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The final curtain

I am in the habit these days of cobbling these articles together bit by bit and melding them into something vaguely intelligible before Firmo's deadline. However, the recent events which have taken place over the Easter period have meant that I have had to bin all my efforts and start again as the tone was one of lauding the achievement of staying up and consolidating in the top half of the table. Same old Stan, isn’t it? Just when you thought you could predict what was going to happen, Stan and the lads astound everyone by producing a blistering series of games where they took 10 points from 12 against some of the better quality sides in the Division, three of whom we can now refer to as play-off rivals. In his first season in charge, when we looked to be heading for the basement league, Stan produced an eleven match unbeaten run, and last year the players produced a remarkable 7 wins from eight, and now, typing after the Norwich game, the Clarets have won 8 from their last 12. As Sir Alex once famously said, 'Bloody hell, football'.

The seeds for the recent surge were planted with the win over Fulham, which marked the end of a sequence of 10 games and only 4 points to show for it, plus elimination from the FA Cup by lowly Scunthorpe. In my view, I don’t think it's any coincidence the Fulham game also marked the debut of Gareth Taylor. Since the departure of Cooke and the injury to Branch and his subsequent selection elsewhere in the side, the attack appeared to lack a focal point. Although it has taken him a bit of time to settle in, and more importantly a short period of assessment by Stan, to see how best to utilise him most effectively, he is now playing exceptionally well, and like all forwards benefiting from a more offensive formation. His understanding with Moore has grown, and most excitingly they are beginning to compliment each other and combine. Moore himself has begun to produce some blistering form, having had the role of line leader lifted from his shoulders. Whilst one man does not make a team, Taylor undoubtedly has given focus to our attack, and scope to keep possession in the opponent's half of the pitch.

At the same time, Stan being Stan, he also tightened the defence up as well, which had uncharacteristically been leaking goals for the 10 game spell. Some experimentation took place with the problem left back slot, which included playing Mitch there at Portsmouth and using the dependable Armstrong as a centre back. Lee Briscoe also became available, and this at least gave Stan a few more options. Stan also had to contend with the on/off presence of Cox on international duty. So, to reduce the number of goals flowing in was Stan's first achievement. This was taken care of, but this all came to an abrupt halt at Ewood, where, disastrously, Burnley shipped five.

Beaten up by the bullies

A number of people were understandably upset by this result, but equally we had this coming to us in one sense, as if you continually bait somebody bigger than you, sooner or later they are going to smack you good and hard, and we walked straight into it. Although Stan deflected some of the blame on to the players, and made much of the financial disparities between the two clubs, using the difference between a Mini and a Ferrari as an illustration, it didn't cut much ice with those who had noted that Chester City had only lost there 2-0. Not having seen the game live or on TV, I can't really comment too much on the performance. However, I note that Stan deployed a similar line up to the one selected at Portsmouth. At Fratton, the very moderate home side carved out 17 goal-scoring opportunities, and in the second half the midfield was non-existent and the two wide men and forwards were cut off. Consequently the back line looked like the Polish Cavalry trying to stave off Adolf's Panzer Divisions, and they were severely routed. So it was always likely that a side equipped with the firepower at the disposal of Mr Souness was going to enjoy a potential field day thanks to Stan's team selection.

Another point to remember is that Souness knows all about these occasions, having played in and managed countless Liverpool/Everton matches and latterly Celtic/Rangers battles. The latter makes Rovers vs Burnley look like a battle between rival nursery schools and comes with a history that goes back as far as the Battle of the Boyne in 1689. With Jack's wads at his disposal, he wisely got his players away from the pre match hype by flying them to a place where no-one has even heard of Burnley, and so not only were the Rovers well rested, they were not subjected to the pre-match Derby Day build up.

Nevertheless we have to thank Rovers for reviving our season, as the pasting administered prompted Stan to make one of his bold changes and make a move that I have been in favour of for a long time.

Paul Weller: is he the secret lovechild of Brian O'Neil?

