A BURNLEY FC director today slammed sportswear supplier Adidas as the delay over deliveries of the club's new strips reached crisis point.

With just two days to the kick-off of the new season, only 300 of the expected thousands of replica strips have arrived.

Now the Stockport-based supplier has promised a bulk delivery for tomorrow - two months after the promised time.

But sportswear shop boss Peter Noble said: "I will believe it when I see it. I am getting angry calls from fans every two minutes. It is a nightmare.

"If they don't arrive before the start of the season it will be too ridiculous for words."

Clarets director Bernard Rothwell said the club, sponsors, retailers and fans had been let down by the company which said it had been hit by the failure of a manufacturer.

He said: "The club is extremely concerned and we are pressing for an early meeting with Adidas?."

Mr Rothwell said he personally believed the real reason was that supplying world cup strips throughout the summer had affected deliveries to many smaller clubs like Burnley. He added: "All the aggro comes to us and people should not think we are not as concerned as anyone.

"We have made countless calls to the company and demanded explanations and action. "I have lost sleep over this matter and it has cost the club a lot of money."

Mr Rothwell said a small delivery of strips arrived last Friday, but these were "totally inadequate" and was a fraction of the 15,000 the club expected to sell during the year.

"It is a terrible situation and something we could do little about. We could not just change supplier mid stream."

Mr Noble said Friday's delivery of between 200 and 300 replica kits had caused turmoil in the town.

"The club should not have released these until the bulk supply arrived.

"It just caused panic and led to scores of complaints from people who saw them in the streets and then found they could not get then ones they had ordered."

A spokesman for Adidas said they would issue a statement later today.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.