‘We are still not quite sure where we are with Steven Fletcher,’ said Laws. ‘We will take it day by day and monitor him.
‘Obviously we want him in the team, there is no question of that.
‘But we have got to be absolutely sure his mindset is right and he is fit to play. We will make a decision probably on Wednesday.’
Fletcher of course broke a bone in his hand whlst traiing for the Scotland squad last week and missed their midweek friendly against the Czech Republic.
It had been hoped that he could play with a cast or light protection over his hand against Arsenal at the Emirates last Saturday but his hand was just too painful and he failed to make the eighteen.
Hopefully Fletcher will be in contention for a start against Stoke City at Turf Moor on Wednesday night but it could be a tough decision for Laws to make if he is fit. Martin Paterson has played well in the last three games scoring two goals since returning from a long-injury and David Nugent also performed well against Arsenal on Saturday scoring our goal in the 3-1 defeat.
Laws has also been talking about what it would mean for the club if we failed in our battle to stay in the top flight.
‘Of course it’s going to be disastrous for any team that falls out of the Premier League. Is it a disaster for Burnley?,’ questioned Laws
Well at this point after 33 years of trying to get back to the top flight I was hoping he was going to say ‘yes’ because quite frankly I think we have been slumbering in our attempts to stay up since Day 1 and have been making all the wrong noises and making the wrong judgements.
We should have been saying, we are determined to remain a Premier League side instead of which it’s all been about preparing for a return to the Championship in my opinion and that is now being echoed again by Laws when in answer to his own question he replied:
‘No it isn’t’
I know some of you won’t agree but I am sorry the answer should have been ‘Yes, it is’
Laws continued with the usual meaningless expression of positivity and ambition:
‘We know that we haven’t gone and put all of our eggs in one basket. We know that we’ve got a plan for the future and it’s been done well.
‘We’ve planned for both parties, to stay up and eventually if we don’t make it. We’re very positive about our approach towards staying in the Premier League.
‘We want to stay here and we’ll give everything possible to do that, but I think there’s bigger pressure on other teams than us.’
Really then we should have the same pressure?
Everything possible to do that? Yeah unless it means spending a bit more on quality players to stay up now not waste the money on a load of players that have hardly ever played or never will.
Well I hope all this careful planning keeps us up because if anybody thinks we are going to be well placed next season to make a quick return then they are living in cloud cuckoo land. The Championship gets more and more difficult to get out of every season and £16 million of parachute payments with gates back down to 11,000 is not going to go very far if we have to virtually rebuild the whole team again and manage the cashflow. If we are serious in building a team capable of returning to the top flight and more importantly staying there, then that will cost more money and if the club starts pleading poverty again we are stuffed!
Let us just stay up by playing good quality football on the pitch Brian and get these lads to think about staying up not wondering what they are going to do if we go down.
The club should never have entertained the thought of going down, they should certainly not have been quoting the possibility in their public statements. Sure plan for going down behind the scenes but don’t make it sound like you almost relish the prospect!
It’s like saying, well try and keep us up but don’t worry if you cant’ Hogwash!
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