Stanley's long serving assistant manager Jimmy Bell admits he is shocked by the recent spate of managerial sackings.

Reds’ boss John Coleman, with Bell, is the third longest serving manager in England with 11 years at the helm, behind Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and the Stanley pair recently signed a new contract until 2015 at the Crown Ground.

The recent dismissals of Newcastle’s Chris Hughton and Blackburn’s Sam Allardyce – both seemingly doing decent jobs in the Premiership – have stunned both Bell and Coleman.

"It’s pathetic – I think both sackings have shocked the world of football," said the Reds assistant.

"I don’t think anyone can believe it. It’s a good job Accrington don’t have any owners," he joked with the legal wrangle still going on behind the scenes at Stanley between major shareholder Eric Whalley, managing director Dave O’Neill and chairman Ilyas Khan.

"But seriously both Chris and Sam had turned their clubs around and brought stability and got them going in the right direction.

"And to sack a manager because they don’t like his style of play, as the owners said in Sam Allardyce’s case, is diabolical. It’s a results business and perhaps not everyone agrees with the way Sam plays but it is pretty effective.

"It’s always good to play nice football but most people would rather see a team that’s winning, no matter what football they play.

"We lost to Barnet on Saturday despite playing well and I would have rather played badly and won. Wimbledon went from non league to the top division playing long-ball football –¿is that right or wrong?

"It’s crazy at the moment but that’s the world we live in and nothing surprises you anymore.

"But, whether me and John had a week-to-week contract as we did under Eric Whalley or have the contract we have now, nothing changes the way we approach the game. We still get up motivated to do a good job and give our all."

Bell admits the Reds are in a ‘precarious’ position at the moment with one win in nine league games and they have dropped to 19th place in League Two –¿just two points above the drop zone.

With a busy festive period – Burton and Crewe at home followed by Rotherham and Morecambe away – it’s important for the Reds to get some results under their belts.

"They are all massive games now,"¿added Bell. "Three points in any game could be the difference, at the end of the season, between reaching the play-offs or not or staying up or not and so they are all vital.

"Everyone was saying what a great squad we had at the start of the season when we were doing well and we have got the biggest squad we have ever had here with 26 players – so much so that we are leaving players out and it is a headache that me and John have never had before.

"We believe we have the players to get us up towards the play-offs but we have got to get our confidence back, be more professional, be more ruthless in front of goal and take a higher percentage of our chances.

"If we had defeated Barnet on Saturday we would have shot up the league and we do believe we are in a false position but we have got to get back to winning ways to put us in what I think is our true position.

"We have tried to remain upbeat. We are still not far away but we have drawn too many games – nine this season – and it’s not good enough. But, saying that, we have not had that many defeats and we need to turn the draws into wins."

"We have dropped down the league really quickly but the opposite side of it is, if we can put a run together, we can climb it but we need to start doing it now and not allow teams in the top 10 to pull away from us."

Coleman and Bell will have some decisions to make after leaving several players, including Sean McConville and Chris Turner, out of their squad altogether in the 2-0 defeat at Underhill on Saturday as they look to see off old adversaries Burton Albion tomorrow.

Stanley have played them four times at home in either the Conference or League Two since 2004 – and won them all.

"I think that goes back to Nigel Clough in the Conference as he didn’t like coming to Accrington – not many teams do to be honest," said Bell.

"And we do have to use it to our advantage. I know the players are wound up to get a result now as Saturday’s defeat at Barnet hurt, especially when we played so well.

"Everyone was disappointed but we have got to pick ourselves up and remain upbeat.

"Burton have had a bit of a run of win one, lose one recently.¿They have won a couple so hopefully it’s time for them to lose one tomorrow.

"Last week at Barnet, we felt that was our biggest game of the season and we didn’t win so Burton now becomes our biggest game of the season. The next four are massive – but they are all winnable."

STANLEY have extended the loan period of Burnley centre-back Kevin¿Long until January 15.