Unfortunately, that removes *all* text before the [a] footnote and doesn't convert & nbsp; to a space.
<p> <p /> <sup id="en-NIV-26127" class="vnum" value='16'>16</sup>Here is normal text.<sup class='footnote' value='[<a href="#fen-NIV-26127a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]'>[<a href="#fen-NIV-26127a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup>
Trying it on that results in [a]... it doesn't show Here is normal text.
