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It is the case of The Incompetents (The Football League) versus The Morally Disgraceful (Carlton and Granada) and if no late settlement is reached then the courts will decide sometime next week.
The Clarets have a shortfall of some £4.2 million over the next two years, a more than sizeable some for a club our size. There has certainly been some naivety on the club’s part though and as far back as last November at the AGM we heard from Chief Executive Andrew Watson who was talking in glowing terms about a third of our income coming from television. Even then the whole world knew that ITV Digital was on its last legs and that the three year deal would never be completed.
But back to the current situation and it makes you wonder just who we could sell. There is no money outside the Premiership so it is likely that only those players with Premiership potential could raise enough money to make a sale really worthwhile although in fairness any sort of sale would reduce the wage bill. Players under contract will not move easily to another Nationwide Club where the pay is almost certain now to be less.
There has been talk for some time that this Premiership club and that Premiership club wanted Glen Little. It is believed that the club turned down a big offer for him during last season’s push for promotion but would that offer still be around in the current climate.
But as Stan said yesterday, "Selling players isn’t easy now though because there’s a restricted market and even giving them away is not easy because clubs are finding it difficult just to pay wages in light of what’s happened."
He continued by stressing he would do what was necessary to protect the club in the current situation referring to past problems,
"But whatever happens, we’ll work round it. The most important thing is Burnley Football Club and we don’t want to go back to the Orient game and we certainly don’t want to finish up like Bradford City have done."
One thing for certain now, we can hardly expect to see any of Marlon Beresford, Marlon Broomes and Dean West in Burnley shirts next season. With players made available, although Stan did say only that he might have to sell players, there looks to be absolutely no chance of any coming in.