BEING Burnley chairman – it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

Whoever takes the place in the best seat in Turf Moor will forever live in the shadow of the man who did so much to raise the profile of the club when football was in a different era, Bob Lord.

There have only been four men in that seat at the head of the table in the oak-pannelled boardroom in six decades and the name of Lord is still synonymous with Burnley FC – but in years to come the name Barry Kilby could well be mentioned in the same breath.

Lord, the butcher of Burnley, led the Clarets to the top of the English game and the First Division title – 50 years later bingo card king Kilby managed the full house jackpot by delivering his club into the promised land of the Premier League.

It was no mean feat for a club that for too long had languished in the lower echelons of a football league that they, along with 11 others, formed.

Chairman Kilby didn’t kick a ball that memorable season – but without his belief and financial backing you imagine that the unforgettable day beneath the arch of Wembley Stadium in May 2009 would never have happened.

Kilby joined the Burnley board of directors in October 1998. He became chairman following a vote at the club’s AGM two months later and invested £3 million into the Clarets in a rights issue in January 1999, which made him the largest single shareholder.

While clubs like Liverpool and Chelsea and the powerbrokers from Manchester would barely notice if £3 million dropped out of their bank account, it was a huge sum for Burnley.

When he took over he followed locals John Jackson and Frank Teasdale in the role. That is important for Burnley fans. Managers come and managers go, likewise with the players – but the chairman has to be a Claret. It’s a must for the fans. As a fan I know this.

We are a suspicious bunch.

Not that being Burnley through and through will necessarily save you from the fans.

In years gone by first Jackson and then Teasdale were subjected to fan demontstrations outside Turf Moor – and once, bizarrely, in the street outside Peterborough United’s London Road after a chastening Fourth Division loss.

Their names used as objects of hate. In fact, one fanzine came up with new words to the Dad’s Army theme of ‘Who do you think you are kidding Mr Teasdale if you think we’re going up’ during his time.

It was undeserved – but that’s the nature of football and the chairman is nearly always seen as the man to blame for everything.

It has not always been smooth running, but Kilby has never suffered the humiliation served up to his predecessors from his own people.

That in itself can be measured as showing a degree of success. In Burnley no praise can actually be the highest praise.

This is the man who opened his pocket to allow Stan Ternent to bring Ian Wright and Paul Gascoigne to the Turf. It’s a man whose cash delivered two glorious promotions during his 13 years.

He is the man who brought Owen Coyle to the club – and the Scot steered Burnley into the Premier League before turning into a pantomime villain after hopping off to Horwich.

Kilby is the man who delivered a stability and appointed Eddie Howe into the most important role.

But he is also the man who took the decision to remove Ternent from his beloved job.

Ternent was arguably the most popular Burnley boss in 30 years – and grown men sobbed as Stan the man said his own tearful farwell during an emotional lap of honour that would have melted a heart of stone.

What Kilby thought from his seat in the Bob Lord Stand no-one knows. It was a big move.

The appointment of Brian Laws after Coyle’s defection to Bolton was not a success even though the reasoning was sound. Sometimes things just don’t work out. Yes, the fans wanted more. They always have and they always will.

But Kilby was loyal to the club and to his managers. When the fans called for the blood of Steve Cotterill in the midst of a 19-match winless streak, Kilby steadfastly refused to swing the hatchet.

As the founder of scratch card company Europrint, Kilby knows all about lottery – and being the chairman of any football club may well be classed as a lottery.

Being chairman of Burnley is certainly a tough job but thanks for the memories Barry. It’s been a tough job pretty well done and the next man has a lot to live up to.