ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman has echoed chairman Eric Whalley's views that an investor is badly needed to save the club's future.

Whalley is hoping to attract major investors in a bid to prevent the club going out of business - as they did in 1962.

Only 118 adult season tickets have been sold this season and, backed up with home attendances around the 1,500-mark, Whalley admits that is not good enough for a club in the Football League.

Coleman agrees that bigger gates are needed if Stanley want to make real progress and turn their ambitions into reality.

But if more people fail to come through the turnstiles, he believes the club will ultimately require an investor to come in and pump in much-needed cash.

"As it stands now, we will probably survive on gates of 1,500, but do you just want to survive?" said Coleman.

"What's the point of being in a competition if all your ambition is, is to survive. Unless you want to strive to go forward, there's no point in doing it. You want to look to try to progress.

"The only way we can go forward is if we get the support and we get the backing of the town.

"It would be nice to have someone who can make a big contribution financially."

Coleman added: "You can't knock the people that come and that's the double-edged coin.

"I think a lot of the time, they feel aggreived that they are being criticised - and they are not. The people who come are magnificent.

"But on a Tuesday night, against Colwyn Bay we once got 1,700 in the UniBond Premier.

"And on a Saturday afternoon against Peterborough, who are one of the fancied sides in our league, and who have brought a bit of a following, we have less than 1,500.

"It defies belief and it's probably shades of 1962. It will be sad for apathy to set in once again."

Whalley, chairman for the last 12 years, admits he has pumped "a fortune" into Stanley, but he is now looking out for potential investors.

He said: "It is a fact that we have the lowest gates in the League and the poorest facilities and we are depending on income from other means likes sponsors and corporate hospitality to push things forward.

"We are working on that but we need another investor.

"There must be some business or businesses in Accrington or Hyndburn which want to invest in a club which has so much tradition and a rich history."