A view from
Cumbria
1999-2000
Who would have thought after watching
Burnley’s miserable capitulation at Fulham in December 1998 that we would lose only
five of our next 35 away games? And who would have thought, after the three goalless
consecutive home defeats in February and March 1999 that we would lose just four of the
next 27 at home?
I think the turning point was Macclesfield at
home. After going two behind early on, we battled back and at last showed the fight and
determination and grit that was to serve us so well the following season. If we’d
lost that day, who knows what would have happened? But some of out subsequent
performances, particularly Blackpool and Stoke away, convinced me that, right from the
start, Stan Ternent knew what he was doing. It didn’t always looks that way, but
imagine if he’d resigned or been sacked. Would we now be looking forward to Division
One football next season? No.
It was unreasonable to expect Stan to wave a
magic wand and repair overnight the shambles that Chris Waddle left. That it only took him
one season is a testimony to the fact that he is the best manager we have had since Jimmy
Adamson. Where he has scored heavily is in his transfer deadlines. Almost all his signings
have been rock solid, and two (Davis and Wright) inspirational. After some of the donkeys
that Waddle and Jimmy Mullen brought in, it is very reassuring to have faith in our
manager’s judgement. Some of Stan’s signings, particularly Mellon and Branch,
have had their critics, but both played important parts in last season’s success.
The other major factor in our improved fortunes
is, of course, the change at boardroom level. We now have a chairman who is full of
initiative and is forward looking. His contribution in the ‘Rhapsody’ video is
heart-warming. He is obviously, like us, a fan. He is also a businessman. The slashing of
juvenile season ticket prices will hopefully provide a good young fan-base for future
years. The pricing and timing of the adult season ticket prices has been criticised, but
the club has sold more than ever before. So who was right?
A word about Frank Teasdale. Of course, he held
on for far too long. His handling of the take-over assumed farcical proportions. But let
us not forget that he presided over the most troubled period the club had ever suffered,
and we pulled through. He is as big a fan as Barry Kilby, and he never treated the club as
a commodity, unlike his counterparts at, say, Brighton or Carlisle. I, for one, am pleased
he is still involved.
Last season was a peculiar one. We were rarely
out of the top seven, and yet I did not really believe automatic promotion to be a
possibility until after the Oxford win. I thought we’d blown it all when we were well
beaten by Gillingham, and at half time at Brentford, the general feeling was that unless
we could pull this one round we might struggle to make the play-offs. We did pull it round
and one by one our rivals bottled it. Even on the way to Scunthorpe, I felt that
Gillingham would pip us to second spot. They’d shown little sign of faltering, and I
couldn’t believe that Wrexham, who’d been very poor in both games against us,
were capable of holding a far superior side. Good old Brian Flynn?
Scunthorpe. What a day. For the first time ever,
Burnley FC failed to deliver me a ticket. I posted my application, with season ticket
voucher, the day before Good Friday. A week later, the whole lot came back with a note
that my application was received after all tickets had been sold. Barring a Royal Mail
cock-up, I am sure my application arrived before tickets officially went on sale. Cue
panic! Surely I wouldn’t have to resort to watching the match at home on ‘Sky
Soccer Saturday’. However, I reckoned without the resourcefulness of my work
colleagues. One telephoned Scunthorpe posing as a home supporter, but that didn’t
work. Then one of my partners (I work as a solicitor in Whitehaven) learned of the
problem, and took over. She got the Law Directory, found a list of Scunthorpe firms of
solicitors, and telephoned one. She asked the receptionist to be put through to a partner
who was interested in football. Her approach was then as incisive as a Steve Davis surge
through the middle. "Look here, one of my colleagues is a Burnley supporter and
can’t get a ticket, what are you going to do bout it?" This threw the Scunthorpe
lawyer, and he asked if he could ring back. He did so, fifteen minutes later. Apparently,
this particular firm has six places in an executive box at Glanford Park, and, if
Scunthorpe were already relegated, he was pretty sure there would be a space for me. So, I
was probably the only Claret at the Cambridge home game whose attention was half on the
match being played below me, and half on a game 150 south, praying for an Oxford home win.
And so it was that I received in the post the
following week an executive box and car park pass. I drove to Scunthorpe, arriving at
about two o’clock, and enjoyed a drink in the executive lounge, which was bust and at
least 50 per cent Burnley supporters. Goodness knows how they’d wrangled their
entries. I shared my box with several representatives of a local engineering firm (none of
the solicitors turned up) and I have to say they were very friendly and they didn’t
seem to mind that they had been infiltrated. It was all very comfortable, with a coffee
machine, biscuits and Sky TV, but what a sanitised way to watch football! I would much
rather have been behind the goal to my right, cheering ands shouting with the rest of you.
However, there was a bonus. At the end of the match, after the Wrexham result was
confirmed on the television, I strolled along the corridor and into the directors’
box, to be joined a few moments later by the players! I wish I could remember the next
couple of minutes more clearly, but I’m afraid it’s all a bit of a blur. I do
recall Wrighty jumping over my shoulder onto Andy Payton’s back, and I do remember a
shirtless Stan seemingly distancing himself from the celebrations, full of his own
thoughts. Then it was back to the car, up the A1 to Scotch Corner and along the A66 home,
listening to Radio Five and its regular confirmations that we’d done it.
One moment from the match sticks in my mind. Two
minutes after our winner, the cry ‘Ian Wright, Wright, Wright’ came from the
Burnley end. I looked out through the glass at the Scunthorpe fans in front of me, who all
watched Wrighty getting ready to come on, with looks of pure envy in their eyes. An
insignificant moment, perhaps, but it hit me then that we are a big club, and they
aren’t, and that if we could hold out for the last fifteen minutes and achieve
promotion, we must never allow our club to sink again to the depths of the fairly recent
past.
So what does the immediate future hold? It will
be much harder next season. Andy Payton is unlikely to score another 27, and it is
significant that, after him, our next highest scorers last season were Steve Davis and
Andy Cooke with seven. Glen Little will find it harder to get behind defences, and if we
are going to play three centre backs, we’ll need an improvement in the wing back
positions. Stan knows this, and I’m sure he’ll bring the right players in. I
also have a sneaking feeling that some of our existing players (Micky Mellon, John
Mullin?) will surprise us with their progress. We won’t do a Watford or Manchester
City, but neither do I expect us to face a serious relegation struggle. Mid-table
anonymity, just above Blackburn Rovers, will do nicely for next season.
I’ve been a member of the London Clarets
for about 18 years despite never having lived south of Lytham St Annes and this is my
first contribution to the magazine. Let’s hope that next season’s form inspires
me to further literary efforts.
Neil Pilling
August 2000
