Editorial
Issue 131
Welcome to Issue 131 of our magazine.
Firstly, apologies for the late publication of
this magazine. As you may be aware, Brent decided he could no longer continue as Editor,
and unfortunately the hand-over coincided with the holiday season. We’ll try to get
it back on track for every two months from now on.
So, secondly, I’d like to thank Brent for
his work during his two stints running the magazine. Although, from looking back at pieces
for the website archive, it’s clear that we’ve always provided a lot of good and
thoughtful writing about Burnley, it needs to be remembered that Brent was instrumental in
bringing about the changes which have made the magazine what it is today. I still believe
that we can give any of the fanzines a run for their money, and hope that we can continue
to do so in the future.
We should also congratulate erstwhile Chairman
Hego on his new role as self-appointed Chairman of the new London Clarets 1987 Backbench
Committee.
Picking up the baton, albeit it somewhat
reluctantly, we have decided to experiment with a continental-style co-management system.
Tim Quelch and I have agreed to step in as co-editors. We weren’t exactly in danger
of being crushed under a stampede of volunteers. This should help spread what can be a
heavy burden. We also hope to draw on a wider circle of people to help out with some of
the admin tasks. I will continue to maintain the club’s website, as before.
For both magazine and website, of course, we
rely on you. The magazine is nothing without your contributions. Your views are the
lifeblood of our publication. I feel it’s important to broaden our range of
contributors and to represent more points of view. If you’ve ever thought of
contributing or felt you’ve had something to say, now is the time to get in touch. As
well as that, if you have any comment to make about the magazine, what you like, what you
think it can do without and what you’d like to see that isn’t there, then
don’t be shy and let us know. All feedback is appreciated.
Contributions to the magazine will also be made
available on our website. This was launched in a new look with enhanced and additional
sections before the opening game of the season. We hope to use if to promote our club to
other Clarets out there, serve as an archive for articles which have appeared in the
magazine in the past and provide information to our members to supplement the magazine. If
you have access to the web, please take a look at http://surf.to/londonclarets
and let us know what you think.
Turning to football, I suppose by the time you
receive this we’ll have a fair idea where the season is going. My view is that
it’s now or never for Burnley. This is the weakest second division in years. We lost
some serious sides last season. I was pleased when Man City went up, as they would
certainly have taken one of the promotion places this year. Of the sides coming down, I
believe only Bristol City, with a few quid and a talented manager, can expect to make a
challenge this year. I suspect it will be beyond any of the sides that came up to mount a
second successive promotion campaign. Then there are clubs like Chesterfield and Wrexham,
which have hung around in this division for years, and are in long-term gentle decline.
If the division hasn’t been this weak in
years, I also believe that it is a long time since we had the strength in depth of our
current squad. Unusually, none of our talented players has left this summer, and we have
brought in additional players of promise in all departments except goal. It will be great
to see John Mullin playing in a Burnley shirt again. It is even better than we
haven’t seen the last of Glen Little. I can’t remember the last time we had such
an abundance of attacking players. I assume the flawed early season tactic of picking one
up front will not be allowed to last for long.
If ever there was a time to get out of this
division in the right direction, it is now. If not now, then never. We have the players,
we have the resources and we have the support. Do we have the manager? We’re about to
find out. No excuses this year – let’s get out of here!
Firmo
August 1999
