The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 50

FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAY-OFFS 7 -SUNDAYS How teams reached tomorrow showdown for Rrerri'lership Derby County 4''), SEMI-FINAL, first leg bt Mlllwall (H) 2-0 (Cowans 22, Johnson 60)-' Second leg- bt Mlllwall (A) 3-1 -t (Gabbiadtnl 22, Van'Dent Hauwe PLAY-OFF RECORDJDlv 1) 1992 lost 5-4 I cms: 1 I'K 1 -iP4 ami on agg to BlacKDurn LelcesterCtty SEMI-FJNAU first leg Tranmere (A) 0-0 Second leg bt Tranmere (H) 2-1 (Ormondroyd 45, Speedie 89). i PLAY-OFF RECORD Piv 1) 1993 Final lost 4-3 to Swindon-1992 Final lost 1-0 to Blackburn mmm me tmmmm. miasms-. change of position midwajr through, the season; He lias been.a revelation as; Short'sicentral tackling gild; his use of the ball 'have stood out more there than it did in midfield; You "can take all vour mil lion-pound playerV but if Derby do-- Urd's day'bbseraance: The late Burnley chairman would have relished the Nineties exploits of his club. Photograph by Denis Thorpe is probably theplayer they will find the most difficult to But not all those million-pound players have failed to excite Hector.

Take Kitson, ironically a former Leicester player. 'He's one I he says. 'He's quick, he Holds the ball up well and he scores He'pauses, and adds: 'In a way, he reminds me of Think about how happy Hector is going to be if and when watching Derby reminds him also of McFar-land, Todd arid Gemmill MB1XogW p)jDDnl Paul Wilson looks at the club trying to live down an historic past, and the County set thriving on austerity before today's final fling 'As a player I took if 6 it all for granted I didn't realise, there was, that much at stake3 way up the league now instead of down it, but these things can't be rushed. It took years for things to go wrong at this club, and it will take years to make eveiythmg go right Teasdale, a 60-year-old managing director of two motor parts companies, can nevertheless be proud of bis nine years in charge. On 9 May, 1 987, he was awoken at 6.45 in the morning by a reporter wanting to know how he would feel to be the first chairman to take his club out of the league.

That was the day ofthe game against Leyton Orient when Burnley won their last match of the season to cling to Fourth Division survival. Teasdale remembers it vividly. 'The ground was full, but half of the crowd had come to bury us. In the case of the press box, more than half, but I suppose it's normal newspaper practice to have your obituaries prepared in advance. I wouldn't like to go through that A more pleasant memory is the York game.

Burnley followers have no need of times or dates, just the opponents will do. The Orient game is shorthand for the club's darkest hour; the York game was when Burnley won me Fourth Division championship two years ago. Jimmy Mullen's father was hanging around in the car park Burnley feel a little bit sorry for them. 'They have to deserve better than they are getting, don't said Frank Teasdale, the Turf Moor chairman. 'I mean they are obviously doing something right, but when the manager has to plead for more support it tells you something about their potential.

It must be heart-breaking, getting the results without the Burnley could be said to have the opposite problem, which is not necessarily easier to bear. 'Don't talk to me about our history, all our good Teasdale said. We carry that about on our backs. We know perfectly well that most people in football would like to see Burnley back at the top, but that doesn't make getting there any less difficult. People seem to imagine we're different from everyone else, because we're Burnley, but no club has a divine right to a certain status or a particular place in the league.

Fortunately we're on our after the game waiting to congratulate his son, so Teasdale took him into the dressing room where the Burnley manager was sitting fully clothed in the bath. 'Jimmy is quite an emotional person. He just burst into Mullen joined Burnley from sometime rivals Blackpool in the same week, in October 1991, that Kenny Dalglish took over at Blackburn Rovers, neighbours and permanent deadly enemies. When Burnley missed promotion in 1 99 1 Blackburn fans hired a plane to fly over Turf Moor with a gloating message. Lancashire police are not looking forward to the day the two are drawn together in a cup tie.

