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Ooh Aah Beresford
Bob Peeters - anchorman
Billy O'Rourke
New contract for Cooky
Welcome to Robbie
Yet another game in February
Longside petition
Blake's seven... figure sum?
How you can help Wimbledon supporters
Buy the Yellow and Blue
An appointment with Watford
To Cheltenham we will go... eventually
To Cheltenham we will go
Post-festive round-up
Click here for January 2002 comment entries
31 January - Marlon's back
The speedy response to Nik the Greek's injury has been the return of
Marlon Beresford to the club on a month's loan. Marlon, of course, first played for Burnley in August 1992, having been signed by Jimmy Mullen for £95,000 from Sheffield Wednesday, as we moved up to the higher level of the new Division Two. He was more or less the first choice keeper (apart from a short spell when he was dropped for Wayne Russell) through our rise to the First Division and rapid fall, until his shock sale to the club then known as Bryan Robson's Middlesbrough in March 1998. Then, despite the fact that we were fighting relegation, he was cashed in for somewhere over £400,000. Marlon was alaways a popular player with the supporters, sometimes inspired, sometimes dreadful if we're being honest, but mostly okay. He hasn't played many games at Middlesbrough, and when their other keepers are fit, has tended to be third choice behind Schwarzer and Crossley. Indeed, he has already played at the Turf this season, while on loan, for Sheffield Wednesday's reserves. That said, I do seem to recall seeing him on the TV coming on in a game against Liverpool quite recently.
When the severity of NTG's injury became known, it was obvious to all that we would be getting someone in on loan, as Cennamo at Cheltenham, to put it kindly, proved he wasn't ready for first team football. Getting a decent goalie on loan these days isn't easy, as top clubs will always want to hang on to two senior keepers, and Marlon's name was one of the first to be bandied about. I must confess to having some qualms about this - isn't it football wisdom to never come back? - although of course, at Burnley, they so often do come back. Marlon is a fondly remembered past player and has nothing to prove for us, and it could be said he is on a hiding to nothing in coming back to a team desperately short of confidence and form. Bluntly, if he cocks things up, it will quickly be decided that he never was any good in the first place. On the other hand, he clearly needs to take the opportunity to resurrect a once promising career that seems to have taken a wrong turn. Looking on the positive side, Blake and Beresford are a couple of new faces about the place (Marlon will be new to most of the team) and often that can give things a lift. I can see what's in it for Stan, too. He gets a loan player who he knows will settle in without a fuss and feel at home. Anyway, putting an end to this idle train of thought, welcome back Marlon. You're assured of a great reception.
One in, one out. Earlier in the week Anthony Shandran went out on loan to St Patrick's Athletic, who apparently play in the League of Ireland. This strikes me as a sound move. Even when both Taylor and Payton were injured, Shandran couldn't get near the first team. It makes sense to give him a chance to play in some competitive games to help him develop as a player. Let's hope he does well. We should be farming more of our young players out to gain the experience they won't get in the First Division.
28 January - Bob Peeters latest
As you may know, rumours have persistently linked Burnley with a move for Vitesse Arnhem striker
Bob Peeters. It just so
happens that we have a friend of a friend in Holland, who thought our readers might be interested in the below.
We're happy to pass it on to
you.
Bob Peeters wil bij Vitesse blijven.
De Engelse First Division-club Burnley bekijkt zondag bij Vitesse-NEC Vitesse-spits Bob Peeters.
De Belg wil echter nog niet weg uit Arnhem. "Als het blijkt dat ik hier niet aan spelen toekom, dan
moet ik wel een andere keuze maken, want ik wil met Belgie naar het WK. Ik moet gewoon spelen,
maar ik blijf voorlopig bij Vitesse," aldus Peeters.
Trainer Sturing gaat met twee spitsen spelen. "Dan kom ik beter tot mijn recht," weet Peeters.
"Ik hoop dat de komende wedstrijden te laten zien. Ik moet gewoon goed spelen. Het maakt me niet
uit wie op de tribune zit."
Hope that's cleared things up.
28 January - An untimely death
Just to record our own sadness at the untimely death of former Clarets keeper
Billy O'Rourke. It was O'Rourke, of
course, who made an ill-starred debut in front of the Match of the Day cameras in 1979, at QPR, when we lost 7-0.
