The Stephen Cummings column

IT'S fairly safe to say that the Clarets have enjoyed better weeks than the one just gone.

Cruelly denied by a late equaliser at Portman Road, Burnley announced that Ian Moore would need an operation which would sideline him for at least a couple of months, before scrambling a point against Coventry and turning in what was easily their worst performance of the season against Derby under the glare of the Sky cameras.

Events of the last week merely served to highlight what everybody already knows: the squad desperately needs strengthening.

An example: Derby manager George Burley bemoaned the fact that he had five players missing for Friday's game. Burley managed to get a side out, yet should a similar fate befall Steve Cotterill before Saturday, a call will need to be placed to the Football League requesting a postponement.

Following last Tuesday's below-par performance against Coventry, it was clear that the side needed freshening up for Friday. But with such a luxury unavailable to Cotterill, he was left with no choice but to field the same starting 11 who under-performed against the Sky Blues.

What is to be done? The manager has made it clear on a number of occasions that he is reluctant to plough the loan market for a number of reasons. Chief among them being a lack of available quality.

His argument is sound. If a player is any good, he is unlikely to be farmed out elsewhere. For example, of all the loan signings made last season only Andy Todd had any real impact at Turf Moor.

Callers to a local radio station on Saturday evening had another solution, urging Barry Kilby to splash the cash, which suggests that some supporters are suffering from short-term memory loss.

Having only recently got themselves back on a stable financial footing, the last thing Burnley FC should be doing is spending recklessly. Burnley chased the Premiership dream with million pound purchases and big wages. We all know what happened thereafter.

The answer lies in embracing two unfashionable and much-derided virtues; patience and compromise.

Patience from the supporters to allow the manager to slowly build a side, and compromise from Cotterill should the need arise through injury and suspension to use loans.