Not Over Yet

10 months ago, on a sunny day at Wembley Stadium it seemed football couldn't get any better. After 17 years of watching Burnley I had finally seen most Football League teams' fans' dream, my hometown team being promoted to the Premier League.
Owen Coyle was proclaimed the Messiah by the Claret faithful and the worldwide media lapped up the story of this small Lancastrian town having a population lower than the capacity of Old Trafford.
Fast forward ten months and we have a totally different story. The January departure of the Messiah led to Bolton led to his rebranding as "Judas". 3 weeks of hatred of the former God bult up and was unleashed by 5000 angry Burnley fans at the Reebok Stadium, but as always in the Premier League, Burnley lost away.
I am writing on the back of arguably the most disappointing defeat of the season, a 2-1 home defeat to Wolves.
I never thought Brian Laws was the right man for the job, even when he was linked in 2007 after the departure of Steve Cotterill. The appointment stank of negativity and the board tightening their belts to avoid appointing a more expensive, but arguably more capable manager. 11 games in to Laws' rein and there can be no arguing with the facts. Just four points and a disappointing F.A. Cup exit to Reading have been the return from this time.
Many people said before Wednesday's draw with Stoke that 2 points would be a disaster from that game and the Wolves game. But here we sit on the back of a draw and a defeat with just one point to show for it.
What we need is the fight back from the players. Think of Kevin Ball in the centre, carrying the team flying into every tackle he could. Now what do we have? Graham Alexander, fantastic last season but now all he seems to do is wave his arms around a lot. The best centre back at the club, Andre Bikey, is forced to wander around way out of position in centre midfield, looking a shadow of the player he is. Martin Paterson, Jack Cork and Tyrone Mears (yesterday aside) are the only players I can single out from the recent form who can hold their heads high and say they are happy with recent performances.

But on we go. Eight games left, 24 points to play for. A win over Wigan next week could possibly put just one point between us, Wolves, West Ham and Wigan. Remember a year ago, Dare to Dream? Maybe it's time to revive that dream and remember just how we got here.

UTC!