O'Rourke went on to play 13 further games for Burnley after that, before playing for a number of other clubs. He died of a brain haemorrhage at
the age of just 41. Our thoughts are with his family.
28 January - New contract for Cooky
One good piece of news from the club is that
Paul Cook has signed a new contract that will take him up
to the end of next season. It was, you will recall, officially stated that the reason for his recent loan move to Wigan was
the inability of the club to offer him a new contract. Now all we need to do is start picking him again. He might have made
a difference in our terrible display at Cheltenham.
25 January - Our Robbie
Robbie Blake is finally a Claret. Today he signed a deal to join Burnley for the rest of this season and the next four. Burnley and Bradford agreed a deal last Thursday, and yesterday Blake agreed personal terms with Burnley. All that remained was to pass with medical, and with that out of the way, the deal was finally done today. It's worth a million to Bradford, with an extra £25k if we go up. Blake should recover from his stomach strain to make his Burnley debut at home to West Brom next Sunday. He'll wear squad number 27. From all of us, welcome to the club, Robbie. We hope your stay is long and successful.
22 January - Another game shoe-horned into February
Criticise them though you may, one thing football clubs are getting good at is re-arranging fixtures. I suppose they've had
plenty of practice. So our one outstanding match,
Bradford at home (postponed, you may recall, from New Year's Day, because
someone at Burnley couldn't work the heating properly) has now been given a new date. And, just for a change, it'll be
in February, on Tuesday 19 February, kicking off at 7.45.
That makes it the eighth match (two a week) now scheduled for the shortest month, incredibly enough. With the season finishing stupidly
early in April, there was always a danger of this happening. But spare a thought for the people who are expected to turn up
to all these. Supporters are now facing considerable financial, work and domestic
pressure if they want to support their club in all these matches. Those eight games in such a short space of time are going
to strain your wallet, and perhaps goodwill in the office and at home, particularly if, like so many Clarets,
you live out of town.
Not much can be done about it, with the season finishing so early, I suppose, but don't expect gates to be high, as people
will be forced to pick and choose their matches.
As well as the potential for exhaustion that supporters face, this also, of course, raises concerns about how our thin squad
will cope with the heavy demands of next month. The need to squeeze in games by the middle of April will surely benefit
the big, rich clubs who can afford to maintain large squads and rotate players, to the detriment of smaller, aspiring clubs.
Such seems to be life. But if ever there's been a good time to add to the squad...
Just about needless to say, the February 'fixtures' are subject to further change, depending on what happens in the FA
Cup this Sunday. But we daren't anticipate that yet.
Perhaps we'll finally have signed Robbie Blake by the time we play Bradford?
Our occasional correspondent Phil Richardson adds...
"What a stupid time to schedule this game. The obvious and optimum time would have been right at the end of the season.
I can picture the game: Burnley needing to win to get promotion to the Premier. Fat Geoffrey, the Bantams’ chairman, would earn a further £0.25m from the Robert Blake sale if we win. We run out 15-0 winners, Blake scoring ten and the other five being own goals scored by the seven remaining Bradford players on the field for the last 80 minutes of the game. At half time the man with the loot in the golden suit presents Fat Geoffrey with his cheque on the pitch... Now that’s what I call letting competitors get access to Claret funds.
Am I being cynical or is there a valid point in there somewhere?"
22 January - A petition for the Longside
Burnley supporter Thomas Entwistle has been in touch with us to draw our attention to a petition he has organised on the web.
The aim of the petition is to rename the stand currently known as the James Hargreaves Stand or North Stand as the Longside.
Personally, I still favour 'Harry Potts Longside', but there you go. The statement on the petition reads:
"We, the fans of Burnley Football Club, would like to see the use of the name Longside in reference to the
stand currently know as the James Hargreaves Stand re-instated. We suggest it could be known as the James Hargreaves
Longside, or The Longside sponsored by James HArgreaves. This will ensure that past traditions of the club are not
forgotten by the new generation of fans and Older fans can remain loyal to the traditions thay have supported for
generations."
To view and sign the petition, go to www.petitiononline.com/longside/petition.html.
