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1/1 The Arctic weather has tightened its grip, proving too much for Burnley’s under-soil heating and thwarting the frantic efforts of the ground staff. Today’s derby with Bradford was called off.
4/1 Stockport have turned down Stan’s bid for their Finnish/Albanian striker, Shefki Kuqi. It is reported that Stan made a bid in the region of £500,000. Carlton Palmer rejected the bid, indicating that he values the international at £1.5m. Apparently, Blackburn were prepared to offer £500,000 for Kuqi a couple of months ago.
Meanwhile, it is rumoured that Stan is attempting to take Israeli international defender Arik Benado on trial. If a deal transpires, Maccabi Haifa will probably require a fee of around £600,000. It is also rumoured that Stan has approached new Bradford boss Nicky Law about Robbie Blake.
Two potential outgoing moves have foundered, too. Thankfully, Paul Cook has resolved his differences with Stan and is back in the fold. Also, Andy Payton has returned after Steve McMahon decided against extending his loan period at Blackpool.
5/1 On a mucky, murky, thawing afternoon, Burnley disposed of the Essex giant killers Canvey Island 4-1. It was the Ryman Premier League leaders’ first defeat in 27 games (26 of those games were won, including FA Cup victories over Wigan and Northampton). It was no cakewalk. Canvey were quicker off the mark and could easily have taken an early lead when Adam Miller’s fierce drive whistled just wide of NTG’s right hand post. Also Ian Cox’s timely block, made a full stretch, denied Chris Duffy shortly afterwards. However, Burnley finally got their act together in the 24th minute. Tony Grant’s terrific pass put Ian Moore clear on the right flank. Moore’s low cross caught defender Steve Ward’s heel and ricocheted to Little who was unmarked in the box. Little took his chance well, scoring crisply with his left foot. Then, on the stroke of half time, Burnley doubled their lead when Ian Moore glanced Little’s free kick past Harrison. At half time Burnley replaced the limping Taylor with Weller and chose to play Ian Moore up alone with five in midfield. It seemed as if Canvey’s threat had been snuffed out, and both Moore and Little missed easy opportunities as we looked to capitalise on our superiority. But Canvey refused to throw in the towel, and on 67 minutes Spencer Knight shrugged off Dean West and picked out Lee Boylan, who buried his sharp left wing cross. It was Boylan’s 19th goal of the season. However, Moore put the game out of Canvey's reach 12 minutes from the end when he latched on to Arthur Gnohere's pass and curled home a superb right foot shot. There was more. Just six minutes later, Moore completed his first hat trick for the club when Kevin Ball sprung the offside trap and crossed deep from the right for substitute Papadopoulos to head down. Moore hammered the bouncing ball into the roof of the net. There was also time for Papa to have a chance to notch his first senior goal for Burnley when he, too, broke free. Alas, after taking the ball around Harrison he fluffed the chance.
Canvey were much better than the scoreline suggested. They exhibited tremendous team spirit and considerable skill. They were a credit to their ebullient manager and their vociferous fans.
A relieved Stan said, "It was a potential banana skin game for us, because we were expected to win. When you're expected to win that is all you really can do. It doesn't matter how well you play, you just have to win." Although Kevin Ball was the sponsors’ Man of the Match, Stan was full of praise for Ian Moore's match-winning efforts, and added, "Ian was marvellous today, he led the line superbly and never stopped working for the team. He took his goals in great style." Meanwhile, Canvey Island manager Jeff King praised his players brave efforts, and felt his side were punished by the Clarets' lethal attack. King said, "I thought my players were magnificent today. We've come out of this cup run with a lot of credit. The big difference between the sides was the finishing - Burnley were clinical. When we pulled a goal back in the second half and got the game back to 2-1, we started to chase the game and that left loads of gaps at the back and Burnley exploited them."
The bad news was that Little has sustained further damage to his hamstring and Taylor damaged both his knee and ankle as a result of his physical tussle with Chenery. Burnley will be without both players for around three weeks. Burnley: NTG, West, Cox, Gnohere, Briscoe, Little (Cook 58), Grant, Ball, A Moore (Papadopoulos 78), I Moore, Taylor (Weller 46). Subs not used: Cennamo and Payton. Attendance: 11,496. Our match report.
9/1 Burnley reserves drew 1-1 with Tranmere tonight. Jack Hixon discovery Mark Rasmussen scored our goal. Branch returned to action but Payton lasted just two minutes before being stretchered off with a bad gash to his thigh. He will be out for around two months. Weller will be out of action for three weeks, too, having injured his hamstring in training.
