SIR: I had already mapped out the scenario for Friday night's game.

At the final whistle we'd all start to cry. Burnden Park full of

Inconsolable lost souls reduced to nothing but tears.

Yet In reality It was so very different. True, the eyes did well up on several occassions - the laying of the wreath to the disaster victims,the parade of the 1958 cup winning team,and when Kenneth Wolstenholme spoke those immortal words.

Players paraded around the pitch acting as pointers to personal memories.

Yet Friday night was not just about looking backwards,It was about recognising the achievements of a team that will In its own right be judged alongside the best to have graced Burnden Park.

More than anything else though Friday night was about passion, the passion of supporting OUR team.

At the end of Friday night's game they took the heart of the Burnden Pitch and transplanted It to Horwich.

It is the spirit of Burnden that we shall collectively carry with us that will set the heart beating.

When the team takes to the pitch for the first time at the Reebok Stadium the magnitude of what has happened will hit home - most probably that is when I'll shed a tear for Burnden Park.

Tony Doyle

Chorley New Road, Lostock

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