1/12
After a wet, ashen morning, we had an afternoon of blinding, golden sunlight. It was quite appropriate, as obdurate Burnley overcame promotion rivals Crystal Palace, and once again seized top spot from Wolves, who play tomorrow. Trevor Francis had just taken over as Palace’s manager, but this time the new manager magic didn’t work. Without the suspended Taylor, Stan chose to play Ian Moore up alone, with four in midfield and Little in his favoured roving role. But it was Cox and Gnohere who caught the eye, in another superb defensive performance. Burnley took the lead in the 23rd minute, when Palace failed to clear Weller’s corner adequately. Clarke’s weak punch was returned with interest, and Moore rose to back head the lofted ball over the stranded keeper. Both Alan Moore and Little had failed to convert earlier chances, but so had Clinton Morrison. However, the Palace striker made amends fifteen minutes later, when he, too, capitalised on a poorly defended corner to flick Austin’s header past NTG. Burnley’s tactics seemed to be based upon resolute defence and quick counter attacks, often using long balls to good effect. In the second half, Alan Moore frequently took up advanced central positions to provide better support for his namesake. Just after the hour this approach proved decisive. It came shortly after Riihilahti had struck the Burnley bar with a 30-yard screamer. In the 62nd minute, Alan controlled a long ball and played Ian in expertly, enabling the latter to beat Clarke with a precise shot. Palace enjoyed plenty of possession in the closing stages, but with Burnley rapidly closing them down, they created few chances. This was Burnley’s fifth win in six games.
Stan said, "We dug in today, although it wasn't our best performance. Credit to Palace, they got stuck in, but it was a good battling performance and we won, which is the most important thing. I think we shaded it today though. Palace are a pretty good side and we're happy to come away with the three points. Ian Moore worked ever so hard and he had an opportunity for the first, but the second was a top class finish. But he's playing particularly well. I didn't buy him for a bucketful of goals, I bought him to lead the line and that is what he has done. Alan Moore played near enough a full match and he was tired at the end, but it's good to have him back. He is an international footballer and he is top quality. He gives us good balance and we're delighted to have him back." Taciturn Stan initially told the press that he wouldn’t be drawn on Paul Cook’s departure, stating, "There will be more about that on Monday." However, the Observer managed to extract a little more. Stan continued, "Obviously, I would like to go out and get someone better than the players I have here, but we might be classed as having champagne tastes on beer money. There’s a level of rumours going on around the club regarding transfers [It is claimed that Turf Moor staff have made a local hotel booking for a visitor from Birmingham. Is there something in this Ginola nonsense after all?], but nothing has happened yet. Some of our play isn’t very fluent, but everything’s going OK." A bitterly disappointed Trevor Francis endorsed this, commenting, "Stan’s teams are always tough and uncompromising. They have incredible self-belief." Is this really our team that they are talking about? I’m still finding it hard to get my head around this. Burnley: NTG, West, Cox, Gnohere, Branch, Little (Ellis 80), Weller (Ball 49), Grant, Briscoe, A Moore (Johnrose 85), I Moore. Subs not used: Cennamo, Payton. Attendance: 18,457. Our match report.
3/12 Well away from the escalating conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Stan Ternent was finally named as the Nationwide First Division Manager of the Month for November. It was a richly deserved and long overdue award. Stan said with typical humility, "It's for the players, for my staff and everyone connected to Burnley Football Club. It is also for the Chairman and his Board of Directors, who have backed me throughout, so it's a nice recognition. So, thank you very much."
As promised, Stan released a statement regarding the situation with Paul Cook. "Paul Cook has joined Wigan Athletic on a month's loan and the reason for that is he needs a new contract. At the moment, I am not in a position to do that. I will have a look at it after a month." It is rumoured that Cook had fallen out with Stan. It is also rumoured that Davis and Payton are about to depart, too. However, there is no substantiation for any of this. Personally, I find training ground ‘bust up’ stories thoroughly irritating. They are frequently the fatuous products of tittle-tattle merchants with over-indulged egos. What is obvious is that a close bond exists between our players, as confirmed by both Davis and Ball. It is difficult to envisage how our team could be so much more than the sum of its parts without this.
