Burnley FC - The London Clarets

The London Clarets
The Burnley FC London Supporters Club

Home
Magazine - latest issue
Magazine - archive
Fixtures / results
Match reports
News and Comment
News archive
Player of the year
Meetings with Burnley FC
Firmo's view
Pub guide
Survey
Photos
Burnley FC history
London Clarets history
About this site
Credits
Site map
Site search
Contacts
E-mail us

Back to the last page

 

 

Barry Kilby and the Coat of Destiny

What follows is the story of why, at Bolton on the opening day of the season, I'll be wearing Burnley FC Chairman Barry Kilby's llama hair coat.

It all started right at the end of last year. If you were at the Oxford home match, there are many things you may remember. You might recall Andy Payton’s hat trick, or the way we won the game at the last gasp, despite going twice behind. You may recollect the wonderfully sentimental moment when Jimmy McIlroy had his stand dedicated to him and took the pitch with much of the 1960 championship winning team, or the presentations to the wives of two other Burnley legends, Bob Lord and Harry Potts. Naturally, all those stick in the mind, but for me, it was something else from that match which was to have personal significance. The ceremonies were presided over by Barry Kilby and Vice Chairman Ray Ingleby, and Barry took the pitch wearing what I considered to be an extremely objectionable item of outerwear. In the London Clarets match report for that game, I wrote:

"The only thing I could find to criticise is Barry Kilby's appalling shaggy brown coat which he wore on the pitch. Perhaps it was a Christmas present and he felt obliged to wear it."

I’d met Barry a couple of times and knew that, being a modern and with it kind of Chairman, he always read our reports on the internet, so I felt confident he’d take it in the spirit intended. The last time we’d met, shortly before the Derby game, he’d blasted me for advocating a defensive approach in that match after spending months saying we should attack more. But it was no sooner written than forgotten. There’s always the next report to write.

Cut to February, and a Friday night in London’s busy West End. The occasion was a posh dinner for the members of the various London-based clubs of supporters of non-London teams. You wouldn’t believe how many there are down here. As ever, there was a substantial London Clarets contingent giving the event our support. Joining us for the evening as our guests of honour were Barry Kilby and his wife Sonia. I’d not met Sonia before. Her first words to me were:

"I’ve got a bone to pick with you."

I floundered. It turned out Mrs Kilby was less than happy with the above description of her husband’s coat. My first thought was, what coat? She filled me in. This throwaway remark had apparently cut our leader to the quick. "He’s not worn it since," Sonia went on. Barry looked genuinely hurt. It transpired that, far from being an unwanted gift, this coat was a highly prized item in the Kilby household, having cost an astronomical sum, and being made of llama hair. And not just any old llamas, but genuine 100% Peruvian llamas. Not adult llamas either; for this coat, only the purest, softest, finest baby llama hair was good enough. A hefty garment as I remembered, I could only imagine how many baby llamas had gone into the making of it. Now this coat was lying unloved and neglected at the bottom of the Kilby wardrobe, not having seen the light of day for months, however cold the weather got and however hard the wind blew. I duly and profoundly apologised. Team photo with Barry and Sonia Kilby and Peter Pike MP

Team photo from the night with Barry Kilby rear left, Sonia Kilby front second from left and Peter Pike MP rear right.

I don’t quite recall how we got from this stage to the next, but somewhere along the way as the beer gave way to wine and the great coat debate rumbled on, a deal was struck. In the event of our promotion, I was challenged to wear the coat for the first game back in the first division. I readily assented. Barry reminded the gathering that this was always one of the hottest days of the year, and hoped for a long and very sticky journey.

Of course, from that moment the season had its ups and downs. Three times, after defeats by Preston, Luton and Gillingham, chances of automatic promotion were pronounced expired and qualification for the play-offs seemed the most to which we could aspire. It didn’t worry me, though. I never doubted. Whether we did it automatically or the hard way, we now simply had to go up. It was my destiny to wear that coat.

As we all know, so it proved. On the way back from that joyous day in Scunthorpe, and considerably assisted by drink, we spoke to Barry on the phone. Naturally, my main concern was the state of the coat. I advised that he may wish to take it to be cleaned. Barry replied that the coat was "in pristine condition." "We’re really going to have to do this now, aren’t we?" he said.

Barry comes down to London a lot on business, which is fortunate for us, as it means he’s sometimes able to come to our get togethers. Once again, along with Burnley MP Peter Pike, he attended our AGM, held in London in July. Barry’s views on the season of triumph just gone and the club’s plans to ensure our progress is maintained in the future were typically interesting. As he finished, without warning, he reached down under the table and produced a bag, from which emerged the coat. He’s a man of his word. It was handed over. I had the coat.

The official handover of the coatBarry Kilby (left) hands over the coat. Peter Pike MP (right) joins in on the fun.

It’s a big coat too. Barry’s a bit taller than me, so the coat is a rather all-embracing affair. It comes right down to my feet. When wearing it, there’s not much of me that isn’t coat. It’s very brown and very soft. People couldn’t resist the urge to stroke it, and of course I didn’t try to stop them. Oh, and yes it is very, very hot. The AGM was held on a warmish day, and I was fairly sweltering inside there. The opening day of the season is, of course, classically hot and sunny. Yet while all around me will be dressed suitably in t-shirts and jeans, I will be adorned for the occasion in attire fitting for our return to a reasonable level of football. I have purchased a ticket in the top tier at extra expense, naturally, as I feel it is the least the coat deserves. I feel it may be wise to carry some supplies of non-alcoholic fluids, mind. Failing that, it is my aim to last a good way into the second half before fainting from heat exhaustion and being carried out on a stretcher.

As I write this the coat hangs on the door of the wardrobe in the spare room, almost within touching distance of this computer. Not for much longer. Its time is near. See you at Bolton, and be sure to look out for the Coat of Destiny!

Firmo
August 200
0


Llama links - The Day of the Llama at Bolton, August 2000 - page 1, page 2, page 3 and page 4
Coat photos from the AGM page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4 and page 5
The report from our night out with Barry and Sonia and photos from that night
The Oxford match report that started it all

Back Top Home E-mail us

The London Clarets
The Burnley FC London Supporters Club