So the fixture computer has conspired to bring Owen Coyle back to Turf Moor for the first game of next season.
The game, given the recent history, has been talked up in the local media as a crackerjack start to the campaign but I find myself less excited with the prospect.
When Coyle left to join Bolton midway through the 2009/10 season, I felt none of the betrayal that was so evident in many Burnley fans. I remember one friend claiming that he would have ‘taken a bullet’ for Coyle when he was manager, a concept I found difficult to comprehend.
I do feel that if he had stayed, we would have stood a much better chance of avoiding relegation, but Bolton were established as a Premier League club, with first rate facilities and, as it proved, a better standard of players at their disposal.
His choice to leave was based on football reasons and my view is not so blinkered that I cannot understand his way of thinking, so his return to the Turf does little to excite my imagination other than it guarantees there will be a large crowd there on the opening day.
Besides, Coyle has already visited with Bolton two seasons ago in the Carling Cup; I feel that many fans will have vented their anger that night and so the hype leading up to August’s encounter could prove to be anticlimactic.
In reality, the Bolton game is little more than a chance for the side to make a good start to the season with a win. Three points in front of the fans immediately giving the whole club a boost, especially given our inconsistent home for last term. That really needs to turn around if we are to challenge the top six in what looks an increasingly competitive division.
Following the Bolton game, we face trips to Middlesbrough and Huddersfield before back to back home fixtures against Brighton and Peterborough. We only won one of our opening seven games last season and found ourselves playing catch up once the table started to take shape through the autumn.
Fans of all clubs will be saying the same thing come August, but a good start is essential, otherwise the Championship can prove an unforgiving division. Our opening fixtures are eminently winnable, but at this early stage it is difficult to identify which sides are likely to be contenders and which are not. Transfer activity is likely to pick up once the European Championships have finished, and a lot of clubs will see a high turnover of players.
One positive for Burnley fans this year though is that the majority of away games are within a two hour drive. Three southern teams won promotion to the Premiership last season while Bolton and Blackburn came down and coming up from League One, Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield represent short trips over the Pennines to replace the journeys to Coventry and Portsmouth.
Traditionally we take a strong away following to most grounds and this season, with plenty of northern-based sides, should be no different. The opening game against Owen Coyle’s Bolton could capture the fans’ imagination and prove to be the first stepping stone towards a successful season. But it represents nothing more than that.
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