Article on the club in today's Guardian

http://bit.ly/2pT1VNm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What a wonderfully positive article. Made me very proud to be a claret.

Brilliant stuff. We support a fantastic football club that's for sure.

The comments below it make me laugh.

“Wigan and Blackburn also had their time in the sun. Hats off if they’re still there in five years”

The way we have established ourselves in the Premier League, compared to the way they did, is like comparing apples and oranges.

More corporate boxes. Sounds like we are really getting noticed.

bfcjg wrote:More corporate boxes. Sounds like we are really getting noticed.

We have already agreed to spend nearly £2m on the hospitality in the James Hargreaves converting them into individual corporate boxes....this will be done as long as we stay up this season.

excellent article... Agree with Bournemouth claret. Makes me very proud to be a Claret.

Not sure where you'd put extra corporate boxes unless you rebuilt the Bob Lord.

jrgbfc wrote:Not sure where you'd put extra corporate boxes unless you rebuilt the Bob Lord.

Lower JM

TVC15 wrote:We have already agreed to spend nearly £2m on the hospitality in the James Hargreaves converting them into individual corporate boxes....this will be done as long as we stay up this season.

They said this last year and year before. Also the need to update them would be even more urgent if we were relegated as they are incredibly expensive for what facilities you actually get. The only reason they are full is Premier League Football.

TVC15 wrote:We have already agreed to spend nearly £2m on the hospitality in the James Hargreaves converting them into individual corporate boxes....this will be done as long as we stay up this season.

How does the standard of our corporate seats and experience compare to other clubs? Only been in an executive box twice and it seemed ok

woody wrote:They said this last year and year before. Also the need to update them would be even more urgent if we were relegated as they are incredibly expensive for what facilities you actually get. The only reason they are full is Premier League Football.

It’s been agreed.
Compared to other grounds my guess would be that our corporate facilities are one of the cheapest.
There is no point trying to make our ground and the facilities like City, United etc....gradual, incremental improvements which put the club at no risk financially if we get relegated is the way we will always go.

I wish we would invest more in the ordinary facilities though - a couple of million on the concourses would go a long way.

JohnDearyMe wrote:How does the standard of our corporate seats and experience compare to other clubs? Only been in an executive box twice and it seemed ok

Been in loads with work and yes Burnley is not to the standard of most.
But think the match day experience with the tour etc is good at Burnley.

TVC15 wrote:We have already agreed to spend nearly £2m on the hospitality in the James Hargreaves converting them into individual corporate boxes....this will be done as long as we stay up this season.

how much would this restrict the use of this area as a function room?

TVC15 wrote:I wish we would invest more in the ordinary facilities though - a couple of million on the concourses would go a long way.

I guess we can't get (m)any more on, though, so whilst the facilities might improve the only real way to get a return would be to put the prices up. Jeez - there's already enough whinging about Twix prices!

Personally, though, I'd agree with you and would be happy to pay a bit more for a pint or a cuppa for better facilities/offerings in the concourses.

Spike wrote:how much would this restrict the use of this area as a function room?

Don’t know the details sorry other than the cost - was just told a couple of weeks ago by someone who sits on the group where these things are discussed / communicated (think he is a shareholder but he is well known and been involved with the club for decades)

That was a joy to read,the song no one likes us,can be consigned to the dustbin,obviously someone does.

Goddy wrote:I guess we can't get (m)any more on, though, so whilst the facilities might improve the only real way to get a return would be to put the prices up. Jeez - there's already enough whinging about Twix prices!

Personally, though, I'd agree with you and would be happy to pay a bit more for a pint or a cuppa for better facilities/offerings in the concourses.

Yep probably going to be difficult to make a return on the money but you would get some back with more bars, quicker serving of food and drink (eg using the pint pouring technology), and more and better choice of food.
Improving the toilets should not be a profit decision though - it’s basic human rights !! I suppose less time queueing for the loo might mean more time to buy drinks / food. But then quicker serving of pints might mean more visits to the loo.....it’s a a very complex dilemma for the club (NOT !!)

TVC15 wrote:Lower JM

Not ideal behind the goal though. If you were paying top dollar for corporate you'd at least want a decent view of the game.

Spike wrote:how much would this restrict the use of this area as a function room?

They are talking about doing the private boxes from the Cricketfield Stand up to the halfway line, so the function room would still be half the length of the pitch. The end two or three are already private for the players wives and Sean has his own private box at that end.
In relation to other clubs our corporate facilities are nothing short of embarrassing and this has been raised many times with the club. I will believe the improvements when I see them.
To give an example the box holders were told that all the windows would be replaced this summer to one way glass , this is obviously so that people can have a drink behind the glass whilst the game is in progress. They returned this season to find that a film had been stuck onto the glass to fulfill the same purpose. The only problem is that it looks like it's been done by a ten year old , big bubbles in it and cut short at the top, bottom and sides.

jrgbfc wrote:Not ideal behind the goal though. If you were paying top dollar for corporate you'd at least want a decent view of the game.

We did have corporate there before though and it was a lot cheaper - that’s when we were in the championship too. It was a buffet - think it was £75 per head.
I think if we did this at a reduced price you could get another 15 to 20 boxes in there and people would buy them - maybe use partitions here so you could convert it to a function room when needed.
We are very limited on where we can put any additional boxes without massive spend or rebuilding a stand. Most clubs have boxes behind the goals though.

