Many thanks to all at London Clarets for the material I have used in the book
due out on August 4th. Little did I know how this season would turn
out when I started it. Little did I realise how bizarre and surreal
it would become with scores like 6 – 5 and 7 – 5 and clatterings
at home by 5 and 6, and yet brilliant games in the Cup, unbeaten runs
in the league, and all ending now in disarray as we take a sneaky peep
over our shoulder at the bottom three. As I write this after the Watford
debacle it does not seem impossible that we could lose every remaining
game. However no doubt we shall scrape a win from somewhere and survive.
Survival has been the name of this season I guess and if my book does
something towards chronicling that, it will have done its job. Being
an ex headmaster I can’t resist lobbing in the odd bit of general
knowledge. For example did you know that Gillingham is built on the
site of what was once Europe’s biggest manure heap. I didn’t
till I did this book. Walsall’s ground is built on the site of
an old sewage works. In Stoke the official town website says that there
is enough rubbish in Stoke to fill the Britannia Stadium. It made oi
larf.
It is not a book that blows the lid off Burnley Football Club. If there
is a lid I don’t know where it is and if there is anything to
blow I don’t know what it is. It is not a destructive book that
takes individual players apart if they have had a stinker. It certainly
says when the team has played badly, as indeed it sings praises when
they do well but I’m not one for publicly naming and shaming in
a book. Imagine in whatever job you or I do there are press reports
or messageboards the day after telling us we’re crap. Not sure
I’d like that.
It was late November before I even thought about publication and I
have to say it was one of the big surprises of my life that I actually
found an interested publisher. In no way am I a professional writer
although I’ve done odd bits and pieces for Times Ed, and a few
short stories have been in magazines. It began simply as an interest,
something to do in between the odd bits of supply teaching I did, but
has now become almost an obsession as the season ends with so many issues
to keep everyone guessing as to what might happen next. Maybe that’s
the thing about being a Burnley supporter; you just don’t know
what’s round the next corner. This summer there could be a whole
new clutch of faces if Stan gets to work… but then how do we know
Stan won’t say one day before then, that’s it, I’ve
had enough. Personally given that there is an opportunity to change
a fair number of faces this summer and wheel and deal, I’d prefer
it to be Stan doing this. Nobody does it better.
Anyway, the hard part has been what to leave out. There is so much
material to draw on. Everything I use from London Clarets is individually
acknowledged and it has been a pleasure to read the match reports crammed
with their pithy, dry, droll bits of humour. The vox pop I have used
a lot and feature articles I have dipped into and pulled out paragraphs
where they fit in. I found electronic fishcake from Grimsby a really
good site for its humour along with Blind Desperate and Stupid from
Watford. If anyone knows of other really witty entertaining sites with
good writing please let me know.
If anyone wants to email me with any thoughts about what was the turning
point of the season, or any defining moment, please do. It’s how
I want to end the book on page 999. £12.95, I think that’s
what it will be, is cheap at the price.
It was nice by the way to meet Firmo at the Grimsby game: that’s
the one where one bloke sitting behind me actually slept through the
first half. Honest I kid you not. One of the pleasures of this season
has been the discovery of The Kettledrum on the way to the game. The
beer I can’t tell you about but the food is top class. I have
driven by this place so many times and at last one day went in. An old
codger gave us a guided tour of the place pointing proudly to various
seats. “That’s where Stan stands, that’s where Ian
Wright sat, that’s where Gazza was… aye they all cum in
‘ere tha knows.”
Any money that comes my way from this book has already been spent on
sponsoring a matchball this season. The club will make a decent amount
per book sold from its own shelves. Launch day barring disasters, is
Monday August 4th in the JH Suite from 1 till 4. Tis a long way from
darn sarf I know but of course there is an open invitation and I think
the buffet budget runs to a bit of refreshment. I have asked that the
bar is open and who knows it might just be a chance to find out how
they got on at The Isles de Manne the week before in that regular favourite
The Steam Packet International Football Festival.
Dave Thomas
April 2003
