SPONSORSHIP is the main source of income at most clubs, and at Accrington we are lucky to have great support from our main sponsors Red Rose Assurance, as well as from all our other regular sponsors.

We have also just secured valuable sponsorship from Karrimor, who as part of a deal have provided us with fleece jackets ready for those cold November evenings that will soon be upon us!

The club is very grateful for the support of all its sponsors.

Last Wednesday's match against Barrow was sponsored by W.Holden Master Builder. If anyone knows Mr. Holden, you will know he is the Chairman of one of my former clubs, Great Harwood Town, and it is good to see people from other clubs supporting us.

In charge at Great Harwood are two former Stanley players, John Hughes and David Sharples. Both played at Accrington during my first spell as manager here, and David holds the distinction of being sent off in the final of the Lancashire Cup when playing for me at Great Harwood against Southport at Burnden Park. Incidentally we beat Southport 3-2!

The Ref who sent Dave off that night was Phil Richards, who has just retired from the Football League, and I have still not forgiven him for his decision!

People who hadn't seen the match had difficulty believing his dismissal, as he was not well known for his tackling! We all wish John and Dave well with Great Harwood and hope to see them at the Crown Ground soon.

I think it would be remiss of me not to mention the Chairman during my time as manager of Great Harwood, Chris Hickey.

Chris always gave me the support that a manager needs to be successful.

My assistant there was Dennis Cook, and we still talk about the long trip to Littlehampton in the FA Vase when we were once again robbed by poor refereeing display.

But the trip itself was one of my fondest memories and Dennis is still a good friend, even though he is a season ticket holder at Rovers.

The game on Wednesday evening against Barrow broke two records, 1,334 was our highest midweek attendance and it also saw us increase our 100 per cent record to eight games out of eight, which became nine on Saturday. It is too early to start talking of promotion yet though, we still have 35 games left to play!

The FA Cup draw has just been made and I am delighted to find that we are at home, hopefully we can have a little bit more luck than of late in this competition.

I would also like to offer my best wishes to all the other local clubs that are still in the Cup at this stage, especially as the prize money for winning in this round is £7,500, a lot of money for one match!

To end this weekly column I would like to give a quick plug for our weekly draw, which makes a significant contribution to our income over the year.

We owe a big thank you to Mick Schultz (a good English name) who is our lottery manager, moving from Preston NE at the start of this year, and from never missing a match at Deepdale he is now an ever present at Stanley matches, both home and away.

A big thanks also to all our agents who collect in all weathers.