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Funeral March
Little loan shock
News of two current campaigns, plus injury worries mount
Parachutes and pies
APFSCIL Dinner meeting pub
News on the Pompey game; Maylett off to Swansea
Bollocks to the FA Cup
Card-flappers, claptrappers and Golden Boys
Click here for this month's comment entries.
31 March - thank God it's nearly April
Much as we don't want to, we thought we should round up the month, just for the archives. Of course, March started quite well, Dean West's superb strike winning us all three points away at Stoke. However, we were only to get two more League points during the month (away at Millwall and at home to Grimsby), and were dumped out of the FA Cup by Watford. The month ended with a home defeat to Bradford, which prompted the Gaffer to finally admit that Burnley were unlikely to make the play-offs. (As in "the Pope is unlikely to renounce Catholicism".)
Shortly after all that, we had the shocking news of Super Glen's loan move to Reading, quickly followed by assurances that he will be back at the Turf for the start of next season. Unless, of course... Still - we're Burnley supporters, so we're well used to disappointments and setbacks. Time to get those season tickets renewed, and look ahead to April!
27 March - Little boy blue
Well, we certainly didn't expect to update this page again for a few days, but today's news deserves an item all of its own.
Burnley Football Club announced this afternoon that Glen Little has gone on loan to Reading for the remainder of the season. Yes, you did read that correctly. According to Barry Kilby, the deal "makes sense for both clubs", and "is worth £100,000" to Burnley. Kilby also likened it to our own signing of David Johnson for last season's run-in.
Like most Clarets, we suspect, the news didn't exactly fill us with a surge of unbridled joy. Barry Kilby has tried to put a positive spin on things, saying that the deal will benefit Burnley - and this may be true in the short term as we save on Little's wages at a time when our season is effectively over. However, it's hard not to feel a bit resentful at handing him over to Reading. Not that we have anything against Reading per se, but having already showered them with points and goals this season it does seem a little (no pun intended) over-generous to give them a player as well. (What are we - a feeder club for Reading, or something?) The only positive thing, if one can call it that, is that Robbie Blake's rumoured loan move to Wigan didn't happen.
And Mr Kilby's assertion that the situation is similar to Burnley's signing of Johnson only really stands up from the financial perspective. At the time we signed Johnson, he was out of favour at Forest, and they were looking to offload him permanently (yes, whatever they might say now). Little, however, is an integral part of our squad. He is one of our most talented and popular players. Few Clarets hearing today's news will have been anything other than disappointed.
Another concern is that the move may have longer-term implications. Reading - or another club - may sign him. Yes, he's under contract to Burnley until the end of next season, but that wouldn't stop any move if it was agreed by all parties. The absence of Little for the remaining games of this season may make home games less attractive for some, so might result in a loss of "walk-up" revenue.
But underlying it all are two major worries. Firstly, are the Club's financial problems worse than we believed? Is it worth letting a key player (or players, if the Blake rumours can be believed) leave the squad for the sake of a few weeks' wages? What happened to the money from our Cup runs? And secondly, what impact will the move have on the motivation and cohesion of the squad? The Club's longer-term financial viability depends on how well things go on the pitch, and it's hard to see how loaning out Glen Little will help in that regard.
It's difficult to know what to think at the moment. Much as we like - and trust - Barry Kilby, we can't help feeling somewhat disappointed. We'd like to hear your view on the situation - so why not drop us a line? We'll publish a selection of opinions.
26 March - quick round-up
News has reached us of a couple of football-related campaigns, and we thought we should pass on the details.
Firstly, the Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) has organised a Football Supporters' Parliamentary Lobby for Tuesday 1st April. The FSF is lobbying for a fairer deal for football, and fans, as far as television is concerned. Obviously given current world events the timing is somewhat difficult, but if you are interested, full details are in the attached flier.
Please note: you will need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® to view the file. If you don't already have it, it's available as a free download from Adobe's website.
On a related note, one of our members has emailed to let us know about the 3PM SAT website, which is running a campaign to get a larger percentage of football matches back to their rightful time - i.e. 3pm on a Saturday. If the constant chopping and changing of fixture times irritates you, why not visit the site? There is some background information on the initiative, plus an online petition.
We had hoped to get through this news update without actually mentioning Burnley's home defeat to Bradford, but it looks as though (like the team?) we haven't succeeded. The defeat itself was depressing enough, but it seems that no fewer than three players (Briscoe, Cook and Diallo) picked up various knocks during the match. They will presumably be fighting Alan Moore (hamstring) and Ian Cox (Achilles) over who gets the physio's attention. We wish each of them a speedy recovery.
23 March - round-up
On the pitch, March has continued to be a disappointing month, but at least the losing streak has come to an end at last with yesterday's point against Grimsby.
Off the pitch, rumours have continued to fly about the alleged financial problems of Premium TV, the subsidiary of ntl responsible for running Football League clubs' websites.
