AN Accrington Stanley fan who travels all the way from Southampton to watch them has written a book on how the club has rejuvenated his love for football.

Mat Guy, 43, has written Another Bloody Saturday, which tells of his discovery of Stanley after travelling round the country in search of the ‘soul of football’, and the experiences he has had with people on the way.

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After starting out supporting Salisbury as a young boy, the club went bust and Mat was left without a club to give his heart to, and season tickets at his hometown Southampton had rocketed in price as their success had grown.

Mat said that he could never have predicted the passion and excitement he felt when he visited the Wham Stadium for the first time and he admitted the club had saved the sport for him.

He said: “I wanted to reconnect with that energy and desire you get from being a fan of a club outside of the Premier League and I felt I had lost that when my home club Salisbury went bust.

“I went to see Accy play just on a spare day that I had and immediately I knew I had found what I’d been looking for.

“I’d travelled far and wide to Scotland, Wales and even the Faroe Islands in search of the lifeline I needed to fall in love with the game again.

“I’ve spent a lot of time since I first watched Stanley at the end of the 2013/14 season observing the fans and the club officials just to show people what an amazing club it is .”

Memories in the book include Stanley’s 5-4 win over Northampton Town away from home last season.

Mat started out writing a blog about his experiences and he said he never could have foreseen it would eventually turn into Another Bloody Saturday.

He said the name of the book had been playfully based on the gloomy attitude fans often have when their team lose but they inevitably return the next weekend.