How will the 2010/11 season be remembered by Stanley fans?

Well, unfortunately not one that ended in promotion – a weak referee and a time-wasting Stevenage put paid to that.

I am not blind to the fact that the lads in red also played a part in our downfall – we just never got into the match.

The most disappointing thing was that more than 4,000 fans packed into the Crown Ground on Friday night and most of them will have left wondering what all the fuss was about.

This is such a shame as we have been simply mesmerising at times this season, especially at home, and as I have said before we should have finished the season in an automatic promotion spot.

This has been our most successful season since returning to the league.

At the start of the season we were the bookies’ favourites to go down, we had a bog of a pitch, hundreds of thousands of pounds of debt, a manger and assistant without a contract.

Add to that the fact that we lost our two most potent strikers from the previous season and the future of Accrington Stanley looked bleak to an outsider.

But Stanley fans are made of sterner stuff and we have always had faith in John and Jimmy.

In the 12 years they have been at the club they have never failed to deliver.

So the season ends with the Reds in fifth place, our new owner has cleared our debts and spoken about a new stadium and a real share issue for fans.

The management team has four years left on their new contracts and the squad is full of young lions who will have learned a bitter lesson from Friday night and will be aiming for a top three finish next season.

Am I an optimist? As a Stanley fan how could I be anything else?