Clarets swallow toffees

as posted on http://blogs.soccernet.com/burnley/




This Premier League business isn't bad is it? Two wins in a week at the Turf has transformed our reputation amongst the rest of the country from relegation certainties to well, relegation possibilities. The shift may be minimal but at least we're getting some of the respect we deserve.

Anyone who dismissed Wednesday’s win against Manchester United as a fluke will now hopefully be feeling as red faced as a merlot induced Sir Alex Ferguson. Although these naysayers will probably still be branding our wins as lucky due to excuses such as United’s failure to find their flow following the departure of the heavily relied upon Cristiano Ronaldo or the upheaval caused at Everton by Manchester City's harassment of Joleon Lescott.

The Toffees rolled up at the Turf again without Lescott, who it was rumoured was over at Eastlands having a medical. Although, even if the two clubs’ hadn't reached an agreement over his transfer I'm sure the now released Lockerbie Bomber would've been a more favourable choice at centre half for David Moyes; instead he plumped for the less popular Phil Neville to play alongside Joseph Yobo.

The unchanged Clarets got off to a storming start with Martin Paterson hitting the bar within forty seconds before Tim Howard kept out Fletcher's follow up. The chances kept on coming, Wade Elliot tested Howard, there was another glorious chance for Paterson who failed to glance a header home from six yards out, while Fletcher snatched at a volley. The football was fluent as we kept pressurising Everton's backline, enjoying unrelenting success down the flanks.

The volume inside Turf Moor was once again intensely deafening as we roared the Clarets on to take more Premier League blood.

After thirty four minutes the breakthrough came as Everton's failure to deal with another cross from the left hand side led to Steven Fletcher laying the ball back to Wade Elliot who guided the ball into the corner of the Everton net from the edge of the box. Goal! Another Burnley screamer, another of the league’s top side on the ropes.

At half time all the talk in the concourse was of how we were the better side and deserved to be more than one goal ahead. An Everton onslaught was expected in the second forty-five but in truth it never really came.

There was of course the dubious penalty won by Britain's new diving hope for London 2012 Tony Hibbert. Louis Saha stepped up for the resulting spot kick and well and truly fluffed his lines; it was like watching Michael Carrick on crack.

Despite the likes of Pienaar and Osman looking bright in possession they were more than matched by our full backs. The impressive Jack Rodwell was by far Everton's best player; it's just a shame for them that he played the holding role in midfield. The frustration was there to see as the likes of Cahill and Fellaini gave away needless free-kicks is they struggled to make an impact.

Burnley's work ethic combined with their willingness to get the ball down on the floor once again paid dividends as we out-battled and out-played Everton. Andre Bikey already looks the signing of the season as his strength, composure and leadership qualities helped ensure a second clean sheet in a week for Owen Coyle's men. There were of course some nervy moments towards the end but we held out to take another vital three points in our quest for survival.

The final whistle saw our elevation to seventh in the Premier League. We may only be three games in but what an achievement by everyone in Claret and Blue so far. And what makes the past week even sweeter? Blackburn Rovers sitting down at the bottom of the league without a single point.

Burnley 1-0 Man Utd: Time warp at Turf Moor

Read the score line again and savour the moment. For ninety minutes on Wednesday night Turf Moor was back in the swinging sixties as Burnley Football Club revisited its glory years.

Owen Coyle has inspired his team to some great nights over the past year, the cup wins over Chelsea and Arsenal, the performance in the second leg of the Carling Cup Semi Final against Spurs, the playoff victories over Reading and our Wembley promotion; but this was to surpass them all.

Every route to Turf Moor was jammed with Claret as the pubs, chippies and street sellers all benefited from the pre match expectancy that filled the air.

Inside the ground Claret and Blue was represented on all four sides of Turf Moor for the first time in years, the pitch was in pristine condition, whilst the players sported their vintage kit complete with the championship winning badge of the 59/60 season and hooped socks.

A glance at the betting coupon gave us little chance of even scoring a goal never mind getting a result. Not that anyone cared, as fans we were just happy to be rubbing shoulders with Manchester United as equals in the Premier League.

Coyle made one change to the side that lost at Stoke, in came new signing Bikey while there was a slight tweaking of the midfield and forward line.

Many fans pointed in awe as the likes of Rooney, Giggs and Owen lined up before kick off. I think it’s fair to say the players were in no similar mindset as they pressed and harried their superstar opponent’s right from the first whistle.

Eighteen minutes in came Robbie Blake's wonder strike. As the ball dropped from Evra's defensive header Blake struck a thunderbolt straight past Ben Foster who could hardly have seen it fly past him. Ecstasy ensued, as the whole place went wild, a real hug a stranger moment.

We're getting used to seeing stunning goals whilst watching Burnley. The last four competitive goals we've seen have been beauties. Paterson and Thompson's against Reading, Elliott's at Wembley and our first Premier League strike courtesy of Blake have all been worthy of winning any game. Its official, wonder goals are the new tap-ins.

