Post by QPR Report on Aug 15, 2009 6:56:08 GMT
Good luck to them...An example where we could have gone, if we'd shown a little patience; a little sechel
Guardian/Stuart James
Burnley's Premier League adventure harks back to a bygone era
Supporters are undaunted by their club's tough fixture list
Financial experts have predicted the economic crisis will cut deeper into football's profit margins this season but try telling a Burnley supporter that times are hard. Those queuing outside the ticket office at Turf Moor this week had never been happier to hand over their money. Burnley are back in the big time after a 33-year absence and the first home game of a new era will see Manchester United arrive on Wednesday night.
At times the fortunes of the club have mirrored those of the town, where traditional industries have long ground to a halt and unemployment has climbed. Belief drained from the supporters as much as the workforce in the late 1980s as Burnley came close to relinquishing their Football League status, yet renewed hope has returned to the area following Wade Elliott's match-winning goal in the Championship play-off final.
A town of around 73,000 inhabitants is home to Premier League football for the first time and the daunting but exciting list of upcoming fixtures – after tomorrow's trip to Stoke, Burnley face four of last season's top five – rather than the recession dominates conversations.
"Burnley has had tough times what with the cotton and the mining industry going and then the second manufacturing wave went," said Barry Kilby, the Burnley chairman.
"The town has also had inner-city problems. People have been ground down a little bit. But what the football club has done is shown people that we can be winners. People have seen Burnley on TV winning at Wembley. And now we're playing Manchester United, we're going to Chelsea and Liverpool, and that's given people a feeling that it can be done and that Burnley won't always be down on the floor."
Few, however, expect Burnley to be anywhere other than in the bottom three come May. At less than £20m, the club's annual wage bill is the smallest in the division and would struggle to cover Manchester United's salaries for two months, while last season's 13,000 average attendance was the fourth lowest in the Championship.
The number of season-ticket holders has swelled from 7,000 to 17,000 following promotion and Burnley are guaranteed £60m over the next three years but there was a reminder of the disparity that continues to exist when the players waited at Manchester airport alongside holiday-makers before boarding their flight to America this summer. At the same time the Manchester United team strode across the tarmac to get on to a private jet.
"We went economy because that's the way we are," said Paul Fletcher, the Burnley chief executive and a former player at the club. "We all stick together and we have to buy into this ethos. There were four business class seats so we had a draw for those seats. That kind of thing builds team spirit and we want to keep everyone's feet on the ground."
If that seems refreshing to hear, then so does the idea that one of the players should get behind the wheel at the other end. "When we got there, instead of having a coach, there were three vehicles to transport the players to the hotel and no drivers," said Fletcher. "What do you do in a situation like that? You can moan or you can muck in. Robbie Blake said, 'I'll drive', and all the lads got in. Nobody batted an eyelid."
That approach underpins so much of what goes on at Burnley, even if the pictures of Chris Eagles getting out of his white Lamborghini at the club's training ground last month provided the first evidence that the excesses of the Premier League have filtered through to Turf Moor.
It is, however, difficult to imagine Kilby, who has followed Burnley for more than 50 years and celebrated a decade as chairman last December, losing touch with his own roots. "It was quite interesting for me to go to the Premier League AGM and to see groups of American businessmen trying to make a profit and the vanity buyers from the Middle East and eastern Europe who are in it for their own reasons. We seem to be an anachronism in some ways."
Kilby has great faith in Owen Coyle, the club's forward-thinking manager, but he admits "there is a bit of apprehension" about the road ahead. "I'm conscious of what happened to Derby when they picked up very few points," he said. "That does worry me a bit. You don't want to embarrass yourselves. But the other side of the coin is there is great excitement that we're going to be playing the big teams and our aim is to stay here."
