The day began badly and gradually got worse.
Shortly after leaving the flat I realised I had forgotten my mobile. Still a fairly new
convert, it's not yet part of my usual Saturday checks just before closing the door. Keys,
money, cheque book, waterproof clothing - must add mobile to that. As it turned out, I
could have gone back, as the train was half an hour late leaving St Pancras, but I wasn't
to know that, so no match updates for anyone during the game.
On Friday I had been to the Meet the Board session, which was followed by
lunch and Jim Bowen as the guest speaker. Surprisingly funny, talking about how crap
Bullseye was but it ran for 14 years and he now he drives a Rolls so '**** you'. The
meeting was friendly and informative and a report should appear elsewhere, but just the
fact that they happen shows how things have changed in a relatively short space of time.
Both on and off the field the club has made tremendous strides and at all times it is
backed by sound business sense. We do not buy what we cannot afford and talk of new
signings and a concerted push for promotion next year are somewhat premature, as both
Huddersfield and West Brom have shown in differing ways in the last two years the fine
line between success and failure in this division.
Always the pessimist, I expect next season to be tougher than this as we
bring in a few new faces and try to lower the average age of the squad. In some ways we
could be victims of our own success, as we are at least a year behind PNE in terms of
development and yet have only finished a handful of points behind them. Look at Charlton
and Ipswich for examples of how to build the club and the team, slowly and steadily making
progress year on year. Any Claret who says he thought at the beginning of the season we
would still be in with a shout of the play-offs with two games to go would have been
viewed as fool. My own prediction of our best possible finish was 12th to 14th, if
everything went right, so it's been a great year. In fact, for many of us this is the best
finish in our time of watching the Clarets, so hats off to Stan and the boys.
Strolling out of the station at Sheffield, somewhat later than planned, I
was surprised that I recognised nothing at all, as it is barely a month since we were last
there. That is, until it was pointed out that we had jumped straight into cabs last time.
The short trip to the first pub took us past the Museum of Modern Music, which looks
hideous and closed. After a diversion through the beer garden to get out as the landlord
had closed the door shortly after our arrival we visited a number of pubs in double quick
time, the highlight of which was one where we had go through the bar to get in as the
landlady was unable to unlock the door to the main part of the pub. Not only that, but the
poor women was so overwhelmed by the sudden arrival of 20 or so London Clarets and friends
that John Webster ended up helping behind the bar to clear the backlog. Splendid! As Woody
would say.
Part of the trip up had been spent distributing large numbers of Claret
and Blue balloons that had been purchased for the B*stards game but had subsequently been
'banned'. We even arrived at the ground before kick off to allow time to blow as many up
as possible. It didn't help that there was no minute's silence this week, which these days
is being devalued, as there is almost always someone to be remembered for filling in a few
forms at the FA or playing a few times for the reserves 30 years ago. The balloon release
went quite well, although I was a bit light headed from all that blowing (ooo err!).
Nothing to do with the beer of course.
The Clarets had been forced into two changes from Tuesday, with Little and
Weller both failing to recover from injury. West was also dropped to the bench. Cook,
Maylett and Taylor came in as Burnley lined up 4-4-2. Thomas was at right back, Mullin in
the centre of midfield and Paul Cook on the left with Briscoe, for once, actually playing
at left back. The Blades had Carl 'always scores against us' Asaba in their line up
alongside former Claret target Peter Ndlovu.
The Clarets were first out of the blocks and should have been one up when
the Blades keeper failed to hold a fierce shot from the edge of the box and Taylor scooped
the rebound over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Sometimes you get the feeling that it
is not going to be your day, and Mr Laws of Whitley Bay did his very best to confirm this
when Thomas jumped with Ndlovu for a cross on the penalty spot. It was innocuous enough
and the ball was sailing harmlessly clear of both of them, but Mr Laws saw something that
none of their fans or players did and pointed to the spot. The last three home games that
I have seen we have had blatant penalties turned down; now the opposition get a soft one.
NTG made a good save and pushed the ball wide, but the resultant cross was
only half cleared and Ndlovu thumped the ball home from ten yards. Now we were chasing the
game, and without our two most creative forces we struggled to create clear openings. A
rash challenge from Taylor on the Blades keeper as he collected a cross prompted a small
ruck in the goalmouth, for which Taylor got a booking but Blades' retaliation went
unpunished. I do tend to have a one-sided view of games and often believe the referee is
biased, but Mr Laws missed the worst tackle of the afternoon when Paul Cook chipped the
ball forward on the halfway line and was hacked down, only to be told that the Blades
player had got the ball. Why did the ball go behind him towards our forwards then? Davis
was then booked for a crude hack on the touchline which smacked somewhat of retaliation.
For a while the game looked like boiling over as the team seemed to get frustrated at
their lack of chances and the refereeing decisions going against them. Only the assistant
at the far end seemed happy to give us decisions. Perhaps we could nobble the ref at half
time and get the assistant to take over. It seemed our best chance.
The shambles that passes as catering at Bramall Lane consisted of three
young girls using five loaves and three fishes to feed the thousands queuing for
'refreshments', which consisted of meat and potato pie with detachable top. Mmmm! Back to
the action and Burnley continued to huff and puff in a fairly open attacking game, as we
were now forced to go for broke. Substitutions were made, and still we were restricted to
long range shots from Mullin, Payton, after a good turn and run, and Davis, all of which
went just over the bar.
Sheff U were still threatening, but Armstrong was having a magnificent
game, heading, tackling, intercepting and covering as if his very contract depended on it.
Bit harsh that, as he has always been a 100% performer, and has been excellent since his
recall. Ball was then booked for not touching anything and NTG had to be alert for his
obligatory one handed catch. A Davis free kick was once more smashed over the bar. Either
he needs more practice or we need another free kick taker as I can't remember his last one
on target, never mind actual goal. The inevitable then happened as Ball was sent off for a
second bookable offence. That only left time for Asaba to score his goal and it was all
over. End of season.
It would have been nice to acknowledge the players but the Blades fans
decided to invade the pitch and taunt us for some unknown reason whilst stewards and
police stood and watched. Davis and Payton both made it through and Payton threw his shirt
into the crowd. In the end the loss of Little and Weller proved too much as we lacked
creativity and didn't create enough clear cut chances to win the game. Having said that,
if Taylor had scored, as against Birmingham, we could now be in the driving seat. C'est la
vie. That just leaves Graham Taylor's last game next Sunday and we can all take a well
earned rest.
Almost forgot to mention that we had a good time with a few Arsenal fans
on the train on the way back and filled the carriage with our remaining balloons covered
in Stanisms whilst singing a full repertoire of songs. I'll look forward to our two trips
to Sheffield next year.
I know
it's over