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| Clarke Carlisle's long words will be missed |
I spent the summer thinking it wouldn’t bother me one jot if I didn’t see another game. I spent the summer thinking I shouldn’t have bothered buying three season tickets again. You may surmise correctly that enthusiasm and interest was at rock bottom.
More heroes departed from Burnley, Clarke Carlisle and Graham Alexander. We shall miss Clarke’s long words in his interviews. His interview in the Lancashire Telegraph was genuinely touching. He said he’d spent the best years of his career here at Burnley and will never forget them and the magical day at Wembley. In years to come when we celebrate the Wembley win of 2009 they will rightly be referred to as legends. Jensen, Elliott, Duff, Paterson, Rodriguez and Eagles remained but a Paterson move to Portsmouth was rumoured several times.
Iwelumo went as well shifted out to Watford. The debate continues as to whether he should be awarded hero status. Ironically as Burnley struggled to put passes together at Bristol Rovers, Iwelumo scored on his Watford debut in a 3–1 win and was described as outstanding. It was interesting that a guy who must have spent hours working on the numbers identified that Burnley averaged the highest points per game when Iwelumo started. That’s not to suggest that he should have been retained. With a wage bill to reduce he was a prime candidate for the old heave-ho. Of course as soon as he’d sold one striker young Eddie announced he wanted to buy another one. Such is football.
But, true love they say never dies and there I was on July 20th at Garforth of all places. If it’s in a claret shirt, something stirs, and with me living in Rodley on the other side of Leeds and a claret team in Garforth, how could I not be there? Just a drive across the city was all it was to this Evo-Stick First Division North club owned by Simon Clifford of ICFDS, Futebol de Salao, Brazilian Soccer Schools and Socatots. As a publicity venture a few years ago Clifford signed up Brazilian legend Socrates to turn out for this little club out in the suburbs. I remember a Leeds Evening Post picture of the legend looking as though he was about to freeze to death even though he was wrapped in several layers of scarves and overcoat. And that was during the warm-up.
“I fancy an evening out this Wednesday dearest where shall we go,” I said to Mrs T one night when she came in from Zumba. She looked surprised. I usually watch Sopranos on Wednesdays.
“How about the evening in Garforth,” I ventured further knowing that she’d be wondering why on earth I’d want to go to Garforth.
“Burnley are playing there,” I added quietly before she could get a word in or began to imagine something expensive like a meal out.
“It’s the reserves and the kids but it would be nice to go and be supportive,” I said with just a hint of charm and a faint smirk. Pre season friendlies at Altrincham and Bury featured goals and superb performances from young Alex Macdonald. Bristol Rovers was a different story and a fumbling 0–2 defeat with reports of a dire performance.
“It’s only about fitness at this time of year, it doesn’t matter,” said the experts. Hmmm: don’t know about you but I still think an unfit Burnley should beat an unfit Bristol Rovers.
Meanwhile back at Turf Moor Towers the cat was let loose amongst the pigeons when plans to uproot season ticket holders from their seats in the Jimmy Mac Lower in order to facilitate a new corporate initiative, went down like a lead balloon with anger and disgust from those affected plus many more unaffected but who sympathised strongly. The announcement came just 4 weeks before the beginning of the new season. The offer of upgraded seats sounded like good PR but at such a late stage all the best seats had long gone.
The last time I was in Garforth I was looking at a school with a view to applying for the headship. And several years before that it was to buy a tent in the days when we were young, hardy and waterproof, and went camping, usually in Cornwall, mostly in the rain. Then we progressed to a tiny caravan, then a bigger caravan, then a static caravan on the Fylde Coast at picturesque Knott End on Sludge, and then as soon as we realised that it rained less in Greece, we said goodbye to caravans.
Anyway she looked at me as if to say: Garforth, you must be joking seeing as I’d spent all summer saying I wasn’t bothered about seeing Burnley again and that if they got promotion I’d be so surprised I would give her all my money.
With us wondering how we’d use this season’s not inconsiderable parachute money the first signing was centre-back Ben Mee on loan for a year from Manchester City, allegedly a rising star and an U21 international. Leicester fans rated him highly after a loan spell there. With Clarke Carlisle completing his move to Preston the average age of the squad was immediately reduced.
A new feature on the Clarets Mad website began an ongoing diary of the 91/92 season. At the end of it the win at York secured the Division Four title and the end of seven dreadful years in Division Four. The pre season was marked by the signing of Mike Conroy who had done little of note at Reading. At Turf Moor he blossomed again as a striker. It was the season that Roger Eli became a cult figure – player of the season and scorer of the goal of the season. April 2012 will see various events to mark the Division Four title; the Clarets Mad dinner with special guests on April 28th, and also the publication of a Roger Eli book. Twenty years on from 2009 will we see a re-union of the Wembley Premiership team? It would be nice if the answer was yes. By then though, I’ll be 87, a sobering thought, dribbling down my chin in an old folks’ home.
