By the time I return from
visiting the family over Christmas – a visit which coincidentally falls at the same
time as the Bury away and Oxford home games – half the season will have gone. It
seems fair enough to take this opportunity now to reflect on our club’s progress as
it stands on the brink of the third century in which it will have lived.
I can’t remember a time in the last few years when
I’ve been happier with what is happening on and off the field. On the pitch, Burnley
have quietly and unspectacularly become a hard side to beat. We haven’t set the
division on fire, but at the time of writing we’re tucked in nicely a handful of
points behind the leaders, and can realistically think of setting our sights on a play off
position at least. More than that, Burnley are nobody’s mugs. We’re no longer
the soft touches of the division.
It’s impossible not to contrast this with the
situation twelve months ago. There, we went to eventual champions Fulham and put up
absolutely no resistance as they didn’t break sweat to beat us 4-0. This result was
one of a string of heavy defeats, including 4-1 at Preston and 5-0 at Bournemouth. It was
the third successive game I had left before full time, and as I crossed Putney Bridge at
4.30 with the game still going on, I was convinced that the manager was no longer worthy
of our support. Later on in that season, when the roof really looked like it was about to
cave in, I felt the only thing our club could do to avert disaster was to change the
manager.
Well, I got it wrong. Ternent has turned this situation
around. A team that was riven by division is now a model of strength in unity. A defence
which leaked goals left, right and centre is now one of the hardest to breach in English
football. Even this season I had my doubts, but these have turned out to be misplaced. I
was worried we were playing far too defensively, with Glen Little’s talents neglected
on the bench. It is now clear that, having endured a potentially demoralising defeat at
the hands of Man City, we were concentrating on putting the basics in place first and
building a platform from where we could gradually begin to play more expansive football.
It isn’t only that our magnificent win at Derby is
the first time we’ve beaten a club from a higher division for years. I feel that this
is the first time in years we’ve had a team capable of doing something like that. And
all neutral commentators agreed that the manner of our victory was impressive. We are
capable of playing good, organised football, which is of course what we all want to see.
However, I have yet to find the supporter who enjoys watching the side give poor goals
away, and we have now cut that out. As Ternent says, sides will have to play well to beat
us, and they will have to score a decent goal.
Almost as impressive as the Derby result was the fact
that we pulled ourselves together from 1-0 down to win the next game after it. Everyone
knows that sides who pull off a big win tend to struggle to pick up the pace for the next
game. It would have been the easiest thing to have lost to Cardiff. That result, more than
any other, convinces me we will not crumble this year.
Ternent has also done much to redeem his reputation as
a poor judge of a player with some great signings in 1999. Where once we doubted his
judgement because crap like Steve Morgan darkened our door, now we have the spectacularly
reborn Mitchell Thomas to lead us. Ternent has invested in players with personalities and
spirit. Another pleasing development is that we have shown little inclination to get
involved in signing people on loan, unlike last season when plainly uninterested players
such as John O’Kane and Matt Hewlett ponced around without purpose for us. Ternent
has now said that he has to consider the effect signing these players would have on team
spirit. Then, of course, there are the many players he has let go, both the ‘Ternent
Four’ publicly sacked after the defeat against York last season plus the slew of
squad players released in the summer. Ternent was criticised on both counts, but how often
do we see one of these lads turn out against us? They ply their trade in inferior
divisions. He was told he was wrong to fall out with Howey. He went down with Northampton.
He was criticised for releasing Pickering. He has shot through three or four clubs in a
matter of months. Most of the time, Ternent has got it right.
Of course, it would be impossible to ever agree with
everything a manager does (get Little on the right!) but I’m happier with Ternent now
then I ever was with Heath or waddle.
The man who deserves much credit for sticking by him
and refusing to panic is Barry Kilby. What a tonic this man has been. A year ago at
Fulham, people were singing about ‘Frank Teasdale and his 'shit football team'. Now
Teasdale, an uncommunicative man who divided supporters, has been replaced by Kilby, who
has gone out of his way to be open and approachable. Teasdale is now a thoroughly
marginalised figure at Turf Moor. At the club's recent AGM, neither Kilby nor Ingleby
could find an answer to the question of what Teasdale did these days. Kilby, along with
Ingleby, has realised that the only way the club can drag itself out of the financial mess
created by the ill-advised ground redevelopment is if everyone pulls together. Whereas in
the old days our problems would have resulted in the usual imprecation to ‘get behind
the team’, Kilby has realised that the relationship between club and supporters has
to be two way, and if the club is to count on supporters it has to treat them as equals
and show us that they trust us. Not everything that the club has done is right
(cheerleaders – ugh!), but the club are making changes thick and fast. Many of these
will work. Some of them won’t. But what has changed definitely is the club’s
willingness to engage in dialogue with supporters. The editor of the London Clarets’
magazine (now our Chairman) once got a letter from Frank Teasdale’s solicitors asking
us to print an apology for something we passed on. Now, he gets a phone call from Ray
Ingleby, leaving his mobile number in case he even wants to contact him. The man charged
with setting up the club’s affinity schemes bumps into the London Clarets on the
train to Wigan and seems genuinely interested in what we think of the plans. Barry Kilby
comes along to the London Clarets AGM, participates in a Question and Answer session and
then turns up again for a drink when we meet up for our Parliamentary tour.
Cynics might say that this is a lot of PR. But we
haven’t even had PR these past years. The club is at least making an effort. I
believe they’re genuine.
So, the future for once looks bright. I feel we can
face the rest of the season and the years beyond with some hope. After some time spent
simply hoping for the best, we can now entertain the prospect of expecting something
better. Optimism is once again an option at Turf Moor. Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year to you all.
