2024-2025 Skybet League Two
Fixtures
| Date | Opponents | Score | Att | Scorers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug | 10 | A | Doncaster Rovers | L | 1-4 | 6423 | Walton |
| 13 | A | Tranmere Rovers LC 1st Round | L | 0-3 | 2288 | ||
| 17 | H | Harrogate Town | D | 3-3 | 1905 | Walton, Knowles, Mooney | |
| 24 | A | Newport County | L | 1-3 | 4437 | Whalley | |
| 31 | H | Colchester United | D | 1-1 | 1956 | Whalley | |
| Sept | 3 | H | Stockport County EFLT NGA | L | 1-4 | 791 | Hunter |
| 7 | A | Notts County | L | 0-2 | 10147 | ||
| 14 | H | Crewe Alexandra | L | 0-1 | 2883 | ||
| 21 | H | Port Vale | D | 2-2 | 2628 | Batty, Whalley | |
| Oct | 1 | A | Cheltenham Town | L | 1-2 | 2976 | Costelloe |
| 5 | H | Morecambe | W | 2-1 | 2462 | Costelloe (2) | |
| 8 | A | Tranmere Rovers EFLT NGA | L | 1-2 | 919 | Popoola | |
| 12 | A | Gillingham | W | 2-1 | 6622 | B Woods, Costelloe | |
| 19 | H | Barrow | W | 1-2 | 2345 | Whalley | |
| 22 | A | Milton Keynes Dons | L | 1-2 | 5084 | J. Woods | |
| 26 | H | Walsall | D | 0-0 | 2995 | ||
| 29 | H | Everton U21 EFLT NGA | W | 2-2 | 450 | Whitaker (og), J. Woods | |
| Nov | 2 | A | Rushall Olympic (FAC R1) | W | 2-0 | 1311 | J.Woods, Walton |
| 9 | A | Chesterfield | W | 3-0 | 8285 | J.Woods, Awe, Knowles | |
| 16 | H | Swindon Town | D | 2-2 | 2755 | Aljofree, Rawson | |
| 19 | A | AFC Wimbledon | D | 2-2 | 7020 | Khumbeni, Costelloe | |
| 30 | H | Swindon Town (FAC R2) | W | 2-2 AET (4-1 penalties) | 1534 | Walton (2) Pens: Popoola, Knowles, B. Woods, Khumbeni | |
| Dec | 3 | A | Grimsby Town | L | 2-5 | 3874 | Henderson, J. Woods |
| 7 | H | Bromley | L | 1-2 | 1816 | B. Woods | |
| 16 | A | Fleetwood | D | 1-1 | 2669 | Aljofree | |
| 21 | H | Salford | L | 0-2 | 2350 | ||
| 29 | A | Carlisle | L | 1-2 | 7130 | Walton | |
| Jan | 1 | H | Grimsby Town | W | 3-2 | 2675 | B. Woods (2), Whalley (P) |
| 4 | A | Colchester United | W | 2-0 | 4366 | Whalley (2 inc. P) | |
| 11 | A | Liverpool (FAC R3) | L | 0-4 | 60261 | ||
| 18 | H | Notts County | L | 0-3 | 2924 | ||
| 25 | A | Crewe Alexandra | W | 1-0 | 4965 | Whalley | |
| 28 | H | Cheltenham Town | D | 0-0 | 1605 | ||
| Feb | 1 | A | Port Vale | L | 1-2 | 6198 | Walton |
| 8 | H | AFC Wimbledon | D | 0-0 | 2170 | ||
| 11 | A | Bradford City | L | 0-1 | 15263 | ||
| 15 | A | Morecambe | L | 0-2 | 3473 | ||
| 22 | H | Doncaster Rovers | L | 1-2 | 2258 | Conneely | |
| 25 | A | Tranmere Rovers | W | 1-0 | 5613 | Whalley | |
| March | 1 | A | Harrogate Town | L | 1-2 | 3015 | J. Woods |
| 4 | H | Milton Keynes Dons | W | 2-0 | 1596 | Walton, O'Brien-Whitmarsh | |
| 8 | A | Barrow | L | 0-2 | 3200 | ||
| 11 | H | Newport County | W | 5-0 | 1503 | O'Brien-Whitmarsh (2), Mooney (2), Walton | |
| 15 | H | Gillingham | D | 1-1 | 2449 | Ward | |
| 22 | A | Swindon Town | D | 0-0 | 7168 | ||
| 29 | H | Bradford City | D | 0-0 | 4572 | ||
| April | 1 | H | Fleetwood | L | 1-4 | 1987 | B. Woods |
| 5 | A | Bromley | L | 0-4 | 2410 | ||
| 12 | H | Tranmere Rovers | D | 3-3 | 3197 | B. Woods, Walton, J. Woods | |
| 18 | A | Salford | W | 2-1 | 2945 | Whalley, B. Woods | |
| 21 | H | Carlisle | D | 1-1 | 3380 | Aljofree | |
| 26 | A | Walsall | W | 1-0 | 8131 | B. Woods | |
| May | 3 | H | Chesterfield | L | 0-1 | 3969 |
Appearances and Goals
| LEAGUE | FA CUP | LEAGUE CUP | OTHER | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APPS | GOALS | APPS | GOALS | APPS | GOALS | APPS | GOALS | |
| Sonny Aljofree (D) | 24 (1) | 3 | 2 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Rio Alston (M) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Zach Awe (D) | 21 (0) | 1 | 3 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Jake Batty (M) | 21 (4) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 |
| Charlie Brown (M) | 1 (11) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Charlie Caton (F) | 4 (8) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Seamus Conneely (M) | 20 (6) | 1 | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Dara Costelloe (F) | 14 (3) | 5 | 2 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Liam Coyle (M) | 26 (8) | 0 | 2 (1) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 |
| Billy Crellin (G) | 34 (0) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Conor Grant (M) | 6 (10) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Charlie Hall (M) | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 |
| Alex Henderson (F) | 10 (18) | 1 | 0 (2) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 |
