D-DAY FOR TERNENT

Kilby met with Ternent and his number two Sam Ellis after cancelling a trip to London.

And those talks in the aftermath of last night's 6-0 annihilation by Manchester City at Turf Moor were set to decide whether Ternent becomes the fourth manager to leave Burnley inside three years.

A straw poll of fans trooping away from a shell-shocked Turf Moor last night would have shown that many want Ternent to go after City followed up Gillingham's five-goal salvo of 10 days earlier with another crushing defeat to leave Burnley in crisis one point above the drop zone.

And Ternent obviously believed the situation serious enough to discuss his and the club's position with Kilby.

Speaking after last night's seventh home defeat of the season, the Burnley boss said: "I will have a chat with the chairman and hopefully arrange a meeting with him and take it from there.

"If you would be so kind just to take that on board and I will let you know where I'm up to."

But I believe the matter is far from cut and dried and Ternent may yet stay on to try and battle his way through the stormy waters.

Ternent is not a quitter and won't voluntarily walk away from a challenge that he seemed pre-ordained to take on last summer.

And Kilby was understandably not giving anything away prior to today's meeting which he was equally keen to stage.

"I would say it was a mutual thing," said the chairman, who admitted last night's game had been a humiliating experience. "It will be a full and frank discussion and I don't want to pre-empt anything."

Kilby, who has invested £3 million in the Clarets, has been put in an unenviable position less than three months after becoming chairman at Turf Moor.

And he faced a difficult balancing act in trying to make the right decision to keep Burnley in Division Two.

The nature of Burnley's last two defeats - last night's debacle being played out in front of a near 18,000 crowd, television and the national Press - has left Ternent on the ropes.

There was no shame in being second best to an impressive City side in the first half.

But the Clarets were a shambles after the break and it's critical that should Ternent stay he retains the belief of the players who were in the dark over events after last night's game.

"I honestly don't know what anyone thinks," admitted Glen Little.

"The manager's a passionate person, loves Burnley, lives in the town, wants to do well and after seeing the last couple of weeks whether he thinks he's hurt by it and that's it we'll see tomorrow.

"But I know he must be devastated like everybody is."

However, with just 12 games to go, Kilby and his board may feel they have no alternative but to keep faith in Ternent who has spent almost £1.5 million on players and has the determination to turn things round.

And with a constant chopping and changing of managers costing Burnley dear in recent times the board may feel this is the time to hold their nerve and back their man.

There may not be many people around who could step into the breach at short notice and start working with someone else's squad with so little time to play with.

However, John Ward could probably be able to leave his temporary post at Wolves and does know one or two of the Burnley players from his time as number two to Adrian Heath.

"I can't see how the manager can be sacked. Who would want this job with two months of the season left, the position we are in? It would take a brave man to take it," said Mark Ford, who returned to the fray against City after five games on the sidelines.

Ford was one of the few to show some of the spirit Burnley will need to save themselves, starting with Sunday's televised derby clash with high-flying Preston.

"We need something from somewhere but where the spark's going to come from I don't know," he added.

"Last year it was Watford, a big club. On Sunday it's Preston and we need to go out there and die on the pitch for the fans.

"If you haven't got the pride in the club then you don't want to play on Sunday."

"It (relegation) has been a threat for the last month. The worst thing this year is that we haven't been in it, we weren't expecting to be in it.

"Last year we knew we were in a fight from the off and we knew we had to battle.

"This year people looked at the table and thought we were seventh from the bottom and we were alright. Now we are in it and it's time to start rolling our sleeves up and fight.

"We were embarrassed walking off that pitch. People are paying £12/14 of their hard earned money and it's just not worth it. If I was a fan I would be demanding my money back.

"I was happy to get back into the side but was so deflated by the result. But Sunday we will need the fans again and maybe the club should think about reducing prices."

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