International week starts for Clarets
Last updated : 09 October 2004 By Tony Scholes
 | Danny Coyne - could play against England today |
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That changed under the management of Stan Ternent as Phil Gray, Ian Cox, Gareth Taylor, Nik Michopoulos and Dimitri Papadopoulos all played for their respective countries during the last four years.
Phil Gray even managed to score a goal as we got our first group of internationals since the days of Brian Flynn and Billy Hamilton in the early 1980s.
And now to this weekend with four Burnley players away on international duty and surely some disbelief as to why two more haven’t joined them.
It started last night when loan player Richard Duffy lined up in the centre of the Welsh Under-21 defence against England at Ewood Park. He played well too, especially in the first half as they held the much stronger England side at bay.
There was even more of a Burnley connection too as former loan player Rhys Carpenter came on as a substitute.
Tomorrow Richard Chaplow will complete an England hat trick by playing for the Under-20s to add to his caps last season with the Under-21 and Under-19 teams whilst today the focus will be very much on Old Trafford for more reasons than one.
England take on Wales and there is every chance that a full international between to home nations could include a Burnley player for the first time since Billy Hamilton lined up for Northern Ireland against Wales at Swansea in May 1984.
The regular Wales keeper is Paul Jones but he was dropped by his club Wolves last week and has hardly been in top form for Wales. This could leave the way open for Danny Coyne to step in at the perfect time with the Welsh set to be under new management after this week’s matches.
The presence of Coyne in goal against England will certainly give some added interest for Burnley fans who like to see nothing more than Clarets playing for their countries. I suspect not too many Burnley fans will want to see Danny on the winning side though.
Later in the day Micah Hyde will be lining up for Jamaica in Panama but it is somewhat amazing that the Reggae Boyz have again chosen to ignore the form of Frank Sinclair who hasn’t made the squad.
But if that is surprising the exclusion of Michael Duff from the Northern Ireland squad is nothing short of ridiculous. There is no way on earth Northern Ireland have enough good defenders to keep Duff out of the set up, he is just on stand by, but again he has been ignored by manager Lawrie Sanchez.
There again how can we take Sanchez seriously as an international manager when he threatens to select a player he wouldn’t even give a contract to at Wycombe – Gravesend forward Roy Essandoh.
Best wishes to all the Burnley players who are on international duty this weekend – hope you all have success, apart from those of you playing against England.