What's happened to Arthur

Last updated : 04 September 2003 By Tony Scholes

Arthur when he was King - celebrating scoring at Deepdale
He quickly won a place in the first team and the fans took to him immediately with his passionate performances and excellent play and he quickly became a crowd hero with those trademark surging runs.

He even scored a few goals, yes we all remember Deepdale in December 2001, and even had managed to kiss Stan after his first Turf Moor goal, a star had well and truly been born or so we thought.

Last season started well for him but as time went on his performances lost consistency although he did turn in some top performances alongside Driss Diallo at the back. It was clear though that Stan was no longer seeing him as an automatic choice and in fact during last season he sent him back to France for a while when he apparently lost his head up his backside.

Stan made it clear that this could be make or break season for Arthur and was in his way telling him that he needed to get down to it and make use of his obvious ability. That hasn’t happened though and he has failed to impress when called upon.

He has captained a very young reserve team without showing any great commitment in defeats against Preston and Walsall and yesterday he was substituted at half time with the Clarets 5-0 down at Barnsley.

I’ve no idea what was said in the dressing room as he was told he would not be going out for the second half but I would suggest the air was blue given the public reaction to his efforts from coach Ronnie Jepson.

Jepson was disgusted with Arthur’s contribution and said after the game, "I am asking young boys to run around and show a great attitude and commitment for Burnley Football Club, but Arthur is simply not doing that.

"One hundred per cent commitment should be the minimum requirement for senior professionals, who should be helping the young lads along but Arthur is nowhere near putting it in at the moment and if he is going to play for Burnley Football Club, he has to start giving it a go."

To be honest I’ve thought for some time that we have already seen the best of Arthur, he no longer looks to have the desire to go out and play as he did when he first came to the Turf.

Yet unlike other players who take horrendous stick from the Turf Moor crowd he has come out of it relatively unscathed. He’s out of the side at the moment and should be looking to win his place back by providing experienced support for the youngsters in the reserve team. Sadly it looks as though that is not the case and Arthur’s days at Turf Moor are beginning to look numbered.