As for the Ginola speculation, Stan scotched this. "If anyone wants to help us out with the wages then maybe! In Burnley there are a lot of rumours going around at the moment about different players, but there's no truth in it. If the players that I have in mind become available, I'll talk to the Chairman and I'm sure that he and the Board of Directors would back me as much as they possibly could, as they have done all the way down the line. If I could go out and get someone as good as or better than what we have then I would like to do that." Even supposing there was a shred of credibility in the rumour, Stan would not have been impressed with Ginola’s dismissal on Saturday. Stan swept aside the rumours concerning Steve Davis as well, stating, "The skip is my captain and plays a big part in my plans here, and I wouldn't have thought Manchester City will be happy with the rumours either."
The youth team were summarily dismissed, too. Manchester City proved far too strong for our youngsters, winning the FA Youth Cup tie 3-0, at something of a canter.
6/12 Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians are reeling under the Israelis' furious bombardment as the combatants reap the wild wind. Meanwhile, workers at electronics giant Philips have become the latest victims of the wave of redundancies sweeping across East Lancashire, taking local job losses to more than 900 in two weeks. It is announced today that Andy Payton has been loaned to Blackpool. This comes 24 hours after he was sentenced for failing to stop and provide a breath sample following a road accident. Payton was sentenced to 80 days community service, fined £750 and ordered to pay £75 costs. The court was informed that the club would also discipline him. Denying that Blackpool represented the Gulag Archipelago, Stan maintained that the one-month loan would help improve Payton’s match fitness. Stan added, "I've not been able to give him a regular start and reserve football is not where we want him to be coming from. We will let things die down and wait and see what happens." Payton's future still appears to be at Turf Moor, however, as he continues to train with the Clarets, and Stan will not allow him to become cup-tied by playing for Blackpool against Rochdale in the FA Cup second round this weekend.
Better news concerned Glen Little and Arthur Gnohere, who both agreed extensions to their current contracts. Glen is signed up for two more years after this season, and Arthur has agreed to extend his contract until June 2005. However, Burnley reserves suffered a rare defeat last night when they lost 0-2 against Rotherham. Lenny Johnrose missed a penalty and Papa missed a sitter.
9/12 It’s brass monkey weather, but Burnley’s performance warmed the cockles in triumphing 3-2 at Deepdale. We are now four points clear at the top following Arthur Gnohere’s brace and another goal from Super Glen. It was a damn good weekend, with most of our principal challengers losing and Wolves failing to get more than a point at Grimsby. This victory ended PNE’s 11-match unbeaten run, and manager David Moyes was pretty sore about it. The fun started in the 17th minute, when King Arthur Gnohere caught the home defence napping and clipped in Lee Briscoe’s right wing cross. Eight minutes later an error from Lee Cartwright gifted Little the second of the game. From the corner of the area, our gifted wide man bent his shot superbly, finding the far corner with Lucas helpless. This is Glen’s eighth League goal this season. What the hell is happening! Once again, we made things hard for ourselves. On the half hour NTG flapped at a free kick, allowing Paul McKenna to blast the ball past him. Then four minutes from half time, Alexander put Preston back on terms with a controversial penalty. It had appeared that Branch’s challenge was legitimate. Nevertheless, Ian Moore should have restored our lead minutes later, as he sought to capitalise on his namesake’s superb 35-yard chip. Alas, Alan Moore was denied by Lucas’ fingertips and the bar, and Ian failed to put any power in his header as the ball rebounded to him. However, all’s well etc. as King Arthur scored a stunning second in the 61st minute after combining brilliantly with Alan Moore. Overall Moyes thought Preston had done enough to win. Admittedly, his side had the better early chances. David Healy twice found himself in threatening positions in the first five minutes. Richard Cresswell was almost through on goal, too, after knocking the ball past Gnohere, but King Arthur did well to recover. NTG atoned for his earlier error by a succession of good saves during the second half, although Basham really should have equalised in the 88th minute when he was sent clear, but he poked the ball wide from 10 yards out. Now, if we can beat Stockport next Saturday, we’re almost safe.
