ACCRINGTON Stanley could be set for a major financial boost if a planned new investment for club goes ahead.

A general meeting of the Reds shareholders will consider a proposal from Altham business What More UK on Wednesday night which, if given the go-ahead, will clear around £1.2m in debt and provide additional working capital of around £600,000.

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The proposal would see What More UK’s founder and Accrington Stanley fan Andy Holt take over a debt of almost £480,000 owed by the club, while his company would invest more than £580,000 to pay off other creditors, with further investment to follow.

The plans would also see Holt become a director of the club.

“I knew the club needed help financially, but it wasn’t until I saw the books that I realised how much it would take,” said Holt in a statement released on Accrington Stanley’s website yesterday.

“I kept telling myself I just wanted to be a fan, but the truth is I couldn’t walk on by and not try to help.

“If this proposal goes through on Wednesday, it will make me the major shareholder.

“I don’t want to run every aspect of the club, but I do want to offer whatever help and support I can on the business side of things.

“My first priority would be to clean up the balance sheet and tackle all the club’s old debt and creditors, to get Accrington Stanley back on a sound financial footing.

“Next I would forge a board of directors to take the club forward, building on that footing to achieve tangible improvements for the club, the town and the fans.

“All lower league clubs have similar problems, with lower revenues and struggling with finance, but what kills them is high debt.

“Stanley is known as ‘the club that wouldn’t die’ and the fact that it hasn’t is a credit to those currently and previously involved in the club, and who have backed it financially.

“People like Eric Whalley, Ilyas Khan, Peter Marsden and the other directors there now have backed the club to the hilt.

“What attracted me to getting involved was their integrity and commitment to the club, matched on the field by John Coleman and his team.

“All the staff there are Accrington Stanley to the core and they are people I know I can work with.

“Everyone connected with Stanley is rightly proud of its heritage and the town’s place as a founder of the Football League and I want to do whatever I can to help secure its place in the future.

“My business is based in Hyndburn, which has supported and nourished its growth, so I am happy to put something back into the area through its football team.

“It’s important to everyone at the club to be open and let all the fans – not just the shareholders – know exactly what’s going on.

“We’re not doing anything behind closed doors.”

Holt has already invested in Stanley with his What More company becoming the stadium sponsor in a separate deal worth £200,000 which saw the Crown Ground renamed the Wham Stadium. That deal also saw another of Holt’s business interests - PlasticBoxShop - become Stanley’s new shirt sponsor.