THE alleged tunnel bust-up last Saturday was an accident waiting to happen.

Ever since the Cricket Field Stand was built to house the home and away dressing rooms, it's been an unusual feature of Turf Moor, which may now be the only ground in the country where teams emerge rom behind the goal.

Unfortunately, the narrow passage means that players, often heated following a niggly 90 minutes, share the same confined space walking back to their respective dressing rooms.

And that's after the away fans have had a pop at you!

My lasting memory of playing Blackburn Rovers at the Turf a few years back is getting spat at and pelted with coins at half and full time.

That's bad enough, so it's hardly a surprise when emotions between the players are also running high.

I understand that Steve Cotterill is the latest in a line of Burnley managers to be concerned at the location of the players entrance, so maybe this latest incident will finally be the catalyst for change.

Bolton have a tunnel for each team at the purpose built Reebok Stadium - undoubtedly to help keep players apart. And even though Turf Moor might lack the forethought of a new ground, there is still adequate room for something similar.

A second tunnel could easily be built between the Cricket Field and James Hargreaves stands, allowing the Clarets to run out in the corner in front of their own fans and leave the current tunnel to away teams.

The positioning of the dressing rooms also makes this an obvious solution and there seems little doubt it would stop an alleged incident like Saturday's from escalating out of control.

There's also time to have that tunnel erected after Burnley began a run of three successive away games at Leicester last night. Aston Villa next week allows the players to put the pressures of Championship football behind them, but not before they face one of the most feared strikers at this level at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Andy Johnson is pure lightening and in my book, should still be playing in the Premiership. In fact, it's a crime that his place in the England squad is now held by someone like Peter Crouch.

Unlike the non-scoring beanpole, Johnson has proved he can score at the top level and John McGreal and Frank Sinclair must be groaning that Johnson returned to action over the weekend.