I have long felt that Paul Weller was not in the game enough at right wing back, and with his all round skills, of tackling, instant control, passing and finishing, he ought to be further forward, where he can potentially do more damage to the opposition. To me, Paul is not just a preventative player. Furthermore, Paul's mobility would reduce the burden on Cook and Ball, who were asked to do far too much running about, and were pulled out of position having to cover the right flank behind Glen and in front of the defence. The discovery that West can actually play First Division football must have astonished most, many of whom had already written off Dean as an end of season departure. Not only has he fulfilled the tactical requirements of creating a more attack minded formation, individually he has performed as well, if not better, than many who have been playing in the line up all season. Together with Weller and Little, they make an excellent triangle down the right hand side, and one aspect of West's play that I particularly like is his willingness to make those dummy forward flanking runs that open up the heart of the opposition defence for Paul and Glen. These two positional shifts have enabled Glen to do what he does best, and that is roasting opponents. Having seen quite a few sides in the Division this season, there is nobody else quite like Glen in full flight. The nearest approximation appears to be Lazarides at Birmingham. Sadly, wing play appears to be a dying art, which is a pity, as there is nothing quite like a dribbler who can weave his way past defenders to the bye line and pull the ball back, a gambit that is very difficult to defend against.

Not only are the Clarets winning matches, but they are winning them playing with great style and swash-buckling offensive play, which some believe a Ternent side is incapable of producing. The players have also realised that at Burnley, being the sort of place that it is, the crowd want to see some of their opponents on the end of some crunching stiff challenges and the ball being contested at every opportunity. The midfield of Cook, Ball and Weller have duly obliged, with Paul in particular routing his critics who say that he cannot defend or tackle.

Easter delight

The two Easter matches vs WBA and Norwich had absolutely everything we want to see from a Burnley side, and have to go down as two of the best performances I have seen from a side in Claret and Blue over the last 25 years.

The Clarets took on the Baggies at Turf Moor on a wet soggy day with a blanket of drizzle gradually obscuring the Deerplay hills, and with the Turf Moor pitch looking worse for wear: not an ideal surface for passing football. The Clarets settled better in the difficult conditions. What followed was a gargantuan epic tussle between two top sides in the division which produced what must go down as one of the best games of footy seen in Burnley for years. In a very tight game, with chances few and far between on both sides, the Clarets defended resolutely with great composure, facing the deadly Hughes and his experienced goal poaching sidekick, wily old Bob Taylor. The midfield of Weller, Cook and Ball were constantly battling for supremacy and never relented for one second all afternoon. This left Glen free to indulge in his favourite past time, tormenting defenders. The first half was close with few clear cut chances. However, after a fantastic turn and run, Ian Moore picked the ball up in the middle of the Albion half, rounded three defenders, and slipped past two more into the box, and was just about to shoot when the two trailing Albion defenders and Moore went down in a heap, for what looked to be a clear cut 'bang to rights' penalty. However, the ref waved play on. It looked a spot kick to me, but others felt that perhaps Moore had played too much for the spot kick and that it was an excellent tackle. Whatever, the ref is always right. Albion came close a couple of times, most controversially when the ref put Hughes through on goal, but NTG produced a superb full length save.

So it was honours even at half time, but just after the kick off the Clarets got their noses in front when a goal resulted from an absolutely superb move involving Little, Taylor and Weller, which culminated in Little finding space at the corner of the box to bend a shot left footed round the keeper. An ecstatic moment, worth the 500 mile round trip as well as the admission money. We waited for Albion to come back at the Clarets but they were repelled time and again by some brilliant defending and splendid midfield play, and tireless work and skill up front from Taylor and Moore, who looked a different pairing from the two hopeless cases on view at Portsmouth. From only their first really dangerous attack of the second period, Albion equalised. A through ball caught Thomas in two minds and with a forward bearing down on Nick the Greek with his feet very high, NTG cleared the ball awkwardly whilst avoiding potential decapitation. It fell directly to the waiting Fox who centred neatly on to Taylor's head six yards out, and Taylor powered home from close range before the Clarets back line had chance to re-group. It was a heartbreaking and disappointing moment, as we were five minutes away from a famous victory which would have put us right in there. Nonetheless, let's not take anything away from Burnley. They were magnificent, each and every one of them, individually and as a team. The age old problem recurred of moving from one to two nil, but it wasn't for want of trying, and with tiring legs Stan took off Cook and Little with 15/20 minutes to go and settled for 1–0. OK, who is to say that keeping the same side might have produced a different result?

