“Seriously, I have nothing left to offer. Time for someone new,” he added before saying: “When we were relegated last season, the first thing our managers said was ‘give us a new contract or fire us’.
“There was no way their actions deserved anything other than the dismissal.
‘But their history with the club earned them a get-out-of-jail-free card
‘If they had given in and proven that they still had the hunger and desire to rebuild the club, I would discuss new contracts.
“Instead, after a few wins (not three straight losses), they went to the media. They tried to use fans to put pressure on me. That was a mistake.’
The comments came after assistant manager Jimmy Bell spoke up BBC Radio Lancashire last week that he and manager John Coleman’s future at the club were uncertain.
Bell said: “Me and John want to stay and we will do everything we can to take the club forward.”
‘Our contracts are expiring. We’ve been here a long time, I think it’s 23 years in total. We absolutely love the club, the fans and everything related to it.
‘But I have to work and I would like to have the security of a four- or three-year contract again. John also has to work, we are not lucky enough to just retire.
‘I find it astonishing that we are now expiring a contract. “Andy has done a fantastic job for the club and at some point we will have to talk, and I hope it’s sooner, not later.”
Coleman and Bell are currently in their second spell at the club, having guided Accrington to the Football League in 2006.
After spells at Rochdale, Southport and Sligo Rovers, the pair returned to Accrington Stanley in 2014 and subsequently helped the team gain promotion to League One in 2018.
Holt took over as owner of the club in 2015, after which the club was relegated to League Two last season
Stanley is currently seventh in the table and defeated MK Dons 1-0 on Saturday
In his outburst, Holt admitted that decisions made by the club’s management and his own were the reason for their relegation last season
On their decision to speak to the BBC, Holt wrote: ‘They went to BBC Lancashire Sport for one or both of these reasons. To use fan pressure to force me to give new or extended contracts. They are available for other clubs to mark publicly.”
He also admitted that he had not spoken to the manager and his assistant after yesterday’s win, before claiming that last season’s relegation was down to a number of ‘bad decisions’ by the management and himself.
‘They failed. In football, relegation is a threat to a club. Last season was about bad decisions and management. Including my decisions,” he wrote.
‘I don’t replace them. I’m replacing me,” he added.