Bradford and Preston dates agreed
Bring on the Watford (and take off the Bradford)
Another new date for Blades clash
Burnley lose Maamria and sign up Hoskin
Hornets await in round 6 of the Cup
Lions say "yes" to Clarets
Clarets around the world
Driss and Marlon sign until May
Reading, writhing and fainting in coils (with apologies to Lewis Carroll)
Click here for this month's comment entries.
28 February - midweek fixtures abound
The Club confirmed today that Burnley's home games against Preston and Bradford have been rescheduled as follows:
- Bradford: Tuesday 25th March.
- Preston: Tuesday 8th April.
Both games will kick off at the usual 7.45.
It's also been announced that should a replay against Watford in the Cup be necessary, it will take place on Wednesday 19th March. This would of course mean that our home game against Leicester on Tuesday 18th March would have to be moved! Goodness knows when this will end - probably in July or something.
The Club also announced today that Anthony Shandran is set to remain on loan at York City for another month (and fingers crossed that they are still in business then). We wish him well.
Lastly, as February ends, it's good to be able to look back on an excellent month (OK, if you take the Reading game out of the equation). We're back up to 12th in the League, with games in hand on several teams. Of course, March is going to be a difficult month, but we can enter it with a degree of optimism. How quickly things change! And best of all, we're still in the FA Cup, with an excellent chance of making the semi finals. A little early to be worrying about accommodation in Cardiff, but you never know...
26 February - Bradford game to be rescheduled
Thanks to tonight's superb victory over Fulham, we ARE in the quarter finals of the FA Cup! Congratulations to Stan and the lads on a great performance and a well-deserved victory. Of course, now that we are in the quarter finals (or sixth round proper, as the FA prefer to call it - not that they believed we would ever get there), we have a bit of a fixture problem.
Not that we're complaining - it's a nice problem to have. As everyone knows, our next Cup game is away at Watford. The match will take place on Sunday 9th March, with a 1.30 kick-off (it will be shown live on BBC2). This means that our home game against Bradford City, originally scheduled for Saturday 8th March, will have to be rearranged. As soon as the new date is announced, we'll let you know.
PS A figurative two fingers up to the FA (see below - they did eventually change their article slightly, but shame on them for making the initial - and incorrect - assumption).
25 February - Sheff U game moved back a day
The Club announced today that Burnley's away game against Sheffield United will now take place on Wednesday 12th March. This fixture, you will recall, was originally set to be played on New Year's Day, only to be postponed. It was then rescheduled for Tuesday 11th March, but has now been put back a day due to "the Blades' involvement in the FA Cup quarter final" (i.e. their game against Leeds on Sunday 9th March). Of course, if we make it past Fulham tomorrow then WE will also be involved in said quarter finals, and also playing on the 9th March!
23 February - another quiet couple of weeks
The past fortnight hasn't exactly been end to end excitement. It's probably true that most minds up at the Turf are focused on the upcoming Cup replay against Fulham, but to their credit the team didn't let that fixture distract them from securing an excellent win over John Gregory's Derby. The dismal performance against Reading is now a distant memory.
Off the pitch, Dino Maamria, the Club's Ethnic Minorities Officer and member of the Leisure and Community team, has left Burnley for Stevenage Borough. Although we've probably tended to think of Dino mainly in terms of Burnley, he's actually an accomplished striker, having played for Doncaster Rovers, Southport, and Leigh RMI. His move to Stevenage sees him on a full-time playing contract - and of course he'll be linking up with ex-Claret Phil Gray! We'd like to join Burnley FC in wishing Dino all the best for the future. (To see Phil Whalley's August 2001 interview with Dino, click here.)
Following Dino's departure, the Club announced that Gerry Harrison, one of the London Clarets' favourite ex-players, will assume responsibility for the Ethnic Minorities Liaison part of Dino's role. And indirectly replacing Dino on the Leisure and Community side of things will be ex-Claret Ashley Hoskin. We send our best wishes to Gerry and Ashley.
17 February - full details of the FA Cup 6th round draw
After our excellent 1-1 draw at Fulham, we hoped for a good fixture in the 6th round of the Cup. Well - we've got Watford away! It could be worse (Sheffield United away, anyone?), but at least we would have a reasonable chance of a result. And it would be another nice local game for the London Clarets! Of course, we have to get past Fulham first, so no chicken-counting!
