The Final Countdown
Quite an apt title for this blog post, given Clarke and his recent success on the game show of the same name.
I haven’t blogged about this as much as I would have liked to, but to be honest I haven’t had the chance to blog about anything recently. Regardless, we’re now in the final stages of Burnley’s first season in the Premier League.
And what a season it’s been; it started off with an away defeat against Stoke before that fantastic win against the league champions Manchester United. I can still remember the night like it was yesterday; some 20,000 Burnley fans not really believing we could get anything out of the game amazed and impressed in equal measure at our fighting spirit. I think after that night the general consensus was that anything was possible. Little old Burnley were back in the big time and standing tall with the rest.
Our away record rapidly became the laughing point of the league but our home form remained strong. Then January happened. If you talk to Burnley fans now there is still bitterness there; the wounds will take a long time to heal, even longer if we do end up being relegated. The general opinion is what he did is pretty unforgivable, and I’d have to broadly agree with that. He jepordised all of the excellent work that had already been done, and I don’t think anyone can ever forgive him for that. The man also destroyed our entire back room set-up by taking almost everyone, including the kit-man, with him.
However, we have to move on and become stronger. Brian Laws was appointed as the new manager and, to date, he hasn’t set anything on fire. Whether you agree with his appointment or not we all need to stand by him and the team and get behind them at every game between now and the end of the season.
Tomorrow brings the next stage of the journey, where we meet the village down the road in the return Premier League fixture. As you read this I’ll be travelling up towards Burnley to watch us get one over on our neighbours. What better way to start our run for survival by getting 3 points from our fiercest rival?
I think even the best optimist would concede that it isn’t looking good for our Premier League survival at the moment. However, whatever league we are in next year, lets focus our efforts on “continuing this incredible journey” as a Mr J. Coyle would have put it. Come on you Clarets.
