Both Burnley and Blackpool have been fortunate to reap the benefits of a recent time in the Premier League, something we hadn’t seen for decades and going back to the Division 1 days.
Preston gave it a good go a few years ago but unfortunately never succeeded and are now looking for a possible return to the Championship. Blackburn and Bolton have also been there but are now faced with huge debts and their situation could be described as dire with an unlikely return to the Premier League in the near future.
However let us not dwell on others but look at our beloved Clarets and reflect on how fortunate we are to have a manager in Sean Dyche who is pushing the Clarets in the right direction, who makes you want to listen to him when he is interviewed (unlike another I could mention and you know who I mean, and I am sure I am not the only one who turns off the TV at the sound of the unmentionable one’s voice).
I haven’t mentioned Wigan but essentially they are a small club that have batted above their weight, bankrolled by a good Chairman in Dave Whelan and aren’t the Wigan fans lucky to have had him at the helm and had a past Manager like Martinez who inevitably had to go elsewhere with Everton now reaping the rewards. I am sorry the recent incumbent only lasted six months with nil success.
Everything above is factual, but also factual, the Clarets over the last few years since Barry Kilby first took the helm, has been well run notwithstanding our low gates, but without selling players with value and being in the Premier League it is nigh on impossible to achieve the expectation of certain fans.
The thing is do some of our fans expect too much? Here we are standing at the top of the Championship above much larger Clubs like QPR, Leicester and Derby, with the latter two getting double our gates. Aren’t we lucky?
So why, during and after the Watford game, were some fans booing when they should have been singing ‘Sean Dyche’s Claret & Blue Army’, and encouraging certain fringe and bench players rather that getting on their backs?
As I see it, often the problem is down to lack of their match fitness, especially when only given rare opportunities because of injuries and suspensions to what we know is a very good first choice team, who I genuinely believe in so many respects are better than the team that took us into the Premier League at which point we were able to splash out on certain new players.
It is easy to draw conclusions on the spur of the moment but may I suggest they count to ten and hopefully not boo as it achieves absolutely nothing. What must our manager think? I hope he doesn’t take umbrage and think the grass may be greener on the other side as we definitely don’t want that.
A plea to some fans:-
Please be realistic, don’t expect the earth, enjoy it while it lasts, no criticism for the Board, try and get to the matches although financially it may be difficult, get off players backs and for non-season ticket holders seriously consider getting a half season ticket for the remaining games. Just look at what it averages out at compared to full prices.
Finally I am sure we have been trying our best to bring in loan players and let’s leave it to the capable hands of Sean Dyche and the Board to make good decisions coming up to the January transfer window.