These past few weeks have not been an easy time to be a Claret, have they? Our alarming lack of home form has seen us drop conclusively out of the automatic promotion race to the point where we have a fight on our hands to retain a play-off berth. This slide of four or five places in the League table has been seen by some as a deterioration so wholesale that it demands the return of that most distasteful, worrying and demoralising phenomenon - booing your own team. Those that seek to justify or even just to exonerate such behaviour argue that it is the result of a frustration made all the more acute by our recent rise in the footballing world, the logic being that there is now 'more at stake' than there used to be.
What? More at stake than when we played Orient in 1987 or Plymouth in 1998? More at stake than when we faced Macclesfield in a Second Division relegation tussle under Stan Ternent in 1999?
Let's be clear about this. Booing the team as they struggle to maintain a Premiership play-off place is indulgent and selfish. Yes, our form is disjointed and frustrating - agreed that the word 'struggle' is entirely apt. Okay, following Burnley may no longer be one riotously happy tour of England like it was in September. And, I admit, sometimes I'm as cheesed off with them as the next fan. But it doesn't excuse abusing the team when they most need support. That's not just a juvenile way to behave, but it's also short-sighted, and I shall illustrate why.
We all have our favourite recollections as Burnley fans, and we can all recall things we'd rather forget. But sometimes, something uneventful sticks in the mind because you have reason to constantly be reminded of it. One such memory for me was watching a Burnley result come through on the TV at a friend's house in Portsmouth in October 1987.
It was, of course, the season after the 1986-87 disaster, and the town had rallied somewhat behind the team. After an uneven start to the season, Burnley had suddenly hit a vein of form which coincided with the introduction of Steve Davis (Mk 1) into the centre of defence and the shifting of Leighton James to sweeper. For the first time in many years, Burnley had won three consecutive away games at Exeter, Torquay and Tranmere, the latter in the Sherpa Van Trophy. We were on a roll, and the next game up was against lowly Stockport at the Turf. A win would have taken us into an automatic promotion position.
Come 5.40, I was glued to the TV watching Grandstand's Final Score. Burnley appeared on the screen, and the vidiprinter revealed the home score - '1' - and I intuitively knew that we hadn't won. And in that moment - one of great frustration, anger and disappointment - I learned a lesson so harshly that I have never forgotten it. I had expected my team to win simply because I thought they ought to.
There are only a few teams in the world you can follow with this juvenile attitude and Burnley isn't one of them. For years we were in the lower leagues, unable to extract ourselves. We learned the hard way that size and reputation counted for nothing. On numerous occasions when we expected Burnley to win, they succumbed. In other words, you shouldn't follow Burnley if you're not prepared to be angered, let down and frustrated. It's part of the deal.
A few years ago, as we languished in the Second Division under Adrian Heath, I wrote of our mass support that we didn't love Burnley because they were great - they were great because we loved them. Though we wouldn't say no to a bit of glory and triumph, what were more important were unfashionable things like devotion, tradition and a sense of pride. And, as misty-eyed as such sentiment is, I didn't think it was misplaced.
Ironic then, and not a little disappointing, that a period of almost unprecedented progress is accompanied by the sort of petulant behaviour that comes from those who think that success is Burnley's right. It's only little over 16 months ago that we beat QPR at Loftus Road. In his match report, Firmo commented: "Our fourth successive first division win left us in sixth, and therefore - and how we relish the unreality of these words - in a premier league promotion playoff position. In case it doesn't last, and we slip to something fantastic like mid-table, we'll just have to try and enjoy it here and now."
Well we certainly did enjoy it (I hazily recall an extremely drunken night), but don't these words reveal that our position as I write today in early March - sixth, in a premier league play-off position - constitutes a continued progress that ought to be strenuously supported to the very last kick of what has been an unprecedented season in the recent history of the club?
Right, now that I've got that off my chest just time to tell you about a couple of things in the London Clarets pipeline. Firstly, the date for the AGM has been set for Saturday July 13, at the Sekforde Arms, Clerkenwell, with a 1pm start. We do not as yet know who will be the guest speaker, but we have written to the club and we will hopefully be able to advertise the full event in the next magazine. The AGM is just one of a number of social events being organised during the summer months. Full details are enclosed.
Our "Peaceful moments in the lives of the London Clarets" series, which got off to a flying (and rather popular) start with our esteemed Treasurer, Mr Michael E Benyon, has had to be postponed. This month's subject was our distinguished Chairman Cozzo, but the undraped image of our leader has mysteriously failed to appear on the editorial desk. I can only apologise to our readers for the breakdown in this service, which I hope will be of a temporary nature.
Finally, we have an appeal for our members to make an exhibition of themselves. No, I don't mean to pose drunkenly on some station platform for a blurry photo - we do that all the time. This surrounds a suggestion we made to photographer Casey Orr. We wanted her to produce a series of photographs of London Clarets, and, to our great surprise, she agreed. And this is where you, dear reader, come in. We want models of all species, vintages, shoe sizes and circumferences to volunteer to be photographed. The only proviso is that you're in the London Clarets. We don't know exactly how this is going to turn out yet, but it’s probably fair to say that we would want to produce something to sell and raise a bit of money for Burnley Football Club. Casey's work has been exhibited in London and around the country, so you could find yourself on an art gallery wall! We're not a shy or bashful lot, are we? So come on, get in touch with me or any member of the committee if you want to get involved with this project.
