A night when football was the winner

Finally we saw football become more important than individual teams last night when Burnley hosted a friendly at home to Accrington Stanley.

For once rivalries were put to once side as the people of Lancashire got together in a fundraising friendly for Accrington Stanley to help pay off a tax bill of nearly £400,000 which has been threatening the club of possible extinction once again.
With prices at £10 for adults and £5 for concessions it was a fantastic way of raising funds, especially with both teams promising to field full strength teams for the match ahead.

With 5,301 fans in attendance for the match called the Save our Stanley (SoS) Cup it was Burnley that turned out 4-0 Victors with goals coming from Jay Rodriguez (2), Chris Eagles and Fernando Guerrero.

Burnley deserve a massive amount of credit for arranging the fixture. I’m sure there are not many teams in the top flight that would make such a gesture to a struggling team.
Having had the pleasure of seeing Burnley in action at Turf Moor at the end of last season against QPR I can quite honestly say they deserved their promotion as they were one of the best teams I saw last year. I can also say that even after the game that I and a few friends enjoyed a drink with a few random Burnley fans after that game and they all seemed very nice people and had a lot of time to talk about both clubs with no rivalry involved at all. I can quite honestly say it’s been a rare occasion that we have been able to enjoy but it’s one that I wish would happen more often.

Let’s hope the game raised enough money to pay off the tax bill and keep Accrington Stanley alive and kicking.
Having seen the club play in the League Cup against the team I support, QPR, this season I can quite easily say that Accrington do play extremely good football and we were lucky to escape with a 2-1 victory on the night. The fans on the night were also fantastic! Around 150-200 fans made the long trip to West London that night and did not stop singing all night.
I wish the club and the fans all the best for the future and wish them every success in the future.


This was truly a day that football was the winner!