How to cook your Easter canary

As Delia might say, first take your canary, trim and take out the giblets, turn on the Glen Little and roast your defenders for 45 minutes, stuff three goals past them until nicely browned. Don't forget the Cranberry sauce.

Its been some time since I last visited Carrow Road, and much has changed both inside and outside the ground with considerable re-development. Norwich are a team for whom the wheel of football fortune has turned full circle, to the extent that they were facing BFC. as the underdogs. Stripped of any decent players by the need to sell anyone any good to balance the books, nonetheless they started off briskly playing their trade mark neat passing football. With Little and Large up front in the shape of the stumpy Notman and Ivan Roberts, Norwich's probing football began to open the Clarets up, with an early break into the box resulting in a dangerous cross shot. Meanwhile the Clarets were having trouble stringing any decent moves together as the Norwich side were quick to close the Clarets down, and lapped up some of the long ball stuff by playing their way neatly out of trouble. Any Burnley moves of note were either breaking down outside the box or the final ball in was of low quality. Not too long had elapsed when a simple over ball over the top of the Clarets' defence undid them, with Armstrong and Smith having the slippery Notman to contend with. Somehow Notman managed to evade both and get clear of the two of them and was bearing down on NTG. Notman neatly side stepped NTG, was forced wide, but had enough of an angle to fire in comfortably for the opener. 25 minutes had elapsed without the Clarets looking particularly threatening and the forwards not really in the game, when the Clarets equalised from an unlikely source. From 25 yards plus, Kevin Ball let fly with a well struck, but speculative, long range shot, which took a bit of a bounce in front of the keeper (no 13!) diving to his left. He looked to have his body behind the ball, but amazingly it slipped from his grasp and trickled into the net for a fortuitous goal.

The next significant action came at the Burnley end when Notman once again wriggled into the box, and with Smith challenging from the wrong side, the forward went down in a heap, and the emergency services were summoned to prevent a fatality. The ref pointed to the spot but there were vigorous Burnley protests to the linesman, who felt that he should have put his flag up for some reason, but they should know that once the ref has pointed to the spot, that's it. Roberts slotted home. At this point I went to the loo and the consensus was that it wasn't offside and that it was definitely a pen. And I would have to concur. It was a clumsy challenge from Smithy, and he got booked as well. Meanwhile, whilst I was down in the bogs, it would seem that Moore was bundled over in the box and the faithful were screaming for a spot kick, which was not given. Consequently at half time the ref was given a fair bit of stick by the players and the crowd. Obviously the ref was a Delia fan and she had given him the recipe for her cheese soufflé beforehand.

Not to worry, we have been in this kind of hole before and Stan and the lads have dug us out of it. Stan made the very sensible move of swapping Mitchell for Smithy, as this was a completely different game from Saturday. With Norwich's more thoughtful passing and probing, defenders who understood positioning and the more cerebral forms of defensive play were required. Cook was also withdrawn in favour of Briscoe, for rather less obvious reasons, as Cook had an excellent first half, but I think the logic here was that Stan wanted a midfield capable of harassing their players more and disrupting their build up play. Whatever the plan was, it had almost immediate effect, with Glen storming down the right getting clear of his marker to put over an absolute peach of a centre to find Taylor steaming in unmarked on the back post. Taylor flung himself forward vertically for a net busting diving header. Yet another absolute gem of a goal crafted by the Clarets.