16 January - A second Blakey for Burnley?
Just when supporters were beginning to get a bit restless on the question on
the club's ambition, things have begun to stir in the transfer market. Burnley FC announced today that a fee has
been agreed for Robbie Blake of Bradford. It's been months since the first rumour of Burnley's interest, and it was only recently that Stan admitted we were interested but hadn't been prepared to match Bradford's valuation. But, and most out of character for us, we are now said to have agreed a record-equalling fee of £1m, with another £250k thrown in on top of that should we end up in the Premier League this season! Bloody hell, this is Burnley we're talking about, isn't it? Bradford have said they've accepted our offer, albeit reluctantly, on the grounds that Blake wants to leave them and join us, and so it's now down to the matter of agreeing personal terms. Even if these can be agreed quickly, don't expect to see Blake in action on Saturday - he's injured - or in the following game at
Cheltenham - he's cup-tied. Still, that leaves plenty of time for the negotiations,
I suppose. It is encouraging that Blake is said to want to join Burnley, so let us hope
we will soon be able to welcome him properly. I've felt that we need a 'statement of intent' sort of signing as we seek promotion, and as that's a lot of money by our standards, it probably qualifies.
Blake was born in 1976, and he's from Middlesbrough. According to the official Bradford City website
[www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk] he's scored 12 goals for Bradford this
season, which doesn't sound bad to say he's been playing for a troubled side. He's an attacker, albeit a short one at 5'9",
and he was signed by crap pundit Chris Kamara from Darlington for £300,000 in 1997. He scored quite a few when they got
promoted to the Premier League, but when he fell out of the team he ended up on loan at Nottingham Forest for a spell. Click here for their brief player profile.
The excellent Boy from Brazil website [www.boyfrombrazil.co.uk] came up with some interesting stuff - click here and
here to read their views. Meanwhile, the City Gent website [www.thecitygent.com] seem upset that he didn't cost more -
click here to read that. He's also remembered on the official Darlington website [www.darlington-fc.net] - click here to see it.
There's probably more, but if you're that interested, go to www.google.com, type in 'Robbie Blake' and see where it takes you!
Of course, one extra player does not a large squad make. The club also currently has former Benfica player and Ukrainian international midfielder Sergei Kandaurov on trial. He played for the reserves tonight, but they did get beat 7-1. I expect he'll turn out to be 'no better than what we've already got'.
Finally, in the round-up, Luigi Cennamo will stay at least until the end of the season, having extended his contract until then. Good for him.
15 January - What you can do to help Wimbledon
Tony Scholes of the Clarets Mad website has been in touch to ask us
to seek the help of our readers in the campaign to stop Wimbledon FC being 'moved' to Milton Keynes. Football supporters
of all hues are being encouraged to take part in a postcard campaign, to let the Chief Executive of the Football League
know that this 'move' cannot be allowed to happen. If you believe
that football clubs should play where they come from and that franchising must not come to football, here's your chance
to do something positive and let those in power know about your views. No need for me to go on when you can read more about it by clicking here.
11 January - Buy the Yellow and Blue
If you're going to Wimbledon tomorrow, you have an unusual choice to make. There are not one but two match programmes you can buy. £2 will get you the official programme, with the usual selection of lame, boring and cliched articles, and nothing interesting about Burnley. Or, for £1.50, you can buy the unofficial programme, the Yellow and Blue, produced by Wimbledon supporters, with the stuff about Burnley written by Burnley supporters. The reason behind this, of course, is that Wimbledon are currently owned by people who want to shut the club down and open up a football franchise in Milton Keynes. The Yellow and Blue is one of the means by which supporters opposed to this crime, denied access to the official channels of communication, can make their case for the continued existence of Wimbeldon FC. So on Saturday, you have a choice to make. Do you want to give your cash to a bunch of suits with no understanding of football's place in the community, or do you want to back supporters like you and me who are trying to save their club? Sounds like an easy enough choice to me. Should it sway you, I should point out that we helped to write the Burnley section of the Yellow and Blue. (We've never been asked to contribute to any official programme, interestingly enough.) Now how could you possibly buy anything else?
