Money
burns a hole in my pocket
Flea
Market 0 JJB Sports 2
Report by Brent Whittam
We
approached this game already with a sense of must-win
trepidation; things have not gone well for us in
the first few games of this season. Indeed, I
am inclined to say that last season hasn’t
actually ended. We have just had a mid season
break, and the game against Wigan was the 49th
game of last
season: crap defending, no midfield and poor finishing.
Wigan
approached this game in the same way as they went
into their games in Division Two: score on the
break and throw everyone behind the ball before
attempting to catch the opposition on the break
- sort of like an untalented Italy from the 80’s.
Of course, we just could not break them down. We
did have chances, but (as always) when the pressure
was
on we couldn’t deliver.
Dean
West came into the side for the hamstrung Lee Roche,
and to be brutally honest was absolutely appalling.
He found it difficult to keep the ball within
the white lines at times, never mind pass to his
own player. The harsh truth about this side is
that there are simply too many players who are
simply not First Division standard. It seems
churlish to name and shame them, but I will anyway.
From
the top, I know it’s only early in the season,
but we have signed another dodgy keeper. Jensen
appears to be a decent shot-stopper, when he can
get his frame down there, but his positional sense
is worse than mine and his coming for crosses is
poor. It appears that yet again we have taken the
cheap option and plucked the Great Dane from the
bargain bucket. Dean West has already been mentioned:
he, of course, is an honest player who lacks
the true talent for this division.
Ah,
Tony ‘Bloody’ Grant,
the man of the moment. I almost gave him a round
of applause when he passed to one of our players,
until I realised that it was the sub warming
up. I find it difficult to find any words of even
slight
praise for this waster, and in truth a lot of
our problems are caused by this man and his lack
of
bottle in midfield. And make no bones about
it, it is a lack of bottle. It is plain to see
that
he does have ability, he just chooses not to
use it. Paul
Weller is also simply not good enough. Our problem
in the last season and the start of this season
has been all too plain to see. We have no midfield;
we tend to play with wingers pushing up and two
supposed anchors in the middle (I hope the spell-check
doesn’t attempt to change this).
Weller
and Grant are not a First Division midfield. I
wouldn’t even call them a Conference
midfield; neither can tackle, and the distribution
of both
is poor. In Weller’s case, he is a victim
of Ternent's fitting positions into players as
opposed to fitting players to positions. We
have far too
many players playing out of position - this
has happened over the last couple of seasons,
and it
is not difficult to see that it has not been
successful. Oh, for a younger Kevin Ball and
John Deary. That
would give the opposition something to think
about - actually, both of these players now would
do
a
far better job than powder and puff in the heart
of our ‘midfield’.
Anyway,
the game started brightly for Burnley. We attacked
and stretched Wigan, but could not find a way through.
In part this was due to over-elaboration, and also
poor finishing -
and particularly culpable in the first of these
was Robbie Blake, who in his defence is normally
magnificent (this is my attempt at showing I am
unbiased). Ian Moore looked like a man who had
served a three-match suspension, and Luke Chadwick
again looked impressive until he got into the opposition
area.
Wigan
took the lead after 12 minutes when Burchill stepped
over a cross from Liddell, and Kennedy beat Jensen
from an angle at the edge of the box. Good shot
that it was, I find it difficult to believe that
he could beat Jensen from there.
The
Clarets continued to play to the non-playing Taylor
every time they got a free kick or corner;
sadly, this meant that the ball would go flying
over the heads of the two strikers who actually
played.
What do they do at Gawthorpe all week?
The
first half wore on in the same fashion; a fussy
referee (the strange phenomenon that is Alan
Butler, making
poor decisions), and Burnley battering against
a thick wall of JJB. This for the majority
of teams in that Division would not be a
problem: Wigan
are poor, and they will struggle without Whelan’s
money. Jewell must hope that the Chairman will
back him. He’s going to need it, as his
side are pretty ordinary and will struggle.
Burnley
fully showed their inadequacies in this match,
especially by not being able to break down the
ponderous defence of Wigan. As the game progressed,
we became more and more desperate. Camara was
bombing up and down the wing with very little result,
apart
from his being caught out of position time and
time again. Glen Little found it difficult to create,
and, when he did, his cross failed to find a Claret
shirt.
The
game was well and truly over when Jewell brought
on Ellington for his first game in 6 months. Although
he looked sluggish and not match-fit, he still
managed to evade our defence from a corner and
bundle the ball past Jensen. Game over. Wigan
had their precious second goal, and we had cocked
up
at home again.
Home
form has become a real problem for us. Even
in terrible seasons of the past we could usually
rely
on a strong home record to boost our position.
Unfortunately, under Ternent our home form has
been indifferent (to say the least). This,
added to our poor away performances, doesn’t
add up to a good season - and now of course we
have said
goodbye to Gareth Taylor. Aren’t we good
to Forest? Not only did we rejuvenate David Johnson’s
career, but now we have given them our striker.
In
truth, I can understand the reasoning behind the
sale, if what Kilby says is true and we are
getting half a million for a player who was out
of contract
at the end of the season (and had apparently made
it clear he wouldn’t be happy if Burnley
didn’t release him). This, of course, is
at odds with stories I have heard that Taylor did
not want to go, and could well be propaganda coming
from the boardroom.
Totally
out of order from Kilby was the way he has put
part of the reasoning behind not giving all the
money from the sale to Ternent. It is disgraceful
that this fan can say that Ternent will get some
of the cash, but the rest would go to cover the
shortfall in season tickets. Yes, Claret fans:
it’s
your fault that Ternent won’t be getting
a cool half a million, because you didn’t
buy your season tickets. He fails to see that
the fans are disillusioned, and are not prepared
to
pay out at the start of the season for another
season of rubbish. People are happier to save
their money and pick and choose - after all, having
a season
ticket doesn’t guarantee that your top players
won’t be loaned out when the Club decides
that the season is over, never mind that you’ve
paid the money in advance and your season is not
over.
Already,
crowds are poor, and this will not get any better
quickly. How about a pricing scale along the
lines of: top ticket when we are bottom six, £12;
mid-table, £16; and top six, £20? This
might attract more fans to the stands. At the
current prices, we are not going to attract casual
fans
to games when we are in the doldrums. We are
more likely to get people coming along to games
even when we are struggling
if the entrance fee reflects this.
It
has to be acknowledged that Kilby has done much
good for the Club, as his and Ternent’s
mutual admiration society proves. Always good
for a quote
on the Chairman is Stan. (Mind you, with the
results we have it would be folly to slag him off.)
Anyway,
I’m off to try and prise open the Turf
Moor transfer window. Unfortunately it appears
to be superglued shut. I’ll try, but don’t
hold your breath.
Let’s keep muddling along - as ABBA would
say: “It’s
a rich man’s world”.
Team: Jensen,
West, May, Branch, Camara, Little, Weller, Grant
(Chaplow, 67), Chadwick (Alan Moore, 79), Ian
Moore, Blake (Gnohere, 74).
Subs
not used: O'Neill, Scott.
Scorers: Kennedy
13, Ellington 77.
Referee: A
N Butler (Sutton-in-Ashfield).
Attendance: 13,231.
Whitto's
man of the match: Luke Chadwick.
As with all articles on the site, the views expressed in the match reports section are those of the individual contributor, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters Club.
