A bump in the road?

Also: bad vibes

I didn’t want to wait until Monday to write again (we’ll have sold half the squad by then) so here’s some quick thoughts on Saturday’s defeat and the transfer latest.

The second piece in the newsletter comes from long-time NNN collaborator Adam Haworth.

A bump in the road?

After two wins from two, Scott Parker warned there would be "bumps in the road".

Well, it's fair to say Sunderland away was a bump. And a half. More like Storm Lilian had brought down a tree that laid in the middle of the pitch.

It's been a bizarre week. Burnley were top of the league after hitting nine goals in two games, but the mood among the fanbase was uneasy.

Unconvincing performances were backed up by a constant bubble of transfer rumours that has finally boiled over. And then some.

When the team news was confirmed, the reaction was sheer bafflement. Burnley have gone from having too many players and utterly ridiculous squad depth for the Championship to not being able to fill the bench adequately.

…or the team…

… in a week.

That is quite the achievement. Sure, there are injuries - although it is remarkable how quickly Sander Berge's "injury" cleared up in time to join Fulham - but how has that been able to happen?

Everyone knows the ALK strategy is a version of 'buy low, sell high'. It's not rocket science. But it is difficult to pull off. If it was so easy, everyone else would be doing it. The amount of player trading going on at Turf Moor is reminding me of Chelsea.

Players are being sold for not particularly large profits, with weird decisions like signing a replacement for Dara O'Shea, in ex-Nottingham Forest captain Joe Worrall, coming before the Ireland defender has actually gone.

Anyone interested in buying O'Shea then knew we would be selling, leaving us in a terrible position for negotiating. Do these people have any idea what they are doing?

Meanwhile, we have committed to spending £12 million on Bashir Humphreys, almost as much as the £15 million we get for O’Shea (our best defender?), who might turn out no better than Ameen Al-Dakhil, who we are selling, cos, I dunno, reasons (lol it’s £).

A mess

The game itself was a mess. Parker had to make four changes and named two goalies and a trio of kids on the bench including 17-year-old Vernon Masara. Unsurprisingly, Burnley were not competitive. It was 1-0 but could have been a lot worse. A lot worse.

Burnley managed only a single shot on target, despite Dan Neil's late red card, and ended up with Luke McNally playing as an emergency striker. Like I say, a mess. Fans would likely have felt better had Masara - a young talent who might have a future at the club - been given a run out rather than McNally - who does not - at the end.

Parker isn't to blame for being left with the scraps of a squad for today’s game, but Burnley were miles off it. The team was set up badly - understandable to an extent when he probably didn't even know who he could pick until close to kick off - players seemed unsure of their roles and the substitutions just didn't make sense.

While Parker's tactical shift reaped rewards in the Cardiff game, securing the decisive third goal right away, McNally up front was about the extent of his tweaks at the Stadium of Light. The supposed senior players were among the worst performers.

As if the display was not bad enough (and it was diabolical, despite what some are already trying to claim), news immediately broke of O'Shea's impending departure to Ipswich Town and Wolves being “in talks” over a deal for Luca Koleosho.

A club tweet pre-match insisted a "knock" kept the winger on the sidelines, which aged badly. Koleosho being sold would feel like a rubicon of sorts was being crossed.

ALK’s strategy depends on developing players so they can be sold for big money.

We have to actually develop the players, not just sell them at the first opportunity, if that is to work. Koleosho was the star fans felt would stay this season and it would be a bitter blow, especially in a week with the derby at the end of it, if he were to be sold.

With reports breaking before the game of Zeki Amdouni potentially going to Benfica and Parker confirming after the game Manuel Benson and Wout Weghorst were not selected as they want to leave, there will be a lot of ins and outs this week.

A busy few days awaits, but fans will simply not stand for Parker being left with the same mess of a squad as today. Time for ALK to pull their fingers out.

Bad vibes

By Adam Haworth

Vibes count for something in football. At least, when you’re a fan they do.

Last week the vibes were good. Two good wins under our belt, a squad full of talent.

Now, a week later, thanks to an apparent ongoing firesale of our best players, the vibes are no longer good. The vibes are bad.

After last season, I’ll admit I’m still somewhat jaded. I reached a point last season where I couldn’t engage any more. I just switched off. Checked results, but not much more. I didn’t do so lightly – I’m well aware that part of the point of being a fan is sticking around when the going gets tough – but it felt like a massive waste of time to invest any more than a quick glance at the results and a sigh.

So with that in mind, the first two results of the season came as a relief. Maybe we’d be fun to watch again. Maybe I’d get something back from my emotional investment in the team again. Then the result against Sunderland happened and I crashed back down to earth.

We do not know how big this bump in the road will be, and let’s hope it’s just a blip.

But with more and more of our best players linked with a move and just a week left of the transfer window to find adequate replacements, fans are understandably edgy.

Last season did damage to the relationship between the club and the fans. I know I’m not the only one who ended up disengaging. For all the talk of improving communication when ALK Capital first took over, I haven’t seen any real effort or acknowledgement from chairman Alan Pace to account for that damage.

The Fan Advisory Board is something, I guess, but is it more than a tick box exercise? Pace has an X (formerly Twitter) account but he barely engages with fans there.

(He does, however, like to get into arguments with journalists for reporting anonymously sourced but accurate stories about staff being linked with moves to other clubs.)

And with Elon Musk’s platform increasingly filled with far-right hate – and more and more people fleeing every day – you can hardly call that a future-proofed strategy for fan engagement.

Pace needs to open himself up to more scrutiny and be more transparent. We all know we have to sell players for the business model to work. But surely the business model shouldn’t require you to hobble your chances of achieving any success on the pitch. So will Pace tell fans what the strategy is here?

Is it to hope that we can recruit well in the last week of the window? If so, forgive me for my scepticism given our inability to find a decent left-back all of last season.

Pace and his team have brought about some good times during their tenure. But that does not afford them limitless credit in the bank. The bad vibes might not last long. But equally, they might end up lingering around if we don’t end up recruiting well. Especially if we lose next week.

We’ve seen before how quickly bad vibes can turn into outright anger. If that happens, Pace will rue missing the chance to rebuild trust with the fans when he had one.

A fun quiz to finish off

How many transfers - ins and outs - will be confirmed by Burnley between now and the end of the window? Email me your best guesses and any newsletter feedback.