DAVE O'Neill has today officially replaced Eric Whalley as the new chairman of Accrington Stanley.

O'Neill has been in the process of buying out Whalley's majority shareholding for more than two months and that takeover is now expected to be completed before the end of the week.

O'Neill first got involved with the club through his video production company, producing the matchday footage from our games in the Conference.

He joined the club on a full-time basis 18 months ago, initially as commercial manager, before taking on the role of general manager last summer, all of which were unpaid positions.

The 52-year-old businessman has put £150,000 into the club in the last 12 months and will now take control of the day-to-day running of the club with immediate effect.

Whalley has been at the helm of the club since 1995, also in an unpaid role, leading Stanley through three promotions and back into the Football League in 2005, where the Reds have competed for the last three seasons.

Throughout his life, the 68-year-old local businessman has never been far from Stanley, playing in the old reserves before going on to manage the reformed side in non-league football and then eventually buying the controlling share from his predecessor John Alty.

There will be more on this story in tomorrow's Lancashire Telegraph.