Time to Rebuild Bridges

As if selling our most iconic player wasn’t a blow in itself, we then had to endure a public squabble between our manager and chairman. And, possibly because our manager was considering his future, we failed to make the major signing which was so critical to restoring optimism.

And so, now that the dust has settled on the affair, Dave Edmundson, Barry Kilby and Steve Cotterill need to put any remaining differences behind them. They need to change tack, and come up with a new approach which can bring the fans back on board.

A new contract for our manager would be a good start. He’s proved himself a damn fine coach, capable of improving, and maximising, the ability of players. He’s also begun to bring a more sophisticated ethos to the club, and has made huge improvements to the foundations of the club as well as the first team.

Barry Kilby’s immediate focus, then, should be on tying up that new deal before spring, and the season ticket marketing campaign, arrives; Cotterill, for his part, should recognise the benefits of a positive announcement for his own budget, and it should not be lost that he owes the club just a little for giving him a route back into high-level management.

If and when that can be put to bed, the two of them, plus the Chief Executive, can focus on trying to build bridges with the fans.

I’ve said before and I will say again – Burnley are lucky to have Barry Kilby. A sugar daddy he is not, but he is a Claret. Yet he must take the opportunity to look in the mirror, and to take stock of the position of the club. If he does, he will find a club that is in need of impetus, and which needs to alter its horizons if it is not to run out of puff completely.

It does not help that his PR lurches between the bravely confident and the distinctly gloomy. But our Chief Executive is far, far, worse. Perhaps his statements have been taken out of context, but to announce brazenly that Burnley fans should be happy with their current lot on the basis that, almost twenty years ago, we were truly dreadful and on the blink of oblivion, is alarming. Nor is it the only such statement: it seems our Chief Executive believes that Burnley fans have no right to hope for better than we currently have.

That is simply an unsustainable philosophy. If fans cannot hope – if their club does not give them reason to hope – then there is no point. For a football fan, optimism is like oxygen; remove it, and that twenty quid entrance fee is wasted on a questionable and ultimately pointless form of entertainment.

Paul Fletcher - positive attitude

That our Chief Executive is not savvy to this is a serious concern. I heard Paul Fletcher, a Burnley legend and perhaps the best Chief Executive Burnley has never had, on the television the other day – and his attitude was startlingly positive. The powers that be at Turf Moor, all of them, could do with taking notes.

Over Christmas, Clarets Mad did a straw poll on this site, to see exactly what Burnley fans would like to see change at the club. Amongst a host of worthy suggestions, the overall picture was clear: supporters are frustrated by a club which stands aloof from them, dropping vacuous soundbites from a distance.

This is not the place to go into detail about those suggestions. None were a surprise: the idea of a singing section and an unreserved seating area, to help create an organic atmosphere to replace the manufactured enhancements such as goal music. To consolidate attendances, a more imaginative approach to ticket pricing, with new packages, and perhaps even lower prices – on the basis that twelve thousand fans paying eighteen pounds will generate more income than ten thousand fans paying twenty.

Sometimes, the apparently safer option can prove to be the bigger gamble – and even if we merely shore up our existing support, then that provides a greater base for developing the club in the future.

But more than anything else, more than any single initiative, supporters want the club to start listening to them, and at least considering their views. It is not too much to ask; this is after all a club which claims to be there for its people.

Burnley Football Club cannot lightly dismiss the views of its supporters, their opinions and their aspirations. It is not the place of Dave Edmundson or anyone else to do that. Ultimately, Burnley Football Club belongs to its fans. Massage those opinions and those aspirations by all means, but never at the expense of a positive image and a sense of engagement.

It is frustrating that this cloud of negativity has descended upon a season which at one point held out real hope. That optimism for the future is not misplaced. Before the end of the season, we might see a central midfield containing two youngsters - John Spicer and Chris McCann – who can be at the heart of the team for many years. Kyle Lafferty is demonstrating his potential whilst on loan at Darlington, and the Youth team have been pulling up trees. The likes of Garreth O’Connor, Wade Elliott and Jon Harley have the ability to be around our first team for years to come, and have the potential to improve.

Burnley Football Club should be looking to build on these loose foundations, to mould an attractive football team, with upward ambition. It should be looking to accentuate these positives, and to sell a brighter picture to the fans.

If those responsible cannot do this, then the questions are for them to answer. Grand-sounding initiatives to tie in with the Olympic Games are all very well, but they are an unnecessary distraction to the more pressing agenda. And in the meantime, the gulf will only get wider, and more difficult to bridge.