A delighted Stan said, "It was a very good game. It had goals and everything. I thought the referee was woeful, but that's only my opinion." Stan wasn’t happy with NTG’s caution for alleged handball outside the box. Stan drew the same conclusion as the BFC commentators, insisting, "I have watched Nik's 'handball' on the video and it's inside the box." Fortunately, the referee must have been somewhat unsure about his assistant’s judgement, as he chose to caution NTG only for what is normally an automatic dismissible offence. Stan took issue with Burnley’s disallowed goal, too. "And at the end with Gareth Taylor, if that's going to be a foul it's an obstruction by Chris Lucketti." He was not happy with the way his team gave away their two-goal lead, though. He added, "I thought we had to win the game twice. We were coasting and then Niko punched a ball when he should have caught it and gave them a chance. All credit to the players, but Nik made up for it with some very good saves in the second half." Burnley: NTG, West, Cox, Gnohere, Branch (Taylor 59), Little (Weller 84), Ball, Grant, Briscoe, A Moore (Johnrose 85), I Moore. Subs not used: Cennamo and Papadopoulos. Attendance: 20,370. Our match report.
13/12 The inquiry reports concerning the riots in Burnley, Oldham and Bradford were published this week. They highlighted the rigid ethnic divisions, the appalling examples of poverty and the corrosive myths and jealousies about the destination of government regeneration funding as contributory factors. In Oldham the football club was called upon to do more to heal the racial divide. In Burnley the lack of racial integration within the school system is targeted for reform. Urgent action is also recommended in addressing the town’s economic, crime and housing problems.
Meanwhile, on the football front, Chairman Barry Kilby confirmed that funds are available to boost the Clarets’ promotion bid. It appears that Bradford striker / midfielder Robbie Blake is still in Stan’s sights, although Bradford’s valuation isn’t. However, yet another Greek, Giorgios Alexopoulos, a defender, was given a trial in Burnley reserves' 5-2 drubbing of a strong Wolves side at RAF Cosford last night. He did well, apparently, but not as well as Papadopoulos, who scored a hat trick. Ronnie Jepson enthused, "Dimitri was smashing last night. To be honest he was one of the best players in a disappointing display last week, but yesterday he was a little bit special." With Payts off limits currently that is encouraging news. However, Steve Davis has experienced a setback in his recovery programme. It looks as if he will be out for a further two months. Lenny Johnrose is injured again, too. Suddenly, Stan’s squad is looking a bit thin. Expect some incoming movement very soon.
15/12 On another freezing day, the heat is being turned up on the trapped al Qa’ida forces. And despite a below par performance, Burnley summoned just sufficient quality to defeat a ruggedly competitive Stockport side, 3-2. It put them seven points clear at the top of the First Division, although Wolves and Man City would reduce that lead to four points following victories on Sunday. Having survived two early close calls, we hoped that Glen Little would steady our nerves when he converted a 9th minute penalty. The spot kick was awarded after Delaney felled Taylor in the box. However, the lead lasted just two minutes. Ali Gibb’s right wing cross was not claimed by NTG allowing the combative Kuqi to set up his strike partner, Gary McSheffrey, for a diving header. Stockport’s direct, battling style ruffled our normally composed back line, and their tireless harrying in midfield forced us into committing a succession of errors. Nevertheless, Alan Moore almost conjured up scoring opportunities for Briscoe and his namesake, and Glen Little was only denied by a brilliant stop from keeper Lee Jones, following a rare defence-splitting pass. After the interval, Stockport seized the initiative and should have taken the lead after Kuqi had muscled his way into the box. However, the Finnish / Albanian striker’s shot was well parried by NTG, and Ellison fired wide from the rebound. Stan immediately replaced Alan Moore, who had become largely subdued, with Paul Weller. It was an astute move, with Weller helping Little to recover his cutting edge. Sure enough, in the 66th minute, Little capitalised on Ian Moore’s determined run and crossed precisely from the right for Taylor to head in at the far post. Five minutes later, Glen beat his man and crossed from the left by-line for Ian Moore to dink a shot over Jones at the near post. Kuqi’s 93rd minute penalty, awarded against Taylor for handling, was a mere consolation. Despite proving to be cannon fodder at Preston and Wednesday, bottom of the table County were expected to put up a fight today, and they didn’t disappoint. Their manager, Carlton Palmer, thought they were the better side.
