The hope that kills you
Plus: Ticket shambles
Hi everyone - two good performances since the last newsletter. One point to show for the huge efforts, so where does that leave us with a clear midweek to rest and regroup?
The hope that kills you
I feel better than after the Watford match, but I’m finding it hard to be too positive.
After all, Burnley have scored just once in four games, with the problems the team has finding the net appearing to be no closer to being resolved than they have all season.
Improvements defensively - two goals conceded in four games - are welcome but Burnley cannot get out of trouble by drawing games 0-0 or 1-1. It won’t happen.
For those with a glass that is half-full, Burnley’s performances over the last few games show that we have the potential to climb out of the relegation zone. Play like we did against Liverpool, or Arsenal, or in the second half against Manchester United, and surely we will be able to beat some lesser teams - such as Brighton, who we play next.
But that forgets some unhelpful statistics. One win all season. 21 games, 17 goals.
I am truly sorry to be such a colossal buzzkill, but it is hard to come back from that.
Creating three chances in the first half-hour of the Liverpool game is progress, of course i, and we only conceded from a set piece, but did we put the ball in the net? No.
Wout Weghorst was superb in the second half against United, creating the equaliser for strike partner Jay Rodriguez. But does he look like scoring a goal himself? No.
Is an attack featuring a 34-year-old Aaron Lennon actually threatening? No.
Upcoming fixtures look more winnable on paper than games against Arsenal, United and Liverpool, especially as it looks like the Tottenham match catches them at a low.
But we couldn’t beat Norwich at home. Or Watford at home. Or Newcastle away.
I just don’t see where the wins are coming from. The fact Burnley draw so many games - only Brighton have drawn more often this term - shows we do stay in games, but converting those tight matches into wins requires goals, which we rarely score.
There is more hope than there was a week or so ago. But it’s the hope that kills you.
Ticket shambles
I couldn’t make it to either the United or the Liverpool game at the Turf last week.
Not for the want of trying, mind. It was clear there were substantial numbers of away fans hoping for a glimpse of Cristiano Ronaldo or Mohamed Salah in the home stands.
I’m not sure how that can happen when you are supposed to have a Clarets number to buy a ticket and it is absolutely infuriating to see home games selling out largely because there are so many away fans in the home end , but as a disorganised non-ST holder who often leaves it late to make plans and buy tickets, I do share some blame.
What I find it hard to accept is how ridiculously village our ticketing department is.
Earlier in the season, I missed out on Leeds away, despite living walking distance from Elland Road. That time, a complete lack of communication over ticket sales meant I had no idea tickets were available until they were gone. Well… almost gone.
When they were down to the last few, they took them off sale via the online site. Fair enough. But they also would not sell them over the phone. Why? God knows. The only way to buy a ticket was to actually physically go to the ticket office. Which is great, if you live around the corner from Turf Moor, as the club continues to assume. I do not.
It was, somehow, even more annoying this week. A mate was unable to use his season ticket so said I could take his seat. Sounds easy. But neither of us were fully sure of the process, with me unable to get the ticket off him to physically scan it at the turnstile.
With the official website not fit for purpose, I tried to ring the ticket office on Saturday afternoon. No answer. Check the website. It’s shut on non-matchday Saturday afternoons. Why? There are still tickets for other games to sell, season tickets to renew, etc. But it’s shut on a Saturday, when most people are off work?
It says online the ticket office will also be shut on Sunday, but I assume that means a non-matchday Sunday, right? It wouldn’t be shut on a matchday… right? Wrong.
I tried for a solid hour on Sunday morning to get in touch with the ticket office to find out if a) it was actually OK to use that season ticket and b) if so, what I needed to do.
Nobody picked up the phone. As a result, there was an empty seat for a sold out home game and a frustrated fan left to watch online via a dodgy internet stream. Farcical.
Over the last week, we’ve also seen social media full of people trying to renew their season tickets and encountering myriad issues. Surely none of this is complicated.
Premier League on the pitch (for a few more months, at least). Non-league off it.
Birthdays and anniversaries
Today is not just Valentine’s Day, it’s the 74th birthday of Clarets icon Martin Dobson.
And surely we all remember Valentine’s Day in 2000, when Burnley announced the improbable signing of former England striker Ian Wright on a short-term deal.
A couple of recentish wins #OnThisDay, including a 2-0 defeat of Barnsley in 2012. Jay Rodriguez and Charlie Austin got the goals to boost the Clarets’ top-six hopes.
Tweet of the week
That’s it for this week. As always, feedback/comments/letters are always welcome.