THE curtain will come down on 102 years of football at Burnden Park on Friday with Wanderers receiving the First Division Championship trophy.

Officials have decided to save the best for last, dramatically delaying the presentation of the famous old trophy until after the Charlton game.

"That will be the last act on the last night of football at Burnden," Colin Todd confirmed today.

"Friday is going to be a night of celebration and there will be plenty going on before the game. So I think it's fitting that we get everything else out of the way and then have the team receiving the trophy to cap it all off."

The Burnden boss is looking forward to getting his hands on the trophy - the original Football League Championship - for the third time.

He won it twice as a player with Derby County - 1971-72 and 74-75 - and takes as much pride and satisfaction from this latest achievement as any of his previous successes.

"This time I've won it in a different capacity but it's still the famous old trophy and it's still something to be really proud of."

Todd saw Wanderers' seven-match winning run come to an end when the Champions were held to a scoreless draw at Oldham. He was disappointed by his team's performance but put the result in the context of a season that reached its climax 13 days ago when they clinched the title at Manchester City.

They remain 17 points clear of second-placed Barnsley and, with Charlton and Tranmere to play, are still in with a chance of completing the unique double of 100 points and 100 League goals.

"It was disappointing," the manager admitted, "but we've gone 44 games now and lost just four and there haven't been many performances like that.

"I remember when we were promoted in 1995 we went to Oldham at around the same stage of the season and were hammered 3-0. We couldn't get away from the place quickly enough.

"It's never an easy place to go to."

John McGinlay, missing for two games with a thigh injury, is tipped to be fit to return for the Charlton game but Jamie Pollock misses the farwell to Burnden because of suspension.

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