Concerns about the company's continuing financial viability began when the websites deal was partly renegotiated last year to re-time payments to clubs, and were fuelled by recent staff changes, including a number of redundancies. However, the concerns have been dismissed by both Premium TV and the Football League (whose own website is run by...Premium TV). Let's hope that there is no truth in the rumours, as after the ITV Digital fiasco, League clubs can ill afford any more financial pressure.
Meanwhile, according to news service Ananova, the Football League is set to introduce "parachute payments" next season for relegated clubs. Strangely, although the news has apparently come from the Football League itself, there is nothing on its own website about it. Perhaps they don't work at weekends, or something - or they're all at games! Anyway, you can see the full article by going to Ananova's website, and searching Ananova with the text "parachute payments". The story is dated yesterday (22nd March). If you have a view on whether having such a payments system is a good thing, let us know.
Going back to matters Claret, our friends at the West Midlands Clarets have relaunched their website. Why not take a look? Not only is there some great new Claret-related content, they've got a version of Tetris on there!
Lastly, we'd like to finish on a (semi) humorous note. You know that the season's over when the Club's "Breaking News" section includes a "story" headed Do You Like Pies?! However, that's not to belittle the issue itself - the quality (and quantity) of food on offer at the Turf is an important one, to the Club's finances as well as to our stomachs. Essentially, the Club is looking for people to go along on Wednesday (26th) for a pie- and hotdog-tasting session. Feedback from the session will help in choosing who supplies next season's food. So, if you're going to be in Burnley on Wednesday, why not drop in? The tasting session starts at 12.30. If you're interested, call the Catering Department on 0870 443 1882.
18 March - cricket connections
Just a quick reminder for those attending Friday's APFSCIL Dinner at the Oval Cricket Ground: the meeting pub will be the Morpeth Arms, 58 Millbank, Pimlico SW1. Click here for a map. (The pub's telephone number is 020 7834 6442.) For any queries about the dinner, please contact our APFSCIL representative, Jane Pike. Jane's contact details may be found in the magazine.
And continuing the cricket theme, England cricketer Andrew Flintoff has been training with the Clarets to get himself in trim for the coming cricket season. Apparently he scored a winning goal during training - hopefully this might jog some Burnley players' memories!
16 March - round-up
Leaving aside the very disappointing week on the pitch, there were a few news items worthy of mention.
As already stated on our Box Office page, the Portsmouth away game was postponed due to Pompey's international call-ups. (At the time of writing, they have four players confirmed as being on international duty.)
According to Portsmouth's official website, the game has been rescheduled for Tuesday 15th April at 7.45. There is as yet no reference to the new date on Burnley's official website, but presumably confirmation will appear there soon.
The week also saw winger Brad Maylett - on the fringes of the Burnley first team for ages, without ever making the breakthrough - off on a month's loan at Swansea City. Brad joins two popular ex Clarets at the Vetch Field: team-mate Lenny Johnrose, and manager Brian Flynn. Evidently this is the second time that Flynn has tried to get Maylett on loan; on the first occasion, last October, an injury put paid to things. Maylett played in yesterday's home game against Carlisle United, which the Swans unfortunately lost. As other results went against them, they are now at the bottom of Division Three. Anyway, we'd like to wish Brad all the best, and hope that he can contribute to a return to form for his new team.
And lastly, talking of ex Clarets, we were pleased to see Kevin Ball taking temporary charge at Sunderland, following the dismissal of Howard Wilkinson and Steve Cotterill. Of course, it was only for a couple of days, until new manager Mick McCarthy arrived on the scene! Much as Bally was appreciated at Burnley, it would be true to say that he is adored at Sunderland. Happily, despite being a Wilkinson appointee, he's set to stay on at the Stadium of Light in a coaching role. We send him our good wishes.
11 March - the (last) eight stages of recovery
We're not going to mention the FA Cup.
OK - maybe we are. It's irresistible - like repeatedly inspecting a wound to see if it's healed, or something. The recovery process goes something like this. Which stage are you at?
Shock: How could this have happened? HOW could this have happened? How COULD this have happened? (Etc)
Denial: Hey - it was all a bad dream! When do we play Watford? Wasn't the game abandoned? Can't we get a replay on a technicality?
Fear: Oh no! We lost! That means we're going to get relegated. All our players will leave. Stan will leave. The Board will leave. My life won't be worth living without Burnley...
Anger: Bloody 'ell, Burnley - not again. What a load of donkeys. Sack 'em all. Sack the manager. Sack the Board. I hate Burnley. I'm not going to any more games this season. This year. Ever.
Depression: (Lots of comfort eating and watching BAD television programmes.)
Understanding: Oh well, maybe we lost because we didn't play very well.
Acceptance: It happened. We still had a jolly good run in the competition.
Moving on: Come on you Clarets!