There is no news on the transfer front either, although Stan confirmed that he is hoping to sign at least one of four players he is looking at. However, Shefki Kuqi would appear to be off his list. The big Stockport striker seems set to sign for Sheffield Wednesday for £1m.
12/1 This week Tony Blair made as much impact upon the Kashmiri crisis as a 15-year-old pilot’s suicidal assault did on a Florida skyscraper. But while Blair’s imitation of Henry Kissinger seemed decidedly pallid, Robert Mugabe maintained his credible impersonation of Slobodan Milosevic. As for the captured Taliban / al-Qa’ida fighters, their impersonation of prisoners of war didn’t quite come up to scratch, unlike their parodies of caged animals. Despite Charles’ estimable attempts at bucking the trend, the Royal Family again demonstrated that their imitations of idiocy hold few rivals. Now, Prince Harry seems ready to carry on the proud Windsor tradition. As for the railways and football, their contribution to a dismal week was to organise a Seventies pastiche. Bloody inconvenient strikes again deprived us of what laughably pretends to be a service, and with the recurrence of terrace violence, ballistic bottles and coins and pitch invasions, we were provided with other fond reminders of times past. Even a pie passed as a missile. Of course, Millwall (accent on the second syllable, please) has a caricature to live down to and I would be prepared to bet it wasn’t the balti variety that was thrown. In fairness, it was the national media that cleaned up on the ballistic front. Salvoes of mud and ire hailed down all week on our loutish footballers. But should we expect all of our sporting stars to be exemplary role models? If so, whose responsibility is it to ensure that this happens? Should footballers be expected to conduct themselves better than rock stars or film celebrities? One US basketball player dismissed this expectation saying, "I’m not your momma. I’m here to play ball." No Blue Peter badge for him, then.
And on a raw, dank, grey afternoon in Thornton Heath (a dead ringer for Gdansk, actually), our game with Wimbledon was an unconvincing impersonation of entertainment. A 0-0 draw was a fitting result. Admittedly, the players had to contend with an awful playing surface, which made passing and shooting a lottery. Nevertheless, Nick made two fine first half saves, Cox and Gnohere defended imperiously and everyone worked their socks off apart from Alan Moore, who seemed strangely timid and distracted. His namesake made no impression, either, certainly when employed as a lone forager during the first half. With Burnley lacking a target man, Wimbledon had stacks of possession up until the interval. Dimitri Papadopoulos made a bit of difference after the break, though. His pace troubled the Wimbledon’s defence, until a whack on the leg saw him substituted by Tony Ellis.
Stan said, "I'm happy with the point. I thought it was an ugly game and not very entertaining for the supporters. But the pitch was diabolical in my opinion and was not conducive to passing football. It was scrappy and the ball was in the air all the time. All in all, we'll take the point." Burnley: NTG, West, Cox, Gnohere, Branch, Ball, Grant, Cook (Papadopoulos 46) (Ellis 77), Briscoe, A Moore, I Moore. Subs not used: Armstrong, Cennamo, Maylett. Attendance: 7,675. Our match report.
16/1 Bradford have agreed to sell us Robbie Blake for £1m (£1.25m if we win promotion). Now it is down to the player to agree personal terms, although he will also have to pass a full medical. Even if a deal is finalised this week, it is unlikely that Blake will play on Saturday, as he is suffering from a stomach strain. Further good news concerns the health of Gareth Taylor. He has recovered quicker than expected and is certain to play on Saturday.
The only bad news was the reserves' surprising 1-7 defeat at Wrexham. Apparently it was a bizarre score-line, as the Clarets were very much in the game with 23 minutes left. I expect Ronnie was apoplectic. Mitchell Thomas returned and Ukrainian international triallist Sergei Kandaurov played a full 90 minutes, showing some nice passes. However, he never really grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck, so Stan decided not to pursue his interest.