| Ash Hunter (F) | 9 (12) | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 3 (0) | 1 |
| Liam Isherwood (G) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Michael Kelly (G) | 12 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Nelson Khumbeni (M) | 13 (5) | 1 | 3 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 3 (0) | 0 |
| Jimmy Knowles (F) | 9 (7) | 2 | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Donald Love (M) | 39 (2) | 1 | 3 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Dan Martin (M) | 4 (2) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Devon Matthews (D) | 19 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Kelsey Mooney (F) | 19 (11) | 4 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Connor O'Brien (D) | 18 (7) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 |
| Joseph O'Brien-Whitmarsh (M) | 6 (7) | 3 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Oli Patrick (M) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Aaron Pickles (D) | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Anjola Popoola (F) | 0 (2) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (2) | 1 |
| Seb Quirk (D) | 10 (6) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 |
| Farrend Rawson (D) | 38 (0) | 1 | 2 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| James Rogerson (G) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Josh Smith (D) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Sheikh Sohna (M) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 |
| Lewis Trickett (M) | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (2) | 0 |
| Finlay Tunstall (M) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 |
| Tyler Walton (F) | 30 (11) | 6 | 3 (0) | 3 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 |
| Benn Ward (D) | 21 (0) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Shaun Whalley (F) | 32 (1) | 9 | 2 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Finlay Wilkinson (M) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 |
| Lennox Williams (M) | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 |
| Ben Woods (M) | 31 (5) | 9 | 2 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Josh Woods (F) | 15 (16) | 5 | 2 (1) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 3 (0) | 1 |
League Table
| HOME | AWAY | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | Doncaster | 46 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 38 | 23 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 35 | 27 | +23 | 84 (C) |
| 2 | Port Vale | 46 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 34 | 18 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 31 | 28 | +19 | 80 (P) |
| 3 | Walsall | 46 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 46 | 32 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 29 | 22 | +21 | 77 (P) |
| 4 | Bradford | 45 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 38 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 25 | 32 | +18 | 75 |
| 5 | AFC W'bledon | 46 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 35 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 21 | 19 | +21 | 73 |
| 6 | Notts Co | 46 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 31 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 37 | 28 | +19 | 72 |
| 7 | Chesterfield | 46 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 41 | 27 | 9 | 3 | 11 | 32 | 27 | +19 | 70 |
| 8 | Salford | 46 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 28 | 8 | 10 | 5 | 32 | 26 | +10 | 69 |
| 9 | Grimsby | 46 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 30 | 35 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 31 | 32 | -6 | 68 |
| 10 | Colchester | 46 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 28 | 15 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 24 | 32 | +5 | 67 |
| 11 | Bromley | 46 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 35 | 26 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 29 | 33 | +5 | 66 |
| 12 | Swindon | 46 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 39 | 33 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 32 | 30 | +8 | 62 |
| 13 | Crewe | 46 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 30 | 27 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 19 | 21 | +1 | 62 |
| 14 | Fleetwood | 45 | 7 | 12 | 4 | 24 | 21 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 36 | 38 | +1 | 60 |
| 15 | Cheltenham | 46 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 32 | 31 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 28 | 39 | -10 | 60 |