Well, having got that out of our systems, just a brief mention of Stan's post-match reaction. He was very generous in defeat, praising the Burnley players and fans, and wishing Watford well. Barry Kilby also thanked Clarets fans for their support throughout the two Cup runs, and reiterated that Burnley will get half the £400,000 prize money from the Watford game (as agreed beforehand between the two clubs). A little comfort there, perhaps.
Lastly, away from the FA Cup, Gareth Taylor has once again been called up for Wales. He's in the squad for the two upcoming Euro 2004 qualifiers: at home to Azerbaijan on the 29th March (so he will miss the Portsmouth game, if it goes ahead as scheduled), and away to Serbia-Montenegro on the 2nd April. We send our congratulations to Golden Bonce.
Oh - one more thing. Bollocks to the FA Cup. And Rodney Marsh.
8 March - only one thing on our minds
The Clarets leapt into March with a useful win away at Stoke on the first day of the month, Dean West netting with a superb long-distance shot. (Shoot more often, Deano!) This was followed by 1-1 draw away at Millwall - with the Clarets' goal scored by Ian Moore - though fans who were at the game were convinced that referee Mark Cooper robbed Burnley of victory. In what could hardly be described as a dirty game, he booked six Burnley players (including Gareth Taylor, taking his bookings tally to ten). Naturally, only one Millwall player's name found its way into Mr Cooper's little book. Worse, most people felt that Richard Sadlier's equalising goal should have been disallowed for offside.
If the ref's name rings a bell, you're probably thinking of the same man's abysmal performance when we played Palace away back in January. After Tuesday night's game, Stan didn't pull any punches, saying (amongst other things) about Mr Cooper: "if that's his best, then he should be on Hackney Marshes". Hear, hear.
Prior to the Millwall game, Stan offered another opinion - and this time, there's unlikely to be the same chorus of approval. In the Gaffer's view, teams should have available to them five outfield subs plus a goalkeeper, and be able to use them all. Stan gave his reasons for the suggested change, which included being able to replace players tired by fixture pile-ups. However, those opposed to the idea would say that it would favour richer clubs with bigger squads, who would have more (and better) players available anyway. It might take some of the skill out of managing the game, too (the more subs you can use, the less you have to worry about making a mistake). And would it actually make matches any more "competitive and entertaining"? What do you think? Click here to let us know.
Anyway, despite the team's excellent performances in the League recently (unbeaten since Reading at home at the start of February), most Clarets have probably thought about nothing else but the FA Cup all week. We've done our preparation, we're sure that Stan and the lads have done theirs, and so there's been nothing much to do except worry about / look forward to the match and listen to other people's opinions.
Igor Wowk already mentioned how a certain radio commentator opined that the FA Cup has been "devalued" because either Watford or Burnley will be in the semi-finals this season. This morning, on Sky Sports' "Soccer Saturday" programme, pundit Rodney Marsh could barely contain his mirth when talking about Burnley in the context of the First Division play-offs and promotion to the Premiership. (This is, of course, the same Rodney Marsh who incensed Bradford City supporters a few seasons ago by laughingly declaring that he would shave his head and stand in the centre circle at Valley Parade if the Bantams stayed in the Premiership, so certain was he that they were doomed. They stayed up.) Of course, there's nothing wrong with having an opinion, but it's probably best to put it over in an objective, reasonable and non-patronising fashion. Just a thought, Rodders. Full marks to fellow studio guests Tony Cottee, Charlie Nicholas and Nigel Spackman, who did just that.
But still, who cares about these claptrappers, as Stan would call them. Back where it matters, the good news is that Stan has virtually a full squad of players available for tomorrow's game. Steve Davis had a good run-out in the reserves in midweek (playing in midfield), and could even feature on the bench at Watford. (Not so his namesake, Earl Davis, who is now off on a month's loan at Southport - we wish him well.)
A final thought on Watford: we've always known them as the Hornets, but lately they have been referred to all over the place as the "Golden Boys". Yes, we know, yellow shirts - but what a naff nickname.
Lastly, the Club announced yesterday that it now has new phone numbers. Apparently this is "to give supporters and callers a more efficient and practical service". Hmmm - whenever we hear marketing-speak like this, we tend to smell a rat - and apparently these new numbers are "national rate" numbers, so even if you're calling from a BT landline in Burnley, you will be charged at the national rate. So, the service might be "more efficient and practical", but it may also be more expensive. Does the club make a profit on this? If so, why not be upfront and say that? Anyway...the new numbers are as follows:
- General enquiries: 0870 443 1882.
- Ticket information: 0870 443 1914.
There's no word on how long the "old" numbers will be around for, so best to update your address books, as they say.
March 2003 comment entries
Brian Tawse watches greed triumph over football
Firmo on meaningless ends of seasons
Whitto on the Gaffer
Igor Wowk on the FA Cup
Firmo on the FA Cup (follow-up to his original article)
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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
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