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Month end round-up
No sixth round for us, then!
Looking forward to March and July...
New signing at last!
Cup update
One Davis returns, plus red card appeals fail
New Year gets off to a non-start
Click here for this month's comment entries.
31 January - another quiet month ends
January didn't exactly start in scintillating fashion, with the Clarets' New Year's Day fixture at Sheffield United being postponed, and it's continued in the same dull, often frustrating, vein. The month has however seen us see off Grimsby (eventually) and Brentford in the FA Cup, leaving us with a fifth round tie against Fulham. This successful run has been very important for the Club, not least from the financial perspective. Less successful has been our League form, with only two points gained during the month (not forgetting, of course, the postponed game and the fact that it was a Cup month as well). Hopefully February will see an upturn in our League fortunes (we're still four wins from safety, of course), but there will be no easy games.
Up at the Turf, Drissa Diallo was our only new signing. He certainly impressed us, and Stan has said that he would like to sign him on a longer deal. (Along with Marlon, hopefully.) Exiting, though only temporarily, was forward Anthony Shandran, who joined York City on a month's loan. He'll be linking up with ex-Clarets Chris Brass and Tom Cowan, and we'd like to wish him all the best.
Talking of Stan, the self-confessed media-hater has been in the public eye again, with an interview for Radio Five Live's "Sport On Five" programme. Although Stan probably isn't too keen on all this "claptrapping", it's all good publicity for the Club. Hearing the views of real "football people" like Stan also makes such programmes more interesting for those tuning in - it certainly makes a change from hearing the usual has-beens and never-weres.
We round off the month with news of two former Clarets. Lenny Johnrose was reluctantly released by Bury, and has joined Swansea, playing the full 90 minutes in their important home win over Lincoln. Meanwhile, Paul Gascoigne has finally - after a rather long time searching - found a new club, in the shape of a one-year deal with Chinese Second Division side Gansu Tianma. Good luck to them both.
27 January - tough fifth round Cup draw looms
Dreams of Arsenal away (or Rochdale at home) soon evaporated today when Burnley were drawn to face Fulham away in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Although geographically convenient for most of our members, this is bound to be a very difficult game. Still, you never know - and tough game or not, we wouldn't dream of missing it!
Other news has been a bit thin on the ground, though we must say that we've been quite impressed with new signing Drissa Diallo. Hopefully a longer contract will follow for him.
Off the pitch, the Club issued a press release saying that it has banned for life from Turf Moor a further twelve people. The individual offences varied, but we were encouraged to see a ban for racist chanting (though the phrase "tip of the iceberg" does spring to mind). We do have some concerns over two of the offences, though: attempting to enter a sports ground whilst drunk, and pitch encroachment. As regards the former, there is a concern that this law (along with its close relative, "being drunk and disorderly") can be applied somewhat selectively. (And presumably it's OK to enter the ground sober, and then drink yourself silly at the Club's own concourse bars?) Regarding pitch encroachment: we've said this before, but it's puzzling how hundreds of people invading the pitch at once are tolerated (even encouraged), but one person doing the same thing alone is a criminal. Still, presumably there were other circumstances in the case of the two individuals concerned.
Last, but certainly not least, we'd like to congratulate Gareth Taylor and Dimi Papadopoulos on receiving further international call-ups. Golden Bonce is in the Welsh squad for next month's home game against Bosnia-Herzegovina, whilst Dimi is in the Greek under-21 squad for their home game against the Norwegian under-21s. Both games are scheduled for Wednesday 12th February. We'd like to wish both players good luck, and hopefully a goal or two each!
17 January - Sheffield United game rearranged, plus various other bits and pieces
Before we run through the week's other news, we must mention the Gaffer's TV appearance (see below)! Although not a natural pundit (perhaps a bit lacking on the tact and diplomacy front), Stan nonetheless had a steady game on "Goals on Sunday". His laid-back style provided the perfect foil for the humour of his friend and fellow guest, Peter Reid. Unfortunately we couldn't see his other TV appearance (we can't get Granada in the London area!), but we hear that was pretty good as well.
Away from the TV cameras, a new date was agreed for the rearranged League game against Sheffield United. The match will now take place on Tuesday 11th March, with a 7.45pm kick-off.
Although the season's still in full flow, the Club announced that Burnley are set to appear in a prestigious international football tournament in July. Sounded quite good, until the awful truth dawned. Yep - it's the Isle of Man pre-season thingy again. We can't say that we rushed off to book off our hotel, but the most important thing is obviously that it's a useful exercise for the players. And if it's good enough for Stan - well, who are we to argue?