Then just before half time came another familiar sight; heroics from Brian Jensen. Bizarrely Michael Carrick stepped up to take Ronaldo's role as United's penalty taker after Blake had upended Evra. Saved. The Beast does it again. And throughout the night he did it again and again and again as the Great Dane bravely thwarted United's attackers several times to preserve the unlikeliest of clean sheets.

United may have lacked cutting edge but take nothing away from the players of Burnley Football Club who throughout the ninety minutes gave their all for the team.

The back four of Mears, Bikey, Carlisle and Jordan were superb, putting their heads and bodies in front of everything United had to offer. In midfield Elliott, McCann and Alexander were not fazed one bit as they competed all night against the guile of Carrick and Giggs. Blake and Fletcher were impeccable out wide, taking the pressure off by helping us keep the ball further up the field whilst also tracking back admirably. Paterson a lone figure up front kept running all night giving the likes of Wes Brown and Johnny Evans a torrid time.

As the game progressed nervy movements followed, how many times have we seen United come back in this sort of game before? On came big hitters like Berbatov and Valencia whilst Gary Neville also took to the field. But it wasn't to be as even a surprisingly short four minutes of Sir Alex Ferguson stoppage time wasn't enough for the visitors to forge a breakthrough.

As Turf Moor rocked towards the final whistle the realisation came that these really are our new glory years. Not since 1968 have we beaten Manchester United in the league and now these days are back as the illustrious history of Burnley Football Club continues under the guidance of Owen Coyle and Chairman Barry Kilby.

Survival is most definitely a real possibility as long as we can keep Turf Moor the fortress that saw off the champions of England.

Last night produced one of the great nights at Turf Moor as the Clarets announced to everyone around the world that they really are Premier League.

Nil points but Burnley are most definietly back

Well our Premier League debut may well have produced no points but there were lots of pleasing aspects to take away from yesterday’s performance at the Britannia.

Despite being rattled by Stoke’s arial bombardment, when we managed to bring the ball down from its lofty position we looked threatening and definitely produced the more attractive display.

Then again, we all knew what to expect from Tony Pulis and his team. The dull tactic of Rory Dealp’s long throws and their ability to force fouls high up the pitch gave them plenty of opportunities to put pressure on our penalty box.

But credit to them, they may be a one trick pony but it’s most definitely a worth while one; I’m just glad I don’t have to watch it every week.

The long throws in particular left us flustered during the first period which led to panic setting in; poor judgements and elementary mistakes followed, as did the two nil deficit.

But despite going two goals down in what was a fairly even first half we didn’t panic and kept to our principles of playing the ball and looking to pick the holes in the Stoke backline.

Wade Elliot in particular stuck to the task with a tremendous display of skill and endeavour while record signing Steven Fletcher looked the real deal with his neat touches, hold up play and intelligent runs.

All that was lacking was an end product, something which without compromising our style or 20 million pounds worth of centre forward might be a struggle this season.

Every player that took to the field put a shift in to make every one of the noisy claret contingent that made the trip to witness the historic moment of seeing Burnley back in the Premier League proud.

An impressive cameo from Fernando Guerrero was especially pleasing on the eye, especially as he’d come straight from recording an episode of Different Strokes. The tiny Ecuadorian weaved his magic and looked dangerous as we pressed for a late break through.

Despite finding it tough against the rough and tumble of Stoke I think we more than proved we are capable of getting results at this level. Against more open teams than a well organised, disciplined Stoke we will get a breakthrough.

Some in the press may have already buried our chances of Premier League survival but those who walked away from the Britannia yesterday will know that if we can keep playing in the same positive manner then points will come our way.

Starting with Manchester United on Wednesday anyone?

The waiting's over

It’s strange to think that when the Premier League was formed on the 20th February 1992 that Burnley were well on their way to being crowned champions of the old division four. Since then promotions under Jimmy Mullen, Stan Ternent and Owen Coyle have brought us to the present day, where we’re all but 24 hours away from opening our campaign as Premier League Burnley Football Club.

The transformation has been remarkable, seven years prior to winning the league in ’92 we were a game against Leyton Orient away from dropping out of the Football League completely. And now tomorrow, 83 days after sealing promotion at Wembley our newest top flight chapter begins away at Stoke after a 33 year absence.

While not screaming of Premier League glamour the Potters are instead a familiar old foe from throughout our history, which most recently have been our shared days in the Championship and the old division two.

Owen Coyle began his management of the club with a goalless draw against Stoke at the Turf back in November 2007, while many Claret’s will still have Ally Pickering’s wonder strike in a 4-1 victory at the Britannia which virtually assured our Division Two status during Stan Ternent’s first season in the Turf Moor hot-seat firmly etched in the memory.

One hundred and one years earlier at the end of the 1897/98 season a game between the two founder members of the football league resulted in the introduction of today’s familiar automatic promotion/relegation system. This was after a “Test Match” playoff between first division Stoke and second division Burnley ended goalless in a game described as “the match without a shot at goal”.

Expect no similar stalemate tomorrow as Owen Coyle brings his exciting and open brand of football to England’s top flight. There is no doubt that Burnley will not settle to make up the numbers in the Premier League, our manager insists he will stick to getting the ball down on the floor and attacking the opposition.

