….always believe in your soul. Marvin Sordell selected for GB Olympic Squad.
Pinch, punch. Err?.second of the month. It`s the beginning of the week but, more importantly, it`s the beginning of July. That means the return of the players for pre-season training and the probability of getting more stuff written and therefore being more acerbic about the club, if that is at all possible. But not acerbic enough to have the rozzers coming knocking on our door. Hopefully.
With the conclusion of a Euro`s, minds can now be set firmly on the new season. I know it`s stating the bleeding obvious, but having summer tournaments can make the time lag between old and new seasons seem very short indeed and whilst it is still just under seven weeks until the new season starts (forty seven days in old money), the transfer window is open, players are talking about looking forward to the new season and the new shirts go on sale next Saturday. It may be a long old run in to the kick off, the season starts a fortnight later this season, but that does give the club scope to right some of the wrongs from last year and gives those still struggling for fitness longer to prove themselves worthy of a starting place at Burnley.
Whether Mark Davies will be part of that squad remains to be seen as the news that Liverpool are interested in him doesn`t appear to be going away. Marc Iles says today that the manager is under no pressure to sell Davies and judging by the comments from Saturday`s piece, the majority think he should be kept. That`s the majority on this site, so it`s not entirely scientific.
I understand the issue with being left with Dazza Prazza as the back up midfielder if Holden has his annual injury, but I`m not as fussed with Pratley this season as I was last. He is patently not a Premier League player (strike me down if you`ve not heard me say that before), but he proved at Swansea that he is a good Championship level player and I expect him to show that this coming season. Whilst this may seem like I am bigging him up unnecessarily, bear in mind that this will give him less slack than he had last season. If that is possible.
As for the manager not being under any pressure to sell Mavies, I think I may have heard that message last summer when it came to Gary Cahill, while he was prostituted to the highest bidder. After that debacle, I can`t believe that the club wouldn`t accept the money for a player who isn`t guaranteed a first team place, especially with the strength of the midfield and anything above the price quoted in the press last week would do me fine.
With the arrival of Keith Andrews, the club look to be cooling interest in Carlos Sanchez, partly due to the fact that they can`t get hold of him and partly due to the fact that the world and his mum (possibly his actual mum) claim to be his representative. When his name was first mooted it sounded like it may be a piece of excellent business, but now that Andrews has been signed the manager`s views should really look elsewhere. With Holden and Vela both being able to play the holding midfield if necessary, it would be better to try and breach the hole in defence caused by the injury to David Wheater and the re signing of Zat Knight as well as bringing in competition of Adam Bogdan, something that the signings of Matt Mills and Andy Lonergan would cover. Then we can look to loan deals and the like and if money comes in for Mavies, then so much the better.
Elswhere, Marvin Sordell has been called up to the Great Britain Olympic squad. After the furore over the non inclusion of David Beckham (and, with a shameless self plug, please see my views on that here) the squad includes a few names that you would expect to go far in the tournament, which after the inevitable failure of the England team at the Euros, would be somewhat ironic. Also included are Daniel Sturridge and former targets Josh McEachran and Tom Cleverley. Whilst the inclusion of Sordell may come as a surprise to some given his lack of game time at T`Reebok last season, his goalscoring record for Watford and his two goals at U-21 level obviously left a mark on Stuart Pearce. And with Pearce also managing the U-21 team, it would have come as a shock if he hadn`t selected many of the team that he knows. So, not as much of a shock as it first appears.
Right, get your bunting and fireworks out. Take a day off work. Down a few drinks in celebration. Al is here tomorrow and from then on we will write on consecutive days. I`m off to do some packing for my hols, including a visit to the Irish village which gave me my surname. I couldn`t be more excited. Totes emosh, indeed.
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