UNIBOND Premier Division strugglers Accrington Stanley and Chorley may yet be handed a relegation lifeline by Nationwide Conference outfit Barrow, writes ANDY NEILD.

The Bluebirds face an uncertain future after going into liquidation recently and will form a new club called Barrow AFC 1999 at the end of the season.

Neither the Conference nor the UniBond League would then be duty bound to accept them and, if Barrow were to finish in the bottom three in the Conference, their new club would not necessarily receive an automatic place in the UniBond Premier Division.

They would have to apply to join and may be forced to drop down the non-League pyramid and start again.

And provided one of the top two in the Premier Division is promoted to the Conference, that could lead to only one club going down into the First Division.

"I don't think we'd have a problem in accepting Barrow as they are if they finished in the bottom three," said UniBond secretary Duncan Bayley. "But if Barrow became a new club then that becomes an entirely new proposition and the FA would also have a big say.

"And if it was decided that Barrow were no longer Barrow then we have a problem.

"Provided one of our clubs is promoted there could be a vacancy and that would be filled by reducing the number of clubs relegated to the First Division."

The UniBond League have indicated they would be more concerned about the plight of their member clubs than protecting Barrow's interests if such a scenario arose.

And the situation could be further complicated by who finishes in the top two places in the UniBond First Division. Ashton United, Droylsden, Lincoln United and Hucknall Town are all chasing promotion places.

So far, only Ashton are definitely equipped to go up.

Droylsden, Lincoln and Hucknall are all likely to need work doing to their grounds to get them up to Premier Division standards.

And whether or not those clubs could afford to complete any necessary improvements in time is not yet clear.

Meanwhile, Stanley held a 'Meet the Manager' evening this week and boss Wayne Harrison was pleased with the positive response from supporters.

"It was a very constructive session," said the Reds chief.

"People didn't come to have a go, they were more interested in wanting to know what direction the club is going in.

"I think supporters realise this situation is not of my making, it was something I inherited, and they still seem to be behind me."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.