Travel delays cause Burnley to skip their pre-match plans

Burnley’s 51-year wait to set off again on their European adventures was extended by a few hours last night after they failed to turn up in time in Aberdeen.

Some fans of the Turf Moor club expressed misgivings about being drawn to play a club in Scotland on their first competitive European mission since a Fairs Cup quarter final in 1967.

But Burnley have had trouble reaching even the northeast of Scotland after a technical issue delayed their flight’sdeparturefrommanchester last night and forced manager Sean Dyche’s press conference at Pittodrie to be cancelled.

The team had trained earlier in the day at Burnley prior to the first leg of tonight’s Europa League second qualifying round tie against Aberdeen.

“We have had severe delays on flight north, there have been technical difficulties with the aircraft,” said a Burnley spokesman.

“That means the press conference has been cancelled and the players won’t go to Pittodrie to look at the stadium. The team were not going to be training at the stadium anyway but they were going to come for a look around.

“Uefa have been made aware of the difficulties we’ve faced.”

Uefarule23.01requires that clubs “undertake that their teams will arrive at the match venue by the evening before the match at the latest and that they will fulfil their media obligations the day before the match”. Aberdeen had their own problems two years ago when flying out to face Latvian side Ventspils in the Europa League. Their charter plane sustained engine damage after a bird strike on its way into Aberdeen. The players eventually touched down in Riga at 7.20pm on the eve of the match and plans to train at Ventspils’ ground had to be scrapped.

Uefa looked kindly upon the club’s travel problems and are expected to do likewise in Burnley’s case.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen manager Derek Mcinnes has revealed he has been on the trail of new loan signing Tommie Hoban all summer.

The 24 year-old has joined for a season from Watford and was registered as a squad member ahead of last night’s European deadline of 11pm so is available to play this evening. Former Partick Thistle goalkeeper Tomas Cerny has also been signed on a year’s contract as backup for Joe Lewis, pictured.

“Tommie is a player we have been keen on for the last few weeks,” said Mcinnes. “He was away with Watford and played in their pre-season games and is someone his club has a high regard for. He’s had a lot of injuries in his career but he’s been given this opportunity to come here and play games and, if he stays free from injury, I think he will be a fantastic addition for us.

“I’ve got to know Tommie over the last ten days or so and I really like him as a boy,” he added. “You get a gut feeling with all the signings you make once it gets to a certain stage and I have a really good feeling he will be a great signing for Aberdeen.

“It was supposed to happen at the back end of last week but for one reason and another it didn’t quite materialise. I thought we had missed out but I had a great phone call on Tuesday and we managed to resurrect it. I’m delighted he is here and I hope he can go onto prove his worth like all my players this season, especially the ones who have come in.”

Cerny provides some quality in depth in the goalkeeper department after No 2 Danny Rogers was allowed to sign for St Mirren on loan.

“We knew we were taking a little bit of a risk and we were scouring for someone who can give us that bit of comfort and cover for Joe Lewis which isn’t always easy,” said Mcinnes.

“When you go from Joe to a younger keeper there is a huge gap and we tried to bridge that gap. At the same time, Danny going out on loan was so important to him and us.”