Signings imminent but Heath looks set to lose assistant Harvey
Adrian Heath had good news for Burnley fans regarding potential signings but it looked as though he was going to be looking for a new assistant manager for the second time in two months.
When John Ward left to take over as manager of Bristol City in April, Heath quickly moved to install former Evertonian Colin Harvey as his replacement but speculation had mounted that Harvey, a former Everton manager, was to make an emotional return to Goodison Park.
Heath had been left in the dark. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “If Colin wants to go back to Everton, I won’t stand in his way. Colin has blue blood in his veins. He has been at Everton since he was fourteen and now he’s fifty.” The manager added: “Nothing official has been sorted out, but if they want him, and he wants to go, then it us up to him. Until anything happens, it’s all hypothetical and I can’t really comment.”
Everton dismissed it as nothing other than pure speculation, but It looked more than that and it was thought that Harvey was in line to take a major role with the development of the youth team at Goodison. Until then, he remained at Burnley and had continued his duties for the club with recent trips to the Netherlands to watch a couple of players as previously reported. Heath had followed him to watch those players and reported back: “It was very hectic, but I took in three games and saw some decent football and decent players. We spoke to one or two players, and we will take it from there. They have a couple of games left, and hopefully we can get something up in the next few weeks.”
He all but confirmed that one of them, a defender from MVV Maastricht would be arriving for talks during the next week. “There is a chance we can sort something out quite quickly,” he said. “He plays in defence at the moment, but he looks like he could play in midfield as well and that could be very useful. He wants to come and have a look at things here at Burnley, and then we’ll just take it from there.”
Things were moving quickly and, besides any possible Dutch signings, Heath told the local press that we could have as many as three signings in the next week with a potential transfer value of £900,000. He confirmed his three targets were a Premiership striker, a First Division midfielder and a Second Division right-back. About to go on holiday, the manager confirmed: “I’ve gone as far as I can without actually signing the players in question. I’ve gone as far down the road as I can and now I’m just waiting to hear from the players and their agents. All three will be considerable investments for Burnley Football Club and it will be the most money I’ve spent since taking over. But I believe these three will strengthen the squad and help us get ready for next season.”
He was keen to keep everything under wraps so as not to alert other clubs in the same division, none more so than Fulham, Wigan, Preston and Carlisle who all had pots of money to spend alongside the likes of Oldham, Luton, Brentford and Watford who were thought to have similar amounts to spend as ourselves. There were other signings in the pipeline but it was now looking less likely that Doncaster’s Darren Moore would be one of them. Heath suggested that the deal was not dead but the player’s wage demands had become a sticking point.
There was news too of Liam Robinson, one of the players released at the end of the season. He looked set to sign for Notts County whose manager Sam Allardyce said: “Liam is exactly the type of player we need to get out of the Third Division. We spoke to him over the weekend and hopefully we can settle a move. His pace will be a real asset to us.”
Meanwhile, the Burnley fans were excited at the prospect of welcoming three new signings alongside the expected talks for a Dutch defender.
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