{"id":555246,"date":"2020-06-25T03:52:24","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T07:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=555246"},"modified":"2020-06-25T09:48:45","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T13:48:45","slug":"accrington-stanley-to-reduce-squad-size","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/06\/25\/accrington-stanley-to-reduce-squad-size\/","title":{"rendered":"Accrington Stanley To Reduce Squad Size"},"content":{"rendered":"

Accrington Stanley have become the latest EFL side to announce their retained list<\/a> ahead of next season. They also confirmed that there will be a reduction in their squad size<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accrington Stanley To Reduce Squad Size<\/h2>\n

Fighting Against the Odds<\/h3>\n

Stanley, of League One, has been one of the recent success stories of English Football. In 2000, the club were playing in the <\/span>Unibond<\/span> Premier Division. By 2006, they had gained several promotions to earn Accrington a place back in the Football League.<\/span><\/p>\n

An \u201cold\u201d Accrington Stanley were previously a member of the EFL. However, the club were forced to resign from the league in 1962<\/a>, due to financial difficulties. Soon <\/span>after, the<\/span> club were wound-up and the current Accrington Stanley were formed in 1968.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accrington Stanley Squad Cutbacks<\/h3>\n

The 2018\/19 season was the new Stanley’s best-ever finish to an EFL season. They ended their League One campaign in 14th, having won promotion the previous season. T<\/span>hey were deemed to have finished 17th i<\/span>n this year’s COVID-19 aborted season.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2019\/20 season saw manager John Coleman work with his largest squad to date. However, for a club of Accrington’s size, it appears that the numbers were too great.<\/span><\/p>\n

Confirming his <\/span>decision<\/span> to the Official Accrington Stanley website<\/a>, Coleman said: \u201cWe will be working with a much smaller squad.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This will mean that Ozzy Zanzala, Lewis Doyle, Lewis Gilboy, Alex O\u2019Neill, Andrew Scott and Matty Williams are released.<\/span><\/p>\n

Already, Dimi Evtimov, Phil Edwards, Zaine Francis-Angol, Wilson Carvalho<\/a> and Erico De Sousa have departed Stanley.<\/span><\/p>\n

Few Surprises<\/h3>\n

Arguably, there are only two real surprise names on the list of players not staying.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first is goalkeeper<\/span>\u00a0Dimitar\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Evtimov<\/span>, who joined Accrington in January 2019. He immediately <\/span>became<\/span> their regular <\/span>goalkeeper<\/span> throughout 2019. This included 21 appearances during the first half of the 2019\/20 season. However, he lost place <\/span>in January <\/span>2020, <\/span>when Stanley signed Joe <\/span>Bursik on<\/span> loan from Stoke City<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Evtimov’s<\/span> time at Accrington was not without <\/span>controversy<\/span>. The Bulgarian was sent-off twice during his first nine appearances for Accrington. His first sending off was for his reaction to alleged crowd abuse in a match against Blackpool<\/a>. <\/span>Evtimov<\/span> believed<\/span> a bottle had been thrown at him from the crowd; <\/span>instinctively<\/span>, he threw it back. This led to his sending-off, thereby causing a heated exchange between Coleman and Blackpool’s then assistant-manager, Gary <\/span>Brabin<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Should They Have Kept Him?<\/h3>\n

The other <\/span>surprise<\/span> name not being retained by Stanley is <\/span>Zanzala<\/span>. The striker scored eight league and cup goals last season from 28 appearances. Although, less half of his appearance total was as a starter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coleman admits that was “a difficult decision” to <\/span>release<\/span> Zanzala<\/span>. He said: <\/span>\u201cWe could have kept Ozzy another season,” said Coleman.<\/p>\n

“But he is getting to the crossroads of his career where he needs to be playing regular football and we respect that. Ozzy is a great lad.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Seamus Conneely has signed a new two-year deal with Accrington. Options have also been taken on defenders Callum Johnson, Ben Barclay, Mark Hughes, Joe Maguire, Harvey Rodgers and Harry Perritt. <\/span>Niall Watson could also yet remain, as he has been offered a new contact.<\/p>\n

Main Photo<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>