The full 6th round draw is as follows:
Watford v Fulham or Burnley*
Southampton v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Arsenal v Chelsea
Sheffield United v Leeds United
*We were just looking at the FA's website, and noticed that it has a "Tie Analysis" feature for the sixth round games. The FA seem to have already written Burnley off, as they are looking forward to "Watford v Fulham" - which apparently is "a great chance for the Hornets to make it through to the semi-finals...despite Fulham's superior class". Well, what should we expect? The FA are only the people who run football in this country, after all, so why should they even remember that "little Burnley" are still in the Cup? Perhaps Burnley's a bit far north for the Wembley-obsessed administrators at Soho Square to consider. We look forward to sticking a figurative two fingers up at them in the near future.
15 February - 500 Burnley supporters will be admitted to Millwall
Some good news has arrived from South Bermondsey. All season, we've been cheesed off about being banned from Burnley's game at Millwall on Tuesday 4th March. Then, seemingly out of the blue, it's been announced that a maximum of 500 Clarets will be able to attend the match.
At the time of writing there's nothing on Burnley's official website about it, but Millwall's official website explains that the ban has been lifted after discussions with the police, and in light of Millwall supporters' good behaviour this season. Good news - and good to see that common sense has prevailed. Burnley's knee-jerk reaction in banning Lions fans from the reverse fixture back in September, a decision which we criticised at the time, now looks even more ridiculous.
13 February - congratulations to Gareth and Dimi
It's been a busy week for the Burnley squad, with players travelling to various parts of Europe for various reasons. Taylor and Papadopoulos have both been on international duty. Papa was in Crete for Greece's U21 friendly against Norway on Wednesday, where he scored the equalising goal in a 1-1 draw. Golden Bonce, meanwhile, featured in the Wales side that drew 2-2 in Cardiff against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Wednesday's senior friendly. Well done to them both.
Also away from the Turf, but for a rather different reason, was The London Clarets' King Arthur. Following the Reading debacle, Stan sent Arthur back to France for a short break. Apparently Stan felt that Arthur had "got his head up his backside". Evidently Arthur has now managed to reposition his various body parts, and should be back for Sunday's Cup game - though Stan will probably start with Coxy and Driss after their superb performances at Coventry.
The rest of the squad (except for Marlon, to whom we send congratulations on the birth of his baby daughter) have been in Portugal for a short holiday in preparation for Sunday. Let's hope it's done the trick, and they all come back refreshed and ready to thrash Fulham!
Closer to home - but continuing the travel theme - we'd like to congratulate Anthony Shandran on scoring his first League goal. Shandran is currently on loan at York City, and scored in their away win last Saturday at Leyton Orient.
Finally, it was confirmed today that Bastards striker Matt Jansen has turned down a loan move to the Turf in favour of being sent to Coventry. Yes - the same Coventry we just beat 1-0. Sounds like a perfect match.
7 February - some good news on the contracts front
The past couple of days have seen first Diallo and then Beresford sign up with Burnley for the remainder of the season (which, the Club's website helpfully tells us, ends in May - or perhaps that should be "ends when Burnley get fifty points"). It is good news, of course, though one can't help worrying that Marlon at least is keeping his options open. But let's not get carried away - despite the Club trumpeting "longer-term deals", we are only talking about three months. Still, better than nothing.
4 February - very disappointing start to the month's League campaign
If only our first game this month had been postponed... Anyone who sat through Saturday's shocker against Reading will probably take a while to recover. Even Stan said that he was "lost for words" (though we'd like to bet he found some choice ones in the dressing room after the game!). Stan offered no excuses, though, and hopefully our next match - away at Coventry - will allow the lads to make amends.
Sadly, a few idiots at Saturday's game decided to throw objects onto the pitch during the match. Quite apart from the danger posed to the players and officials, the actions of these so-called "fans" have tarnished the name of Burnley Football Club. Their actions will probably also result in the Club being penalised, whether financially or otherwise. We condemn the behaviour of these idiots. There is no place for them (or for the individual who threw a brick through the window of the Lottery Office) at Turf Moor, or indeed at any other football ground.
Following on from the above, the Club announced today that they have issued a further 18 life bans to people convicted of football-related offences. Let's hope that the idiots mentioned above will soon be adding to that number.
Lastly, it has been confirmed that all First Division matches on the last day of the season (Sunday 4th May) will kick off at 1.30pm. The Clarets are due to play Franchise FC that day, at whichever venue is most convenient for Charles Koppel.
February 2003 comment entries
Whitto on the Jansen saga
Your responses on whether the FA Cup has lost its magic
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