August
ends on a (relative) high
Goodbye, Golden Bonce
Some good news amidst the gloom
Di Branchio named captain
All square in final friendly
Click
here for this month's comment entries.
31
August - reasons to be cheerful
The
Clarets ended August with a win over Crewe,
pleasing in several respects:
• It was our second win on the trot, taking us
up to 15th in the table.
• It was another clean sheet.
• It saw Richard Chaplow's first League goal
- and he also won the SMS Man of the Match vote for
his overall performance.
• It saw the best performance for a while from
Tony Grant (the sponsors' Man of the Match).
So, there is life after Golden Bonce!
Of
course, the "Taylorgate" debate
continues, but the consensus of opinion seems
to be that half a million pounds was simply
too good an offer to turn down. Stan Ternent
certainly seemed to have no doubt, judging
from his comments on burnleyfootballclub.com:
"...The
financial implications have to be addressed,
hence Gareth and his £500,000 transfer
fee. The Football Club needed that money
to survive. If
you keep Gareth, the Club could go into
administration or even worse, liquidation.
"If
Gareth goes, then the Football Club survives
and it's my job to ensure the Club survives
in the First Division. It makes it a little
bit more difficult for me though, but I
know what I need to do."
He
went on to say:
"The
Chairman has put £6 million in and
if he hadn't done that then there wouldn't
be a Football Club. ...Without Barry Kilby,
there's no Burnley Football Club."
Well,
let's just hope that the correct decision
has been made, and some of the money at least
will be spent on strengthening the squad.
One
new face has appeared at Turf Moor - Nicky
Summerbee (who is, of course, the son of
ex Claret, Mike). "Buzzer" has
played for a number of clubs, including Manchester
City and Sunderland, and was released by
Leicester City at the end of last season.
His presence does seem a bit odd, as one
thing we're not short of is wingers. Maybe
he's
just training with us to get his fitness
up. Stan works in mysterious ways, though,
so no doubt time will tell if there's anything
more in it.
28
August - it's happened, now we have to
deal with it
The
fantastic experience that was Gillingham
away has had the gloss taken off it with
the news of Gareth Taylor's departure. We've
always had a particular affection for Golden
Bonce, who is of course our reigning Player
of the Season.
We
were in Gillingham when word started to go
round that Forest had made a bid. From that
moment on, we knew that he would be leaving,
especially when the Club later confirmed
the situation by text message. Since then,
things have happened quickly. Forest's offer
was accepted, Taylor passed a medical and
an examination on his eye injury, and the
deal (a three-year contract) was concluded
yesterday.
Barry
Kilby explained via burnleyfootballclub.com:
"There
have been several offers for Gareth Taylor
since the end of last season that the Club
has turned down. As this intensified at
the start of the season, talks were held
with Gareth to see if we could extend his
contract beyond May 2004, when he became
a free agent.
"Unfortunately
we could not match the offers his agent
had had from other Clubs and although we
could have insisted that he saw out his
contract for the rest of the season, it
was made clear to us that we would have
had a very unhappy player on our staff.
"The
other obvious factor in our minds was that
one Club was prepared to pay £500,000
for an asset that evaporates into thin
air over the next couple of months. In
the light of these realities, the Club
has accepted the offer from Nottingham
Forest and we wish Gareth well.
"Some
of the monies from this deal will go to
strengthen our squad and some to cover
the shortfall in our Season Ticket Sales.
We believe that we are only a few players
away from an excellent squad and Gareth's
transfer will help towards finding them."
So,
we're half a million pounds richer from the
transaction. We also got £175,000 as
a result of the sell-on clause in Alan Lee's
contract with Rotherham. Sarcasm doesn't
come over well online, but please imagine
that the following words are dripping with
it: Perhaps we can get some players
in now, before we go into Division Two?
Putting
disappointment to one side, we would like
to wish Gareth all the very best for the
future. We're sure he will retain a soft
spot for Burnley, and we'll always have one
for him.
23
August - a familiar face arrives, but our
defence is still leaking
So
much for pre-season "indications".
We've had the most dreadful start to our
League campaign, losing all three matches
to date and racking up a frightening goal
difference of -6. We are indeed the strongest
team in the division, holding up the other
23.
Some
good news arrived in the shape of ex you-know-who
and Manchester United centre half David May
(who has signed for us until the end of the
season), but even his presence wasn't enough
to stop us losing at home to Wigan. However,
David should be a good acquisition for us,
and we'd like to welcome him to the Turf.
We've already forgotten his past sins!
In
between League games we did at least manage
to squeak past Chesterfield in the first
round of the Carling Cup, though we needed
penalties (and some stunning saves from Brian
Jensen) to do it. Our next match in the competition
will be away at Scunthorpe on Tuesday 23rd
September.
8
August - round-up
Not
much to report as the season approaches.
All is quiet at the Turf, and, disappointingly,
no further new signings have appeared. Just
a couple of snippets: Graham Branch has been
given the captain's armband for the season.
He admits that he will have to get used to
shouting a lot more! And Paul Scott has been
handed squad number 23. He is the fifth member
of the Miller / Scott dynasty to play for
Burnley. We send our congratulations to Graham
and Paul.
Away
from Turf Moor, there have been a couple
of items of interest, both originating from
The Football League.
In
a move that is sure to be of interest
to all football supporters, the League
announced that it has joined with several
other organisations in an initiative
to tackle football-related violence
and racism.
The
campaign urges people to call Crimestoppers
on 0800 555 111 to
pass on information relating to these
issues. Calls are free, and anonymity
is preserved.
More
information is available at the Crimestoppers
website, or from The
Football League.
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The
League has also outlined details of an experimental
scheme aimed at bringing players' salaries
under control. The scheme has been introduced
in Division Three, and, if successful, will
probably be extended to cover Divisions One
and Two as well.
More
details are available from The
Football League's website, but essentially
each club will have to cap its players' aggregate
wages at 60 percent of its turnover. Clubs
who fail to comply will be penalised by having
to repay grant money worth £33,000.
If and when the scheme goes "live",
sanctions could be extended to include fines
and points penalties.
We
will watch with interest what happens.
2
August - Burnley 2 Birmingham City 2
A
lively encounter at Turf Moor (including
the obligatory brawl) saw the Clarets end
pre-season with a well-deserved draw against
Steve Bruce's Blues. Full details of the
match are available in our match
report.
After
the game, Sam Ellis said that he and Stan
were pleased with how the players looked
pre-season, with the only problem being the
lack of (player) numbers.
Of
course, not only is our squad too small anyway,
but we will be missing the in-form Ian Moore
for the first three games of the season -
he will be suspended following his sending
off against Sheffield Wednesday. Additionally,
Taylor and McGregor (both injured) and Chadwick
(recovering from an operation) will all be
absent for an unknown period. We must strengthen
our squad - and soon.
August's
comment entries
Firmo's view: Golden Bonce's
departure
Igor Wowk on the August Bank
Holiday
weekend's matches and future possibilities
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.
