Not one of us has respect (I hate that word) for Burnley. You have to earn respect and Burnley have never done that. That said I do miss the East Lancs Derbies on a regular basis, but the fact that we do not play regularly in effect shows we are top dogs and have been for over a quarter of a century. 14 April 1979. you say it like no one else knows lad. you won the premiership ffs, i think everyone realises you have the better team

we had like four chances last night. that's pretty much our whole combined total for the last month

just to add a bit more. the control the police have had over the two games has been pretty much spot on (apart from the obvious pr!ck at burnley) and it's proved that we're moving towards exactly what it should be (ie a highly tense, hard fought derby between two of the oldest and most viocerious rivals in the country). have your singalong about bananas and feet, mums and dads etc but all that side of it all devalues both teams and the game so much. it's not neccessary, there's enough to get excited about on the field.

it's your ground. from the top tier of whatever stand we were in the whole ground sounded dead, yet the burnley end was bouncing. I spoke to a mate in the home end and it was really loud. That's how it is. When different groups are both making noise, it's rare you hear the other one.

i know you all like to pretend you wish burnley would disappear to the lancashire pie & peas league division nine but deep down you must realise that it's not just another game. look at the discussion, the excitement, even the atmosphere it created. are you seriously telling me it'd be like that against a team you didn't have respect for? against middlesboro or norwich? never in a million years. obviously as a claret i'd love the chance to play you every season because we'd most probably be in the premier league but can you honestly say you wouldn't look forward to the last two game's between the clubs season in, season out. it's a proper rivalry. 99% of all the rest of the clubs in Britain would love a rivalry like this.

probably !!!