New Home for Our Turf Moor Heroes
In 2017, thirty-one images, making up ‘Our Turf Moor Heroes’ were placed on the external walls of three stands at Turf Moor, dating back to players from the 1914 FA Cup winning team, including the captain Tommy Boyle and goalscorer Bert Freeman, through to more recent former players and one current player in Jay Rodriguez who was at Southampton when the vote was held among supporters.
The project, in conjunction with the football club, had been organised and funded by Burnley FC Supporters Groups and a number sponsors which including various Supporters Clubs and individual supporters.
Disappointingly, in May 2021, all the images were removed by Burnley Football Club without any consultation or even communication with us but we were reassured by chairman Alan Pace who, in reply to an email, told us: “The boards will be taken down while the painting and upgrading works occur. The plan is to then replace them in their original positions. However, this ongoing work may be over the course of several months.”
That was reassuring but they weren’t returned to the walls and all subsequent emails and queries to the club received no response whatsoever.
In December last year, just three months ago, we had the opportunity to ask senior members of staff directly. Doug Metcalfe, the club’s Director of Operations, told us there was no appetite to return them to the stand walls but offered a proposal to place them in the memorial garden, an idea which seemed less than appropriate given over half of the players featured are still with us.
We suggested the walkway down Ormerod Yard (behind the cricket club) or Harry Potts Way o the wall from the traffic lights to the away fans’ entrance but were told there were already plans in place for those areas. At the same meeting, Director of Fan Experience Russell Ball confirmed to us: “Alan doesn’t like them.” It was clear to us that they weren’t going to be used by our club in the future.
That left us with a major problem but at the end of last week we received some good news. We had pursued other options and we are delighted to confirm that we have found a new siting for them. We will be able to share details of the location soon once we’ve had the opportunity to discuss it with all our sponsors.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all our fellow Clarets who have supported us as we continued our search for a new home for Our Turf Moor Heroes.
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