John Coleman: Accrington boss says promotion would surpass Leicester's title

John Coleman will take charge of his 679th game at Accrington this weekend

Accrington Stanley being promoted to League One would surpass the achievement of Leicester winning the Premier League, says boss John Coleman.

Stanley will guarantee a first-ever season in the third tier if they win at home to Stevenage on Saturday.

"If you look at it logically, they are still a Premier League side and they get all the trappings that it brings," Coleman told North West Tonight.

"They've won a title no one expected them to, but it was still feasible."

The 53-year-old added: "We are possibly going to get promotion when it is not feasible.

"It's the equivalent of finishing second in a Formula One race on a bike because of the facilities we have to work with, the budget and this is all about the players.

"They've been offered more money a lot of them elsewhere and they've stuck by us and they've had a hunger in their belly."

17 years in the making

Accrington finished 17th in League Two last season

In his first spell from 1999 until 2012, Coleman led Accrington from Northern Premier League First Division into the Football League, including the Conference title in 2006.

When he left for Rochdale in 2012, Coleman was the third longest-serving manager in English football, behind only Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsenal's Arsene Wenger.

He returned to Accrington for his second stint as manager in 2014 after 12 months at Rochdale, followed by spells at Southport and League of Ireland side Sligo Rovers.

"There 's three or four times now where I've said to the players 'if you win today we're going up,'" he added.

"I've said it at Luton, Hartlepool and Wycombe and so I've got say I was lying all those times and this is the one. I've been saying it more psychologically than anything."