Turf Titbits

We bring you some little snippets of Clarets news that you may have missed this month

Jimmy Mac becomes Club President

All at Vital Burnley congratulate Burnley legend, Jimmy McIlroy MBE on being named the new Cub President. Jimmy Mac was formally invited by the board of directors to become president recently and the sixties legend agreed to take on the honorary role. He will formally take up the role at a presidential dinner at Turf Moor later this season.

Jimmy who celebrates his 80th birthday this month was recently given an MBE, a testimonial and the Freedom of the Borough so he can now add yet another honour to his impressive list.

In his typical modest way, Jimmy Mac said of this latest honour:

‘I am a little embarrassed but obviously proud of this honour. I keep wondering what`s next as I have had so many accolades given to me recently. It is a tribute for all my team-mates.”

Jimmy started his career with Glentoran before joining Burnley in 1950 and over the thirteen years he played for the Clarets established himself as a Burnley legend. He was of course a key member of the First Division Championship winning team in 1960 and also played in the 1962 FA Cup final against Spurs. He also remains Burnley`s most capped player in history, with 51 of his 55 full international caps for Northern Ireland coming during his time at Turf Moor. It is no surprise therefore that Jimmy Mac is now widely regarded as Burnley Football Club`s greatest player.

The presidency is a mainly an ambassadorial role which has been vacant since the death of Dr David Iven in 2007.

Once again congratulations Jimmy on this great achievement, I am just so annoyed I was born a little too late to remember you playing. I do remember though seeing Jimmy play in a testimonial for John Angus in the early 70s and also remember him still running rings around some of our youth team players that day and my late dad, always a strong admirer of the great man, laughing his socks off at the spectacle.

The Lynch Mob scent Blood!

Young Burnley midfielder David Lynch joined Blue Square North side Droylsden on loan earlier this month. The first-year professional has joined the Bloods until January and will now see some first-team action during his stay at the Butcher’s Arms. Droylsden are currently mid-table in the Blue Square North.

The 18-year-old is a former youth-team captain and was voted the Clarets’ youth player of the year last season. He has played for the reserves team but has yet to make his first-team debut for the Clarets.

Hewitt gets Pro deal

17-year-old midfielder, Steve Hewitt a has been awarded his first professional deal after penning a contract until the summer of 2014

Hewitt has already been on the bench for two first-team matches this season in the Carling Cup games against Barnet and MK Dons but has yet to make his competitive debut although did feature a few times in the pre-season friendlies. He is clearly highly regarded at the club.

Eddie Howe talking about the new deal for Hewitt said:

“We have high hopes for Stevie.

“We have fast tracked him because sometimes you identify talented players.

“It`s quite easy to see that Stevie has a lot of talent.

“He has great attributes and we want him involved in the first team, as we do with all the development players.

“It`s obviously difficult involving everybody at times, but he is one that we think can go a long way in the game.

“He was an impressive performer in pre-season for us and has been involved in the first team set-up for a while.

‘This is a reward for all of his hard work.”

Vote for Jay Rod!

Last week Jay Rodriguez was nominated for the Player of the Year award by the Northwest Football Awards. And it is well deserved after a fantastic season last term with the young striker scoring 14 goals and receiving the golden boot at the 2010/2011 Player of the Year Awards.

This is an award voted for by Football fans so we please urge all Burnley fans to spare a minute to make your vote and help Jay win the award.

To vote simply hit this link:

VOTE JAY ROD

Clarets International

Leon Cort, currently on loan at Charlton Athletic and fellow defender, David Edgar have both had a good international break featuring in both their country`s CONCACAF World Cup 2014 qualifying games.

Cort picked up his first international cap for Guyana and played the full 90 minutes in their away game against Barbados helping them keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 victory. He then also featured in their next qualifying game away to Bermuda. The game finished 1-1 and kept Guyana at the top of the Group B table with ten points from four games.

It was a similar story for David Edgar playing for Canada. After their two qualifying games in Group D, the Canadians also won one and drew one and they now also head up their table with ten points from four games after thumping St. Lucia 7-0 in the Caribbean before earning a point in a 0-0 draw against Puerto Rico at BMO Field in Toronto.

21 year old striker Alex MacDonald has also been on international duty for the Scotland Under 21 side in their Euro qualifiers and has now got his first goal at this level. He scored the first goal in the 5-1 drubbing handed out to Luxembourg in the Josy Barthel Stadium a week last Friday and played the full 90 minutes. Last Tuesday night, he came on for the second half at St Mirren against Austria helping his side draw 2-2.

Shay McCartan also scored for the Northern Ireland U19s in their UEFA qualifier against Belarus a week last Saturday. He scored the opening goal with a header from a corner helping his side win 3-1 thus keeping their Elite Round qualification hopes alive. Sadly though those hopes were dashed last Tuesday when only needing a draw at home to Montengro to qualify they finished up losing 2-1. Their chances may not have been helped by a late change in the venue. The game was due to be played on Glentoran`s ground, ‘The Oval ‘in Belfast but it was waterlogged after heavy rain and finished up being moved to Lurgan`s Mourneview Park .

McCartan was named in the starting eleven for the second successive game but by half-time they were 1-0 down despite having put in a good first 45 minutes. Ipswich 18 year old, full international Josh Carson equalised in the 65th minute but just five minutes later Montenegro restored their lead to qualify along with Germany who drew 3-3 against Belarus in Portadown.

Burnley X-Files

No Clarets fans can possibly have failed to miss the news that our former gaffer, Steve Cotterill has jumped ship after leaving Portsmouth to become the new Nottingham Forest manager last week. He signed a three-and-a-half-year contract on Friday and watched Forest’s match at Coventry on Saturday from the stands.

The 47-year-old replaces Steve McClaren, who resigned as Forest boss in early October. Cotterill has now managed both Nottingham clubs after spending time as gaffer at Notts County helping them gain promotion to League 1 in 2010 before becoming Pompey manager in June 2010.

Forest would appear to be a typical ‘Cotterill` club! Steve has a reputation for going into clubs with no money and small squads helping them consolidate and survive in the league. That certainly seems to be the case during his time at Burnley and Portsmouth. It was clear the lack of money from the Board for new players at Forest was one of the main reasons McClaren left but Cotts is less likely to make a fuss which is probably why they appointed him. We wish him well!

Our former left-back, Jon Harley was also on the move last week, Harley, currently on the books at Notts County looked to be trying for a move to Australian A-League side Melbourne Victory last month in a bid to win a full-time contract but that seems to have fallen through. Instead he has now joined League Two side Rotherham United on a one-month emergency loan.

Harley left Burnley in March 2008 after three years at the club. In July 2008 he signed a two year deal with Watford before joining newly promoted League 2 champions Notts County in July 2010 penning a two-year deal.