ACCRINGTON chairman Eric Whalley has revealed why the UniBond club have agreed to forfeit £100,000 in the sell-on fee from Blackpool’s £1.5m sale of former Crown Ground star Brett Ormerod to Southampton.

Whalley waived Accrington’s right to a fifth of the fee — part of the £50,000 deal which took Ormerod to Blackpool four years ago — and instead accepted the Bloomfield Road club’s offer of a one-off payment of £200,000 plus the promise of two pre-season friendlies. On the face of it, that agreement has cost Stanley a small fortune, but Whalley insists it was good business.

He said: ‘‘We could have held out for the other 100 grand, but then Brett’s sale might not have gone through, because Blackpool had told us it wouldn’t have been worth their while to sell him had we not agreed to accept less than the £300,000 we were owed.

‘‘The way I see it, £200,000 up front is a lot better than nothing. It’s a good deal for us and it has also enabled Brett to move up to the Premiership, which I’d have hated to think we’d stopped him from doing.’’

Accrington will also receive a further £25,000 from Blackpool if 25-year-old Ormerod is ever capped by England.

But Whalley plans to make none of the bumper windfall available to boss John Coleman for new signings, adding: ‘‘The money will be spent on bringing our ground up to Nationwide League standard, not on players.’’

Top local action in the UniBond premier on Saturday sees Droylsden, who have conceded 30 goals in their last seven games, seeking to build on last weekend’s draw at Bamber Bridge when they entertain high-flying Vauxhall.

Rock-bottom Hyde, whose want-away star striker Simon Yeo appears set to turn down a move to Southport, face a difficult trip to Gateshead.

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