An Interesting Day Out in Burnley 5th FEBRUARY 2011

AN INTERESTING DAY OUT IN BURNLEY

I have seen City play at Burnley nearly every time they have visited in the last ten years and until today I have always enjoyed myself. Outstanding memories include the wonderful 5-3 win in the promotion season when Matty Svensson scored a sublime header after a brilliant Drury/Huckerby move down the left and a rudderless City (with the hapless Jim Duffy in charge) parading John Hartson in what must surely be the biggest football shirt ever made.

Today, however, with the rain teeming down throughout, had an altogether different feel to it. Burnley FC have always enjoyed a pretty good reputation. As a lad I well remember the accolades the club enjoyed as something of a football ‘academy’. Great players like Jimmy Adamson, Andy Lochhead and Ray Pointer (the latter two were both present today, incidentally) earned the club almost universal respect in the sixties and last year’s sojourn into the Premier League seemed almost like the rebirth of a once great football club. Burnley is a small town and its football club has always been a ‘proper’ club – even allowing perhaps for an ill-fated escapade involving Paul Gascoigne.

BUT TODAY THINGS WERE DIFFERENT.

Right from the start the home fans displayed a hostility towards us which was born of ill feeling. Whether this was something to do with ‘Burnleygate’ and the whole Paul Lambert affair I don’t know, perhaps having tasted life with the mega-rich and still enjoying the benefits of parachute payments, Burnley supporters have forgotten their roots. From the first minute to the last they harangued our players, accusing us of cheating, dirty play and conning the referee. When Adam Drury received a yellow card for what was admittedly a rash challenge, albeit one to which he committed early on a slippery surface, the uproar was ridiculous. The henceforth constant booing of one of the most honest professionals in the game was disgraceful and, to my ears at least, went beyond what we would regard as the usual cat-calling of an opponent.

Simeon Jackson, too, was singled out for some pretty terrible abuse. From my seat in the main stand I reckon there might have been one or two occasions when he went to ground easily but honestly no more than almost all forward players do these days, including those of Burnley. Nonetheless he was labelled a cheat (expletives deleted) by most of those around me despite the fact that he almost never won a free kick, most crucially when he was clearly fouled as they won possession before their first goal.

However, the worst abuse was reserved for Holty. The Horse put in his usual shift – mixing it physically with the opposition’s big central defenders, backing in (as any forward must), standing his ground, making tackles, harrying and chasing. To top it off, of course, he scored a superb equaliser. To hear him accused of blatant thuggery moved me to take issue with one woman seated behind me. I pointed out to her that on at least two occasions Burnley players who had gone down and stayed down as if seriously injured were instantly up and running once a free kick had been given when initially it looked as though they were certain stretcher cases and that this was just as much cheating as anything any Norwich player had done. Her abuse did her no credit and spoke of zero understanding of the game.

The irony of the whole situation came when the Burnley winner ensued from a free kick given for a pretty innocuous Holt challenge which saw the Burnley player concerned sprawl headlong as if he had been shot.

St. Paul and his coaching team tried something different today, understandably perhaps opting to play the first half with all three of his recently excellent centre-backs in a back three with Adam and Cafu slightly more advanced than usual in a midfield five. It didn’t really work as Burnley with the excellent Eagles pulling the strings particularly exploited the space behind Drury to deliver a number of dangerous balls. That said we went in only one down and with Lambert changing things back to our favoured back four and diamond after the break City were superb.

You win some and you lose some (not many these days, though) and most of us accept that. Supporters are notoriously partisan and we accept that. It grieved me today, though, that followers of a once highly-respected and very English team should be so hostile and abusive towards another.

It wasn’t just the weather that was foul in Burnley today.