ACCRINGTON Stanley chairman Eric Whalley has urged players to clean up their act after branding last season's disciplinary record as "totally unacceptable".

Whalley and Reds manager John Coleman put forward a case for their defence at an Football Association hearing in Manchester yesterday after picking up a total of 15 red cards last season, plus cautions.

The club now have a wait of up to seven days before finding out if they will be fined as much as £10,000 after it was revealed they had the second worst disciplinary record in the whole country, while captain Peter Cavanagh had totted up the most points through receiving three red cards and 10 yellows.

Now Whalley has declared it's time to ring the changes to avoid a repeat in the forthcoming season.

"Things have to improve this season. There will be heavy individual fines for people who get booked because last season was totally unacceptable," he said.

"I'm sure it will be better this season through going full-time because the players will be talked to and it will be explained to them that they haven't always got to go to ground.

"Plus we are hopefully going to get a League referee to come and speak to them and explain what is acceptable and what isn't."

But Whalley added he was pleased with the improvements he had already seen in pre-season.

"I've noticed a difference already. It's definitely better," he said.

"Hopefully we can go from having the worst record to having the best record."