| 16 | Barrow | 46 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 34 | 22 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 28 | +2 | 59 |
| 17 | Gillingham | 46 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 24 | 20 | 4 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 26 | -5 | 58 |
| 18 | Harrogate | 46 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 26 | 31 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 30 | -18 | 53 |
| 19 | MK Dons | 46 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 25 | 25 | 6 | 4 | 13 | 27 | 41 | -14 | 52 |
| 20 | Tranmere | 46 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 24 | 22 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 21 | 43 | -20 | 51 |
| 21 | Accrington | 46 | 5 | 11 | 7 | 29 | 31 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 24 | 38 | -16 | 50 |
| 22 | Newport Co | 46 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 32 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 20 | 44 | -24 | 49 |
| 23 | Carlisle | 46 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 25 | 35 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 36 | -27 | 42 (R) |
| 24 | Morecambe | 46 | 6 | 4 | 13 | 24 | 36 | 4 | 2 | 17 | 16 | 36 | -32 | 36 (R) |
2024–25 Season Review
The 2024–25 campaign proved one of the most challenging in Accrington Stanley’s modern history. On the pitch, a tense battle against relegation ended with League Two status narrowly preserved. Off it, the club faced growing financial pressures, culminating in the closure of its youth academy and serious questions about its long-term sustainability.
League Performance
Stanley finished 21st in League Two, securing survival with a vital 1–0 win away at Walsall in April. Ironically, the club picked up more wins on the road than at home, where a string of draws at the Wham Stadium played a critical role in keeping the points tally ticking over.
Cup Competitions
There was some brief respite in the cup competitions. In the FA Cup, Stanley reached the Third Round and were rewarded with a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool. Despite a heavy 4–0 defeat, the tie generated a significant financial windfall, reportedly around £500,000. However, the club exited the EFL Cup in the First Round and fell at the group stage of the EFL Trophy.
Players & Management
The goals were shared across the squad, with Shaun Whalley, Ben Woods, and Tyler Walton all finishing the season with nine apiece. Loan players made a strong impact, with teenage full-back Jake Batty a standout performer, earning multiple player-of-the-month awards. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Anjola Popoola, still a scholar, made several senior appearances.
John Doolan remained in charge throughout the season, having taken over from long-serving manager John Coleman in March 2024. Despite the team’s struggles, he retained the board’s backing into the summer of 2025.
Financial Struggles & Academy Closure
The most significant development came off the field. In May 2025, the club announced the closure of its Category Three Academy. Owner Andy Holt cited unsustainable running costs and rising regulatory demands as key factors, despite the growing importance of youth development in the modern game. An offer of funding from the local council was rejected, and the club also lost its live music licence—compounding the financial blow.
Holt, who covered losses of £1 million during the 2023–24 season, made clear he would not continue to do so indefinitely. The club is now operating under tighter financial constraints, with projected losses for 2025–26 expected to be reduced—but still significant.
⚽ Season at a Glance
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| League Finish | 21st (League Two) – survival secured late |
| FA Cup | Reached Third Round (lost to Liverpool) |
| EFL Cup | First Round exit |
| EFL Trophy | Group Stage exit |
| Top Scorers | Whalley, Woods, Walton (9 goals each) |
| Academy Status | Closed in May 2025 |
| Key Signing | Jake Batty (loan, Blackburn Rovers) |
| Manager | John Doolan |
| Financial Outlook | Tightened investment; future uncertain |
Looking Ahead
The season ended with relief rather than celebration. While League Two survival offers a platform to rebuild, the club now faces a difficult path forward. With its youth system shut down and budgets tightened, Accrington Stanley must find new ways to compete in an increasingly challenging environment.