I think I’m turning into Victor
Meldrew, but unlike him, I’m more bewildered by our fortune. True to my natural
colours, though, I’m judging our brilliant start not by our proximity to a play off
spot but by our substantial down payment on our safety target (around 50 points).
Following our third successive victory, we’re almost half way there. Remember, in
‘94/5 we didn’t reach 23 points until our New Year’s Eve victory over
Southend (and we had enjoyed a 10-match unbeaten run to help take us there). In the course
of a conversation with Phil Whalley, he suggested that we would look back at this 18-month
period as a golden age. (You see all true Clarets can’t cope with present success. We
have to be wistful before we need to be.) That said, Phil is undoubtedly right. Since
bloody Kurt Nogan curled that brilliant shot past Crichton in March ’99 (he paid for
that, how he paid!), we’ve only lost a further 10 league matches in 69 outings,
averaging fractionally under two points per game. It is our best return since the
triumphant Indian Summer of the early seventies. And we’re ahead of Blackburn.
‘I just don’t believe it!’
Obviously, we’re not Premiership calibre (ok, I’ll force
it out), yet. I haven’t seen nearly as many games as I would have liked but it
is quite apparent that we’ve earned our luck. Our work-rate has been phenomenal, even
in defeat. Remember Fulham. Our spirit is undimmed and in patches we’ve played some
superb football. From my own observations and others, everyone has played their part.
Little’s improved defensive qualities and Branch’s bursts of consummate skill
have caught my eye but it would be wrong to single anyone out for overwhelming praise or
criticism. Given this, I cannot understand why some of our supposed supporters feel that
it is right and proper to boo members of our team. I gather Cook has been one of their
recent targets. What is it with these guys? Is their world so solipsistic that what they
see is purely a reflection of their internal malaise? For Christ’s sake, we’re
in the foothills of the Premiership when just 18 months ago we seemed consigned for the
basement. Would a good slapping help? I’d welcome some suggestions, please.
Stan has his critics, too, notably because of his strike force
selections. Whilst I can understand some of the perplexion, I’m prepared to back
Stan’s judgement ahead of mine. His CV is a little more convincing. Having said that,
I was a bit surprised to find out that Stan was chasing a striker, Ian Moore, who
hasn’t that much of a scoring record. After all, goals have been in short supply and
Payton is still our only prolific scorer now that Wrighty has committed himself to his
retirement plan. Anyway, it appears that the Moore deal is dead. I gather there’s
still talk of Carl Asaba, who is more of a predatory striker but surely that is
kite-flying in the extreme? I’d hoped that perhaps we could have secured someone like
John Aloisi at a knockdown price. He has a pedigree at this level, as Pompey fans will
testify. However, he’s broken back into Coventry’s first team and anyway, Stan
probably has hundreds of reasons why he didn’t fancy him.
So, here we are in the middle of October, prettily placed.
Let’s enjoy the banquet after years of Pot Noodles. As a parting note, our book
‘Forever and Ever: a rock ’n’ roll years history of Burnley FC’ is now
printed and on sale at the club. I hope it does justice to your memories as much as mine
and remember, all proceeds go to the club. A big thank you to all of you who helped with
this.
