1998/99
Mid season report
Amazingly the Clarets find themselves in 17th
position, which considering all the turmoil, upheaval and behind the scenes goings on, is
pretty good. The highest position achieved was 14th and the lowest nineteenth, but the
Clarets have spent most of the time vacillating between 17th and 19th position. It was
really disappointing to get knocked out of all the cup competitions at the first hurdle,
especially the F.A. Cup with the prospect of a very beatable Man City visiting the Turf.
Fortunately there seem to be quite a few other clubs struggling in
the league with the Clarets currently in a group of seven clubs with five or six wins.
Above them in the mid table comfort zone sit another group with 8/10 wins, before we get
to the top six, who now seem to have formed a breakaway group. Essentially these six
clubs, Bournemouth Gillingham, Preston Walsall, Fulham and Stoke will have to cock it up
now, or one of the chasing group will have to put together a really strong run to make up
the ground. Potentially either Man City or Reading look to be the only ones to have the
pedigree to do this, although both clubs seem to presently lack the goal power to climb
rapidly.
As for the Clarets, Davis will shore up the defence, but to get the
wins required the side need to start scoring at a much higher rate than they have been,
with both forwards scoring and the midfield plus defenders weighing in. Having played all
the top sides away apart from Stoke, four of the remaining nine home games will be against
top six sides and the Clarets problem at home has been finding the net, especially when
Little is not available. Indeed this has been less of a problem on their travels and this
is where the Davis investment might pay off, as the Clarets have to visit several of the
weaker sides and may be more galvanised than of late, where they have averaged four goals
a game conceded since the Preston trip.
The Home Straight
Ternent recently indulged in some fanciful talk regarding the Play
Offs but they would have to put together an astonishing run of wins, if they are to get
anywhere near the top 6. Currently they have 27 points and the minimum required is
normally 72ish, so from 20 games they would require 45 points i.e. fifteen wins, and
patently they are not going to win this many. Anyone who saw the Fulham annihilation will
realise that man for man, the Cottagers have the edge in nearly every position and even
they have only won 15 from 23. It's much easier to climb the bottom half of the table
where teams are not winning than the top half where they are.
However now the financial picture looks more favourable than for a
number of years, I would be content with a strong late run and for Ternent to put the
building blocks in place for next season. My New Year wishes are for a return to the side
from the e-mail group sponsored player Smith as well as Glen Little. A return to form for
Andy Cooke would be nice too. On the down side currently the future looks bleak for Chris
Brass, who looked completely shot on my last viewing. With the Davis signing it looks like
Stan will play a flat back four, whereas Chris's big strength was being the extra man in a
five, in the Heath/Ward era. He didn't look absolutely convincing last season as right
back, and my guess now is that he will serve as a stop gap right sided defender. I feel
really sorry for Chris as he has had injury problems and got landed with the burden of
captaincy at a very young age in a very difficult era. Furthermore he has probably
suffered more than any other other player, with the exception of Cooke, from the
Managerial Merry go round playing under four different managers and even more assistants.
Unlike Cooke, Brassy has also had to carry the burden of filling a number of roles for
which he is unsuited such as midfield dynamo. Hopefully he will re-gain his confidence as,
on his day, he is one of the best defenders at the club.
As for the Davis signing, personally I can still hardly believe it.
The price may be a bit steep, but Steve has been the outstanding Claret player in the
nineties and his signing fro BFC indicates that if cut in half, the lad has Burnley
written through him. The piece from the Luton site was very interesting, of course we all
know what the real reason for Davis' return is, you simply can't get a decent bag of chips
south of Birmingham and a meat and potato pie absolutely anywhere. What could Kohler
possibly offer the lad in its place?
A four and a half year contract perhaps indicates some future role
in the club management, which would not be a bad move. I note that Ternent has given some
stick to some of the fans recently, but he and the Board should note that the Burnley fans
have always given Davis a tremendous reception whenever he played for Luton as an
acknowledgement of the fact that the lad never gave less than 100% in a Claret shirt.
There has been a tremendous amount of mutual respect between player and supporters and
it’s unlikely that Davis would have signed for any other team in BFC's current plight
if it were not for this factor.
I think we can start to look forward to the New Year with some
optimism, especially when one notes some of the detail of the financial changes. I note
that Kilby insisted that the existing Board members signed over their rights to him
otherwise he would not put his money in, so clearly he has got their measure. I am sure we
will begin to see Big Baz exerting his influence over the next year. Although many would
like to see Teasdale completely out of the picture, on a more positive note, it’s
clear that Big Baz is running the shop and the Muppet Show, after its long run, is nearly
over.
Up the Clarets, and Happy New Year to everyone.
Igor Wowk
December 1998