9 January - A date with Watford
With almost indecent haste, our game at the cosmopolitan, sophisticated town of Watford has now been re-arranged. You will recall that an unlikely combination of Cheltenham races and two-men-and-a-dog TV caused this match to be postponed. Now our trip to the first division's worst drinking town is fixed for Wednesday 6 February, with a bonus pint kick off time of 8 o'clock. February's the shortest month, but we now have seven games scheduled, compared to the four we'll play (hopefully) in January, with three away games in a row. We now only await the date of the rearranged home match against Bradford, postponed from New Year's Day because someone at Burnley cocked up the arrangements for heating the pitch.
But, even-handedly, hats aloft for the club for sticking up for the supporters over the Cheltenham game. Cheltenham unilaterally announced ticket prices on their website [www.cheltenhamtownfc.com - nearly as long as Burnley's address] yesterday, stating that there would be a £3 rise on their normal prices. Good to know that the spirit of cashing in on the cup still lives on. Burnley have, however, objected, and got this down to a £2 price rise. It's the principle of the thing that's important, and who knows, maybe someone could by a winning lottery ticket with that surplus quid. Meanwhile, ticket details gradually seep out, with prices now announced on the official Burnley site [www.burnleyfootballclub.com, as if you didn't know] and as yet unconfirmed information about voucher and ticket stub requirements, and our allocation (apparently a smidgen under 2,000) in circulation. Who knows, perhaps one day full ticket information will be made public.
Click here to see the revised-for-the-millionth-time 'fixture' list and click here for the most up-to-date information we have on how London Clarets members can apply for tickets for the Cheltenham and Watford games.
8 January - More bloody matches moved, as usual
Our late January schedule was firmed up today with the news that the FA Cup Fourth Round match at
Cheltenham will be played on Sunday 27 January, kick off at 1pm. Given the likely
minimal media interest, we had hoped, perhaps foolishly, for a Saturday match, but as we know, these days we’re not allowed to play at
three o’clock on a Saturday unless we absolutely can’t find any other time and day on which to play. The match isn’t
on the telly, and the official reason for the move is that there is racing at Cheltenham on the Saturday afternoon!
Is this the first time a Burnley game has been moved because of a clash with horse racing? (Chester?) Has anyone out
there got any other stupid reasons why games have been moved? My favourite was a match at Scarborough once, called off
because it clashed with a Conservative Party conference, I seem to recall.
Anyway, a knock on effect of this is that our game at Watford , scheduled for Monday 28 January, has been postponed, with due predictability. No new date has yet been set, so our ticket
booking process for this match has been suspended. This game was originally scheduled for Tuesday 29 January, and
we can’t move it to the Wednesday because Watford are playing on the Thursday, in front of the ITV Sport cameras
and an armchair audience of several. So, we’ll have to fit that one in sometime. It doesn’t get any easier for us
people who just want to go to games, does it? With the season finishing ridiculously early in April, best pray to
whatever god you believe in for some good weather.
Click here to see a revised 'fixture' list, for what it's worth.
Ticket news for Cheltenham is expected soon, but one encouraging piece of information is that apparently Whaddon
Road isn’t as small as we first feared. One of their supporters has been in touch to tell us that, following
refurbishment and the construction of a new stand, the ground capacity is 8,000. Should be room for a reasonable
Clarets following - provided they can get to Gloucestershire for a Sunday afternoon, that is.
7 January - Cheltenham in the FA Cup
So the FA Cup Fourth Round draw served up Cheltenham away for Burnley. While not one of the glamour ties of the round, this is potentially an excellent fixture. Providing it's played at three o'clock on a Saturday - and is there any reason why it shouldn't be? - and I can get a ticket, this is exactly what I wanted from the cup: an away game at a new ground in a town which must have a few decent pubs, and a match we have a chance of winning too. Following our first ever encounter against Canvey Island, here's another first. At least we're getting some novelty from the cup this season. The game will be played on or around Saturday 26 January, which should mean that our planned game at Watford on 28 January will be moved again. The capacity at Whaddon Road appears to be 6,800 or thereabouts, and under normal procedure we should get a quarter of the tickets. When we have some information on tickets, it'll be in the box office section of the site.
