ERIC Whalley looks contemplative as he sips on his cup of tea. He speaks philosophically.

"If we get back in the Footall League, we'll have got a second chance. Not many football clubs get that. Or even people in life," said the Accrington Stanley chairman.

Whalley knows promotion after a 44-year absence from the Football League would mean so much to so many. But those people in turn know it would arguably mean more to Whalley himself.

The popular businessman has been associated with the Reds as a player, twice as a manager and, since 1994, as chairman.

In 1999 he turned down a bid by Hong Kong-based Investment Banker Ilyas Khan to buy his 60 per cent share for a reported £750,000, when Stanley were in the UniBond League.

Since then, Whalley has helped to mastermind their rise to the top of the Nationwide Conference with the appointment of John Coleman, who in his seventh season has become the longest serving manager of any Accrington Stanley team.

And, despite fellow Conference side Burton Albion raking in an estimated £1 million from this season's FA Cup exploits particularly from their two televised games with Manchester United, Whalley admitted he wouldn't swap places with Brewers chairman Ben Robinson.

"I'm not in it for the money," he insisted. "For me, it's only a hobby. Well, it's more than that having played for Stanley and managed them twice as well. I wanted to go that little bit further and I wouldn't sell this club, no matter what.

"I might retire though. But it's my baby."

That's why, if and when he does step down as chairman, he will be desperate to keep it in the family and not seek an outside investment.

"Ilyas Khan had a few shares and wanted to buy all of mine as well in 1999, then he would become the owner," Whalley explained.

"I refused and he went on the radio and asked me to resign.

"But he still has shares and he's a good friend of the club now and makes donations. He's the only one that has ever put money into the club.

"Plus when we get the roof on the Clayton End the stand will be renamed after his mother, Sophia.

"But all my family come to the games and they all support the club so it (the running) would be passed on to them."

For now, though, Whalley is going nowhere. Apart from the Football League, he hopes.

With Stanley 10 points clear at the top of the Conference with two games in hand on second-placed Morecambe and third placed Exeter, they are odds-on favourites to clinch automatic promotion as champions.

But Whalley is reluctant to get too excited too soon.

"Everyone in the league would swap places with us at the moment but we're not getting carried away," he said. "My philosophy is if you expect too much you tend to get kicked in the teeth.

"Hopefully when it's almost impossible not to do it, that's the time to get excited.

"But 10 points are only as good as one if you win with that at the end of the season.

"It does give us a little bit more of a cushion. But there are 16 games left and that's a lot of points to play for.

"All games are difficult but I think it gets harder now because everyone's out to beat you.

"But I think one of the reasons we've done better this year is because we've played the same number of games away from home as we have at home. We've set our stall out away this year and played our normal game.

"Previously away we were a little bit more defensive and made a lot of draws. Now those draws we've turned into wins, and we've won more games than anyone else."

Stanley have finished 10th in their two previous Conference seasons after falling away from the promotion pack during the run-in. But Whalley is confident that, while the average age of the side has been reduced with an influx of young signings in the summer, as a whole the club has become wiser from their experiences.

"Everyone's learned something. Even down to the most experienced players like Paul Cook. He is new to coaching and the management side. And people off the field have learned. Including me," he said.

"We have a young side at the moment.

"John was very loyal to the people that got us up from the UniBond but realised that to progress further we had to change.

"You always hoped the new players would gel and they have done. There is a lot of team spirit.

"Before there have always been players who think they are better than what they are and other players have known this. But everyone respects one another now and that certainly shows in their attitude."

Manager Coleman's attitude is also one that Whalley relates to, and perhaps that's why their partnership has been so successful in the last six and a half years.

Having worn the caps of manager and chairman, Whalley tends to keep out of team matters unless finances are concerned. Instead, he is ploughing more and more of his time into the running of the club.

But he admits some of Coleman's characteristics as a boss are replicas of his own.

"I picture John like I would have been. Aggressive when necessary and putting his arm around people when they need it," he said.

"He's the longest serving manager that Accrington's ever had in any kind of football."

And he's the one that, even back in the last century, Whalley felt was capable of pushing Stanley that extra mile.

"You can't guarantee anything, but you always hope," he smiled.