Accrington F.C.

Accrington Football Club was an English football club from Accrington, Lancashire, who were one of the founder members of The Football League.

Not to be confused with Accrington Stanley F.C. (1891) or Accrington Stanley F.C., completely separate clubs from the same town.

Accrington
Full nameAccrington Football Club
Founded1878
Dissolved1896 (1896)
GroundThorneyholme Road, Accrington
Coordinates53.7646°N 2.3580°W / 53.7646; -2.3580
LeagueLancashire Combination
1895–96Record expunged

History
The 1886 Accrington squad.
Graph showing Accrington's performance from the first season of the English Football League in 1888–89 to 1892–93 when they resigned from the league.

Accrington F.C. was formed following a meeting at a local public house in 1876. The Owd Reds played at Accrington Cricket Club's ground in Thorneyholme Road, still in use for that sport today.[1]

The club was part of the revolt against the Football Association in 1884 over professionalism, after being expelled from the FA the previous year for paying a player. They were one of the original twelve teams forming the Football League on 17 April 1888. Accrington's best season was in 1889–90, when it finished sixth in the table. However, in the 1892–93 season the team finished fifteenth (of 16) and was relegated after losing a test match 1–0 against Sheffield United at Trent Bridge. Accrington then resigned from the league rather than play in the Second Division, becoming the first of the founding Football League clubs to leave the League permanently (Stoke had failed re-election in 1890, but rejoined the league a year later).

After its first season in the Lancashire League, Accrington unsuccessfully applied for re-election to the Football League.[2] Shortly afterwards, Accrington F.C. suffered financial problems, which eventually led to its demise. The club continued outside the league until 1896, when it finally folded following a 12–0 defeat on 14 January against Darwen in the Lancashire Senior Cup.

Accrington did not have a Football League team again until in 1921–22 the Lancashire Combination league's Accrington Stanley (formerly a local rival), became a member as part of a major expansion of the league.

League and Cup history
Season Division Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P FA Cup Notes
1881–82 n/aSecond Round
1882–83 n/aFirst Round
1883–84 n/aSecond RoundDisqualified[3]
1884–85 n/aFirst RoundDisqualified[4]
1885–86 n/aSecond Round
1886–87 n/aFirst Round
1887–88 n/aThird Round
1888–89 Football League 7 22 6 8 8 48 48 20 First Round
1889–90 Football League 6 22 9 6 7 53 56 24 Second Round
1890–91 Football League 10 22 6 4 12 28 50 16 Second Round
1891–92 Football League 11 26 8 4 14 40 78 20 Second Round
1892–93 First Division 15 30 6 11 13 57 81 23 Second Round Relegated[5]
1893–94 Lancashire League 4 22 11 4 7 51 39 26 First Round
1894–95 Lancashire League 12 26 10 2 14 62 63 22 –
1895–96 Lancashire Combination Record expunged – Folded in January
All-time League results:[6] 123 35 33 55 226 314 103
All-time FA Cup results:[7] 14 5 2 7 24 29 12

International players

During its short life, the club had three players selected for England:[8]

References
  1. Accrington Cricket Club – Early Days (1846–1890) Archived 7 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Football League Division 2 table 1893/94". Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  3. Accrington defeated Blackburn Park Road – 3:2, but both teams were disqualified
  4. Accrington defeated Southport Central – 3:0, but was disqualified
  5. Relegated after Test Match (Sheffield United – Accrington 1:0) / Resigned from Football League
  6. Included Test match against Sheffield United (Sheffield United – Accrington 1:0 on 22 April 1893)
  7. Not included match against West Bromwich Albion (Accrington – West Bromwich Albion 3:1 on 18 January 1890) that was declared void
  8. England Players' Club Affiliations – Accrington
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