19/1 On a cold, blustery afternoon, Burnley lost 1-2 to a rugged Sheffield Wednesday. It was a poor, disjointed, physical affair, in which the Clarets created few chances. Apart from Alan Moore, our midfielders failed to impose themselves, leaving Ian Moore and Taylor often starved of service. With our defenders constantly conceding possession, Wednesday dominated for long periods. Their big front men Efan Okoku and former target Shefki Kuqi pulled Cox and Gnohere all over the place, creating inviting gaps for their midfielders Sibon and McLaren to forge into. Burnley were forced to defend desperately at times, and never really contended with Leigh Bromby’s huge throw-ins. For the first thirty minutes, Burnley rode their luck, and so it was no surprise when McLaren tapped home in the 33rd minute after NTG could only parry a deflected shot. Burnley’s best first half chances fell to Taylor, who was denied by Kevin Pressman’s brave save, and Alan Moore, whose late twenty-five yard drive clipped the top of the bar. After the interval Stan replaced Branch with Maylett, hoping to inject greater pace and width, but there was no immediate impact upon Wednesday’s hold. However, with 15 minutes remaining Burnley at last began to exert some pressure, and when a Wednesday defender handled Alan Moore’s dangerous cross, Taylor equalised from the resulting penalty. Briefly, there was the prospect of an unlikely victory. Taylor had two good chances to put us ahead, but curiously Pressman’s serious injury halted our progress. Play was held up for several minutes and afterwards we never regained the momentum. Wednesday seized the initiative once more, and deservedly took the points in injury time when Kuqi crashed home an angled drive. In fact, there was still time for the Owls to extend their lead, but NTG saved Sibon’s 97th minute penalty.
Stan was very unhappy with the Clarets’ performance today. He said, "We were poor in all areas of the pitch today. Sheffield Wednesday dictated the way the game was played and I thought we were found wanting. The first goal was a mix-up, but the second one was worse and so was the penalty. How Kuqi was allowed to get in there from a ball through the middle is a ridiculous state of affairs, and both Arthur and Coxy have got to buck up on that. Arthur is a young lad and he has to learn and learn quickly, because that wasn't good enough for me. We were poor today and we got what we deserved. It is a setback and I didn't think we were as competitive as we should have been."
So two failed targets have punished us this season. First, Crouch rubbed our noses in it back in November, and now Kuqi underlined what we missed. Obviously, we need Davis and Little back urgently. Let’s hope, too, that Robbie Blake (if he signs?) is capable of making the difference that his fee suggests.
With the balti pie supplies drying up and James Salisbury gifting Tranmere two goals in the youth team’s narrow defeat, this was not a good day. It is nice to see Ged Harrison back, though. We have employed him as the Keighley / Skipton Regional Manager in our ‘Football in the Community’ programme. Burnley: NTG, West, Cox, Gnohere, Branch (Maylett 46), Ball, Grant, Briscoe, A Moore, I Moore (Papadopoulos 81), Taylor. Subs not used: Armstrong, Cennamo, Cook. Attendance: 16,081. Our match report.
25/1 Robbie Blake finally signed for Burnley for £1m (£1.25m if we get promoted in the next five years). It had been a drawn out affair. The City Gent, the Bradford fanzine, reckoned that the £1m price is a steal. We’ll see. After so many rumours about alleged incoming moves (Bob Peeters, the giant Belgian striker, was the latest player to be linked with BFC), it is good to have secured what is, hopefully, a quality signing.
27/1 As if we needed proof of our need of new talent! On a damp, grey afternoon in Cheltenham we weren’t at the races, losing 2-1 to the Third Division side in a 4th Round FA Cup tie. Apparently, it was another wretched performance. The Robins should have been two up before NTG had to be replaced by Cennamo after 18 minutes (Nik had torn a calf muscle). It hardly mattered. Luigi promptly gifted Cheltenham two goals and Burnley were struggling. Alan Moore restored some hope with a fine individual effort on the half hour, but for all their huff and puff, Burnley lacked any real punch. Cheltenham deservedly progressed to the next round.
Stan concluded, "Far too many of our players didn't perform today and it's a problem. It's not losing, it's how we lose and today, I felt that we had a lot of players found wanting when it came to scrapping and battling. It's down to attitude, endeavour, will, desire and if you don't have them, that's what happens." Burnley: NTG (Cennamo 19), West, Cox, Gnohere, Briscoe, Little (Branch 77), Grant, Ball, A Moore, I Moore (Maylett 84), Taylor. Subs not used: Armstrong and Cook. Attendance: 7,300. Our match report.
31/1 Marlon is back! Four years after his departure, Marlon Beresford is back on loan. It looks like NTG will be out for a couple of months, so Stan took our inspirational former keeper back on loan from Middlesbrough. He will go straight into the side against West Brom on Sunday.
Tim Quelch
28 February 2002
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As with all articles on the site, the
views expressed in this section are those of the individual contributor, and do not
necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters Club.
The following sources of information are kindly acknowledged: Burnleyfootballclub.com, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Teamtalk,
Clubcall, Sky Sports, BBC Sports, Radio Lancashire, the Independent, the Observer, the Daily Mail.
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