PAUL Cook takes charge of Accrington Stanley for the first time in tomorrow’s home game against Plymouth, vowing to deliver an entertaining brand of football as he bids to bring fans back to the Crown Ground.

Despite the considerable success and commitment to passing football during the reign of John Coleman and Jimmy Bell, Stanley have an average gate of just 1,620 this season – the lowest in the Football League by a margin of almost 500.

That is a statistic that puzzles Cook but, as well as making results his first priority, he is keen to do all he can to reverse the trend of falling attendances since the club’s days at the top of the Conference.

Tomorrow’s gate could be boosted by the fact that neither Blackburn Rovers and Burnley are in action.

“Saturday will be a great day and quite a historical day because Accrington don’t change managers very often,” said the 44-year-old, who was a player-coach at Stanley under Coleman between 2003 and 2006.

“That shows the great quality of the previous manager and the loyalty of the club.

“The fans can be massive for us. We keep harping back to what we were under John and Jimmy but we used to get some ridiculous crowds, the ground was absolutely boun-cing in some games.

“Over the period from then until now the team’s level of success has gone up yet for some reason the crowds have gone down.

“We all know about recessions, but sometimes coming to a football game could be the highlight of the week, so if we can try to make that the focal point of Accrington’s sporting week that’s what we want.

“We’re not looking to fill the ground every week but if we can get a few more people in, they come and they enjoy the matchday feel that’s what we’re all working to.

“My style is pass and move, we want to see goalmouth action, we want to see goals and we want to play with swagger and with fitness levels that are good.

“It’s difficult because it’s like we speak sometimes and we’re decrying what the previous manager has done, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

“We all have a style we want to play. I would be very much in favour of an open and attractive football, that would be my style and in the end I’d like to have that at Accrington Stanley.

“But the important thing as we all know is the lads aren’t doing a lot wrong at the minute. They’re having a great season so we just have to be careful with the change.”

Cook’s first move as boss was to yesterday extend the loan of Everton centre back Toto Nsiala until March 20 and he hopes the Reds can bounce back from Tuesday’s 1-0 loss at Rotherham, when he watched from the stands as Leam Richardson took his final game as caretaker boss.

Stanley host a struggling Plymouth side in the first of three games in eight days.

“The lads have been fantastic, they haven’t lost many games at all this year so to lose on Tuesday was a disappointment,” Cook said.

“But we’ve got a few big games coming up – Plymouth, Crewe, Swindon – and we want to take as many points as we can.

“It’s important now that I settle into the job as quickly as I can.

“I will be very approachable and I think at a club like Accrington it’s very important to be seen as a leader for the players and also for the supporters, because we want the best.”