M HIBBERT (In off The Post, January 23) launched an astonishing and unwarranted attack on the public of Bury, whose local football club Bury FC are in financial hardship.

He stated that the people of Bury did not care about their football club, and diverted their allegiances to other local teams.

This may no doubt be half-true, although in my opinion this should be a matter for the people of Bury themselves, and this unfortunate situation should not be used as ammunition by Mr Hibbert to attempt to promote his own favoured team.

He went on to comment that the Shakers live in the shadow of the "big boys" -- the Manchester clubs, Bolton Wanderers and his own beloved Burnley.

Forgive me, but the big boys to which he refers are two Premiership clubs (one of which are currently league champions) and the team currently placed second in the First Division who were visited in the FA Cup on Sunday by Scunthorpe United who had already disposed of Burnley.

In comparison, a recently-promoted and currently struggling team in the First Division hardly qualifies Burnley for "big boys" status.

Mr Hibbert neglected to mention Oldham Athletic who are nearer to Bury geographically and despite their current lowly position, have enjoyed Premiership status in the last eight years, unlike Burnley who still habitually struggle to reclaim long dead glory.

As an aside, I would advise him that Burnley will never be regarded as big boys until their manager learns to behave as such. The rantings of Stan Ternent on local radio, after his club had been knocked out of the Cup were nothing short of infantile, and a far from unusual part of his post-match routine in recent weeks. He lambasted his own loyal supporters (who were on their second trip to Scunthorpe in as many weeks), the referee, the referee's assessor, employees of Scunthorpe United. and others as he tried in vain to gain access to the referee's room.

DICK DAVIDSON, Alexandra Road, Blackburn.