Greetings all and another lovely day again, it's very
foggy outside, but who gives a stuff, it's day three of the CLARETS in DIVISION ONE.
I am sure that for a lot of you, what has happened is
still sinking in, given the dramatic nature of this season. Nevertheless we are there,
back where we belong, boosted by the biggest average attendance for the last 25 years,
(more than our last season in Division One already and we haven't started playing yet),
plus the sale of 8,500 season tickets BEFORE we went up. I wonder how many more will go
now that the prospect of taking on the Rubber Dinghy Men is a reality. Indeed I have a
feeling that it will actually be quite difficult to get into Turf Moor next season as many
will buy season tickets just to book their seats for this one game. With an extra 1,000 -
1,500 away fans on average for every game, the Clarets could be looking at 15,000+ average
for next season.
First of all, let's not underestimate the achievement
of this Burnley side. They have reaped a record number of points and unlike last time they
went up, they did it because they got more points over the 46 games than 22 other teams,
not because they won some contrived end of season knock-out. Whilst this doesn't guarantee
success at the level above, I wonder how many sides at the bottom of the First Division
could have achieved what Burnley did last season and come up from a tough division?
In my opinion the quality of the Second, and
particularly the top end is quite high; Gillingham knocked two Premier sides out of the
cup, as did Burnley away from home and Wrexham beat Middlesborough. Preston gave Everton a
good game at Goodison. Very few sides play kick and rush and the sides coming up from the
Third find the going very tough these days.
Another step change is behind the scenes at Turf Moor.
There can be little doubt that the arrival of Kilby and co. has completely transformed the
club from top to bottom. Big Baz only took over 18 months ago and it hasn't all been a joy
ride. He had to make an extremely tough and courageous decision to back Ternent when the
Clarets were in a really tight corner after straight defeats against Gillingham and Man
City with Stan about as popular in Burnley as Jack Walker. However to his eternal credit
he set the example and backed his man just when he needed it, and to our credit, we got on
with it and backed Ternent and the team as well. By way of contrast Satan waited until two
games to go before he half heartedly backed Kiddo and look what happened.
The board, management and players have gone on from
there. Kilby has transformed the culture in the club from the bunker mentality of the
Teasdale era, preceded by the more brazen "up yours" era of Jackson and the
"kiss my arse" reign of Bob Lord. Some of us have waited a lifetime for the
leadership which the club and supporters so richly deserve. The club now seems to actually
listen to the supporters, the season ticket policy of £35 for kids is an absolute
masterstroke. Anyone who has kids knows they will get through at least £5 worth of
drinks, crisps, souvenirs per game anyway and there will be no games played next season in
front of a JJB sea of plastic.
I think that a number of Burnley supporters have yet to
fully appreciate what is going on at Turf Moor. I firmly believe that, with almost amazing
rapidity, a transformation is taking place at the club both on and off the pitch which the
supporters, after years of failure, have yet to come to terms with, hence the lingering
scepticism and expectation of failure. We have almost forgotten what it is like to support
a team that is expected to win its games.
First of all the club is gearing up financially to
compete with the top sides in Division One. Looking at the composition of the leagues,
more than ever they reflect the fiscal well being of the various clubs. Indeed if Stoke
come up, and I think they will, most of the clubs with big crowd potential, with perhaps
the exception of the likes of Bristol City will be in the top two Divisions. Very few
small clubs now remain in Division One, with the scrappers like Crewe, Tranmere, Stockport
and Grimsby all finding themselves in the bottom half this season. It's no longer possible
to survive on a good youth system and being able to sell a player now and again as the
Premier clubs are doing all their shopping abroad. The clubs who have prospered are the
ones with a big potential crowd base and a means of additional finance. To me Barry
appears to be astute enough to recognise this broad sea change. On a micro level, the
club's commercial activities appear to have been transformed with the new website, club
shops, etc.
Secondly a transformation has taken place on the pitch
which started with Stan's listing of the Fab Four Flops, who he rightly assessed as
gutless wonders and took appropriate action. Ternent has now established firm control over
the players and whilst some of his decisions might appear daft at times, there is
absolutely no doubt who is running the show, and without this firm control there is no
chance of progress. Stan's third promotion in five years shows that the first two were no
fluke, particularly given the hand he was dealt in August 1998. He turned up to find a
team with no goalie, and a handful of decent players, the senior ones in terms of
appearances for the club being the likes of Weller, Brass, Cooke and Smith.
His moves in the transfer market have been sound and
whilst he has yet to sign any real bargains, although Cook and Thomas have to go down as
real steals, it is hard to dispute the assertion that he has not wasted a single penny.
Most importantly he has weeded out the weaklings, galvanised the strong and the difference
was there on the final day when BFC came back from 1-0 down and Gillingham did not. His
treatment of Wrighty shows that no one player is bigger then the team.
So, any incoming players will find that they are in the
midst of a thriving and healthy environment at Turf Moor, which has not really existed
since the early seventies or maybe beyond that, back to the fifties and sixties. Basically
dating from that period the ensuing chairmen and managers have not come to terms with the
era and unfolding circumstances that they have found themselves in. Under Barry we appear
to be almost ahead of the game.
