A bit about you:
Name: Tony Scholes
Current home town: Burnley Birthplace: Burnley
How long have you supported your team? I'm into my 54th year as a Burnley supporter. My first game was back in October 1960 when we beat Manchester United 5-3 in the days when we had a much better side than they did. I'm still as passionate as I've always been and am now also involved with the supporters clubs at Burnley along with running the Clarets Mad website.
Overview of your club:
Favourite thing about your home ground: I think this one is simply that it is our home ground. It's where I've been going for years and it is special to me. I stood at the cricket field end and then on the Longside before moving into the seats in 1988 because of my dad's ill health. Since, I've occupied just two different seats in 26 years. As much as I'd like to see the return of standing, I'm very much a sitter now as my legs are quick to tell me should I have to stand at an away game.
We don't have the best football ground in the country; but it is home and I would never want us to play anywhere else.
Favourite match played by your team & why: This one has to be the home game against Sunderland in 1973 when two Paul Fletcher goals gave us a 2-0 win an promotion back to the old First Division. It was the first promotion I ever saw from a Burnley team that went on to finish 6th in the top flight in the following season, and finish third in the FA Cup, the last team to do so, beating Leicester at Filbert Street.
We've had two Wembley play-off wins since then, and both were brilliant occasions, but the first was the best for me and will always remain so.
Favourite player of all time who played for your club: This one, in so many ways, is very difficult. I saw all our 1960 Championship team play and then some outstanding players after that. I would like to say Willie Irvine, the finest goal scorer I ever saw in a Burnley shirt, but I'm going to have to go for the little right-half Brian O'Neil who lit Turf Moor up in the 1960s. He was special; he's still talked about today when we reminisce and why he never played for England remains a mystery to me.
About our forthcoming match against you:
Your favourite current player in your squad and why? I'd probably say I'm a bit old now to have favourite players but I have to say that Sam Vokes this season is the player who has surpassed all expectation. It's the first season when he's had regular first team football and it has made such a difference. His partnership up front with Danny Ings has been outstanding.
Player in your squad we should most fear and why? If he were playing I'd probably say Danny Ings, but he's currently out injured. What our strength has been this season is playing as a team rather than looking for outstanding individuals. We have them, no doubt about that, but the team ethic is what has taken us into the top two positions.
Player in our squad you most fear and why? You've got some good players but I'd have a smile as big as his if David Nugent wasn't playing. Our former loan player has a habit of scoring against us. He had it with Preston, then Portsmouth and more recently at Leicester.
Up and coming prospect in your squad? We've some very good young players at the club who, as yet, haven't broken into the first team. Ings was 22 a couple of months ago and is the youngest player in the squad. He's got better and better this season.
What were you original expectations for your side this season ? I'd like to say to win the league, but I'm realistic and I'd have happily settled for an improvement on last season both in terms of points and league placing. We won 61 points last season to finish in 11th place. We've gone past that comfortably and there is absolutely no doubt that this season has exceeded my expectations and I'd say has for most Burnley fans.
How many points do you think will be needed for automatic promotion ? I've not got too much hair left but I'd be pulling the rest out if I started worrying about that. We'll just hopefully continue picking up the points until none of those clubs behind us can catch us. I'm looking forward very much to that moment.
How well do you think your side has coped with the introduction of Financial Fair Play and do you think your club will achieve the required limits this season ? Our club will, without doubt, achieve the required limits. We are a small club who have a very small squad to ensure that we stay within the limits.
I recently looked at the top six and the ownership of them. It was at a time before Nottingham Forest decided to implode and we had Leicester (Thailand), QPR (Malaysia), Derby (America), Forest (Kuwait), Reading (Russia) and Burnley (East Lancashire).
We are a small club compared to many in this division and we remain a club that is run by a board of directors made up virtually of local people. The nearest we come to foreign ownership is having a co-chairman by the name of John Banaszkiewicz. Having said that he's from the neighbouring town of Nelson. That's how I like it.
How do you think you’ll do against us? It's going to be a tough game for us, that's for certain, but it is also going to be a tough game for Leicester. Right now the league table shows we are the best two teams in the league and I'm sure we both intend playing against each other in league games next season. It's over 38 years since we met in the top flight; the last occasion was February 1976 when a goal from former England international full-back Keith Newton gave us a 1-0 win. I'd be happy with that result on Saturday.