So Who's Fault Is It?


By Dave Thomas
April 12 2010

“You get what you pay for,” wrote Joe Lovejoy in his perceptive report of the game against Man City; and in that one telling summary is the key to understanding the sad demise that has taken place at Burnley Football Club from the minute Owen Coyle walked out, or Brian Laws was appointed; depending on your point of view.

This is a team imploding and falling apart at the seams and only a handful of directors, three I’m told, witnessed the shambles against City. The stories, rumours, reports of player dissatisfaction, fallouts, walkouts, slanging matches, unrest, and trips to the 110 Club during a game, come on a daily basis. The latest story is to do with their agitation over delayed contract negotiations. Other than the 110 story, I have no idea if they are true or not but the sheer number of them makes it easy to think that some of them must be. The words ‘club in turmoil’ are not unreasonable.
 
     I have no personal axe to grind against Brian Laws. I was one of many who were angered by his sale during the tenure of John Bond. He was a superb full-back who won his fair share of trophies, and a key member of the promotion side of 1981/82. You could say that he is one of our own, a son of Burnley, and now back to his spiritual home where he learned his trade from being a young lad.
 
     The meltdown is not financial but for the forseeable future on the playing side there must be grave doubts about what the future holds, both immediate and longer term. What seemed a puzzling appointment when it was made has now developed into one that seems truly ruinous, and is riddled with problems.

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