In The Claret Corner

Vital Burnley Editor turfmanphil is the first to step up to take the Vital Barnsley ‘Getting To Know You’ interview.

Q: What made you become a Burnley supporter?

The traditional way I guess, born a few miles from Burnley and dad was an avid fan and got me interested at a young age! This would be in the 60s, the Clarets heyday

Q: Do you remember your first Burnley game?

To my eternal shame, I cant exactly remember, I must only have been about 5-6 (I’m 55 now!!). One of those things I wished I’d asked my dad before he passed away in 1999.

Q: Who is your favourite Burnley player from your lifetime?

My idols come from the late 60s to mid 70s-You can select anyone from this list-Ralph Coates, Willie Morgan, Steve Kindon, Dave Thomas, Frank Casper, Leighton James or Paul Fletcher. Liked pacy wingers and strong strikers

Q: And your favourite current Burnley player?

We just sold him, Steven Fletcher (Drat). Would have to say Martin Paterson now

Q: What do you love about Burnley?

No nonsense, small town club with a big heart and a fans community to die for!

Q: What would you change about Burnley?

The Board needs to stop being scared of spending and start speculating to accumulate. It was a travesty of justice to see such low investment in players after getting to the top flight for the first time in 33 years

Q: Pick out the best and worst moment of last season?

Easy peasy! Best-beating Man U at Turf Moor in our first home game in the top flight for 33 years. Worst-Getting beat twice by local rivals & bitter enemy Blackburn Rovers, not just the defeats but the manner of them. We were awful at home and just did not have any passion

Q: What are your expectations for next season?

Nothing less than Automatic promotion would convince me we have ‘gone down stronger’!! That’s what the Board called our failure to stay up in the Prem!

Q: Who will stand out for Burnley next season?

Paterson or one of the new strikers I hope after losing Fletcher. We need a couple who will score 20 plus for us

Q: If you could bring any player into the Burnley squad, money and reputation aside, who would it be?

Steven Gerrard

Q: Most memorable game against Barnsley and why?

I don’t have any, you always seem to beat us especially at Oakwell!!

Q: Why are you back in the Championship?

Two reasons! Owen Coyle and Brian Laws. Coyle dropped us in the doo-doo big time leaving in the Jan window taking all the backroom staff with him. He couldn’t have left at a worse time and I will never, ever forgive him! Judas and a liar!

I don’t blame his replacement Laws, I blame the Board for not having any ambition and going for the cheap option. Laws had no track record in the Prem and carried around the baggage of a failed manager at Championship level with Shef Wed. He was not the fans choice and the results supported the feeling he was out of his depth. I will give him a chance in the Championship but only until Christmas.

Another reason IMO we failed and got relegated was because the gutless Board would not dig deep and try and bring in more Prem quality players to try and keep us up! I didn’t want a mega-spend along the lines of Hull & Pompey but we could have done better than we did with some extra modest investment of say £10 million to bring in a couple of quality midfielders.



With thanks to turfmanphil from Vital Burnley for his answers to these questions and all the best for the new season.

More to come from our opponents’ Vital Editors later…