THE LAUNCH of The Clarets Foundation has been dubbed a major success by the club.

The Foundation, which hopes to raise £2 million over the next 10 years to strengthen the Clarets' playing resources, is open to 2,500 members who will receive weekend membership of the Turf Moor fitness centre and other perks plus entry into major cash draws in return for an annual fee of £104.

And that fee will be returned to members who recommend 12 other people to join up.

Delighted club officials reported that some 350 people signed up as The Foundation was launched at Turf Moor on Wednesday night.

And the following morning, some 100 e-mails came into the club requesting information on the scheme.

ANDY Payton probably won't lose any sleep about his surprising omission from the PFA Second Division team of the season.

Payton, who went to Scunthorpe today with 27 League goals to his credit and his sights set on the golden boot, is set to finish as the Second Division's top League goalscorer.

That still didn't get him the nod from his fellow professionals, who plumped for Jonathan Macken and Jason Roberts as their front pair.

But Payton mightn't have been too surprised after admitting recently that he wasn't expecting many votes from defenders.

And is it any wonder after making a monkey out of most of them this season!

THE CLARETS fans have thrown their weight firmly behind Burnley, whether they make it to Division One or not.

For the first time ever the club has broken the 8,000 barrier for season-ticket sales -- with three months still to go before the start of the 2000/01 campaign.

Over 2,500 junior tickets have been sold at the cut-price figure of £35.

Clarets general manager Andrew Watson said: "We are delighted with the response from the Burnley public.

"To sell over 8,000 tickets at the end of April is quite incredible.

"The packages have been well received and a lot of supporters have taken advantage of the special rate junior ticket."

THE player-of-the-year awards from Burnley's long list of supporters clubs will be handed out at a special awards night at Turf Moor next Tuesday night. The event is all-ticket and not open to supporters on the night.

SHOULD Burnley miss out on automatic promotion today and end up in the play-offs, the two-legged semi-finals will be played on May 13 and 17.

The third and fourth-placed teams will be away from home in the first legs.