KENNY Arthur admitted the financial uncertainty at Accrington Stanley helped make up his mind about moving to rivals Rochdale.

The Reds have a £300,000 unpaid tax bill but have come to an agreement with HM Revenue and Customs, so avoiding a winding up order.

Highly-rated Arthur had been offered a two-year deal with the Reds prior to the news breaking about the tax debt but already had other clubs interested in him.

And the 30-year-old admitted League Two rivals Rochdale were the ones most people gave the thumbs up to.

"I have loved my time at Accrington, I think everyone could tell that," said the keeper, who joined Stanley two seasons ago after ten years at Partick Thistle.

"But the instability at the club means that everybody has got to do the best for themselves.

"My primary concern was for my fiancee who was giving up her job as a solicitor in Scotland to move with me and I couldn’t ask her to do that with the unstable environment at the club. That wouldn’t be fair. There were a number of clubs interested but I did some research and everyone talked up Rochdale.

"Obviously Ian Willcock, who was the goalkeeping coach at Accrington, is there and I know how thorough he is. He has DVDs of all the goals I have conceded and goes through them looking for patterns!

"But I also heard about training facilities, they have a fitness coach and nutritionist and that the structure there is good.

"My aim, as a goalkeeper, is always to improve myself and get the best out of myself and I felt Rochdale would let me do this."

He admitted it was tough leaving the FES as Arthur settled in quickly to become a fans’ favourite.

"It was hard leaving Accrington. I had only every played for Partick Thistle and not everyone can make a transition from the Scottish leagues to the English leagues but Accrington gave me a chance and I will always appreciate that.

"They gave me a platform and an opportunity to prove myself. And Coley (John Coleman) was always brilliant with me.

"I enjoyed working with him. He was so passionate about football and could instil confidence into people and make players believe in themselves and it worked for me.

"He signed me and believed in me and I gave my best.

"I also had a good rapport with the fans and I think we did really well with the financial constraints at the club, especially towards the back end of this season where we played some attractive football.

"We won a lot of games 1-0 and I felt I was really contributing to the games."

He admitted, when the League Two fixtures come out next Wednesday, the first one he will look for is Accrington. "I have never played against a former club before," he added. "I look forward to meeting up with everyone again and wish Accrington the best."