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Barry Kilby is unavailable for the high profile picket with some well known personalities set to attend. The cutlery could be damaged if Exeter's new joint-chairman Uri Geller turns up and Leyton Orient chief Barry Hearn is expected to bring a couple of snooker tables. Any hope of the chairmen passing time with a sing song round the piano came to end with the recent change in the boardroom at Watford.
The London Clarets are expected to represent Burnley in the fans' picket and this will be on Friday of next week the 12th July. This picket is in London and not at the Granada studios in Manchester.
Football was pleased today to hear that ITV were not granted the licences following the collapse of ITV Digital, they were awarded to BBC and BskyB in a joint venture that will provide a completely free to air system on the purchase of a digital box.
So the fight goes on and Clarets Mad back all the initiatives, well not quite all. We will not be backing those from the company calling themselves the Football Fans Union. This organisation give the impression that they are a supporters' organisation when in fact they are a company making money out of it.
Clarets Mad contacted them and were far from happy with the response they gave us. Burnley Football Club were unaware as to who they were and told us that it was the Football League who were telling them to continually put forward their name. Meanwhile The Football League told us, "We wouldn't quite agree with the assertion that we are giving them 'great publicity'. We have merely given them a quote to use on their website."
So be wary of the Football Fans Union but we do urge you to support other means of fighting Carlton and Granada. One way you can do this is to write to the Chairmen of these companies. To do that just copy the letter below and send it to:
Michael Green,
Chairman,
Carlton Communications PLC,
25 Knightsbridge,
London
SW1X 7RZ
and
Charles Allen,
Chairman,
Granada PLC,
London Television Centre,
Upper Ground,
London,
SE1 9LT
The standard letter reads.
Dear Messrs Green and Allen,
I am a long time supporter of Burnley Football Club. This club, which I cherish, is now threatened by your failure to live up to the agreements you as owners of ITV Digital entered into two years ago.
I am aghast that companies of your size and stature could contemplate actions which leave even one Football League club in a perilous position, let alone all of them.
I must urge you to reconsider your position. Football Clubs are a vital part of the local communities and economies they serve. They give expression to the aspirations of so many, including often disadvantaged members of the community.
Your actions will also damage the youth development programmes, which have clearly become so important in the modern, competitive world in which our children live.
Please think again. The damage being done could be incalculable.
Yours sincerely,