A PLAN to boost poor attendances at Accrington Stanley by making it a "true community club" has been launched.

The side has some of the lowest crowds in the Football League, so bosses have set up the Accrington Stanley Diversity Forum.

The "ambitious plan" to engage the diverse communities of East Lancashire is the latest attempt to raise the average attendance at the club's Fraser Eagle Stadium from the current 2,000.

The gate of 1,639 against Barnet was the lowest in the Football League that weekend.

Officials admit they have been shocked by the small crowds at Stanley, who achieved wide-spread publicity when they were historically promoted back to the league last summer.

The club has been working with East Lancs Together, the community cohesion group. They will be inviting groups to tour their Livingstone Road ground and players will be going to community events.

Stanley's chief executive Rob Heys said: "The club has been working hard to improve many areas of operation since being promoted and have been working to make the club more accessible to all communities.

The diversity forum was supposed to be up and running in August.

But after the death of the chairman of the committee, Caneze Riaz, who died in a house fire in November, bosses have admitted that they needed to "regroup and refocus."