Get the latest SAFC transfer news straight to your inbox by signing up to our FREE newsletter Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Accrington Stanley boss John Coleman insists he does not want to be playing Sunderland in League One next season.

Coleman has guided Stanley to the top of the League Two table and they could well be playing in the third tier of English football next season for the first time since their reformation in 1966.

It is quite the underdog story. Stanley play in front of the smallest crowd in the Football League, have spent less money than any of the other 72 Football League clubs.

Yet they could well be locking horns with Sunderland next season - a side who were playing Premier League football a year ago and boast a 48,000 seater stadium.

You would think that would be something 55-year-old Coleman would relish but he admits Sunderland’s recent plight has been sad to see and he hopes they can somehow avoid relegation to the Championship.

“I’m not actually a fan of the underdog,” Coleman said to Yahoo Sport.

“It may sound funny doing what I’m doing but I’m a bit of a throwback.

“I like the big clubs, and I like to see them doing well. I hate it when they are struggling. I was 11 years old when ‘dirty’ Leeds lost in the FA Cup final in 1973. I didn’t support them, I’ve always been Liverpool. I loved Leeds because they were huge and I wanted them to win.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

“I didn’t celebrate the small clubs doing well and even as the manager of Accrington I’m the same. I know that sounds a little strange.

“I suppose it just shows how good football in this country is.

“That’s the beauty of the pyramid – but I don’t want to be playing Sunderland next season, I hope they stay up. I like the big clubs.

“I’m proud that since the club closed we have kept Accrington out of administration. It’s not easy, we were a Non-League club for a long time so to get to League One? That would be fantastic.”

Stanley have risen up from the Unibond Division One to the brink of League One but it is indicative of how Sunderland have fallen.

When the Black Cats finished seventh in the Premier League for the second successive year in 2001, Coleman’s Stanley side finished ninth in the Unibond (Northern) Premier Division - four points above Gateshead.

Next season, they will more than likely be playing in the same division.

Sunderland could only draw 1-1 with Leeds on Saturday, leaving them eight points adrift of safety with only five games to play

Meanwhile, Accrington won 1-0 away at Colchester to open up an 11-point gap between themselves and fourth-placed Exeter in their pursuit of promotion.