STAN Ternent wept as Burnley said goodbye to the club's best manager for 30 years.

In a day of high emotion at Turf Moor, Stan received a standing ovation as he went on one final lap of honour, escorted by his team minutes after they fell 2-1 to Sunderland.

As he walked round the ground, he grabbed outstretched arms and nodded at fans as they thanked him for his six years at Turf Moor.

Chants of "You'll Always Be A Claret" echoed around the ground as he stooped down to pick up a Burnley scarf thrown from the Bob Lord stand.

Putting it around his neck, he carried on walking around the ground before using it to cover his face as his emotions finally got the better of him.

It was only to be expected from the man who then went on to dub Burnley's fans the "best in the country" before making sure everyone knew he was only leaving because he'd been told he was no longer wanted at the club.

The decision not to renew Stan's contract, made public by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph last Tuesday, immediately turned yesterday's match from an end-of-season kickabout into a event which will live long in the memories of the 18,852 fans packed into Turf Moor.

Many were there for only one reason - to see off the man who guided Burnley from the lower reaches of the Second Division to become a stable First Division side, working throughout on a very tight budget.

To see off the man who managed to bring Paul Gascoigne and Ian Wright to the club.

To see off the man, who in the words of Tony Livesey in his match programme comments, won back Burnley's footballing reputation.

It was a day of unusual sights. Limousines pulled up outside the away end to drop off Sunderland fans and Superman and Elvis led a conga through the Cricket Field End.

But none were as unusual as that of a manager, so often at loggerheads with sections of the crowd, being given the chance to say farewell to the fans of the club despite being given the boot.

As he said in a Press conference afterwards: "I got the bullet for keeping the club in this division. If we'd gone down, it would probably have been a public execution."

Despite being a day to celebrate Stan's achievements, the future was impossible to escape.

The new home kit was paraded around the ground before the game, and outside the ground fans swapped speculation on who was to take over from next season.

If walls have ears, then those in the corridors of power within Burnley have very loose tongues too, for everyone seemed to have "inside information" which had come "from someone in the know".

Inside the ground, the atmosphere was on a par with a game of massive importance. It was like the vibe of a play-off final at the Millennium Stadium had been bottled and slipped into the beer barrels at pubs around the town.

The mascots got cheered, the cheerleaders were cheered, even the soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment who put up an assault course for the mascots were cheered. But it was nothing compared to the sound which greeted Stan and his players as they came through the tunnel.

First the players appeared, running on to the field, followed by Stan, who opted to walk around the touchline, signing autographs and collecting a note passed to him by a young girl in the stand via a photographer. Whatever it said, it choked him.

The chorus of "Stan Ternent's Claret and Blue Army" all but lifted the roof of the four stands - in complete contrast to the quiet of the cricket being played next door.

In the build-up to the game, it had been the scene of friendly conversations between Burnley and Sunderland fans dressed in their respective colours. Police warnings about behaving appeared to have been heeded.

And, for the first half hour, it looked as though Stan's team were going to give him the fairytale ending. Glen Little - the other centre of attention yesterday as he played his last game before leaving for Reading - put Burnley ahead.

Sunderland hit back, equalising in the first-half before scoring a second to secure a win in the second half.

It didn't dampen the spirits of the army of Clarets fans, though.

As the final whistle went, the chant of "We Want Stan" preceeded the booing which greeted the 200 or so youngsters who failed to heed to pleas for them to stay off the field.

A collective tingle went down the spine as Stan began his walk, and the tears did flow. Not only from Stan, but from fans, young and old, carried away by the moment. Even the public announcer's voice faltered as he struggled to hold back the tears.

Even the Sunderland fans held back from leaving the ground to cheer Stan. The Black Cats, of course, are Stan's boyhood team.

Their season continues into the play-offs. Burnley's ends here, as does Stan's reign as manager. But, as the fans put it so vocally, he'll always be a Claret.