In the wider football world, League Division One clubs voted (unanimously) to appoint their own Chief Executive. It was reported on the Club site that this move is intended to "remarket the Division One brand as the flagship of the Football League". Forgetting the cringe-making jargon, there are two possible interpretations of the situation. Perhaps the move is a genuine attempt to reduce the gap between the Premiership and the Football League as a whole. Alternatively, it could be a precursor to complete separation from Divisions Two and Three, and the establishment of a "Premiership Two". Only time will tell, but we know which one our money's on.
11 January - new signing plays against Tractor Boys
This week saw us make the welcome signing of defender Drissa Diallo. Diallo, who has just turned 30, has joined the Clarets on a one-month contract. He previously played for Belgian First Division club Mechelen. Apparently, he's still a Mechelen player, but as the club has gone into liquidation he is effectively a free agent. Today saw him thrown in at the deep end, playing the whole 90 minutes against Ipswich Town (Coxy being suspended). The feedback from those who were at the game is that he did well. "Driss" has taken the number 3 shirt. If he turns out to be half as good as the previous incumbent, he'll be a jolly good signing. We'd like to welcome Driss to the Turf.
Marlon has also signed on for another month (though he sat out today's game with an injury). Wouldn't it be nice if the "Marlon situation" could be sorted out permanently?
Off the pitch, yesterday saw the funeral of young Forest supporter Nathan Shaw, who came to Burnley just to watch a football match. The Club was represented at the service by Andrew Watson and Cathy Pickup, along with Ian Cox and Gareth Taylor from the playing staff. We would like to restate our sympathies to Nathan's family and friends. Click here for our Chairman's statement, issued immediately after the tragedy.
Lastly, Stan will be on TV tomorrow - not once, but twice! According to the Club site, he'll be appearing first on Sky's "Goals on Sunday" programme, which kicks off at 11.30am on Sky Sports One. Then, viewers in the ITV Granada area will be able to tune in to "Soccer Sunday", starting at 2.00pm, which will feature a profile of Stan. We'll definitely be setting our videos!
6 January - FA Cup replay date and (possible) next opponents
The Club announced today that the FA Cup Third Round replay against Grismby Town will take place on Tuesday 14th January, kick-off 7.45pm. Let's hope we make that home advantage count, and the phrase "two late goals" doesn't feature!
If we get past the Mariners, we'll be facing an away match at Brentford. A nice local game for the London Clarets, and a repeat of our last result there (a 3-2 League win in April 2000) would do nicely. Of course, we no longer have Ian Wright, or John Mullin, but it's not too bad a draw. At least we avoided the potential banana skin of Farnborough Town away! Still, we mustn't forget that we have to get past Grimsby first.
Lastly, today brought yet more bad news on the injury front. Paul Weller, who had to go off during Saturday's game, will be out for a couple of weeks with a calf strain. Just what we didn't want.
3 January - Earl is back
Before mentioning other news, we'd like to pay tribute to a former Claret who sadly died on the last day of 2002. Welsh international William (Billy) Morris was a member of the Clarets side that contested the 1947 FA Cup Final (when Burnley lost 1-0 to Charlton Athletic). In addition to making 230 appearances for Burnley, scoring 53 goals, he also earned 5 full Wales caps. A war-interrupted playing career ended with a move to Burnley's coaching staff, followed by a couple of spells as manager of Wrexham. Billy was the last member of the 1947 Cup Final team to pass away. We salute his memory.
Today saw the recall of Earl Davis from Stalybridge Celtic, where he has been enjoying a successful loan spell. Presumably he will go into tomorrow's squad for our trip to Grimsby, which is now severely depleted. Not only are we still missing regulars Steve Davis, Paul Cook, Lee Briscoe and Graham Branch due to injury, but we will also now have three players (Little, Taylor and West) suspended.
We had expected Little to miss the game after collecting five yellow cards. However, the Club had appealed against the bizarre sendings-off at Gillingham of Taylor and West, and hopes were high that at least one of the red cards would be rescinded. However, this hasn't happened, and the bans (3 matches for Taylor, and 1 for West) will now be effective from tomorrow. Anyone who went to the game will know that the red cards were totally unnecessary, but since to rescind them would require officialdom to admit to having made mistakes, we probably shouldn't have expected any other outcome. The impact on our squad - particularly from losing Taylor - is significant.
1 January - Clarets' first game of 2003 postponed
2003 didn't start very well for the London Clarets. Several of us made the trek up to Sheffield earlier today, gently nursing a collection of hangovers, only to find out (as the train was pulling in to Sheffield station) that the game had been postponed. Still, we felt that we had to make the best of things, and so consoled ourselves by getting reacquainted with various watering-holes. Oh well. We'll let you know the rescheduled match date / time as soon as we find out.
It's interesting to note that Grimsby's home game against Bradford was also postponed. Bearing in mind the weather forecast for the rest of the week, it doesn't bode too well for Saturday. Still - fingers crossed...
January 2003 comment entries
Firmo on why he says "bollocks" to the FA Cup
Trippo runs the rule over Earl Davis
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