11:40am Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Suzanne Geldard
BRIAN Laws is prepared to belt out a ballad to make sure Burnley stay on song.
It’s a Turf Moor tradition for newcomers to conduct a tuneful initiation – and new boss Laws admitted even he is not exempt.
But he wouldn’t want to be, because he is determined to embrace and enhance the team spirit that the Clarets became famous for in their promotion-winning season.
“I may have to sing a song. I can’t tell you what it is because there may be a few choice words in it.
"That is the kind of banter we need, and togetherness that this club has enjoyed over the last 18 months.
“Everyone has told me about it and I want to keep it going,” said Laws, who is taking his players to Portugal on a sunshine training and team bonding break after tonight’s trip to Fulham, ahead of a free weekend.
“I am new and I need to integrate myself with them just as much as the new players that are coming in,” added the 48-year-old, who re-signed David Nugent on loan during the January transfer window, as well as bringing in goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, defenders Leon Cort and Danny Fox, and loan duo Jack Cork and Frederic Nimani.
“You can’t do that in a couple of hours a day, you have to do it 24/7 for a couple of days.
“The idea is we can go away on a good surface. We can train twice a day and I can get to know the players and they can get to know me.
"I can understand the banter and everything else. I need to find out who the jokers are!
“It is a key time to do it. It is the best time to do it, and hopefully we will go over after a good result.”
Burnley head to the capital hoping Craven Cottage is the scene of their first Premier League away win.
The Clarets’ point at Manchester City, in November, remains the only one they have picked up all season on their travels, in 12 attempts.
But although Laws insists those statistics must improve, the barren run isn’t getting to the players.
“I don’t hear them talk a lot about it, which is a good thing,” he said.
“The mentality they’ve had is that they’ve moved on, moved from one game to the next and don’t really dwell too much on the past game.
“You have to have that kind of mentality in the Premier League.
"We want to win every game, but we know we’re not going to. That’s the cold hard fact.
“Manchester United and Chelsea might go into their games expecting to win, and win them.
“There are certain games that we need to win to stay in the Premier League.
"To do that we’re going to have to start picking up points away from home, and there’s no better one than Fulham.”
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