O'Driscoll to pip Miss World to Clarets job?

Well our Chairman Barry Kilby’s self proclaimed “beauty parade” looks like drawing to a close in the next day or so (what a great idea for a new TV show by the way- ‘Barry Kilby’s Beauty Parade’). In a radio interview last night our leader said he hoped the new man would be in place before the weekend’s trip to Manchester United.

It’s been a turbulent week for the club as after losing Owen Coyle and his backroom staff, we’ve been left looking for a new manager in the middle of a transfer window with a run of games coming up against Manchester United, Bolton and Chelsea. By the time caretaker manager Steve Davis and goalkeeping coach Phil Hughes left on Sunday it was anyone’s guess who’d be taking charge of training for the next week. In the end it was decided Martin Dobson and Terry Pashley would step in, only just pipping Chris Eagles hairdresser and Clarke Carlise’s former AA councillor to take over first team duties.


It still feels strange to be looking for a new manager after having our old one “poached” by another club. Apart from the possible exclusion of Adrian Heath resigning to take up a position on Everton’s coaching staff, the rest have either been sacked, jumped before they were pushed or just stepped down; citing retirement, the pressure of the job or in the case of the now sadly passed Tommy Cavanagh, a dodgy hip.

Given this I think Coyle may have done us a favour. After his gloriously successful era on the pitch in terms of getting results, many have said they would have happily seen him walk away in the summer and applauded and sung his name on every return. Looking at the history books, this could’ve easily seen our next appointment in the post Coyle era almost certainly end in disaster, with no man able to fill his god-like boots.

The fact he has left under a cloud means things are now different as everybody is likely to get fully behind our new manager whether they like him or not in order to try and out do Coyle. This shift in attitude could be key in the new man succeeding, especially if the club go for another young and hungry manager from the lower leagues, which is looking increasingly likely.

Today it’s being widely reported that Sean O’Driscoll has been offered the job at Turf Moor. I must admit O’Driscoll’s name was one that hadn’t immediately sprung to mind but by the time he was mentioned to me on Sunday I began to remember what a fantastic job he’d done at Doncaster. His team pretty much outplayed us on both occasions last year getting four points from a possible six, they were well organised, kept the ball on the floor and played and beat us at our own game.

There’s not too much else I really know about him, apparently known as “noisy” he is a quiet man, who keeps himself to himself and lets his results do the talking. I’d certainly be quite happy with his appointment if the Burnley board were to announce he’d got the job.

Whether this is just more press talk who knows, the favourites have certainly changed quite a lot over the past week. Out of work managers like Alan Curbishley, Paul Jewell, Brian Laws and Steve Coppell have been mentioned, as well as some up and coming bosses like O’Driscoll, Paul Lambert, Simon Grayson and Lee Clark, while not forgetting some rather interesting, farfetched outsiders like Slaven Bilic, Sven Goran Erikson, Gary Neville, Tony Blair, Simon Cowell and even the reigning Miss World (it is a beauty parade after all). Unfortunately, I still can’t see the lovely Kaiane Aldorino swapping her Miss World crown to become the Premier League’s first “Gibraltarian” manager.

Over the last couple of days it seemed like Clark, O’Drsicoll and Laws were the remaining candidates. Clark looks to have drifted now, possibly making it a two horse race. Despite being an ex claret, the mere sight of Brain Laws surging to the top of the bookies list was enough to make some fans shudder. He seems an unpopular choice and given the fact he was recently sacked by Sheffield Wednesday, a team at the bottom end of the Championship. Surely he would become the luckiest ever man in football to land a Premier League job just over a month after getting the boot from a side a league below?

Once likened to Brain Clough in his management style, some will see Laws’ reign at Sheffield Wednesday a success, keeping a once illustrious club in the Championship despite financial difficulties while the likes of Leeds United, Southampton, Norwich and Charlton all went down. Others will say it wasn’t, as often clubs with huge debts live far beyond their means in the red.

He does have one good thing in his favour though and that is his tenacity. After we won promotion, Coyle tried to sign striker Marcus Tudgay from Wednesday and Law’s bitterly fought tooth and nail to keep his star man; a quality we may need if our former manager comes sniffing round our players in the summer?

I’m sure it’s been a difficult task for Laws at Hillsborough, but then looking at O’Driscoll he’s done all that and more on a smaller budget at a less glamorous club. But whether or not the press and the bookies are to be believed or not is another matter, for all we know the likes of Sky Sports News are just trying to keep the story alive until a decision is made.

After the last couple of weeks, nobody could possibly rule out a late twist in the tale but I for one can’t wait to get back to the football with whoever is chosen to take us forward. But as this beauty parade moves into its final swimwear round, it looks as if the 33rd manager in the history of Burnley Football Club is under 48 hours away from being named. Incidentally, can anyone tell me the odds on the new man being made to wear a crown and a sash during his opening press conference?