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NTG international call-up - honest!
Hats off to Blakey!
Racism links
Can the commercials!
Half a dozen go
Those player of the year awards
Wear your colours with pride this Sunday
Superstar DJ
Post-holiday catch up
Click here for April 2002 comment entries
30 April - Save it with your feet!
Well, congratulations to Nik Michopoulos, who has been recalled to the Greece international squad for the first time as a Burnley player. Michopoulos already had 13 caps when he signed for Burnley from PAOK Salonika, and early in his time with us there was much speculation that he would get a recall. Odd, then, that his chance comes after the worst spell of his Burnley career. Assume the international scout didn't see him at Portsmouth or Grimsby. Or perhaps trying to save it with your feet is a skill highly prized in Greece? Anyway, he's in the squad for two home friendlies against Romania and Greece's good friends Cyprus, which take place on 12 and 15 May, and rather helpfully, he was already in Greece anyway. Fingers crossed that he gets a game. It might do him some good. Apparently Dimitrios Papadopoulos will be playing for the Greece Under 21s this summer in Switzerland as well. Huh.
30 April - He is not appreciated!
Hats off to Glen Little, who has shown once again that a prophet is never honoured in his own country, or whatever the expression is. Only non-Clarets really rate Glen. He has been included in the Nationwide Team of the Season for Division One, a rare exception in a sea of KKMC / West Brom / Wolves players. This follows on the heels of the survey The Observer did at the end of the season, when Glen appeared in a team of the season chosen by one supporter of each First Division club. He didn't appear in the Burnley supporter's team, of course. It seems other people appreciate him. If you ask any opposition supporter which player they didn't want to get the ball, nine times out of ten they'll say our number seven. But folk at Turf Moor expect him to beat five players and score every time he gets the ball, and if he doesn't, he's had a bad game. Did you know that in five seasons of regular first team football Blakey has won one single Player of the Year award? Guess which supporters' club that was from!
30 April - Credit where it's due
We've criticised them in the past, so it's only fair to point you to Burnley FC's
(albeit rather belated) response to the Task Force Report
into the Burnley riots. It's available on the official website, so to read it,
click here.
Meanwhile, you can catch up on what Alastair Campbell said about the political situation in Burnley by
clicking here.
28 April - Can the commercials!
Can the Commercials
is a new campaign where football fans can protest against Carlton and Granada for their role in the ITV
Digital fiasco.
The purpose of Can the Commercials is to enable supporters up and down the country to join together and put direct
pressure on Carlton and Granada by targeting their main source of income - adverts.
The idea is simple: pledge not to watch ITV during ad breaks - put the kettle on or grab a beer instead!
For more information on the Can the Commercials campaign, visit the Football Fans Union site at www.the-ffu.com/itv.
24 April - Six bomb
Following the premature end of the season, we say goodbye to six players, who have been released by the club at the end of their contracts.
Perhaps the most significant departure is that of Kevin Ball, who has been a regular member of the first team since he joined us from Fulham two summers ago. Ball was almost always in the eleven, except when suspended, and over the course of the two seasons he played for us, he won over many initially sceptical fans with his combative and committed performances in central midfield. I was one of them. I’d thought he was too old when we signed him, but his experience turned out to be a valuable part of his game. Ball’s determination was typified by the fact that, towards the end of this season when it wasn’t happening for us, he would be the one driving forward trying to get on the end of something in the box. Unfortunately, he couldn’t shoot for toffee, but you can’t have everything. He also excelled in a number of recent matches when played at the back. It’s perhaps a little surprising that Bally’s gone, given that he has been such a fixture, but at 37, perhaps his age counted against him. Who knows? But I’ll miss the occasional chant of ‘Bally’s gonna get you’ at away grounds. There’s certainly a gap in midfield now, and it will be interesting to see how Stan goes about filling it.
Secondly, and much less surprising, is the departure of another 37 year old, Mitchell Thomas. Like Ball, Thomas played his final Burnley game in our 1-0 win against Coventry that wasn’t quite enough, although his time with us ended early as he was subbed for Gareth Taylor. Thomas was another player I was initially sceptical about. No, more than that: I simply could not understand why we signed him in the summer of 1999. I seemed to recall an error prone Spurs fullback. Fantastically, I couldn’t have been more wrong. He turned out to be a defensive colossus, a strong and physical defender, and an excellent reader of the game. He was instrumental in our success that season, as we stormed to a promotion that was built on legendary defending. He formed a rock solid partnership with Steve Davis and simply kept goals out. If you want an indication of just how good he was that season, he only missed two games, and we got stuffed in both of them. He was without question my player of the season. And who could forget his seminal appearance on Football Focus when he chose to appear before the nation in the dreadful, badly frayed denim jacket? He never quite hit those standards again. He played a lot in our first season back in the First Division, but was beginning to look beatable. Then he struggled with a string of injuries this season, and by the end he had become a squad player, with defenders of the quality of Ian Cox and Arthur Gnohere having joined the club. Although he always tried hard, in recent appearances he seemed to be struggling with the pace of the First Division game. But for what he did to get us up in particular, he’ll be fondly remembered.
