Welcome to issue 127 of Nothing to Write
Home About.
Well, things are certainly looking up on the
playing front. Just two defeats in the last ten is not to be sniffed at; even better is
the fact that we are actually playing well and starting to gel as a team. I think that
even the most blinkered supporter can see that Ternent and Ellis certainly know what they
are doing. We have to remember that, not only is the team probably the youngest for years,
it is also almost completely different from Waddle’s bunch of prima-donnas and
no-hopers of last season. Ternent has given Waddle a lesson in how to rebuild a team, and
he has had to do it without the permanently open chequebook which Waddle possessed. The
long ball scare-mongers have also been proved totally wrong, more often than not we play
slick, attractive football and pass the ball around with ease. If we can manage to
eradicate the silly mistakes and lack of concentration that occasionally crop up, then I
believe that it is not too much to hope for a top half finish. It is good to see the
younger players being given a chance and it is most refreshing to see that they keep the
shirt if they deserve it, something that previous managers have not always been keen to
practise. Surely this can only be good for team spirit. It is nice to see a set of players
who seem to get on with each other, there is a distinctive will to win in the squad at the
moment and it shows. The fighting spirit being shown is delightful to behold.
With reference to off the pitch happenings
it’s not so rosy. Teasdale is hanging in there like the mouldy apple at the bottom of
the box. Is there no end to this man’s ego? He knows that he is the most unpopular
man in Burnley, yet he continues to hang on for dear life. We know that he probably saved
the club in the mid-late eighties, but any good that he ever did has been dissipated by
this ridiculous charade with Shackleton. It’s like an episode of Scooby Doo. All that
we need to happen now is for Shackleton to appear at the AGM, stand up and rip his mask
off while the audience shout, "it’s Mr Teasdale, the chairman," to which he
replies, "yes, and I’d have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for you
pesky supporters." It really is nonsense, the man is content to watch Burnley become
nothing more than a mediocre small town club. We are being left behind rapidly. If he is
not prepared to put his hand in his pocket and pull out a substantial wedge of cash, then
he should do the honourable thing and fall on his sword. I’m not saying that we are
guaranteed to find ourselves a fairy godfather to come in, we all saw what happened to
Brighton, and although many of you will say that could never happen here, I’m sure
many Brighton fans thought the same. But the reality is that we must start to compete
again, we cannot afford to waste any more time, we must sort out this situation once and
for all, Teasdale must either put up or shut up, Shackleton should either tell us the true
facts of his take-over attempts or just admit that it was just a load of cobblers from the
start. Ingleby should stop posturing to the press and do something about the situation if
he still feels so strongly about it.
The supporters deserve better than this cheap
charade that we see and hear week after week, month after month. We are just pawns in a
game of chess being played by people who only have their own interests at heart, not that
of Burnley FC.
