Clarets fail to clear the air
Burnley 0 Man City 6, 9th March 1999
Jo Tomlinson
Well, what can I say? Got to the game
tonight hoping that the 'clear the air session' would produce some results and that we
would at least see a respectable performance, if not a win. We saw neither. It was
dreadful, soul destroying, heart wrenching, pathetic, embarrassing, humiliating, and
possibly the lowest point for a long time.
The ground for once, was close to full (although
not full), the Man City fans packed the Cricket field stand and it was good to see more
than the usual away showing who arrive in a taxi. The kick off was delayed due to
congestion outside the ground, so we all froze a while longer. We had got to the ground
early after taking a cunning route to the ground, so treated ourselves to a disgusting
soggy pie and peas (NOT real mush) with insides vaguely resembling potato which burnt the
roof of your mouth off. Two rows in front of me were about seven Man City fans, and there
were others dotted around too. Smithy, Cooke, Weller, Mike Conroy, and various other
Burnley players sat a few rows behind as always.
8pm, and we were away. We started brightly,
looking like maybe we had some commitment at least, but before long skill began to
separate the two sides. When the first goal went in, the Man City fans in the BL stand
foolishly jumped up and cheered. Of course there were major scuffles and a bit of
scrapping going on, police moved in and so on. One Man City fan ran all the way down the
stand and jumped over the barrier and ran to safety in the Cricket Field stand. After
that, the away fans wisely adopted a lower profile and we managed to coexist for the rest
of the game.
City looked much brighter and more skilled than
us (i.e. they looked as if they had played football before, did at least recognise
each other and knew how to score). We ran around like headless chickens. We didn't
demonstrate much formation or order at all. They didn't seem to know where they should be
playing. Payton was practically alone up front, with limited support from the unfortunate
Branch who made some errors. Moore had a clash with a city player and that was the end of
him. Goal number two, sinking heart as we increasingly realised that heads would drop and
we were unlikely to get a goal now, let alone anything from the game. 'There's only one
Paul Lake' was one chorus from the city fans.
Half time came. I had bought two striker lottery
tickets, feeling optimistic that maybe tonight was my night. It wasn't. I understand the
DJ played Wonderwall by Oasis at half time (which was a bit unfortunate perhaps!).
Second half: 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, 6-0? No surely
not, but yes it was. 6-0 and to be honest with you it could have been 10-0. The
team just fell apart, heads were down and we didn't look like scoring at all. Fans
streamed from the ground. No point in leaving early to beat the traffic, because well over
half the fans were leaving early anyhow. By now the City fans were having a ball .The only
feeble sharing of solidarity was one sad chorus of 'clap your hands if you hate united',
and that was it.
Burnley fans sat dejected not knowing whether to
laugh or cry. It was almost a case of hysteria, nervous laughter. Could it get any worse?
Season ticket holders near me mumbled their feelings and left the ground.
At the end we left the ground unable to believe
our eyes that the City fans were also leaving at the same time. Why on earth didn't they
keep them in, like they kept us in at Maine Road? I asked a copper who replied that they
weren't allowed to after Hillsborough cos it wasn't deemed safe. What utter rubbish. Is it
'safe' to let two sets of hostile fans mingle? Anyhow, we had a tense but safe walk from
the ground and other than a massive police horse deciding to park its rather large
bum into my body, nearly knocking me over in the process, the walk away to the car was
largely uneventful. Don't know if there was any trouble, but I didn't see any.
And so the drive home, and then being greeted at
the door by one very smug babysitter (a Blackpool fan) with a huge grin on her face
saying, so what was the score then? "Nic," I said, "if you want paying
tonight, you'll shut up NOW!" She wisely shut up.
So where now? Bring on Preston. How about 7-0??
I'm sure Moyes will be quaking in his boots after witnessing that (NOT). And you can just
imagine Nogan warming up for his hat trick right now. We have let in 22 more goals
than Macclesfield: the most in the division.
Where do we go from here? What can Stan say? It
looks like he will resign, but then what? Burnley is the graveyard of football
right now. Players come and become crap. Managers come and become crap. Remember I said
ages ago about pre-determined fate? I reluctantly rest my case. Heath, in my humble
opinion, is not the answer. He left the club with little loyalty for us, and didn't really
demonstrate that he was a man motivator. John Ward? Maybe, everyone is calling for his
return, but will he be able to produce the goods? And more importantly, will he want to
come?
If Stan leaves before the Preston game, who is
going to step in? Some people are calling for Steve Davis, but does he have the experience
or the commitment of a disparate group of players to keep us up? I still feel that more is
needed than a 'clear the air session', more a need, very quickly, for an expert in
team-building to come in and do some intensive work with them to address whatever it is
that is wrong. Oh, and a few lessons in the basics of how to play football might be useful
too.
We will I guess hear from Stan in the morning,
and from Mark Ford (I shall be interested to hear what he has to say 'from the heart'). I
am sat here with a glass of wine. I feel sorry for Stan's wife tonight. I feel sorry for
the Burnley fans who took the day off and travelled up.
Who knows what will happen now. Is this the
lowest point ever? Where do we go from here? Can we bring ourselves up in time for Preston
on Sunday? Andrew suggested tonight putting the reserve team out on Sunday (do we have
one?).
Apologies for this being so long and so
miserable, but what else is there to say?
Team: Crichton, Moore
(Maylett 44), Morgan, Mellon, Davis, Reid, Little, Armstrong, Payton, Ford, Branch. SNU:
Williamson, Vindheim
Links - Tim Quelch's and Rob Slade's reports
plus the away game