So after tea, off we went to Garforth. The place was founded by the Gascoignes whose fortunes were based on coal mines in the area in the 18th century. Along with nearby places like Swillington, Methley, Micklefield and Kippax it’s a hotbed of Leeds Utd supporters. Few of them understand the concept of Brazilian Futebol which is alive and well on their doorstep.
The Genix Healthcare Stadium (dentists I think) is a very neat and tidy little set-up on the edge of a very pleasant estate of detached housing in the £250k to £300k bracket I’d guess. The avenue winds through the estate to the ground. How Burnley’s giant luxury coach negotiated the bends is a tribute to the driver. The guy behind the bar said it was chaos last season when there was a gate of 2,500 for a key game with Chester. A normal gate he said was around 300.
“Don’t the people on the estate get a bit miffed?” I asked.
“Well we were here first,” he said grinning. “So they knew what they were buying.”
Anyway, keen to give Mrs T a night to remember I treated her to a g & t in the bar. As a pensioner it only cost £2 to get in and I’d set aside a decent budget of £10 for the night so I could spoil her. What a smashing chap Dave T is, I hear you say. I wish he was my husband the women are saying. How civilised it was too to see folks bringing their pints up into the smart little stand while they watched the game.
We sat next to a guy from Watford, a season ticket holder down there. He was up North on a Brazilian soccer skills coaching course and he didn’t know they’d signed Iwelumo. I never thought I’d use the words Iwelumo and Brazilian in the same sentence, but there it is; it is indeed possible. The damp and the drizzle and the grey gloomy skies couldn’t stop him admiring the rural outlook from the stand as we looked out over fields, farmland and woodland in the yonder. We swapped stories of the quarter final Cup tie years ago in the blessed Stan’s time when we lost that dreadful game with Blake and Little sitting on the bench if I remember right and Lawrenson on TV said it was the worst game he’d ever seen and we all got neckache cos the ball was in the air for 89 of the 90 minutes. I drove home in a daze that day.
The game we saw at Garforth however was very watchable in what looked like an almost full stand. The lads looked crisp and immaculate, and some of them were big muscular lads too. It was always a grumble that Burnley only ever seemed to attract the left-over little lads that nobody else wanted. Didn’t Steve Cotterill once say the same? Some of them at Garforth certainly looked like they could play a bit.
Louis-Rae Beadle could have put Burnley 1–0 up in the first minute when clean through but didn’t but eventually Joe McKee put them 1–0 up with a drilled shot. After that Garforth altered the script, as Burnley controlled the game, when Dom Knowles dillied and dallied and gently gave the ball to a Garforth lad somewhere on the edge of the box. Thanks very much he said and slipped the ball home. By then if Beadle had taken his chances the game would have been over. Knowles more than made up for it later on, in what was to be a totally unexpected ending, while we were getting ready to go home in the half-light.
But before that there was a whole load of entertaining quality football from both sides. If there was a man of the match it had to be, for me, the Garforth centre back, Ashley Westcarr. For Burnley it was Alex-Ray Harvey who shone, patrolling and controlling the midfield with a Wilshire-like ease. One burst at pace through the middle he made from the halfway line was worth the £2 alone; the shot went agonisingly wide. The whole stand applauded. The Watford guy next to us purred at his passing, distribution, vision and touch. Mrs T and me joined the queue of folk wondering why he wasn’t down with the first team squad.
But then as the game drifted to a 1–1 conclusion came an incredible final few minutes. As gloom descended under the dim floodlights Knowles headed home at the end where the tall evergreens grew blocking out more of what little light was left. Few of us at first realised he had scored until they ran back to the centre spot. Alas, before they’d time to feel pleased Garforth equalised with a hopeful, volleyed shot from the edge of the box that hit the ground, bounced, and then floated over the goalkeeper.
“2-2”, we’re all saying to each other, “A fair score.” And indeed it was; neither side could have grumbled at that. Except that with seconds remaining Knowles again picked up the ball inside the box, slipped through, and through the bodies poked it home.
Tom Anderson at centre-back for Burnley looked a good big’n. Little winger Sol Ofia looks an exciting prospect, small, incredibly pacey and very strong. Worth persevering I’d say. Dom Knowles looks like he knows where the goals are – even if it is at both ends. But Alex-Ray Harvey – there’s a class act there. And dear Eddie, I’ve watched football since 1959, I know a footballer when I see one.
Home then after a very satisfactory evening to the newest stories that Wade Elliott may well be the next to leave maybe to Leeds or Southampton; and that Rochdale’s Chris O’Grady might be a replacement for Iwelumo and over on the Dale messageboard they were not best pleased. I flicked over to the profiles page on the official Rochdale site and up popped a pic of Chris O Grady. Good Lord I thought. It’s Graham Branch.