Christmas Time is Unlucky for Laws

Brian Laws might have had a successful start to his playing career at Burnley but his return as gaffer was been far from that.

Laws has today resigned after just under a year in charge at Turf Moor, where he has seen the Clarets fall from mid-table in the Premier League to 9th in the Championship.

It seems Christmas time is unfortunate for Laws, who was sacked as manager of Sheffield Wednesday on the 13th December last calendar year, before taking over at Burnley one month later.

A statement on the club's website read: "Burnley Football Club can announce that first team manager Brian Laws has today stepped down with immediate effect.

The club would like to place on record their thanks to Brian for his hard work and commitment to the club since he took the role in January 2010.

Chairman Mr Barry Kilby said: "I have telephoned Brian today and have asked him to step down as manager of Burnley Football Club.

"Everyone is naturally disappointed and frustrated that recent results have not gone as we would have hoped.

"The Board of Directors has therefore decided that we need a fresh approach in order to achieve our goal of returning to the Premier League."

Burnley Football Club will make no further comment at this time."

The last 12 months have been a hard time for Brian Laws, with both of his teams, Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley, being relegated in May.

Credit; here

Laws only won 3 out of 18 games in charge of the side in the Premier League and has seen his side slip off the pace in the race for promotion back to the top flight after defeats to the likes of Scunthorpe in the past few weeks.

In fact, Laws has only won 8 games out of the 22 played, with 5 other defeats coming to Leeds, Coventry, Reading, Middlesbrough and Swansea.

The side seem to have taken a turn for the worse since the departure of Owen Coyle to neighbours Bolton in the first week of 2010, although Laws' side did beat Bolton 1-0 in the Carling Cup this season.

It seems as though promotion back to the Premier League is the most important thing for the chairman is getting back into the promised land, and eight points away from automatic promotion is evidently not good enough, despite the team having a game in hand on Cardiff in second.

There have been some managers sacked over the past few weeks, namely Chris Hughton and Sam Allardyce, for precious little, but this was one decision that has, perhaps, been coming for some time, and the 2-0 home loss at the weekend put the icing on the cake for the 49 year old boss.




Chris Hughton was unfairly treated at Newcastle, but may fit the bill as Burnley search for a new boss.






Credit; here

Personally, I'm surprised that the Burnley directors didn't look for a little more experience after Coyle left in January, and maybe this time they will take a little more time to ensure the right man is picked to take the club forward.

That man could well be Chris Hughton, if he is ready to return to management and, after his success with Newcastle, he would surely be a popular choice in helping establish Burnley as automatic promotion contenders.

The club haven't done that badly this season, beating rivals Preston 4-3, but some key players, including Chris Iwelumo and Chris Eagles have gone off the boil since.

The Scottish international striker, who features on my top misses blog post, has scored nine goals for the side this season, but it's been at the other end where the team have struggled. They have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 10 league games and that is somewhere that will need tightening up.

If they act smartly and quickly, the manager will have time to act on the squad in January and make any necessary adjustments and there are sure to be numerous candidates to fill the hot-seat at a stable club.







Graham Alexander has no managerial experience, but is well loved by the Burnley fans. It's unlikely the directors will gamble on inexperience again.





Credit; here

Whoever comes in doesn't come into an absolute shambles, but instead a club that has been in the Premier League, has some good players and high expectations.

If it's turned around quickly and they make the right choice, Burnley will make the play-offs this season at least, and it won't all be doom and gloom at the North West club.