TVC15 wrote:Yep probably going to be difficult to make a return on the money but you would get some back with more bars, quicker serving of food and drink (eg using the pint pouring technology), and more and better choice of food.
)

Always wondered why we've never done this. Takes an age to get a drink at half time

woody wrote:To give an example the box holders were told that all the windows would be replaced this summer to one way glass , this is obviously so that people can have a drink behind the glass whilst the game is in progress. They returned this season to find that a film had been stuck onto the glass to fulfill the same purpose. The only problem is that it looks like it's been done by a ten year old , big bubbles in it and cut short at the top, bottom and sides.

I always thought the law was you couldn't consume alcohol viewing the pitch.
A one way window wouldn't prevent that and would be a breach

Edit - found it
The Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985 prevents:

the consumption of alcohol within view of the playing area including, during the restricted period (15 minutes before the start of the event to 15 minutes after the end of the event), rooms within the ground from which the event may be directly viewed;

I bought the Guardian this morning (routine for Friday & Saturday for me though I am definitely no Guardianista). Finished reading it a while ago (crosswords pending) but never saw this. As I live in Hants, I'm assuming this article is northern edition only (or maybe just online)?

Nice article though + most of the comments below the are positive and grown-up (not a given in The Guardian).

EDIT- possibly going to be in Saturday's printed edition.

wilks_bfc wrote:I always thought the law was you couldn't consume alcohol viewing the pitch.
A one way window wouldn't prevent that and would be a breach

Edit - found it
The Sporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985 prevents:

the consumption of alcohol within view of the playing area including, during the restricted period (15 minutes before the start of the event to 15 minutes after the end of the event), rooms within the ground from which the event may be directly viewed;

“Within view of the playing area” suggests that it’s allowed as long as the folk on the pitch can’t see you, not the other way ‘round, so one-way glass would do the trick.

Greenmile wrote:“Within view of the playing area” suggests that it’s allowed as long as the folk on the pitch can’t see you, not the other way ‘round, so one-way glass would do the trick.

It does, but then the last part "rooms within the ground from which the event may be directly viewed", reads as the drinker cant see it

Greenmile wrote:“Within view of the playing area” suggests that it’s allowed as long as the folk on the pitch can’t see you, not the other way ‘round, so one-way glass would do the trick.

That's the law

wilks_bfc wrote:It does, but then the last part "rooms within the ground from which the event may be directly viewed", reads as the drinker cant see it

It is a bit ambiguous, but I think the word “including” still means that the one way glass is good enough.

I have no specific knowledge of this, btw - I’m just interpreting the rules as you have posted them.

Interesting stats from the comments section of the article =

Mind you, their on field success in 19/20 is real. For this season I've been keeping a record of how a table 'non top 6' teams would look if their games against the 'top 6' were struck out of that record - and Burnley are in joint 2nd place (with Bournemouth) on 57% of possible points gained from such games.

Good article and makes you realise the impact a spell in the PL does for your profile. Just come back from a week in Sicily where they adore football and have seen their potentially beloved team Palermo slide down their League owing to gross financial misconducts owing recent years. The Sicilians love our PL-could not hesitate mentioning Burnley to the various restauranters, and you get "Oh Ashley Barnes-molto forto", Chris Wood "the assassin", and "Takowski/Ben Mee-catinaccio" which translates as a padlock.

No disrespect to Shackell, Stanislas, Duff or Marney but suspect 4 or 5 years ago these would not be names on the lips of the Sicilians. Felt proud to be there last week. Shows how far we have moved on

A good article - reminded me a little of this from Forbes.com a couple of weeks ago

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesnalto ... abaf1f8a07" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have said for a while we have a growing contingent of North Americans and their press who are really appreciative of our efforts - the comments section in that Guardian article show it

Isn't it great to be a famn of such a wonderful club.

Suratclaret wrote:excellent article... Agree with Bournemouth claret. Makes me very proud to be a Claret.

I’ve always been proud to be a claret regardless of where we are in the league ,yes even when we were bottom of the 4th Division

Great article which shows the club in a positive light. If there are any whingers and moaners still out there ( and there will be a few lurking, for when we have a bad run no doubt ), then I hope they read and digest this critique for when said bad run occurs. Hopefully they will hold their tongue or at the very least keep their criticisms realistic. Soladarity is strength.

Not sure if this has been posted before - apologies if so
https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... rest-owner" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I won a competition once and Mrs McL and I had a tour of the ground, courtesy Willie Morgan and also bumped into Andy Lochead. That was great. Meal fine.

However, it was the end of the Longside and inside, the football atmosphere was extinguished. Worst viewing ever. I went and sat outside, still crap but at least I was 'in the natch'.

You can keep hospitality boxes for me. Just for non football fans!

In the printed edition, the article contains a "Population watch" panel which purports to show the Prem teams with the town populations. I dont think you can link it from the online story. It, of course, indicates Burnley as the smallest place with a Prem team (with Watford next): ridiculously precise numbers......

8,908,081 LONDON (Arsenal, Chelsea, Palace, Spuds, WHU)
1,141,374 BIRMINGHAM (Villa)
547,627 MANCHESTER (City, United)
582, 506 SHEFFIELD (Blades)- number might be a misprint given its listed below Manchester, or maybe Manch number is the misprint- it' is the Grauniad after all
494,814 LIVERPOOL ('pool & Everton)
355,218 LEICESTER
300,196 NEWCASTLE (sleeping giant )
288,155 BRIGHTON
262,008 WOLVERHAMPTON
252,796 SOUTHAMPTON
194,800 BOURNEMOUTH
150,201 NORWICH
96,767 WATFORD
88,527 BURNLEY