CLARETS AND BLUE
When Scott Parker led Burnley out of the Championship and into the Premier League last season, he did so with a side showcasing the kind of defensive resilience more readily associated with a medieval fortress, although with more expensive haircuts and less reliance on cauldrons of boiling oil. His team lost just two of their 46 matches, were unbeaten at home, kept a quite remarkable 30 clean sheets and notched up a combined total of 20 1-0 wins and scoreless draws. So while attending one of their games was about as exciting as reading an air-fryer instruction manual, they were devastatingly resolute. To nobody’s great surprise, they were immediately installed as the white-hot favourites to go straight back down before a ball had even been kicked.
Fast forward nearly nine months and the Burnley fortress has been repeatedly bombarded and breached, its ramparts razed to the ground and left in so many piles of smouldering rubble after proving little or no match for the preposterously-expensive Premier League siege-engines. Already consigned to the drop, the Clarets have won just four top-flight matches this season while conceding goals at a rate of two a game. On Thursday morning, the club announced that Parker had left the club despite having a year left on his contract. “[Scott] and the board held discussions and mutually agreed that his time at Turf Moor would conclude,” droned a statement. “The club would like to place on record its sincere thanks to Scott for his professionalism, dedication and contribution. He leaves with the respect and gratitude of everyone connected with Burnley football club.” A member of Parker’s staff, Michael Jackson, has been appointed interim head coach and will oversee the remaining steps of Burnley’s moonwalk back into the Championship.
“It has been an immense privilege to lead this great club over the past two years,” parped Parker, who has now masterminded three promotions and two relegations during a six-year career as a head coach. “I have enjoyed every moment of our journey together, but feel that now is the right time for both parties to move in a different direction.” While the direction one of those will move in is already set in stone, Parker’s future looks far less certain. He is unlikely to emulate his predecessor by being being handed the reins of an elite European super-club – or even Chelsea – as his reward for promoting and then relegating Burnley across two seasons. An undeniably excellent Championship manager, he has yet to earn his Premier League stripes despite his penchant for wearing Thom Browne 4-Bar jackets on the touchline. Indeed, given his undeniable knack for getting teams promoted from the Championship, Parker seems like the ideal candidate for the recently vacated Burnley job.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“From Sefton Road to Vicarage Road to Villa Park to Wembley to Old Trafford to San Siro back to Villa Park to Goodison Park and finally to Portman Road. It’s been some journey that I only dreamt of as a boy! But with this dream there has to be an ending and Saturday might be the last game of my professional career – 23 years and OUT!” – Ashley Young, 73, calls time on his career, but could bow out on a high should Ipswich secure promotion again on Saturday.
I read with interest that David Brent School of Management’s Glenn Hoddle was fishing for the Tottenham job (yesterday’s Quote of the Day). Is that a sign of how far Spurs have fallen, or was he trying to pay for sins in a prior life?” – Neale Redington.
Can I point out Football Daily’s arrogance in dismissing the entertainment value of a proper match (sans £ billions), in which the mighty Vale handed out a schoolin’ to the resurgent Stockport County on a sunny evening in Edgeley (yesterday’s Football Daily)? I haven’t watched the pompfest in foreign climes you referenced, but it couldn’t have been a patch on what Pep Guardiola was fortunate enough to choose” – John Timmins.
Your reader Ken Muir’s observation that Hearts teams are sweeping all before them this season (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), brings to mind an old chestnut. An Englishman goes into a pub in Edinburgh and asks a local: ‘What colour do Hearts play in?’ ‘It’s maroon …’ comes the answer. ‘Thank you! I’ll have a gin and tonic please!’ And I’ll get my coat …” – Allastair McGillivray.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Neale Redington, who gets a copy of Classic Football Shirts, courtesy of Penguin. It’s out on Thursday and you can order a copy here if you’re not successful. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.
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