Edward Leej football writer of the Burnley Express, thinks this match would be best staged at a neutral venue, such as Beirut. The extent to which local rivalries have been exacerbated by Blackburn's outrageous good fortune is unknown, but the prospect cf the two sides eventually meeting in the league is not as remote as it appeared three years ago. Teasdale is unlikely to be mistaken for Jack Walker 'My middle name isn't Santa Claus' but Mullen has this much in common with Dalglish: he only has to ask for a player and his chairman will try to buy him. 'With hand on heart, I can honestly say that no manager here has ever been refused a player he's Teasdale said. 'The trick is to employ realistic managers.

Jimmy knows what we can afford, and we know he isn't going to come in asking for Alan Shearer or Tim Examples of players Mullen has asked for and received include Adrian Heath, signed on a free and widely tipped to be a Burnley manager of the future; Ted McMinn, Derby's former Tin Man, a snip at 70,000 from Birmingham and now a new Turf Moor favourite; and goalkeeper Marlon Beresford, a 100,000 signing from Sheffield Wednesday already attracting the attention of leading Premiership clubs. Burnley have the fan base to fund more team-strengthening if they move up a division, and under Teasdale the debts have been paid and financial stability achieved. Quite an impressive feat, even if the chairman did require a heart bypass operation in January. 'I don't think the two are Teasdale said. 'Burnley has never meant anything but pleasure for me since I was a lad of 11 Everyone assumes the stress was football related, but personally I put it down to 40 years of BURNLEY are as old as the Football League itself, but thousands of their supporters will turn up at Wembley -this afternoon hoping to prove that history counts for nothing.

To achieve promotion to the First Division the East Lancashire club need to beat Stockport County. But not only have Burnley never won at Wembley, they have never won on a Sunday. In fact, they have yet to score a single goal on the Lord's day. That's Lord as in "Genesis, of course. Bob Lord's day was always a Saturday.

Despite these dire portents, Burnley had no trouble at all in shifting more than 30,000 tickets in just a few days, awhile the Stockport manager, Danny Bergara, was reduced to appealing to Manchester City fans via local radio in an attempt to swell the County contingent. Presumably the enterprising Bergara concluded that United supporters were byhow fed up of the place, whereas City fans might just be envious enough to do anything for a day out. But football does not work like that. Stockport getting to -Wembley in the same month as -United is just about the last thing City fans need. Edgeley Park ticket sales remained obstinately below 5,000.

So Burnley will win the battle of the terraces, but they usually do. The Clarets' average attendance of more than 1 1,000 this season is comfortably the best in the Second Division. They have been taking up to 8,000 fans on away trips, andTurf Moor has known crowds above 5,000 for youth team matches; 'The area just loves its v. said Mark Blackbourne, the club secretary. We don't know what our upper limit might be, but the First Division will be a great place to be next season with Bolton, Oldham and Tranmere.

A nice northern division with lots of local But supporters don't win matches, and Stockport, who finished 11 points higher in the table and had the better of their league encounters this season, go to Wembley as favourites. With their modest crowds, ordinary ground and uncharismatic lack of tradition, County would not be as warmly greeted by First Division clubs. McAndrew and Kevin Macdonald. Not to be outdone by the First Division's big spendets, notably Derby, Little splashed out a record sum of his own' for Mark Blake: all of 365,000. Good housekeeping was never less respected, though: 'It's a big aggravation to the people of Leicester.

They would have taken more in if I spent lmillon on Speedie instead of getting him on a free. It's Fortunately, the youth policy at Leicester has produced some outstanding youngsters, none more so than Julian Joachim, the former England youth player. Little has resisted the- temptation to hurry along this prodigious talent, often leaving Joachim out this season in order that he could observe players 'morecrafty than he's ever going to be'. Little likens him to the Brazilian Romario, and sees his future lying abroad eventually. Without the ultimate success of promotion to appease them, City's fans have been niggardly in their1 appreciation of Little's achievements so far, while his team's pragmatic approach has definitely gone against the grain.

'At times I still see that the Leicester public are steeped in this passing thing the Len Glover, Frank Worthington type of For someone who has suffered so cruelly at the hands of the playoffs last season's 4-3 defeat by Swindon' he found particularly hurtful Little is surprising supportive of them. -'I think they keep the he says. 'I certainly don't fear them. I'm not a fearful person. I realise any manager is under pressure, even at a club like this where I've been relatively successful.

Ultimately have to take them into the Premiership, and if I don't, someone else will get the job of doing Burnley's Thompson keeps possession in the play-off semi-final..