ACCRINGTON Stanley manager John Coleman said the club chairman, Peter Marsden, and the board of directors should be applauded for their approach to raising funds.

The Reds came in for criticism from their own fans and the wider football world this week for their decision to sell tickets for a fictional match.

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Stanley would have been in for a cash windfall had they been able to secure an FA Cup third round home tie with Manchester United. As it was, Yeovil won the replay to set up last Sunday’s game, with Accrington announcing in tandem with the 3.30pm kick-off that they were to sell a limited number of tickets for ‘The Game That Never Was’ for £20 each.

The batch of 250 sold out in a matter of days, raising £5000 for the club.

“When it was first mooted I was sort of half trying to get my head around how it would work, but then you can take yourself far too seriously and people can take football far too seriously,” said Coleman.

“I think it was always suggested as tongue in cheek but as a means of trying to get a bit more interest in the club.

“People who’ve known me from my first time at Accrington, what I’ve always felt the biggest danger in football or towards football clubs was apathy, and I think that if people are talking about you for whatever reason, it gets people in the spotlight and it gets the club in the spotlight and it generates an interest.

“From what I can gather from the whole initiative it was a way of donating money to Accrington and having something tangible at the end of it.

“We’re grateful of the small influx of money that we’ve had which will help us to strengthen the squad.”

He added: “They (the board) are always trying to think of things and as a manager I’ve got to support whatever they think because I’m not the one who has to count the pennies at the end of the week and try to make them add up.

“I just know from basic economics if you go into a shop with £1 you can’t buy 20 loaves.

“Trying to make ends meet is a difficult job so anything they try to do I’ve got to support.”

Of the backlash to the initiative, Coleman said: “It’s easy to be negative about things. People generally take the opinion of football fans to be what’s reflective of 20 people on a fans’ forum.

“If you can be bothered to type on fans’ forums you’re generally motivated by negativity than positivity. so you’d expect most people who ply their trade on the forums to be negative. That’s just the way the world is and you have to accept that.

“My brother gets really upset reading the forums but they’re only words from a small minority.”