The other four were bit part players. Lenny Johnrose wasn’t meant to be so when we signed him from the inevitable Bury in February 1999. We paid £225,000, which was still quite a bit for us then. However, he never managed to hold down a long term first team place, and indeed was sent off in only his second game. Since then it’s been a case of brief bursts of appearances being punctuated by injuries, and in the season just finished he had only a passing acquaintance with the first team. He never did recapture the form he’d shown at Bury under Stan.
Tony Ellis , meanwhile, was one of Stan’s stranger signings. It seemed odd in the summer when we signed the 36 year old much travelled lower division striker, and it still seems pretty odd now. Elvis had been released by Rochdale, and Telford apparently had high hopes of securing his services, but Stan, it seems, liked what he saw while Elvis was training with us just to keep fit, and snapped him up on a three month contract. It was inexplicable, but Stan looked like some kind of guru when Elvis came on and scored the winner in our 3-2 victory at Bradford that first put us top of the table. We ate our words, Elvis’ contract was extended for the rest of the season, and he never looked like doing anything like that again, quickly disappearing to the reserves. Perhaps Telford will come back in for him.
The final two had Burnley careers as brief as can be. John Williamson seems to have been at the club for years, having come through the ranks, but he only once appeared for the first team, as a late sub in our barking 4-3 win over Macclesfield in 1999, which means apparently I saw him. I can recall with horrible clarity, however, the first team career of Luigi Cennamo. The reserve goalkeeper, having joined last summer from Olympiakos, came on for the injured Michopoulos in our cup match at Cheltenham, and unfortunately proceeded to treat us to his rabbits in the headlights impersonation. Before we knew it, we were 2-0 down, and heading for another embarrassing cup exit. Cennamo never appeared on the bench again.
Needless to say, we wish all six of them well, thank them for the service they have offered, and hope they manage to get fixed up with new clubs, which isn’t as easy as it used to be in these financially troubled times.
Apparently, and contrary to what I said earlier (thanks, Tony!) there are only two other players out of contract, Gordon
Armstrong and Dean West. It would seem that the much-improved Dean West
will be signing a new contract, so hats off to him. It's also believed that Armstrong
will be offered a new contract.
Whether new players come in will tell us a lot about whether we are seeing Stan reshaping his squad, or the club preparing for the worst from the ITV Digital fiasco.
24 April - Go West - those player of the year awards in full
Okay, I'd more or less decided not to do this, but at least I'll know where to
find the list should I want to refer to it at the end of next season. As you'll doubtless
be aware, Arthur Gnohere
was presented with the London Clarets Player of the Year award at the recent end of season presentation night. Other supporters club awards were as follows:
Accrington Clarets
Dean West
(young player of the season - Brad Maylett; goal of the season - Arthur Gnohere at Preston; special achievement award - Stan Ternent)
Barrowford Clarets
Dean West
Boundary Clarets
Dean West
(young player of the season - Earl Davis; goal of the season - Arthur Gnohere at Preston; special achievement award - Stan Ternent)
Burnleyfootballclub.com
Dean West
Burnley Supporters Club
Dean West
(young player of the season - Brad Maylett; most promising teenager - Earl Davis; goal of the season - Arthur Gnohere at Preston)
Central Lancashire Clarets
Ian Moore
(young player of the season - Brad Maylett; goal of the season - Arthur Gnohere at Preston; most improved player - Dean West; best newcomer - David Johnson)
Claret and Blue Supporters Club
Dean West
Clarets Independent Supporters Association
Dean West
Colne Clarets
Dean West
(young player of the season - Earl Davis; goal of the season - Paul Cook at home to Walsall)
Earby Clarets
Dean West
(special achievement award - Stan Ternent)
Junior Claret and Blues
Gareth Taylor
Rossendale Clarets
Arthur Gnohere
(young player of the season - Earl Davis)
Shooters Arms Clarets
Dean West
(goal of the season - Paul Cook at home to Walsall)
South West Clarets
Dean West
John Watson Trophy for young player of the year
Joel Pilkington
So now you know. Hats off to all.
15 April - Wear your colours with pride this Sunday
Our friends at Clarets Mad have been in touch about a new idea of theirs to fill Turf Moor with colour for our final League match of the season this Sunday. You may recall their successful campaign to get people bringing their scarves to Turf Moor earlier this season. This time they're asking everyone who's going to our potentially important game against Coventry to wear their Claret and Blue colours. Dig you Burnley shirt out, whether this season's, last year's classic, any of its older manifestations or even one of those lovely vintage cotton shirts. In fact, the older the better. Wouldn't it be great if we could get at least one of every replica shirt ever made on display this Sunday?
