Daring To Dream
Jimmy Bell, new manager of Clitheroe FC, talks to Carol Wilson about his confidence in the team and his hopes for the future
After two decades of painting a neighbouring town and borough red, Jimmy Bell is embracing the blue of Clitheroe Football Club and wants to put Shawbridge on the footballing map.
The 59-year-old was one half of a management duo that was behind Accrington Stanley’s meteoric rise from non-league to the Football League.
As assistant manager to John Coleman, the pair formed a legendary double act that kept Accrington punching above their weight for over 20 years – across two spells – until there was a parting of the ways last season.
It was then that Clitheroe caught Bell’s eye, rekindling a flame after being burnt by his Accrington exit. And now, for the first time, he is going it alone as a manager in his own right.
“A long, long time ago I was caretaker manager of Ashton United, our first club, before I put John’s name forward to get that job.
“Before that I was caretaker manager of Caernarfon Town for an eight-week spell as well,” he explains.
“But even as his number two John has always given me the licence to be my own man with my own ideas and my own coaching methods.
“It’s been a bit strange not having him at the side of me, but it felt natural to me and everything fell into place.
“It’s a good fit and it came at a good time for me.”
Bell knows success.
His first spell at Accrington, alongside Coleman, lasted almost 13 years, overseeing a remarkable rise up the non-league pyramid and into the Football League in 2006.
The duo had an ill-fated spell at Rochdale, with Bell then going his own way to be a coach at Port Vale, before they were reunited at Sligo Rovers, returning to Accrington in 2014 and orchestrating promotion to League One – as champions – in 2018.
They stayed there for five seasons before relegation back to League Two in 2023 and were sacked in March this year after a 4-0 defeat at Wrexham.
Bell had a five-week hiatus – his longest period out of football – before collaborating with Clitheroe.
It was a temporary arrangement initially, buying the club some time while they searched for a new manager, after the play-off bid under Dean Caldecott fell short.
But in the three games in which he took temporary charge at the end of last season – winning all of them – something clicked. It just felt right.
“Clitheroe’s world and my world collided and I think it was the right time for me to do something and forget about what happened and move on, because you’ve got to move on. You can’t keep looking back,” says Bell, who has appointed former Accrington players Paul Howarth and Sean McConville as his assistant and player/coach respectively.
“I am determined to still have a good career. There’s a lot of life left in me.
“I set out to enjoy it because I had to, because what happened at Accrington really annoyed me.
“I didn’t fall out of love with football, I just got angry.
“But, Clitheroe came at a great time.”
The Blues are at the same level of non-league as Accrington were when Bell and Coleman were appointed in 1999 – UniBond First Division as it was at the time, now Northern Premier League West Division. And he can see parallels between the present-day Clitheroe and the Accrington Stanley of old.
While a route to League One might seem fanciful right now, he sees no reason why the Blues cannot tread a similar path, not put a ceiling on their ambitions and dare to dream.
Asked how high he thinks the club can go, he said: “Who knows? When we took over at Accrington in 1999 no-one would have ever, ever thought we would go on to play Derby County in a league match.
“If you said now that Clitheroe, in the same league as we started out at Accrington, in 15-20 years’ time would be a League One club, who would believe you?
“But you don’t know. If Clitheroe can win the league this season, get promoted, hopefully that average fanbase of 800 will become 1,200, the revenue that you’d create from that could possibly get a couple more players in.
“I know what’s needed. I know you need that nucleus of not only good players but players who live for each other and become good friends with each other and we’ve always had that at Accrington.
“I have seen that at Clitheroe, and I will help them with my knowledge of how to get a club like Clitheroe moving and take it from there.
“In terms of infrastructure it’s very similar as well. But ultimately you need good players. The players are everything.
“Whatever’s going on off the pitch, it’s what’s happening on the pitch – that’s what we’re all here for.
“If the football does well everything else falls into place.”