Stan probably agreed despite praising his team for toughing it out. With obvious relief Stan commented, "I thought Stockport were excellent today. Their work-rate, skill and commitment was excellent, everything about them was top-drawer. We had to win the match today, it was an ugly game but when you are top you are there to be shot at." Burnley: NTG, West, Cox, Gnohere, Branch (Armstrong 75), Little, Ball, A Moore (Weller 60), Briscoe, I Moore (Papadopoulos 88), Taylor. Subs not used: Cennamo and Maylett. Attendance: 15,526. Our match report.
As for the youth team, they remain stuck in a losing rut. This time they went down 0-2 to Wigan despite having Earl Davis back from injury. Better news concerns Lenny Johnrose and Mitchell Thomas. They may well be available for the Christmas programme. Finally, having drawn Canvey Island at home in the FA Cup, Burnley were prevented from reducing the ticket prices to £6. Understandably, Canvey Island want as much dosh as possible from the tie. But don’t write off their prospects of progressing further. They are a tough, uncompromising unit with bags of self-confidence. Remember Wimbledon in 1975?
19/12 Burnley reserves drew 2-2 with PNE stiffs at Turf Moor tonight with Papa scoring twice and almost securing a second successive hat trick. That’s more like it. Trialist defenders Rick Titus (Canadian ‘Defender of the Year’ from Vancouver Whitecaps) and Giorgios Alexopoulos (another defender from Panathinaikos) played, as Stan looks at how the first team might be strengthened. However, the latest rumour concerns Bradford veteran midfielder Stuart McCall. It is alleged that he has fallen out with manager Jim Jeffries and may be Burnley bound. Hmm.
It is also rumoured that the Phoenix League is about to rise from the ashes with several First Division clubs about to resign. Chairman Barry Kilby made his intentions quite clear. Burnley will not be resigning from the League. As Firmo rightly observed, "This is what we wanted to hear. It would be ridiculous if the competition we all began on level terms back in August were negated by the actions of some clubs pulling out of the League. There should be only one reason for Burnley to resign from the League in April - promotion."
Meanwhile, in response to an adverse press report on BFC’s stand on racism, the club issued the following statement: "Burnley Football Club is absolutely committed to fighting racism and currently runs a strong community Anti-Racism programme with a full time member of staff dedicated to building relationships with the Asian community and promoting the Anti-Racism message. The Burnley Task Force has praised the work we are doing with the Asian community. We are currently studying the Task Force Report, which came out last week, to see if there is anything else we could be doing to build relationships with the Asian community in Burnley. We will be digesting and then acting upon the recommendations in the report, ensuring that we are doing all we can to encourage ALL members of the Burnley Community to support their local club." Chief Executive Andrew Watson added, "We feel we have done much, and will continue to do so in this area. The latest commitment was to employ our Ethnic Minorities Officer Dino Maamria full time, after the initial grant that we received runs out."
22/12 Despite the arctic conditions, over 16,000 Burnley supporters braved the elements to watch this dour 0-0 stalemate. Burnley had sufficient chances, but Millwall’s stubborn defensiveness finally denied them. Lawrence, Dyche, Nethercott and Ryan were superb in the Lions’ back four, while Bircham, Cahill, Livermore and Reid provided strong midfield support, but Alan Moore spurned two excellent close range chances and Taylor and Ian Moore should have done better with their opportunities. Ball and Briscoe went desperately close to scoring, too. As for Millwall, they were largely content to hold Burnley at bay. Their one attack of note, in the 10th minute, resulted in Sadlier firing wide from a good position. The positives were the tough and creative contributions of Ball and Grant in midfield and the quality of Burnley’s ball retention. With Wolves drawing at Watford and Man City’s game at Crewe falling victim to the ice, Burnley remain four points ahead of second-placed Wolves.