History is on Burnley's side, with next year marking the 50th anniversary of the club's last first division title. "That's a big thing," added Kilby, recalling how he watched Trevor Meredith score the winning goal in 1960. "We're going to be playing in the same strip this season as we did then." There wouldn't be a better way to mark the landmark than to ... "Win it," interjected Kilby before the word survival had been mentioned. "But maybe I'm going a bit too far with that."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/aug/14/burnley-premier-league-preparations
Guardian/Stuart James
Burnley's Premier League adventure harks back to a bygone era
Supporters are undaunted by their club's tough fixture list
Financial experts have predicted the economic crisis will cut deeper into football's profit margins this season but try telling a Burnley supporter that times are hard. Those queuing outside the ticket office at Turf Moor this week had never been happier to hand over their money. Burnley are back in the big time after a 33-year absence and the first home game of a new era will see Manchester United arrive on Wednesday night.
At times the fortunes of the club have mirrored those of the town, where traditional industries have long ground to a halt and unemployment has climbed. Belief drained from the supporters as much as the workforce in the late 1980s as Burnley came close to relinquishing their Football League status, yet renewed hope has returned to the area following Wade Elliott's match-winning goal in the Championship play-off final.
A town of around 73,000 inhabitants is home to Premier League football for the first time and the daunting but exciting list of upcoming fixtures – after tomorrow's trip to Stoke, Burnley face four of last season's top five – rather than the recession dominates conversations.
"Burnley has had tough times what with the cotton and the mining industry going and then the second manufacturing wave went," said Barry Kilby, the Burnley chairman.
"The town has also had inner-city problems. People have been ground down a little bit. But what the football club has done is shown people that we can be winners. People have seen Burnley on TV winning at Wembley. And now we're playing Manchester United, we're going to Chelsea and Liverpool, and that's given people a feeling that it can be done and that Burnley won't always be down on the floor."
Few, however, expect Burnley to be anywhere other than in the bottom three come May. At less than £20m, the club's annual wage bill is the smallest in the division and would struggle to cover Manchester United's salaries for two months, while last season's 13,000 average attendance was the fourth lowest in the Championship.
The number of season-ticket holders has swelled from 7,000 to 17,000 following promotion and Burnley are guaranteed £60m over the next three years but there was a reminder of the disparity that continues to exist when the players waited at Manchester airport alongside holiday-makers before boarding their flight to America this summer. At the same time the Manchester United team strode across the tarmac to get on to a private jet.
"We went economy because that's the way we are," said Paul Fletcher, the Burnley chief executive and a former player at the club. "We all stick together and we have to buy into this ethos. There were four business class seats so we had a draw for those seats. That kind of thing builds team spirit and we want to keep everyone's feet on the ground."
If that seems refreshing to hear, then so does the idea that one of the players should get behind the wheel at the other end. "When we got there, instead of having a coach, there were three vehicles to transport the players to the hotel and no drivers," said Fletcher. "What do you do in a situation like that? You can moan or you can muck in. Robbie Blake said, 'I'll drive', and all the lads got in. Nobody batted an eyelid."
That approach underpins so much of what goes on at Burnley, even if the pictures of Chris Eagles getting out of his white Lamborghini at the club's training ground last month provided the first evidence that the excesses of the Premier League have filtered through to Turf Moor.
It is, however, difficult to imagine Kilby, who has followed Burnley for more than 50 years and celebrated a decade as chairman last December, losing touch with his own roots. "It was quite interesting for me to go to the Premier League AGM and to see groups of American businessmen trying to make a profit and the vanity buyers from the Middle East and eastern Europe who are in it for their own reasons. We seem to be an anachronism in some ways."
Kilby has great faith in Owen Coyle, the club's forward-thinking manager, but he admits "there is a bit of apprehension" about the road ahead. "I'm conscious of what happened to Derby when they picked up very few points," he said. "That does worry me a bit. You don't want to embarrass yourselves. But the other side of the coin is there is great excitement that we're going to be playing the big teams and our aim is to stay here."
History is on Burnley's side, with next year marking the 50th anniversary of the club's last first division title. "That's a big thing," added Kilby, recalling how he watched Trevor Meredith score the winning goal in 1960. "We're going to be playing in the same strip this season as we did then." There wouldn't be a better way to mark the landmark than to ... "Win it," interjected Kilby before the word survival had been mentioned. "But maybe I'm going a bit too far with that."
www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/aug/14/burnley-premier-league-preparations