I never had much reputation as a pundit, but whatever I
may once have had looks pretty tattered now. In fact, I might be gaining a niche in that
admittedly valuable sideline: that of the negative pundit. Whatever I say, the opposite
happens. It is, of course, useful that there are some of us around to perform this
function. Accordingly, I hasten to assert now that automatic promotion is undoubtedly
beyond question.
My track record of late is impressively lousy.
Committed to filling this page once a month or so, before I went up North for Christmas, I
assembled an optimistic half term report, stating that all in the garden was rosy. Defence
sound, team generally hard to beat, discipline impressive. Immediately this was uploaded,
a few wheels fell off. Enter Steve Davis’ dismissal, the horroshow of Bury and the
limp disappointment of Notts County away. Suitably riled, I composed a negative missive on
the theme that the season was shot and this Ternent fellow had better buck his ideas up
sharpish. No sooner had this been sent into the realms of cyberspace than we stirringly
hauled a point back from a 2-0 deficit at Stoke, beat leaders Bristol Rovers sans Andy
Payton through a Glen Little wonder goal, bought Ian Cox and won away for the first time
since October. And then we signed Ian Wright.
So what conclusions can we draw from the above, apart
from the fact that I should probably stick to pub guides in future? Well, no one can now
say that we are not seriously trying for promotion. The signings of Cox and Wright must
come as a devastating blow to the morale of sides like Wigan who are losing ground and can
feel us coming up behind them. I said after Bournemouth that there were signs that Burnley
were becoming the ominous side of the division, the side the teams at the top can feel
breathing down their necks and would prefer not to have to play. The signings of Cox and
then Wright are a statement of intent, a signal to the rest of the division that we are in
the business of going for promotion, and not next season, but now.
I started to think when we signed Cox that one of the
best things about Ternent is the people he knows. He seems to know everyone. His career,
as a respected coach of top flight sides and a manager in the lower divisions, has taken
him into contact with everyone worth knowing. He’s got a lot of friends in the game,
and he uses them. Compare to waddle, who nothing of this division and didn’t know
where to get the players we needed. Then there is the way we make signings. Although
there's always a lot of speculation circulating around the internet, we generally do not
sign the players that are being rumoured about. Burnley signings appear to just fall out
of the sky. Think of Davis last season, Cox and Wright this, and a pattern appears to
emerge. These were all shock signings. In all cases, it turned out that Ternent had been
making enquiries for some time. In the case of Cox, his offer had been rejected, but when
Bournemouth ran into a cash shortage, they actually got back in touch with us to offer a
sale. Ternent tried to sign Wright when he went to Forest, but maintained his interest,
kept close watch and seized the moment – tipped off, incidentally, by Mitchell
Thomas, undoubtedly the best Ternent signing. We track players, we play a waiting game, we
persist, and then we strike when the iron is hot.
This is ironic, because last season Ternent had a
reputation for signing dodgy old Bury players. At a charitable best, the players he first
signed were something of a mixed bag. But now we seem to have moved on. That was a time of
crisis off the pitch, and it’s possible to take the view that, with resources
severely limited and the team not of an acceptable standard for second division football,
Ternent hunted for bargains, went for lads he knew and could get the best out of, if
anyone could. Now, while not wealthy and never likely to be, the club is at least forward
looking and on a firm footing. Ternent is able to stretch his wings a little. He still has
to have a keen eye for a bargain, he still prefers people he knows, but the circle is now
wider and more imaginative.
When I really fell out with him last season was when he
started spouting all that ‘not my team’ stuff. I thought it was wrong for the
manager, as the paid member of staff responsible for hiring players and selecting the
team, to attempt to distance himself from the players. I still do think it was the wrong
thing to do, and it left Ternent with a lot of hard work to do to restore his credibility.
But he has done it. And, allowed to make his own signings, and through our splendid run to
respectability last year, he clawed some ground back, and earned the right to be given
another chance. At the start of this season, we said, this is your team, no excuses, now
let’s see what it can do. And his team isn’t bad. More to the point, Ternent has
not this season tried to distance himself from it. Team morale is all important –
although sometimes this can prove restrictive – and Ternent, as a member of that
team, is not going to break ranks with the others.
I still don’t always get on with his tactics all
the time, I continue to worry that Glen Little might only become the player he could be at
another club, and I still too rarely have anything to celebrate away from home. But
I’ve finally had to get off the fence and allow the grudging respect I’ve always
had for this stubborn and laconic fellow to turn into admiration. Whatever now happens
this season, no one could say we didn’t try our hardest. It’s been a few years
since we could say that. You have to believe in someone who gives it a go. Who knows, it
might just work.
