Stick with the lads

Ade Akinbiyi - even he would struggle to score goals in the Burnley team just now

26^th December 2005, Burnley 1 Stoke City 0, placed fifth in the Championship table with 38 points from 25 games. 18^th March 2006, Stoke City 1 Burnley 0, placed 18^th in the Championship table with 42 points from 38 games.

In the three month in between playing Stoke at home and away Burnley have picked up just four points from 39 available – an amazing run taking into account that the first time we played Stoke we were talking about promotion, yet now, if it wasn't for the great form that we had in the middle of the season, we would almost certainly be looking at League One football next season.

But what has caused such a dramatic change in fortunes in such a short space of time? The first answer you would get from a Burnley fan would be the departure of Ade Akinbiyi, ask why and they will tell you that he was the one that got us the goals. But looking at the way that we have been playing recently, even Ade would struggle to score right now as the midfield have been awful since Christmas so surely there has to be more to it than that.

We never get a look into the changing rooms at the Turf, but from what I have seen I am certain that Ade played a major part in motivating the players pre-match. Steve Cotterill has never had anything but praise for the big striker's off-pitch attitude and he seemed very popular with all the players and some of his positive attitude must have rubbed off on the players before taking to the field. On the field, he always seemed to put in maximum effort and play with a ‘never-say-never' attitude which again would rub off on the players.

But we must remember that Ade has not been the only notable departure from the Turf since Christmas. First team coach Mark Yates was employed as manager of one of his former clubs, Conference outfit Kidderminster Harriers. His replacement Steve Davis seems to be a completely different character to Yates – I have not once seen Davis out on the touchline shouting instructions and encouragement to the players, something that Yates did frequently. That is not to say that Davis is a bad coach, but that he has different methods that the players must adapt to. We must also remember that Davis is still learning his trade and, I believe he has not yet completed his coaching badges.

Results are contagious, pre-Christmas whilst we were enjoying our rich vein of form we looked unbeatable and the whole team looked in full confidence, and confidence breeds results. Since the first few bad results the players heads have started to drop, and they have looked to be playing more negatively and not believing that they can win the games, again, every bad result takes confidence in the camp to an even lower point.

If the recent weeks have shown us anything, it has been a reminder of the passion that Burnley fans have for their team. The fans have been great recently, and especially for the last two away games, at Derby and Stoke, where the congregant of fans at the back of the stands have earned special praise from both the players and the manager. We must now keep this going, this bad run has to stop somewhere and I still believe that we are safe from relegation. So my message to the fans is ‘Keep the Faith' and prepare for good times ahead.