ACCRINGTON Stanley are confident that bumper season ticket sales at both of their East Lancashire neighbours will not hamper their own bid for increased gates next season.

Stanley’s average gate dipped to a worrying 1,415 during the 2008/09 campaign – thought to be the lowest Football League average since the ill-fated Maidstone in the late 1980s.

That led to a significant shortfall in the income budgeted for at the start of the season and played a role in the financial problems that left the club facing winding up proceedings over an unpaid tax bill.

But those financial issues have now been staved off temporarily after Stanley came to an agreement with HM Revenue and Customs, and the Reds are optimistic that increased attendances next season will help them maintain the payments.

The club face increased competition after Blackburn Rovers dramatically reduced season ticket prices, while Burnley are set to sell 15,000 season tickets after their promotion to the Premier League.

But Stanley have already sold 700 season tickets for next season – an increase from only 400 during 2008/09 – after reducing their own prices and putting them on sale earlier than their neighbours.

Chief executive Rob Heys said: “The season ticket sales are promising.

“In our first season in the league we had crowds of 2,500 but this season we were down to 1,400, so we lost 1,000 in two years.

“We’ve not budgeted for more than that but hopefully it will improve and we’ve got three people working full time in the community.

“We’ll probably want to go that way in the future.

“I was really happy for Burnley when they were promoted. We’ve got a good relationship with them, they’ve been good to us and congratulated us when we got promoted so we did the same with them.

“And we’re happy that Blackburn survived as well.

“We’ve got to get away from this idea that there’s only a certain amount of fans in the area.

“There are enough people to go around and we hope this will benefit us. I think it’s great for interest in football in the area.

“A lot is said about our support but we can’t moan about it, we’ve go to go out and encourage people to come. Hopefully they will do that and see some good football and keep coming back.”