The squad that finished last season has been boosted by record signing Steven Fletcher who has been brought down from Scotland to get us goals, while the exciting Fernando Guerrero will assist the likes of Robbie Blake, Chris Eagles, Wade Elliot and Chris McCann in creating them.

Meanwhile other summer incumbents Richard Eckersley, Brian Easton and David Edgar will add youth and exuberance to the backline, while Tyrone Mears at 26 will bring a tad of experience. There is also the prospective transfer of Cameroon giant Andre Bikey from Reading who, if it goes through, will add steel to what a times can look a shaky backline.

Given this, it’s unsurprising that the lack of centre half cover is our main worry for tomorrow’s opener. With Michael Duff and David Edgar already unavailable, skipper Steven Caldwell is now described as a “massive doubt” due to a groin injury picked up in his midweek exploits with Scotland.

Even with Caldwell’s unlikely presence Stoke’s direct style of play will be difficult for us to match. An impressive 12th place finish last season was achieved by a footballing blitzkrieg; when Tony Pulis wasn’t content with his players hoofing long balls into the opponent’s box, Rory Delap was given the task of lobbing them in with his monstrous throw-ins. Either way, their arial assaults were fierce and clinical in nature, especially with the likes of James Beattie waiting to punish opposition defences.

Another thing Stoke have in their favour is their fans. With regular 28,000 sell outs at the Britannia last season, the club’s faithful has done the commendable job of transforming one of football’s new builds into an intimidating caldron of noise, a throwback to the atmosphere of the terraces.

We are under no illusions that there will be no easy games this season; thirty eight cup finals await before our day of destiny next May.

Nobody would have thought that after a 4-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day of last season that 60 games later we’d have been dancing out of Wembley as Play off Champions. So win, lose or draw tomorrow it will be an incredibly proud moment to see the players of Burnley Football Club take to the pitch tomorrow back in the big time.

Place your bets now

As a Burnley fan there were many chances to win a bit of extra pocket money by betting on the team last season.

While the squad were busy earning promotion to the Premier League and reaching the Carling Cup Semi Final, seeing off Arsenal and Chelsea along the way, those with an eye for a bet (and the spare money) were able to cash in on our success at the bookmakers.

Although that wasn’t the case for me, while not a natural in the field of betting I’m also as skint as a post divorce Ray Parlour.

I have tried my hand at all sorts with little to no success in the past, punting on the likes of football, horse racing, greyhounds, cricket, rugby, darts and dancing on ice; all of the worlds major sporting events.

However it was the reintroduction of the in-ground betting shacks at Turf Moor that reignited my interest last season. A pre match pint whilst picking out which Claret would score first became a regular feature of my pre match build up in the Bob Lord. In the whole season I won once; it was Chris McCann who stuck me gold (about £13.50) when he thumped in a header on five minutes against leaders Wolves on Valentines Day, needless to say where my winnings went.

Those that stuck twenty or thirty quid on getting out of the Championship certainly paid for their promotion party beer money once or twice over. Although monetary reward for the best season of watching Burnley Football Club in my lifetime would have been no bonus, instead I think I’d have used the money to kit out a few of Burnley’s homeless in full replica kit whilst giving them enough cash to secure themselves a meat and potato pie and a Bovril.

With our first Premier League campaign now just under two weeks away I’ve decided to place two wagers. Given my betting history I’m not entirely sure why, probably because the wait for the season is killing me plus I haven’t written an article on here for a while and think it will make a half decent feature (for those of you that have don’t have faiths that denounce betting anyway).

So here are my punts.

1) Burnley to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
2) Burnley to finish above Blackburn in the table.

I think these two, along with doing the double over Rovers would be the ultimate wishes of any fellow Burnley fans over the coming season.

We know that our finances compared with the rest of the league are for the most part incomparable, but what we do have is our work ethic and undoubted team spirit that may carry us through to safety.

Looking at our rivals also fills me with some confidence; we have shown we’re more than capable of competing with our promotion rivals Wolves and Birmingham. I doubt Hull City will be a force, especially with the way their goateed, perma-tanned manger Phil Brown has been behaving, offering himself to Premiership strikers in a manner that would make the sluttiest of wannabe WAGS blush. Portsmouth seem to be in financial meltdown and are having to sell players left, right and centre-forward to survive. Archetypal hoofers Blackburn and Stoke will be hit and miss, while Roberto Martinez’s Wigan may suffer from a post Steve Bruce lull while they adapt to a different style of play. And that’s just a few of the candidates, Bruce’s new club Sunderland may falter, while West Ham and Fulham will find it difficult to emulate last seasons successes and who can forget Spurs, who will probably be bottom until Christmas.

This morning I purchased my tickets for our season opener away at Stoke which made our return to the Promised Land feel even more real. The excitement is building to what will be one hell of a season. If we don’t stay up it will still have been an unforgettable ride; but if we do, I’m sure you’ll help me in making Burnley a place where even the tramps wear Claret and Blue.