This site is, of course, happy to give this initiative its backing. We're all entitled on our views on the way this season has gone. I think it's a debate that has to take place, and we'll be happy to publish any views that meet this site's minimum requirements of being original, well-written and thought-provoking. Personally I'm more than disappointed that, after being top at Christmas, we are about a fag paper's breadth away from missing out on the play-offs. Questions should be asked about our relegation form in 2002, particularly when there are enough examples out there - Huddersfield, Bristol Rovers, Leicester - of sides taking one end of season's dreadful form into the next.
But on Sunday, let's put all that aside for the 90 minutes. We still have a chance of making the play-offs and getting something out of the season, and although it's no longer in our hands due to the pathetic defeat at Grimsby, we can do no more than try to win, and win well. Supporters can play their part in backing the team and charging up the atmosphere. So get your Burnley shirt on this Sunday, get down there, and give it what you can. You never know.
Click here for more information from the Clarets Mad website.
9 April - Hey DJ
News that deserves the mass raising of hats today:
David Johnson's loan period has
been extended to the end of the season. This will include, though we hardly dare say it, the play-offs, should we get there.
Apparently Burnley have had to pay cash-strapped Forest (as they seem to be called this days) some kind of fee to
clinch the
deal. Huh. They obviously need the dosh and we clearly weren't in a position to risk losing him at this crucial stage.
Let's
hope this is a precursor to a permanent deal. There's something about DJ that suggests he could become a great Burnley
player, so we've got to sign him,
haven't we? Stan likes him. He likes playing for Stan. We love him. What could go wrong? Hmm, wonder if CS Forest are still
prepared to let him go on a free?
4 April - Feeble post-holiday attempt to catch up
So, what happened while the Web Tsar was away on a jaunt? (Since you ask, we went to Sweden to scout it as a possible location for future pre-season games, and can confirm that it is better in every single respect than the poxy Isle of Man. Stan, get the lads over there next summer!)
Well, Marlon Beresford rather disappointingly went back to Middlesbrough, recalled at short notice from his loan period due to an injury to Mark Schwarzer. Since then, rather than playing for our first team, he’s sat on their bench twice, as Schwarzer’s deputy Mark Crossley keeps goal. Marlon doesn’t even get a player profile on the official Boro website! Pity, because we liked having him back, he’d clearly improved in his absence, and we had some hopes of keeping him and having two decent keepers at the club. Marlon, naturally, goes with our thanks and good wishes, while we welcome NTG back in goal.
Secondly, Gareth Taylor became the latest Burnley international, after Ian Cox and, err, Phil Gray, when he came on as a sub in Wales' 0-0 draw with the Czech Republic last week. This is the site that dares to say that we love Gareth Taylor, so of course it’s hats off!
Transfer deadline day was the usual dull affair. Time was when this day was eagerly awaited as one of football's most glorious, with money being chucked around recklessly and with panic, but those times are long gone, and it doesn't look like they're coming back. The only move of Claret interest was young Anthony Shandran going out on loan to Stalybridge Celtic. Stalybridge are struggling to avoid the drop from the Conference, but their new manager, member of Burnley’s Miller-Scott dynasty David Miller, has had a good start, so let’s hope Shandran can play his part in helping them stay up (along with Woking, of course). He got off to a good start by scoring their second in their 2-0 win at Yeovil last weekend. Apparently he had a pretty pointless time of it in Ireland, so fingers crossed that his experience in the Conference is better and he benefits from it.
Our defeat against Wolves and
Barry Knight brought to light an interesting campaign.
Click here to learn more.
Finally, what can we say about the ITV Digital shambles? We come back from holiday and the sky seems to have fallen in on football. ITV’s attempts to get out of a deal they were happy to sign a year ago are disgraceful. Yes, of course it was too much money, and a lot of people thought so at the time. It was a stupid deal, and to make it worse their attempts to promote their product have been appalling, but a deal is a deal, however dumb, and companies with deep pockets like Granada and Carlton should be made to stick by it – or no one in football should have anything to do with them again. There are a lot of football fans out there who will suffer if ITV walk away from their deal, and it may be time to make them pay by hitting them where it hurts. A supporters’ boycott of ITV programmes would hit viewing figures and have the advertisers demanding to know what has happened. This is what we should be thinking about now… but I feel a proper article coming on.
PS... what on earth has happened to the ‘bringing you the latest news from Turf Moor 24 hours a day’ official website?
April 2002 comment entries
Reflections in a flat
Thoughts on the premature end of the season
Some reflections on the season
London Clarets to buy ITV Digital
And so to Sunday...
Racism in Burnley?
Celtic and Rangers breakaway shocker
Paul Gascoigne... if only
Bad Knight Out
The view from Sweden
April diary
May 2002 news and comment archive
Archive main menu
As with all articles on the site, the
views expressed in this section are those of the individual contributor, and do not
necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters Club.
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