I AM a Burnley fan who is very annoyed with Stan Ternent. Not because of recent events but because Mark Ford is not given a start on the subs bench.

He is an excellent player, with class, skill, guts, determination, a good attitude and the ability to read the game so well. Yet, he still isn't in the team. It's just not on.

Every Burnley fan I have spoken to about this agrees with me. If we can see it, why can't Stan?

Whenever Mark does get to play he always gives 110 per cent.

When Mark was playing and Burnley were going through their really rough patch, conceding early goals and losing matches, who was the player who kept his head up and battled for the ball, when all other heads were down? Mark Ford.

He's a ball winner - which is what we need.

If he doesn't get some games and a contract soon, then that'll be it, he'll be off - and that's another good player we've lost. We really can't afford to lose a player of his quality.

I am, however aware that it takes 11 players to win a match, not one, but what's the point in playing a player knowing that someone else can do his job twice as well? The last time Mark did play before he was suddenly dropped was in the Millwall match, in which he played very well and we won.

After that, he didn't play until the City match which everyone knows we lost. Since then, he hasn't really featured in any games, but many of the other players that took part in the City match have played since and Mark hasn't. Has Stan singled out Mark for that defeat?

If anything, he was the only player who kept his head up and carried on in that match, even though we were losing 6-0.

Is it that Stan just doesn't like him?

Mark certainly hasn't been injured, as he's been playing for the reserves and doing very well. It really frustrates me to arrive at a match to find no mention of Mark in the team. Then when I see players taking his place, giving away vital balls and giving up too easily, I sit there and say: 'Ford wouldn't have done that, or Ford would have won that!'

It's a waste of a decent player.

EMMA HEYWOOD, Bolton Road North, Edenfield.

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