THERE are a number of issues concerning those of a Claret persuasion which have not been addressed by Matt Horn, Steve Cummings or Glen Little.

The ITV Digital bombshell hit most of the Division One clubs hard, but I would suggest that Burnley were caught at a particularly bad time due to the squad being severely unbalanced. I was hoping that a couple of midfielders would be forthcoming, that cash could be generated by the sale of one or two surplus strikers, and that the season would start with a keeper on the bench.

The PR side of the club has been an absolute disaster. There was no statement of ambition, rather a gloom and doom attitude which culminated in the quote of "all our players are available for sale," which the national media immediately latched onto, so that the club was deemed to be 'cash-strapped' and 'in crisis'.

Small wonder, then, that we experienced the flattest start to a season within living memory and that, despite finishing a creditable seventh for a second year, gates have been well down on the previous years.

The only optimism I could generate was after the pre-season game against Bolton when we were treated to the rare sight of the ball being passed around quite nicely.

Could it be that Stan Ternent was going to try to 'out-football' sides rather than just 'out-battle' them?

Of course, in a pre-season run-out, no player is really putting the tackles in, and when hostilities started for real it was obvious that whichever quartet appeared for the Clarets they would be found seriously wanting in the physical and creative aspects of the game.

With the departure of Kevin Ball, there is not a midfielder capable of winning the ball or dominating his opposite number. There is no 'general' to demand the ball from defenders before they launch it towards Taylor's head. Little and Moore on the flanks need to have the ball fed to them, and this does not happen with any regularity.

DAVID EVANS, Waidshouse Road, Nelson.

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