More cash for Stan?
D-Day for DD
Glen says he wants to come back
Nine or ten new players?
Chairman says "no" to Golden Bonce enquiry
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31 May
- round-up
Another relatively
quiet few days - just a few things to report.
Papa has again been
called up to the Greece Under 21 squad. Greece are currently leading
their qualifying group, and have two games coming up shortly. The first
will be away to Spain on Friday (6th June), and the second at home to
Ukraine next Tuesday (10th). We wish Papa all the best.
Not such good news
for Gareth Taylor, though. Golden Bonce picked up a knee injury during
Wales's recent friendly against the United States. The injury occurred
following a collision with Preston's Eddie Lewis (boo). Apparently a
quick op should sort the problem out, and he should be fine for the start
of the season - assuming we don't sell him to Norwich, or Cardiff, or
Wigan...
...or Ipswich. The
very word is prone to make Clarets break into a sweat at the moment.
Despite having only just come out of administration, they seem to be
linked with just about every available player. Including, of course,
everyone who's linked with a move to Burnley (or might be staying at
Burnley, in the case of Drissa Diallo). Actually, perhaps they've got
the right idea: go into administration, pay your creditors a fraction
of what you owe, and then emerge from administration ready to pick and
choose who you want to sign.
Meanwhile, Barry Kilby
has admitted that he might have to put his hand in his pocket yet again
to support Burnley's next League campaign. On the Club's
website, Kilby (who's already put around £3M into the Club)
is quoted as saying "There will probably be a need to inject more
cash this season". He goes on to say that Burnley are fortunate
in having a Board where the members are fans, and don't necessarily expect
to see a return on their investments. Hats off to Bazza - we may moan
about our Board on occasion, but at least they are not in it solely for
the money. One doesn't have to look very far to see what can happen when
the balance between finance and football is lost.
It's unlikely that
Stan will need any money just yet, though. Rumours continue about which
players might be coming to the Club (Mohamed Camara, Danny Coyne, Claus
Jorgensen, seemingly the entire Manchester United youth team), but that's
all it is at the moment: rumour. Hopefully things will start to move
in a couple of weeks, once players are back from holiday and current
contracts begin to run out.
Lastly, we noticed
that the Club seems to be auctioning just about everything it can at
the moment. (Shirts, yes - but shinpads?) Following suit, we're
considering auctioning off our clothes at the AGM. Now, doesn't that
conjure up all kinds of horrible images?
27 May
- round-up
Hands up all those
who smiled when Neil Warnock's Sheffield United lost to Wolves in the
Division One play-off final yesterday? We'd like to bet that Stan was
one of the first to phone Dave Jones and offer his congratulations. And
of course, an added benefit is that we don't have to go to Molineux again
- well, not until the season after next, anyway. (Of course, we still
have to go to Bramall Lane... and to Cardiff again...)
Closer to home, it's
reported that Drissa Diallo and his agent will be starting contract talks
with the Gaffer tomorrow. Stan will be looking to persuade Driss to stay,
though Ipswich have already declared their interest and therefore made
Stan's job that bit harder. Hopefully an agreement will be reached -
it would be good to get both Driss and Branchy tied up (so to speak)
as soon as possible, and then move on to getting the "nine or ten" new
players that we're all looking forward to!
Meanwhile, across the
pond, Gareth Taylor started Wales's friendly game against the US yesterday,
which will hopefully help his Euro 2004 chances. It was bad news for
the Welsh team as a whole, though, as they lost the match 2-0 and finished
with ten men. Anyway, congratulations to Golden Bonce on another cap.
And talking of Burnley
strikers, one of our members, Tony from Harrow, had a bit of a surprise
on Sunday. Whilst at a Harley-Davidson meeting, who should he see but
one Mr Ian Wright. Tony reports that he thanked Wrighty for his efforts
for Burnley, and Wrighty replied that he wouldn't forget us. Superb!
Already this month,
Clarets have mourned the deaths of former Club Director Bernard Rothwell
and ex-player Harold Spencer. We were saddened to read today of the sudden
death of Jonathan Waldron, the younger son of Claret favourite, Colin.
Jonathan's death is all the more tragic for his age - he was only 26.
We send our condolences to Colin and his family.
23
May - will Glen be coming back?
Will this go on all
summer? It was only a few days ago that Super Glen was (deliberately
or otherwise) implying he might want to stay at Reading. This week, he
told the Lancashire
Evening Telegraph: "I'm perfectly happy to stay at Burnley if
they want to keep me". He also went on to say that Reading were
interested in signing him. We think this is called hedging one's bets!
The LET also reported
that Stan will have to do his wheeling and dealing this summer without
the benefit of new funds. According to Barry Kilby, it's a buyers' market
at the moment, and Kilby is confident that Stan can get in some decent
players without having to splash out on transfer fees. This is undoubtedly
true, and the situation will probably suit Stan (though the man himself
might disagree!), as arguably he's made some of his best acquisitions
when his budget has been most limited. Kilby doesn't expect much in the
way of signings for a few weeks yet, though, as players' contracts have
yet to expire (and they're probably all in Ibiza at the moment).
One player who definitely
isn't in Ibiza, though, is Golden Bonce (whom we were pleased to hear
earlier this week say that he wants to extend his contract with Burnley).
Taylor is off to California with the Wales squad. They take on the USA
in a friendly on Monday. Hopefully Gareth will get the chance he deserves
(especially with John Hartson sidelined). We wish him luck.
It's been very quiet
on the rumour front this week, though Rotherham boss Ronnie Moore has
publicly stated he's keen on signing Lee Briscoe. Steve Davis is rumoured
to be interesting Sunderland, which on the face of it might seem unlikely,
but stranger things have happened. Anyway, hopefully both players will
get fixed up somewhere soon.