Stan remarked, "It's all part of the learning process and we are now finding out how to handle being top of the league. Teams coming here for a point is something we are going to have to get used to. It's frustrating but only in that we didn't score. We didn't get a break but I thought we played very well. But that's 50 points now so we're safe and we can push on for the play-offs." Burnley: NTG, West, Cox, Gnohere, Briscoe, Little, Grant, Ball, A Moore, I Moore (Weller 64), Taylor. Subs not used: Cennamo, Armstrong, Ellis, Papadopoulos. Attendance: 16,131. Our match report.
26/12 Burnley’s game at Rotherham was called off because of a frozen pitch, but neither Wolves nor Man City could take advantage. City squandered stacks of chances in their 0-0 home draw with West Brom and Preston dumped Wolves on their backsides at Molineux (3-2). So we remained four points ahead of both of our rivals with a game advantage over Wolves. It means that City cannot dislodge us until 2002 at the earliest. Happy old year.
29/12 Happy old year, my ****! Cometh the fixture, cometh the thrashing. Being sticklers for tradition, Man. City crushed us again today, this time by 5-1. We had the worst possible start. Due to some extremely sloppy defending, we conceded our first goal after just 80 seconds. With Dean West AWOL, Shaun Goater seized on Danny Tiatto’s through ball and set up his strike partner Paulo Wanchope, who scored easily at the near post. This stung Burnley into furious retaliation, and with better finishing, we could and should have been ahead by the 15th minute. Taylor missed a sitter (will he ever score with his feet?!), Little fluffed a penalty, Ian Moore shot too hurriedly and tamely when well placed and Horlock headed Ball’s well-struck effort off the line. City’s defence was reeling at this stage. But in the 27th minute our back line let us down again, when Gnohere gave Wanchope far too much space to turn and shoot. NTG had no chance. Ten minutes later, Berkovic blasted City into an unassailable lead, following yet more tentative defending. Wanchope was then gifted his hat trick after Tony Grant conceded possession to Berkovic. Ian Moore pulled a goal back in the second half, beating Nash at his near post with a fierce, low drive, but substitute Huckerby restored City’s four goal lead in the final minute, after Horlock's fine pass put him clean through on goal.
The obvious lessons to be gleaned from this humiliating defeat were: (1) our midfielders gave the back four insufficient protection and allowed Berkovic and Benarbia far too much freedom; (2) our defenders needed to stick much closer to Goater, Wanchope et al; (3) we failed to capitalise on our good possession in City’s half (e.g. we had ten corners, but all but one were wasted); and (4) our finishing needs to be sharper. Stan was quite phlegmatic, though. He thought we hadn’t played that badly but thought that the quality of finishing separated the sides. Even Keegan felt that the scoreline flattered City. Burnley: NTG, West (Papa 71), Cox, Gnohere, Briscoe, Little, Ball, Grant, A Moore, I Moore (Ellis 81), Taylor. Subs not used: Cennamo, Armstrong, Johnrose. Our match report.
Anyway, here we are at the turn of the year with Burnley still top. It is a magnificent achievement by all concerned. Let us celebrate that. God knows, there’s been little cause for rejoicing this year, what with ‘Ground Zero’, the Burnley riots, Foot and Mouth, Railtrack and Celebrity Big Brother. 2002 may prove to be harder going for BFC. Let’s hope that our fickle fans recognise that we have one of the very best management teams in the club’s history and continue to credit them even if the results start to go against us. Stan et al haven’t yet reached the dizzy heights scaled by Harry Potts, John Haworth etc. but what they have achieved with limited means and within such a short timescale is simply amazing. If Steve Davis, Ian Cox and Kevin Ball are prepared to place Stan among the very best in the business then so should we. There is no doubt this is a Golden Age. Long may it continue.
Tim Quelch
31 December 2001
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