The Clarets had now got the bit between their teeth and their tails up, and went for the jugular. Increasingly, Norwich were pushed back and the midfield battle was being won, resulting in chances, corners and excitement. As an attacking force, Norwich were looking very limited, their neat passing football wilting under the heat of Ternentball at its finest, aggressive, hard running and skilful, with Weller pulling the strings from an advanced midfield position and Glen carving them to shreds down the right. Eventually Norwich caved in when they conceded goal number three, which resulted from a ball driven across the box from the Burnley right which appeared to have eluded everyone until Moore appeared on the back post to rattle in his third in four games. Not so well worked as the first, but who cares, 3–2 to the Burnerlee.

Having gained the lead we hit the old hold or go for more dilemma, and the failure to add more nearly resulted in an equaliser when a superb ball from the Norwich right met the oncoming Roberts on the far post. Roberts hit the cross first time, only for Steve Davis to get in a magnificent block and save the day. Eventually the ref blew, but not before Weller, West and Little combined to string circa twenty passes in one time wasting move down deep in the Norwich half, and another excellent game resulted in yet another fantastic victory. Yet again there were some superb performances and the front two capped their excellent displays with a goal a-piece. Glen was back to Super Glen and their left back had to be quenched in cooling fluid at the end of the game by a bloke wearing oven gloves. When Glen has the ball at his feet and the look on his face which says to the defender "I am going to go past you, you know that I am going to go past you, and I know that you know that I am going to go past you," he really is at his awesome best. He is going to go past them, its just a question of when, which way and where. The move to a four has released Glen to play the surging rampant football we know so well, only lately he has produced some telling crosses and even goals to go with it, so there is more end product.

The way forward

Just lately the 'morons' must be feeling a bit sheepish, as the results and the manner in which they have been achieved speak for themselves: 9 goals in the last 4 games, 3conceded and 10 points against mainly top level opposition. However I note that Dave Cairns iterated a view in a feature in the Norwich programme that he has doubts whether Stan can take us any further forward. Bloody Hell, how much faster and further forward do people want to go? I must admit that after the Portsmouth game I expressed doubts as to whether Stan was as good at putting together a side that can take teams on and put them away, but after recent events I have banished all these thoughts.

Stan is a past master at assembling teams that can run the whole distance, not just 30 or 35 games, and furthermore he has done it within budgetary constraints not experienced by his close rivals. Even Forest were daft enough to go out and blow £3.5million on the likes of David Johnson, a player George Burley didn't consider good enough to start hardly any Premiership games. Johnson has scored two goals since he moved to Forest and apparently has disproved the thesis that no one man is bigger than the club, as their stock market valuation has sunk to £3 million, half a million less than Johnson's transfer fee. Think twice about taking a player from either Bobby Robson or his apprentice George Burley.

As for the players, I can't find enough superlatives for their recent performances. They have mixed the rugged tenacious defensive skills with some superb football that has produced some of the most thrilling and exciting attacking play demonstrated by any Burnley side since as long as I care to remember. One player I would particularly like to mention is Paul Cook, who has had to endure some of the most unjustified criticism from his own supporters. Personally I cannot see why a player who has been the fulcrum of the side for the almost miraculous progress since his arrival has been singled out. Whilst he might not produce match winning performances every time out, I note from the match programme that of the six league games Cook has missed, Burnley have lost five. I note also that his premature withdrawal from the field often precipitates a collapse, his two substitutions against Albion perhaps being the most pertinent.

Writing this in the post Norwich aftermath, with others faltering after being Ternented, the final outcome is yet to be determined,. Whether we get anywhere near Cardiff or not, it's been a brilliant season, and already I am looking forward to next season, whatever division it will be in. As long as there are some great games like the ones we have seen this season, it matters not. The Clarets are well and truly back, thanks to Stan, the players, Barry and the club management. At long last, and twenty odd years is a very long time in football, we have a team and a club in which we can be really proud. Let's enjoy it while we may.

Up the Clarets.

Igor Wowk
May 2001