It's only a few days
since ex-Burnley Director Bernard Rothwell died, and this week the Claret
family was in mourning again with the death of former player Harold Spencer.
Mr Spencer's involvement with Burnley started before the Second World
War, and continued afterwards until he joined Wrexham in 1950. We send
our condolences to his family.
Today saw a couple
of other news snippets: one good, one bad. The good news was that Paul
Cook has finally agreed terms for a one-year contract with Conference
new boys Accrington Stanley. Andy Payton and Gordon Armstrong were also
rumoured to be joining Stanley, but there's been nothing official as
yet.
Today's bad news was
that despite the Club's recent positive proclamations, season ticket
sales are well down on last year's figure. So far, around 7,600 have
been sold, which is around 4,000 - four thousand - less than
at this time last summer. Even allowing for the fact that the season
just gone was disappointing (league-wise) compared to the previous one,
that's a big shortfall. Perhaps the Club should have extended the discount
period? Anyway, let's hope a few more are snapped up between now and
August. Goodness knows, the Club needs every penny it can get.
18
May - will Driss and Glen be leaving?
You can always tell
when things are quiet up at the Turf: the Club website's Breaking News
page is just one long list of adverts. (No, we haven't got NTL Broadband,
and we still won't want it however many times a week it's mentioned.)
There have been a few snippets, though - albeit most of them sourced
elsewhere!
There's no word yet
on whether Branchy and Driss will sign the contracts offered to them.
Rumour has it that Branchy will sign, but Driss's position is more doubtful.
Apparently his excellent performances for us have attracted the attention
of a few clubs, amongst them Ipswich Town. Joe Royle has publicly stated
that he's interested in Driss; however, as Town are currently in administration,
they're not allowed to make any signings. We'll watch this situation
with interest.
After Reading crashed
out of the play-offs, we were disappointed to read Glen Little's comments
to the Reading Chronicle (as reported on the icBerkshire
website). They included the following remarks:
"It's difficult
for me to say anything about next season because it's a delicate
situation. It's not like I'm out of contract at Burnley so I can't
really say I want a move because I might have to go back there next
season, so we'll just have to see what happens."
Assuming the quotes
are accurate, does this sound to you like someone who wants to come back
to the Turf? Hmm. Still, if you let someone see the grass elsewhere,
you run the risk that they'll decide it's greener.
Of course, the other
team with a recent Burnley connection, David Johnson's Nottingham Forest,
also got knocked out. (We'll be cheering on Wolves in the final, obviously.
The alternative being too awful to contemplate...)
But back to Burnley.
Although there's no mention of it on the official site, the Lancashire
Evening Telegraph's website quotes Barry Kilby as saying that the
Club "will have nine or ten new players coming in over the summer".
Nine or ten? We hope! Mr Kilby also says he's confident that the rebuilding
of the team will see us pushing for a play-off spot. It's nice to hear
such positive words. And all without once mentioning ITV Digital!
Rumoured targets for
the Clarets include various Manchester United youngsters, Claus Jorgensen
(who has rejected a new contract at Bradford), and Grimsby keeper Danny
Coyne. We'll let you know should anything concrete happen.
Lastly, and on a sombre
note, we send our condolences to the family of ex-BFC Director Bernard
Rothwell. Mr Rothwell died last week.
12 May
- will we still have Golden Bonce next season?
Not a great deal has
happened since last season fizzled out with the non-game at Franchise
FC. The preceding home match (enough said) had seen us wave goodbye to
Cooky and Payton - we didn't know at that time that a further
ten players were to follow them. The initial shock of seeing so many
players leave has now worn off, though, and conversation is now centring
around who Stan will bring in.
Of those leaving Burnley,
there's been little word, though Gillingham have stated publicly that
they hope to sign Coxy. It's a little early yet for inward moves to be
confirmed, but we'll let you know if we hear anything definite.
One thing that is definite
is that Barry Kilby has rebuffed an enquiry from Norwich City about Gareth
Taylor. Surprisingly, this was reported on the official
website - probably to avoid rumours and speculation getting out of
hand. We fervently hope that this is the last we hear of the matter.
You can't blame Naardge for trying, though - after all, the Club has
(deliberately or otherwise) repeatedly given the impression that a) they're
strapped for cash post-ITV Digital, and b) any player is for sale, given
the right offer. After the loaning out of Super Glen to Reading, surely
they wouldn't contemplate selling our star striker?
Well, at least we know
where the Burnley team (whatever its composition) will be pre-season.
Two prestigious home friendlies have been announced, and there's also
the usual Isle of Man tournament. Details are as follows:
Sunday 20th
- Saturday 26th July: Steam Packet Company Football Festival, Isle
of Man
Burnley
are in Group B, along with Wrexham and Blackpool. Group A consists of the
Isle of Man, Rotherham United and Rushden & Diamonds. Burnley's first
match is against Blackpool, on the evening of the 20th July. The Final
(should we get that far!) is at 2.00pm on the 26th. We'll publish further
details once the venues have been confirmed.
Sunday 27th
July - Leeds United (at Turf Moor)
Kick-off will be at 12.00pm. Should we get to the IOM final, there will be
some tired legs out there!
Saturday 2nd
August - Birmingham City (at Turf Moor)
Kick-off will be at 1.00pm.
Perhaps another match
or two may follow - we'll keep you posted.
Lastly, we'd like to
finish by congratulating Burnley's reserves on maintaining their Avon
Insurance Premier League status. The first team may have had nothing
to play for by the end of the season, but the reserves' campaign went
down to the wire. Their away win over Tranmere Rovers on the final day
secured their place in the Premier League for another year. Well done
to Ronnie Jepson and all the players.
May
2003 comment entries
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