3 January - Post-festive bah humbug round-up: Cooky, Kuqi, moved matches and frozen pitches
So what happened while this site went into its annual festive hibernation?
Paul Cook came back from his loan spell at Wigan. Hmm, we may have to take back what we said about it 'looking like his Burnley career is over'. It never does pays to second guess Stan.
As if to prove it, Andy Payton has just come back from Blackpool as well. Maybe he could take the penalties.
There was also some speculation about new signings - with a bit of squad strengthening looking a good idea after our drubbing by KK Man City - but we don't do speculation here, when others do it so well. Carlton Palmer, however, says he's turned down an offer from Burnley for Shefki Kuqi. Hey, it isn't us who are desperate. Time for more of the fun and games we had trying to sign Ian Moore?
The Rotherham away match, postponed from Boxing Day, was quite quickly re-arranged for Tuesday 12 February.
Hot on the heels of this and the Bradford postponement, the 15th change to our fixtures (so far) was announced, with the news that our game against Preston NE will be played on Sunday 17 March at the ever stinking kick off time of 6.15 instead of on Saturday 16 March at 3.00. Once again, it will be on the TV station no one watches, ITV Sport. Let's hope the two men and their dog who tune in enjoy it. No real surprise this, as I seem to remember saying some time back that we will never again play Man City or Preston at three o'clock on a Saturday.
That Bradford postponement made it an unhappy start to the year for us. Like many out of town Clarets, I'd arranged a few days' family visiting to 'coincide' with the KK Man City away and Bradford home games, and it was disappointing to only get one match out of six days up North. Other Southern based Clarets were coming up on the day by car, and had travelled significant distances before the game was called off. Many of us won't be able to get up and support Burnley on whatever night that game is rearranged.
It's frustrating, although postponements happen, I suppose. But they aren't supposed to happen when you have undersoil heating, are they? Isn't that the point of spending money on heating? Remember the perma-grinning Clive Holt bragging that Turf Moor would never again see a game called off due to the weather? Care to explain this one, Clive? I know it was bloody cold on New Year's Day, but what is the point in having undersoil heating if, when it is called upon to do its job, we still don't get a game? I never doubted that the game might be on - because we have undersoil heating, don't we?
Was it any warmer in Leeds? It certainly wasn't when I travelled through there on my way home. But their home match -
kicking off at eight o'clock at night - went ahead. This would suggest that our heating wasn't up to scratch. Either that,
or someone at the club cocked up and didn't use it properly. Whatever the reason, those supporters who made arrangements,
travelled and spent money on the assumption that undersoil heating prevents the pitch freezing deserve a better
explanation from the club than we have had so far. People have been poorly
served by the club. Those phoning up the club were told that he game was not in doubt. No one ever told us there might be a
pitch inspection. And when people went to Turf Moor looking for an explanation, or to seek refunds on their tickets, or
just to pass the time browsing in the new club shop, they found the place was locked up. Couldn't someone have been on hand
to provide some answers, particularly to those who had travelled from out of town and might not have known it was off, or
why it was off? Some people wanted to ask what the prospects were for Saturday before another long journey to Turf Moor.
Burnley has an extraordinarily widespread support for a club of its size.
The club should be aware that for many people, a home game during the holidays represents a rare chance to
visit Turf Moor.
Ah well, please at least let no one suggest we have winter breaks. We like winter games. Oh, too late. And please don't feel sorry for us. If you must, feel sorry for Gus, Dutch Claret, who was over for three Christmas games, but was dealt two postponements and one heavy defeat. Let's hope he does better next time he's over.
In the meantime, given that we have undersoil heating which does not actually prevent matches being called off due to frozen pitches, I've got a chocolate teapot the club may be interested in buying. Happy sodding New Year.
January 2002 comment entries
More on the Ambition Debate
Our spy reports on Cheltenham!
Wowk's World - FA Cup fever
Time for a gamble at the Turf
Do we want to gamble on promotion?
Does our away support count against us?
Looking forward to Cheltenham
Our scout reports from Wimbledon!
Thoughts on the Burnley Task Force report
It's time to strengthen the squad
The case for Danny's defence
January diary
February 2002 news and comment archive
Archive main menu
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.
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