Beginning of the end

It was a major disappointment to us that following reserve team crowds went back to normal with many people not even knowing about them due to a lack of publicity. The reserves came within one match of winning the league last season yet were playing in front of pitiful numbers at times.

There was never any hope of restoring reserve game crowds to the sort of numbers that used to go when I took my first steps on Turf Moor. I have been to reserve games that have attracted bigger crowds than the one that saw us beat Fulham in last week’s FA Cup tie.

But with our keen interest in youth development and seeing the younger players come through we wanted to be very much a part of raising the profile of the reserves and making it worthwhile going to the Turf for the games.

We did consider doing it again this season in the hope that this time it would be followed up but given that our reserve team has failed to collect a solitary point at home this season it would have been a much harder task. Not only that but the crowds have dropped even from the 200ish of last season.

Three week ago we lost 2-1 to Tranmere having led 1-0 and the numbers had dropped even further, the official attendance was just 122. It is obvious that something needs to be done.

Unfortunately Clarets Mad’s ideas and Burnley Football Club’s ideas are somewhat different. We would have liked to have launched a high profile campaign to try to restore interest in the reserve games and to try and attract people to the games.

But that is going to be difficult with the most recent decision. We were due to play Oldham a week tomorrow, another chance to pick up our first home points and a chance to do the double over the Latics.

Then we heard last Friday that the game was to be brought forward a week and would be played in the afternoon. It was unconfirmed, but Oldham Athletic themselves confirmed it and today Burnley have released the information.

There has been so much debate recently about the way forward for Burnley FC in terms of player development with manager Stan Ternent favouring a plan to scrap the current youth system and try to bring older players in who have been at other clubs’ academies.

And now the profile of the reserve team has been lowered by shoving a fixture out of the way and playing it in an afternoon when the majority of those who do normally attend will probably be unable to.

With the reserves facing what could be a disastrous relegation this season at a time when our younger players need to be playing against the best opposition possible it is another worrying move. This relegation would send us to a division that currently has just one First Division club’s reserve team, Stoke City, with the rest from the lower divisions and even the Conference. And playing in that league would probably mean even more afternoon kick offs.

We are a First Division club now but these sort of decisions put us on a par with a non-league club. Burnley Football Club should be doing all it can to promote its reserve team, doing all it can to publicise its matches and to try and attract supporters to them.

It’s not that long ago, even as a 4^th Division club, that we had much bigger crowds for these games and even four figure gates for youth cup games. Now as a 1^st Division club we are treating reserve games in this way.

Please Burnley FC think long and hard about doing this. Our club needs a thriving youth team and reserve team, it needs these teams to get the support they deserve. Please think again and do what you can to change things because starting to play reserve team games in the afternoon could just be the beginning of the end.

It would be so much better if we could all roll up for the reserves again.